Conflict

What is conflict?
Process whereby one party perceives that another party has taken or will take actions that are incompatible with ones own interests Form of interaction among parties that differ in interests, perceptions, and preferences (Kolb et al., 1995: 282) Situation in which goal-directed behaviour of an individual or a group interferes with the goal directed behaviour of other individuals or groups (George & Jones, 1996)

Levels of conflict in an organisation

Intrapersonal
Approach- approach Avoidance-avoidance Approach-avoidance

Dissonance and ambivalence Dilemmas and choices

(values, attitudes, feelings, etc.)

Interpersonal
Individual differences and perceptual errors Communication gaps (including destructive criticism) Competence/performance, visibility, competition Power, authority and status Goal incompatibility Interdependence and reciprocity Competition for scarce resources Grudges and distrust

 Group
Intragroup Intergroup

 Differences between people are inevitable and need not be labelled either good or bad Strategies to deal with differences should be situation specific

TRANSITIONS IN CONFLICT THOUGHT dysfunction to function, Hatch

High

Low Low Level of conflict High

Types of interpersonal conflict

Task conflict
Content and goals of work

Relationship conflict
Interpersonal relationships

Process conflict
How work gets done

Pondys model of organisational conflict

Phase of anticipation Phase of conscious, but unexpressed, latent conflict

difference
felt conflict

Phase of discussion Phase of open dispute

Phase of open conflict manifest conflict conflict aftermath

Conflict handling styles Assertive

Emphasis on ones own concerns

Competing/Forcing/ Dominating

Collaborating/ Problem-solving

Compromising Unassertive

Avoiding Unco-operative

Accommodating
Co-operative

Emphasis on others concerns/co-operation

 Avoiding the desire to withdraw from/suppress a conflict Competing a desire to satisfy ones interests, regardless of the impact on the other party to the conflict Accommodating the willingness of one party in a conflict to place the opponents interests above his/her own Compromising a situation in which each party to a conflict is willing to give up something Collaborating a situation in which the parties to a conflict each desire to satisfy fully the concerns of all parties

Managers task
Organisational environment its culture, structure and people orientation as well as its leadership are critical factors providing the background. These could work towards pre-empting conflict or ensuring that conflict is healthy for the organisation
Influencing interpersonal and intrapersonal issues

Conflict resolution techniques

Understand the problem
What is the difference about? What has caused the difference? What stage have the differences reached?

Separating people from problems Using objective criteria Exploring options

Third party interventions

Where does power come from?

Power is the potential ability of one person/department to influence other persons/departments to behave in ways that they would have otherwise not done
Successful influence

Sources of personal power

Legitimate/formal Reward Coercive Expert Referent