Conflict, Power and Politics in

organizations
Dr. Roomana Zeb
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology, UoP
 Conflict in organizations
• The nature of conflict
• Almost every working relationship will produce some degree of
conflict across time.
• Conflict can occur in any situation in which two or more parties
feel themselves in opposition. Conflict is an interpersonal
process that arises from disagreement over the goals to attain
or the methods to be used to accomplish those goals.
• Conflict arise due to task interdependence, ambiguity of roles,
policies, and rules, personality differences, ineffective
communications, the competition over scarce resources,
personal stress and underlying differences in attitudes, beliefs
and experiences.
• One survey revealed that managers spend 20% of the time
dealing with conflict either as mediators or direct participants.
 Conflict in organizations
• Levels of conflict
• Intrapersonal conflict: Due to competing roles.
• Interpersonal conflict: Temperaments of two persons are
incompatible and their personalities clash. It can also be personality
differences and failures of communication.
• Intergroup conflict: can arise due to different viewpoints, group
loyalties, and competition.
• Some conflict may be constructive. Sometimes intergroup conflict is
escalated- intentionally stimulated in organizations because of its
constructive consequences. On other occasions it may be
deescalated-intentionally decrease it due to its destructive
consequences.
• The managerial challenge is to keep it at a moderate level.
 Conflict in organizations
Causes of conflict
• Model of Conflict resolution process Organizational change
Different sets of values
Threats to status
Contrasting perceptions
Lack of trust
Personality clashes
incivility

Perceptions of conflict
Constructive
destructive

Participants intentions
Winning
loosing
Resolution strategies
Avoiding
Smoothing
Forcing
Compromising
Confronting
Conflict outcomes
Loose-loose
Loose-win
Win-loose
Win-win
 Conflict in organizations
• Sources of conflict
• Organizational change
• Different sets of values
• Threats to status
• Contrasting perceptions
• Lack of trust
• Personality clashes
• Incivility: When employees fail to exhibit concern and
regard for others-worse yet- disrespect each other on
the job.
 Conflict in organizations
• Effects of conflicts
• Advantages
• 1. Search for improved approaches that lead to better
resolution
• 2. Become more creative to experiment new ideas.
• 3. Hidden conflicts can be confronted and solved.
• 4. May develop deeper understanding among parties.
• 5. Individuals may become more committed to the
outcome through their involvement in solving it.
 Conflict in organizations
• Disadvantages
• Cooperation and team work may deteriorate
• Distrust may grow among people who need to
coordinate their efforts.
• Motivation level decreases.
• People may feel defeated.
 Conflict in organizations
• A model of conflict
• The various sources discussed earlier give rise to
constructive or destructive conflict. If conflict will be
harmful, managers need to apply a conflict
resolution strategy to prevent, diminish, or remove
it. The outcomes of conflict (winning or loosing) may
be evaluated from the perspective of both parties.
• Conflict outcomes: conflict may produce four distinct
outcomes, depending on the approaches taken by
the people involved.
 Conflict in organizations
• Conflict outcomes

