CONFLICT MANAGEMENT GROUP NEDA KHAVARI SALPY DOMBOURIAN RADHIKA UMAKANTH AREIJ ALNAJJAR

WHAT IS CONFLICT ? Conflict is a natural disagreement resulting from individuals or groups that differ in: Attitudes Beliefs Values Needs Perceptions Power Feelings and emotions

INGREDIENTS OF CONFLICT Needs - Needs are things that are essential to our well-being. Conflicts arise when we ignore others' needs, our own needs or the group's needs. Perceptions - Misperceptions or differing perceptions may come from: self-perceptions, others' perceptions, differing perceptions of situations and perceptions of threat. Power - How people define and use power is an important influence on the number and types of conflicts that occur. This also influences how conflict is managed. Conflicts can arise when people try to make others change their actions or to gain an unfair advantage.

INGREDIENTS OF CONFLICT Values - Values are beliefs or principles we consider to be very important. Serious conflicts arise when people hold incompatible values or when values are not clear. Conflicts also arise when one party refuses to accept the fact that the other party holds something as a value rather than a preference. Feelings and emotions - Many people let their feelings and emotions become a major influence over how they deal with conflict. Conflicts can also occur because people ignore their own or others' feelings and emotions. Other conflicts occur when feelings and emotions differ over a particular issue.

CONFLICT IS OFTEN NECESSARY Helps to raise and address problems. Energizes work to be on the most appropriate issues. Helps people "be real", for example, it motivates them to participate. Helps people learn how to recognize and benefit from their differences. Conflict is not like discomfort and is not always the problem but, it is the problem when: Hampers productivity. Lowers morale. Causes more and continued conflicts. Causes inappropriate behaviors.

WHAT IS CONFLICT MANAGEMENT ? Conflict management is the process of planning to avoid conflict where possible and organizing to resolve conflict where it does happen, as rapidly and smoothly as possible. Conflict management involves acquiring skills related to conflict resolution, self-awareness about conflict modes, conflict communication skills, and establishing a structure for management of conflict in your environment.

CAUSES OR SOURCES OF ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT 1.Scarcity of resources (finance, equipment, facilities, etc) 2.Different attitudes, values or perceptions 3.Disagreements about needs, goals, priorities and interests 4.Poor communication 5.Poor or inadequate organizational structure 6.Lack of teamwork 7.Lack of clarity in roles and responsibilities

CONFLICT BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL People have differing styles of: communication ambition political religious views different cultural background

MANAGERIAL ACTIONS THAT CAUSE WORKPLACE CONFLICT 1. Poor communication . Employees experience continuing surprises, they aren't informed of new decisions, programs, etc. . Employees don't understand reasons for decisions, they aren't involved in decision-making. 2.THE ALIGNMENT/ AMOUNT OF RESOURCES IS INSUFFICIENT. THERE IS: . Disagreement about "who does what“ . Stress from working with inadequate resources

MANAGERIAL ACTIONS THAT CAUSE WORKPLACE CONFLICT CONTD. 3. Conflicting values or actions among managers and employees, for example: a. Personalities do not match b. Disagreement on an action/decision made 4. Leadership problems, including inconsistent, missing, too-strong or uninformed leadership (at any level in the organization), evidenced by: a. Avoiding conflict, "passing the buck" with little follow-through on decisions. b. Employees see the same continued issues in the workplace. c. Supervisors don't understand

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES 1. Analyze the conflict 2.Determine management strategy 3.Pre-negotiation 4.Negotiation 5.Post-negotiation

1. ANALYZE THE CONFLICT Groups involved Who are the groups involved? Who do they represent? How are they organized? What is their power base? Are the groups capable of working together? What are the historical relationships among the groups?

Substance How did the conflict arise Substance How did the conflict arise? How are the main and secondary issues described? Can negative issues be reframed positively? Are the issues negotiable? Have positions been taken and, if so, are there common interests? What information is available and what other information is  needed? What values or interests are challenged?

Collaboration Compromise Competition Accommodation Avoidance DETERMINE THE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY – 5 MODES PEOPLE USE TO ADDRESS CONFLICT Collaboration Compromise Competition Accommodation Avoidance

STEP 3: PRE-NEGOTIATION The following should occur prior to negotiation Initiation - One partner initiates the negotiation and begins the process. If no resolution is reached the others are encouraged to seek a trusted outsider could be brought in as a facilitator. Assessment - Conditions must be right for negotiation to be successful. Majors are identified and invited. All parties must be willing to collaborate with the others. Reasonable deadlines and sufficient resources to support the effort must exist. Parties need to identify the major items of discussions and exclude the minor issues.

CONTINUED Ground rules and agenda - The groups must agree on ground rules for communication, negotiation and decision making within an established agenda. They should agree on the goals & objectives of the negotiation process. Organization - Meeting times and places must be agreed on. People must be contacted and encouraged to attend. Minutes must be taken so that information can be distributed before and after meetings to all involved parties. Joint fact-finding - The groups must agree on what information is relevant to the conflict and put a roadmap to identify the questions and answers mechanism. This should include what is known and not known about social and technical issues.

STEP 4: NEGOTIATION. Interests - When negotiating focus and discuss interests, rather than stated positions. Interests include the reasons, needs, concerns and motivations underlying positions. Main goal should be Satisfaction of interests. Options – Create and encourage alternatives and options to resolve conflicts, concentrate on solutions for satisfying interests. Do not judge ideas or favor any of the options suggested. Evaluation – Discuss all the options only after the partners have finished listing all the alternatives. Identify which ideas are best for satisfying various interests.

CONTINUED Written agreement - Document areas of agreement and identify disagreement to ensure common understanding. This helps ensure that agreements can be remembered and communicated clearly to all parties. Commitment - Each partner must be confident that the others will honor and carry out their parts of the agreement. Discuss and agree upon methods and mechanism to ensure partners understand and honor their commitments.

STEP 5: POST-NEGOTIATION Upon negotiation completion, the group will need to tabulate and implement the decisions made. Some key steps include: Ratification - The partners must get agreement support from organizations and parties that have a role to play in the agreement. These organizations should be partners and should have been involved in the main previous steps. Each organization will need to follow its own procedures to review and adopt the agreement. Implementation – Once an agreement is reached you and your partners jobs should continue to communicate and collaborate to ensure the agreement is carried out. The partnership will need to have a plan to monitor progress, document success, resolve problems, renegotiate terms and celebrate success. Negotiation skills. Negotiation is an art and an important skill for reaching an agreement when conflicts develop at home, at work and when dealing with issues like those related to watershed management.

CONTINUED Separate people from the problem. Approach parties on individual basis when negotiating, and remember you're dealing with people who have their own unique needs, emotions and perceptions. Some conflicts are based on differences in thinking and perceptions. These conflicts may exist mainly in peoples' minds. It helps for each party to put themselves into the other's shoes so they can understand each other's point of view and their state of mind. Recognize and understand the other side's emotions as well as your own. Identify and openly discuss differences in perceptions, being careful not to place blame.

CONCLUSION This scenario tackles a real life problem that is not unique and may be found in many companies throughout the world. It can be seen that the real life Managers approach failed to solve the problem and resulted in the company losing an employee. Employee turnover can be costly to any business. It is important that Managers not only spot conflicts within the workplace but that they deal with them in a timely manner. Failure to do so can have a drastic effect and often leads to the conflict growing and ultimately harder to resolve.