Question?

What is the discord that arises when

goals of different individuals are
incompatible?
A. Disagreement
B. Incongruity
C. Discrepancy
D. Conflict

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 Organizational Conflict
Organizational Conflict
The discord that arises when goals,
interests or values of different
individuals or groups are
incompatible
and those people
block or thwart
each others efforts
to achieve their
objectives.

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 Organizational Conflict
Organizational Conflict
Conflict is inevitable given the wide
range of goals for the different
stakeholder in the organization.

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Types of Conflict

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 Types of Conflict
Interpersonal Conflict
Conflict between individuals due to
differences in their goals or values.
Intragroup Conflict
Conflict within a
group or team.

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 Types of Conflict
Intergroup Conflict
Conflict between two or more teams,
groups or departments.
Managers play a key role in resolution
of this conflict
Interorganizational Conflict
Conflict that arises across
organizations.

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Sources of Conflict

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 Sources of Conflict
Different Goals and Time
Horizons
Different groups have differing goals
and focus.
Overlapping Authority
Two or more managers claim authority
for the same activities which leads to
conflict between the managers and
workers.

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 Sources of Conflict
Task Interdependencies
One member of a group or a group fails
to finish a task that another member or
group depends on, causing the waiting
worker or group to fall behind.
Different Evaluation or Reward
Systems
A group is rewarded for achieving a
goal, but another interdependent
group is rewarded for achieving a goal
that conflicts with the first group.
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 Sources of Conflict
Scarce Resources
Managers can come into conflict over
the allocation of scare resources.
Status Inconsistencies
Some individuals and groups
have a higher organizational
status than others, leading to
conflict with lower status groups.

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 Stages of Conflict
Conflict arises
Positions are stated and
hardened
Actions, putting into action their
chosen plan
Resolution???
 Preventing Conflict
Assess positive and negative
personality traits of people
involved
Determine personality type
Aggressive
Submissive
Assertive
Assess if people are introvert or
extroverts...
 Preventing Conflict

Review past conflicts

Assess communication skills of
those involved
Read body language of
participants
 Preventing Conflict
Try to reduce conflict
Realize that communication is
colored by personal experience,
beliefs, fear, prejudices
Try to be neutral
Plan the timing and place of the
conversation
Realize that outside stress may add
to confrontation
Eliminate/reduce external
interruptions
 Preventing Conflict

Manage the language used

Neutral vs. loaded words
Reduce technical language
Allow for cultural differences in
language
Words may have different meanings
for different peopleask them to
elaborate
 Personalities who cause conflict

Aggressor
Passive
Absentee
Error prone
Negative
attitude
Chatterbox
Do nothing
Personalities who cause conflict

Unreliable
Time waster
Resentful
person
 Conflict Management
Strategies
Functional Conflict Resolution
Handling conflict by compromise or
collaboration between parties.

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 Conflict Management
Strategies
Accommodation
one party simply gives in to the other
party
Avoidance
two parties try to ignore the problem
and do nothing to resolve the
disagreement

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 Conflict Management
Strategies
Competition
each party tries to maximize its own
gain and has little interest in
understanding the others position

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 Strategies Focused on
Individuals
Increasing awareness of the
sources of conflict
Increasing diversity awareness and
skills
Practicing job rotation
Using permanent transfers or
dismissals when necessary

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Strategies Focused on the Whole
Organization
Changing an
organizations
structure or
culture
Altering the
source of
conflict

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 Negotiation

Negotiation
Parties to a conflict try to come up with
a solution acceptable to themselves by
considering various alternative ways to
allocate resources to each other

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 You just got your drivers license and you ask your dad if
you can borrow his car on Friday night. He wants to know
where you plan on going, and you tell him that you want to
drive three of your friends to the movie theater. He quickly
says No, you arent ready to drive in a car full of loud
teenagers. You yell that hes unfair and is trying to ruin
your life. He says that now you have to wait a month
before you can borrow his car for any reason.
1. What would be a better way to respond to your dad
after he said you couldnt borrow his car on Friday? Why do
you think he said no?
2. How can you resolve the conflict, or at least ease your
dads anger? What can your dad do to resolve the situation?
 Negotiation
Third-party negotiator
an impartial individual with expertise
in handling conflicts
helps parties in conflict reach an
acceptable solution

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 Third-party Negotiators
Mediators
facilitates negotiations but no
authority to impose a solution
Arbitrator
can impose what he thinks is a fair
solution to a conflict that both parties
are obligated to abide by

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 Distributive Negotiation
Distributive negotiation
Parties perceive that they have a fixed
pie of resources that they need to
divide
Take a competitive adversarial stance
See no need to interact in the future
Do not care if their interpersonal
relationship is damaged by their
competitive negotiation

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 Integrative Bargaining
Integrative bargaining
Parties perceive that they might be able
to increase the resource pie by trying to
come up with a creative solution to the
conflict
View the conflict as a win-win situation
in which both parties can gain
Handled through collaboration or
compromise

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