SUO_MGT3002 W5 L1

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Nov 24, 2024

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Conflict © 201 6 South University

Page 2 of 2 Organizational Behavior ©2016 South University 2 Conflict MGT3002 W5 L1 Conflict Consider a situation where an employee in an organization may feel that the organization is not giving due appreciation or consideration to his or her work. In this case, a conflict arises between the employee and the organization. Conflict occurs when one party's actions have a negative impact on another's efforts toward attaining one or more personal or organization goals. Consider another example—you would like to promote one of the supervisors in your group, while your boss prefers another individual—thus you have a conflict situation. You have another conflict situation when you would like to spend more time with your family, but work demands are pushing you to spend more time in the workplace. Conflict is common in organizations and is usually uncomfortable, which is why when faced with conflict a common knee-jerk reaction is avoidance, an attempt to eliminate, or withdrawal. This is of course the traditional view of organizational conflict. These days we are learning to accept the fact that conflicts do and will continue to occur and that organizational effectiveness includes effective management of conflict. The Human Relations (HR) approach which was developed following the pioneering Hawthorne studies assumes that conflict is inevitable and that not all conflict is necessarily a problem. According to one view, conflicts can be functional (or constructive), and dysfunctional (or destructive). With functional conflict, it is possible to generate desirable outcomes. For instance, differences in views and opinions in a group meeting can prevent processes of groupthink and groupshift from appearing.

Page 3 of 2 Organizational Behavior ©2016 South University 3 Conflict MGT3002 W5 L1 Another view, the interactionist view, welcomes conflict and suggests that some degree of conflict ought to be maintained in organizations. This view assumes that the absence of conflict will render an organization apathetic and incapable of change. It is likely that this view is culture specific—in the sense that it may be especially valid in our individualistic and competitive cultural context. With increasing cultural diversity in organizations today, this approach needs to be studied further to examine how and whether it can be functional in a multicultural organizational setting. For instance, in many organizational cultures a higher value is placed on collaboration and consensus and internal competitiveness is frowned upon. How would people from such cultures but working in organizations that follow a different culture respond to the application of the interactionist approach? Would this inclusion lead to an escalation of conflict to dysfunctional levels? Would it lead to higher employee turnover? Would it help employees from different cultures buy into an approach where conflict is retained? These are some questions that need to be answered. Sources of Conflict It is clear that conflict is inevitable in organizations. But what needs to be examined more closely are the sources and causes for conflict. Let us begin by understanding some potential sources of conflict. It is common to attribute all kinds of conflict to "communication problems." This assumption is probably incorrect. However communication issues sometimes do result in conflict. When the manner of the communication generates resentment the stage is set for conflict to appear. Common examples are abusive language, shouting at people, speaking arrogantly, or using a

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Page 4 of 2 Organizational Behavior ©2016 South University 4 Conflict MGT3002 W5 L1 condescending tone and/or language. However there are other kinds of communication problems as well. Consider the following example. The chief of one of the manufacturing units of a large company discovers that one of the junior managers had been engaged in fraudulent activities in vendor invoicing and the chief dismisses the employee immediately. The CEO of the company is very concerned and sends a note to all managers and employees of the plant stating his concerns about integrity. He also mentions that the accountants ought to have detected the matter earlier. Both the plant head and the accountants take this communication to be a directive to be especially alert and as a result the accountants became virtual policemen in the plant! During the next few months a great deal of resentment is aroused throughout the plant; all departments are almost up in arms against the accounts department and productivity shows a decline. In meetings of senior managers, there are several heated arguments and a lot of yelling between accounts managers and managers of other departments. Fortunately for this company, an external HR consultant discovered the problem and informed the CEO, who immediately issued a clarification of the original communication to the effect— what he meant was that accountants are expected to do their normal jobs. He had just felt that they had slipped up and allowed the fraudulent activity to go undetected for some time. He also gave strict guidelines against any kind of policing. Very soon the atmosphere got back to almost normal. Clearly the tension of the situation (the detection of fraud and the firing of the manager) led to a distortion of communication (the CEO's note) both in the sending and the receiving of the communication. Sources of Conflict Structure

