Conflict Management

unit4
• Definition of Conflict Management
• Conflict management is the practice of being able to
identify and handle conflicts sensibly, fairly, and
efficiently.
• Since conflicts in a business are a natural part of the
workplace, it is important that there are people who
understand conflicts and know how to resolve them.
• This is important in today's market more than ever.
Everyone is striving to show how valuable they are to the
company they work for and at times, this can lead to
disputes with other members of the team.
• Conflict Management Styles
• five conflict management styles that a
manager will follow according to Kenneth W.
Thomas and Ralph H. Kilmann:
• 1.Accomodating
An accommodating manager is one who
cooperates to a high degree.
This may be at the manager's own expense
and actually work against that manager's own
goals, objectives, and desired outcomes.
This approach is effective when the other
person is the expert or has a better solution.
• 2.Avoiding an issue is one way a manager
might attempt to resolve conflict. This type of
conflict style does not help the other staff
members reach their goals and does not help
the manager who is avoiding the issue and
cannot assertively pursue his or her own
goals. However, this works well when the issue
is trivial.
• 3.Collaborating
• Collaborating managers become partners or
pair up with each other to achieve both of
their goals in this style. This is how managers
break free of the win-lose paradigm and seek
the win-win. This can be effective for complex
scenarios where managers need to find a
novel solution.
• 4.Competing:
• This is the win-lose approach. A manager is
acting in a very assertive way to achieve his or
her own goals without seeking to cooperate
with other employees, and it may be at the
expense of those other employees.
• 5.Compromising:
• This is the lose-lose scenario where neither
person nor manager really achieves what they
want. This requires a moderate level of
assertiveness and cooperation. It may be
appropriate for scenarios where you need a
temporary solution or where both sides have
equally important goals.
• Conflict-
• Conflict can be defined as disagreement between two or
more individuals or groups , with each individual trying
to gain acceptance of its view or objectives over others.
• Conflict can be expression of hostility, negative attitude,
antagonism, aggression, rivalry and misunderstanding,
miscommunication, competition, different perception.
• According to Follet-
• “Conflict is the appearance of difference,
difference of opinions, of interests”.
• Nature of conflict-
• Conflicts are natural
• Conflicts are not big
• Conflict is multidimensional
• Conflict is universal
• Conflict is disruptive( break)
• Conflict is disagreement
• Parties are involved in conflicts.
• Perceived threats
• Causes/sources of conflict-
• 1)Organisational change-
People resist change. With the current social,political,
economic, and technological changes, people find it difficult
to cope up with the challenges.
• 2) Personality clashes-
• Not everyone feels thinks, or acts like same. Personality
differences causes conflicts.
• 3) Different sets of values-
• People hold different beliefs and value systems. This may lead
them to different directions.
4. lack of trust-
When individuals do not trust each other, this may lead to
conflict.
5.Communication Problem
Various communication problems in an organization among
people facilitate conflicts. This communication problem
occurs when tasks are being shifted from one person to
another.
• 6) job related issues-
lack of growth, opportunities, supervision, management
style, work environment etc. may lead to conflict
• Consequences of Organizational Conflicts
• Diversion of time and energy from the main issue
• Creates deadlocks
• Delays decision
• Interferes listening
• Hinders exploration of more and more
alternatives
• Destroys sensitivity
• Disruption in a meeting and arouses anger
• Provoke personal abuse
• Causes defensiveness
• Process of conflict-
• It includes following steps-
• 1) latent conflict
• 2)Perceived conflict
• 3)Felt conflict
• 4)Manifest conflict
• 5)Conflict outcome
• 1. latent conflict stage-when two or more
parties need each other to achieve desired
objectives.
• 2. Perceived conflict- members become aware
of the problems.
• 3. felt conflict- parties become emotionally
involved and begin to focus on differences of
opinion and interests.
• 4. manifest conflict- parties engage in actions
that help them to achieve their own objectives
and ruin those of others.
• 5. conflict outcome- conflict finally results in
an outcome which may be functional or
dysfunctional. If handled well , result is
functional. If mishandled, the results are
dysfunctional.
 Types of conflict
• Individual level
• Group level
• Organisational level
• 1) individual level-
• A) intra-individual conflict- these conflicts are
found within the individual and are
psychological in nature. These are as follows
Conflict due to frustration
Role conflict
• B) inter-individual conflicts- these conflicts
arise between two individuals having
competition. These may arise because of
following reasons-
• Personal differences
• Information deficiency
• Role incompatibility
• Environmental stress
 -lack of resources
-Downsizing
-Competition
-Uncertainity
• 2. Group – level conflict- conflicts between members of
group. They are two types-
• A) Intra-group – means within the group itself.
• B) Inter-group-means between two or more groups.
• Reasons- relationships
competition
task interdependence
ambiguity
status
• 3) Organisational conflict-These are of two
types-
• A) Intra-organisational conflict-
these are of three types-
1. Horizontal conflict
2. Vertical conflict
3. Line and staff conflict
B) Inter-organisational conflict
• Horizontal conflicts- conflict between
employees or departments at the same
hierarchial level in an organisation.
• Example- production department may prefer
long economical runs whereas sales
department insists on quick delivery
• Vertical conflict- conflict between various
levels in an organisation.
• Reasons- inadequate communication
differences of interests
different perception and attitude
• Line and staff conflict-it s not easy to divide
and distribute authorities and roles in equally
between the line and staff members.
• B) Inter-organsational conflict- conflict
between different organisation.
• Ex-conflict between head office and
production unit
• Process of Resolution of conflict-
• 1. Preliminary stage-
• This step involves knowing of full details of the
conflict.
• 2. Diagnosing the issue- under this stage, the
issue involved should be analyzed and
understood what the conflict is about.
• 3. Conflict Handling Mode- there are many
methods of handling conflict like-
• A) To avoid appearance of conflict
• B) Not permitting conflict to surface
• C) Mediation
• D)To let the parties settle their views
• E) Mutual problem solving
• Conflict Prevention Strategies-
• Preventing conflict is also a proactive
approach. Prevention means anticipating
causes of conflict and taking quick action to
stop them.
• 1) Participative Decision Making- whenever
problem arises, everyone must be involved in
finding alternative solutions. This
participation helps in preventing conflict.
• 2) Collaboration And Team Building-
collaboration and team building help to
change the potential causes of conflicts into
positive cooperation factors.
• Advantages of conflict-
• Motivate individuals to do better and to work
harder.
• Satisfy needs
• Provide creative and innovative ideas
• Facilitate understanding of people, problem,
and interrelationships
• Better coordination among individuals
• Disadvantages-
• If management is not able to solve the
conflicts , respect for them eroded.
• Reduced productivity
• Lack of direction
• Increased fragmentation among individuals
• Lack of ideas
• Reduced quality of work
thank you!!