Week 11 - Conflict

“The rule of the game: learn everything, read everything, inquire into everything…When two texts, or two assertions, or perhaps two ideas, are in contradiction, be ready to reconcile them rather that cancel one by the other; regard them as two different facets, or two successive stages of the same reality, a reality convincingly human just because it is complex” [1], wrote Marguerite Yourcenar.

General dynamics of conflict spirals to the specific dynamics of conflict in organizations:

Vertical conflict – occurs between hierarchical levels

Horizontal conflict – occurs between people working at the same hierarchical level within an organization

Staff-line conflict – occurs between people performing different types of tasks.

Role conflict – occurs when misunderstandings arise over just what it is that person meant to be doing

Resource scarcity – when organizational resources are scarce, conflict will occur as surely as animals will fight over scarce food

Work flow interdependence – all sections benefit from the efficiencies of other sections, but are vulnerable to and suffer from the inefficiencies of others.

Power and value asymmetry – occurs when a people holding radically different values are required to work together

Goal incompatibility – When specific goals of differing departments sections and divisions of the one organization clash[2]

As I stated in our previous presentation, the existence of conflict can be seen as a context of our collaboration project. Different attitudes toward the goal, difference in knowledge, the unclear identification of individual’s roll, cultural difference, and misunderstanding in communication are the main factors which result conflicts within our group.

There are a number of approaches to manage conflicts. They include:
- Negotiation
- Interpersonal skills
- Cultural and gender differences
- Group dynamics
- Contact and communication
- Super-ordinate goals
- Tit for that
- De-escalation thresholds
- Apology
- Forgiveness
- Praise
- Sacrifice
- New resources
- Decoupling and buffering
- Formal authority
- Planning
- Scale
- Stalemates
- Compromise
- Mediation

Communication analyst Jon Warner has developed a model of negotiation styles base on empathy and energy; each style has strengths as well as weaknesses:

Pushy bullying – loudly commands attention on a key point and draws negotiations to a rapid close, yet may adopt a ‘take it or leave it’ attitude

Confident promoting – quickly focuses on the major issues, wins people over with enthusiasm, and usually adapts flexibility to reach a deal, but can be too aggressive or fail to listen fully

Quietly manipulating – quickly draws attention to real threats to agreement and can subtly focus a debate, but may distort information or exploit other party’s weakness openly

Carefully suggestion – keeps the negotiation calm, good at drawing attention to the deeper issues, yet can fail to commit to convincing the other side

Conflicts normally strike people as being unpleasant and stressful, they can lead to:
- Negative emotions
- Blocked communication
- Increased coordination between people who have to work and live together
- A shift towards autocratic leadership when discussion-based decision making breaks down
- Reduced ability to view other perspectives and breakdown in empathy and vision

However, conflicts can sometimes produce positive payoffs:
- Pressure and frustrations are released
- New perspectives and information can be gathered about the other side
- New perspectives can be gained about our side
- Better decision making and problem solving can take place
- Cohesiveness can increase
- Complacency can be challenged
- Change can take place
- Differences can be appreciated
- Intrapersonal conflicts can be resolved

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Reference:

[1] Cloke Goldsmith, John Wiley & Sons, Inc 2000, Resolving conflicts at work
[2] Baden Eunson, John Wiley & Sons Australia 2007, Conflict Management