Page 5 of 2 Organizational Behavior ©2016 South University 5 Conflict MGT3002 W5 L1 Structural factors such as functional specialization, hierarchy, size, leadership style, and line-staff are also common sources of conflict. Sometimes legitimate customer complaints bring manufacturing and sales personnel into conflict. Commonly salespeople may attribute the problem to deficiencies in manufacturing quality and departure from specifications. On the other hand, manufacturing blames sales for promising too much to the customer in an effort to close a sale. Here the nature of the difference in functions leads to the conflict. In response to this fairly common kind of conflict in large organizations, some companies have found some degree of positive results by familiarizing sales personnel with manufacturing processes and familiarizing plant personnel with the market. Periodic meetings between the two groups to clarify boundaries and concerns also help in the matter. Leadership style may also create conflict when the leader is not sensitive to the impact that his or her style has on the followership. It is actually quite amazing how often managers as well as their superiors ignore feedback on leadership style. In some cases, the manager's superior tries to avoid discussing the feedback with the manager because of the fear of conflict. As a result, the manager and his or her subordinates are left in a situation of potential conflict. A quiet and friendly word with the manager might help a lot. Sources of Conflict Personal Variables Personal variables including personality, values, attitudes, personal preferences, and idiosyncrasies are also an important source of conflict. Of these variables value differences are perhaps the most

Page 6 of 2 Organizational Behavior ©2016 South University 6 Conflict MGT3002 W5 L1 important. Prejudices on the basis of gender, race, and ethnic origin are the most obvious examples. However, there are also other kinds of prejudice. How often do we hear that "all accountants are bureaucrats," or "those flashy MBA types have no clue about practical realities?" With negative prejudgments conflict always remains a strong possibility in work interactions. Strategies of Conflict Resolution There are a wide variety of strategies for dealing with conflict. Let us discuss two of them here. Sharing Feedback First, managers need to be sensitive to feedback both about themselves and about the managerial setting. The more open a person is to negative feedback the more the person learns about self and is better able to react to the situations. As a result, with greater awareness and knowledge about himself or herself and the given situation, a manager is better able to anticipate and deal with conflict. Consider once again the example where the leader is not sensitive to the impact his or her style has on those who follow. If a manager picks up feedback (say, in the form of clues and hints) about some negative effects his or her style has on subordinates, there is a significantly better chance that something can be done about the issue before any conflict emerges. Secondly, in most conflict situations and potential conflict situations, the parties need to confront negative feedback about each other and about themselves. Of course, it is as easy or

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Page 7 of 2 Organizational Behavior ©2016 South University 7 Conflict MGT3002 W5 L1 difficult to receive feedback as it is to give feedback! The main problem with giving and receiving negative feedback is that people may feel accused and blamed or criticized. If such feelings emerge the stage is set for conflict. It is, therefore, important to develop the skills of both giving and receiving negative feedback realistically and objectively. An effective manager should be able to create a context in which the difficult exercise of receiving and giving feedback is easier for the people involved. He or she will, for instance, recognize that the common modalities of communicating negative feedback through sarcasm, putting down, and ridiculing in the name of harmless joking are best left out. Often unknown to us perhaps, these add to the conflict potential in the situation. Negotiation Traditionally, the term "negotiation" has been used almost exclusively as a conflict resolution technique in industrial relations. Today we see negotiation as a significant managerial skill relevant to a variety of interpersonal and intergroup relations. Distributive Negotiation Most of us are familiar with distributive negotiation in which the parties concerned bargain over a fixed quantum of resources. Any gain by one party is a loss for the other party. As a result, in labor- management negotiations, management bargains to limit costs while labor tries to increase wages as much as possible. Integrative Bargaining In integrative bargaining, however, both parties gain by examining options beyond the simple win-lose situation to a win-win result.

Page 8 of 2 Organizational Behavior ©2016 South University 8 Conflict MGT3002 W5 L1 For example, you are negotiating the rates for booking a hotel's facilities for a major company conference. The hotel wants a higher rate than you are willing to pay. You close the deal at the lower rate but with a guarantee to hold all your conferences in this hotel for the next three years. You gain with the lower rate and the hotel gains with the guarantee of future business. Typically, in integrative bargaining, both parties look toward a long- term relationship and explore multiple options so that both parties gain from the final agreement. The lesson here is about the advisability of moving from distributive to integrative negotiations, particularly in situations that hold a potential for conflict, but also a potential for both sides to gain. .

SUO_MGT3002 W5 L1

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