Win-Lose Win-Win
• Individual A’s outcome

Lose-Lose Lose-Win

• Individual B’s outcomes

 Conflict in organizations
• Participant intentions: Winning or loosing
• Resolution strategies: Intentions help participants select their
strategies
• Avoiding: physical or mental withdrawal from the conflict.
• Smoothing: places greatest emphasis on concern for others.
• Forcing: Use of power tactics to achieve a win.
• Compromising: searching for middle ground or willing to give
up something in exchange of something else.
• Confronting: facing a conflict directly and working it through
to a mutually satisfactory solution.
• Confronting: is a truly resolution approach.
 Conflict in organizations
• Negotiating Tactics
• How to attain a win-win solution?
• Time, seating in a comfortable fashion, no
observer, set deadlines, set minimum and
optimum goals, listen carefully, avoid blaming,
focus on issues not personalities, separate
facts from feelings.
 Assertive behaviour
• Assertiveness is a process of expressing
feelings, asking for legitimate changes, and
giving and receiving honest feedback. Assertive
people are direct, honest and expressive.
• Assertive behaviour is generally more effective
when it integrates a number of verbal and
nonverbal components, like body posture, eye
contact, congruent facial expressions, and
strong but modulated voice tone.
 Assertive behaviour
• Stages in assertive behaviour
• 1. Describe the behaviour
• 2. Express your feelings
• 3. Empathize
• 4. Offer problem solving alternatives
• 5. Indicate consequences
 Assertive behaviour
• Interpersonal orientations
• Interpersonal orientations stem from a combination of two view
points. First how do people view themselves? Second, how do they
view other people in general? The combination of either a positive
response (OK) or a negative response (not OK) to each question
results in four possible interpersonal orientations:
• I’m not OK – You are OK
• I’m not OK – You are not OK
• I’m OK – You are not OK
• I’m OK – You are OK = healthy interaction. Shows healthy acceptance
of self and respect for others. It lead to constructive
communications, productive conflict, and mutually satisfying
confrontations.
 Assertive behaviour
• Facilitating smooth relations
• Good interpersonal relations among co-workers and across organizational
levels take time, effort, knowledge, and skill. Interpersonal facilitation is a
capacity to focus on other’s personal needs, sensitivities and idiosyncrasies
and then work to keep conflict under control and collaborating high among
team members.
• Managers can attain it through:
• Building on their emotional intelligence
• Learning about co-workers personal lives
• Making mental notes about employees likes and dislikes, values, interests
and preferences
• Monitoring other people's degree of job involvement, mood level,
commitment, and satisfaction
• Developing and applying their facilitative skills in a variety of social settings
 Assertive behaviour
• Stroking is any act of recognition for another. It applies to
physical, verbal, and nonverbal contact between people.
• Strokes can be positive, negative, or mixed. Positive strokes
feel good when they are received and they contribute to
the recipients sense of being OK. Negative strokes hurts
physically and emotionally and make the recipient feel less
OK about him/herself. Mixed strokes contain both positive
and negative element.
• Conditional strokes are offered to employees if they
perform correctly or avoid problems. Unconditional strokes
are presented without any connection to behaviour.
 Assertive behaviour
• Probable relationship of interpersonal orientations with conflict
resolution strategies and behaviour

• Interpersonal orientations Conflict Resolution strategy Probable

behaviour
• I’m not OK – You are OK Avoidance Nonassertive
• I’m not OK – You are not OK Smoothing Nonassertive
• I’m OK – You are not OK Forcing Aggressive
• I’m OK – You are OK Confronting Assertive
 Power and politics
• Power is the ability to influence other people and
events. Power is earned and gained by leaders on the
bases of their personalities, activities, and the
situations in which they operate.
• Types of power
• Personal/Referent power
• Legitimate power
• Expert power
• Reward power
• Coercive power
 Power and politics
• Effects of power bases
• The five type of power are developed from different
sources, but they are interrelated in practice. Reward,
coercive and legitimate power are essentially derived
from one’s position in the organization. Expert and
personal power reside within a person. When even
one power base is removed from a supervisor,
employees may perceive that other bases of influence
will decline as well. The use of the power base must
fit its organizational context in order to be effective.
 Power and politics
• Managers also need to be concerned about the effects of various power
bases on employee motivation. The employee may respond in one of the
three ways. They may resist the leader’s initiative , especially if coercive
power is used consistently, without apparent cause, or in an arrogant
manner.
• They may comply with the leader’s wishes by meeting minimal expectations
while withholding extra effort.
• Legitimate power will likely result in compliance, as we as reward power
unless the rewards are substantial and directly related to employees needs.
• The most desirable outcome is commitment, which is the enthusiastic
release of energy and talent to satisfy the leader’s requests. Referent and
expert power are most likely to produce commitment , but legitimate and
reward power can also work well under certain conditions.
 Organizational politics
• Organizational politics refer to intentional behaviours that are
used to enhance or protect a person’s influence and self- interest
while also inspiring confidence and trust by others. Political skills
consist of four key dimensions:
• Being Socially astute: accurately perceiving and understanding
what is taking place in social interactions
• Having interpersonal influence: adapting one’s behaviours to
most effectively elicit a desired response from others
• Creating useful networks: developing contacts into useful allies
and supporters
• Expressing sincerity : exhibiting honest and authentic intensions
in one’s interactions with others such that they trust you.
 Organizational politics
• Influence and political power: leaders can use a number
of tactics to gain political power.
• Tactics
• Social exchange : based on norm of reciprocity
• Alliances : Two or more people join to get benefits
• Identification with higher authority : Gain special privileges due to it
• Control of information
• Selective service
• Power and status symbols
• Power plays
• Networks : Developing and maintaining contacts among a group of people
with shared interests