1. Chapter 11 Conflict in Organizations
Chapter 11: Conflict in Organizations Conflict and Conflict Management
20 February 11997July 17, 1996
Chapter 11 Conflict in Organizations 1

2. Learning Goals Define conflict and conflict behavior in organizations
Distinguish between functional and dysfunctional conflict
Understand different levels and types of conflict in organizations
Analyze conflict episodes and the linkages among them

3. Learning Goals (Cont.)
Understand the role of latent conflict in an episode and its sources in an organization
Describe a conflict management model
Use various techniques to reduce and increase conflict
Appreciate some international and ethical issues in conflict management

4. Chapter Overview Introduction Functional and Dysfunctional Conflict
Levels and Types of Conflict in Organizations
Conflict Episodes
Conflict Frames and Orientations
Latent Conflict: The Sources of Conflict in Organizations

5. Chapter Overview (Cont.)
Conflict Management
Reducing Conflict
Increasing Conflict
International Aspects of Conflict in Organizations
Ethical Issues in Conflict in Organizations

6. Conflict Conflicto Conflit Conflito Introduction
Conflict: What does the word mean to you?
Conflict
Conflicto
Conflit
Conflito

7. Introduction (Cont.) Definition Opposition Incompatible behavior
Antagonistic interaction
Block another party from reaching her or his goals
Range of conflict behavior
Doubt or questioning Annihilation of opponent

8. Introduction (Cont.) Key elements Conflict events
Interdependence with another party
Perception of incompatible goals
Conflict events
Disagreements
Debates
Disputes
Preventing someone from reaching valued goals

9. Introduction (Cont.) Conflict is not always bad for an organization
Do not need to reduce all conflict
Conflict episodes: ebb and flow of conflict
An inevitable part of organization life
Needed for growth and survival
Conflict management includes increasing and decreasing conflict
Major management responsibility

10. Introduction (Cont.) Toda unanimidade é burra.
Brazilian Saying (Ditado popular, Portuguese)
Toda unanimidade é burra.
(“It’s dumb if we all agree.”)
Special thanks to Gustavo Sette Rabello,
Graduate Student, The Robert O. Anderson Graduate School of Management, 1996

11. Functional and Dysfunctional Conflict
Functional conflict: works toward the goals of an organization or group
Dysfunctional conflict: blocks an organi-zation or group from reaching its goals
Dysfunctionally high conflict: what you typically think about conflict
Dysfunctionally low conflict: an atypical view
Levels vary among groups

12. Functional and Dysfunctional Conflict (Cont.)
“Constructive Conflict”--Mary Parker Follett (1925)
Increases information and ideas
Encourages innovative thinking
Unshackles different points of view
Reduces stagnation

13. Functional and Dysfunctional Conflict (Cont.)
Dysfunctionally high conflict
Tension, anxiety, stress
Drives out low conflict tolerant people
Reduced trust
Poor decisions because of withheld or distorted information
Excessive management focus on the conflict

14. Functional and Dysfunctional Conflict (Cont.)
Dysfunctionally low conflict
Few new ideas
Poor decisions from lack of innovation and information
Stagnation
Business as usual

15. Levels and Types of Conflict
Type of conflict
Level of conflict
Organization
Within and between organizations
Group
Within and between groups
Individual
Within and between individuals

16. Levels and Types of Conflict (Cont.)
Intraorganization conflict
Conflict that occurs within an organization
At interfaces of organization functions
Can occur along the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the organization
Vertical conflict: between managers and subordinates
Horizontal conflict: between departments and work groups

17. Levels and Types of Conflict (Cont.)
Intragroup conflict
Conflict among members of a group
Early stages of group development
Ways of doing tasks or reaching group's goals
Intergroup conflict: between two or more groups

18. Levels and Types of Conflict (Cont.)
Interpersonal conflict
Between two or more people
Differences in views about what should be done
Efforts to get more resources
Differences in orientation to work and time in different parts of an organization

19. Levels and Types of Conflict (Cont.)
Intrapersonal conflict
Occurs within an individual
Threat to a person’s values
Feeling of unfair treatment
Multiple and contradictory sources of socialization
Related to the Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (Chapter 5) and negative inequity (Chapter 8)

20. Levels and Types of Conflict (Cont.)
Interorganization conflict
Between two or more organizations
Not competition
Examples: suppliers and distributors, especially with the close links now possible

21. Simple conflict episode
Conflict Episodes
Simple conflict episode
Latent conflict
Manifest conflict
Conflict aftermath

22. Conflict Episodes (Cont.)
Latent conflict: antecedents of conflict behavior that can start conflict episode
Manifest conflict: observable conflict behavior
Conflict aftermath
End of a conflict episode
Often the starting point of a related episode
Becomes the latent conflict for another episode
Conflict reduction: lower the conflict level

23. Conflict Episodes Latent conflict Manifest conflict Conflict reduction
Conflict aftermath

24. Conflict Episodes (Cont.)
The antecedents of conflict
Example: scarce resources
Latent conflict
Manifest conflict
Conflict aftermath

25. Conflict Episodes (Cont.)
Some latent conflict in the lives of college students
Parking spaces
Library copying machines
Computer laboratory
Books in the bookstore
School and other parts of your life
University policies

26. Conflict Episodes (Cont.)
Observable conflict behavior Example: disagreement, discussion
Latent conflict
Manifest conflict
Conflict aftermath

27. Conflict Episodes (Cont.)
Manifest conflict
Latent conflict
Residue of a
conflict episode
Example:
compromise in
allocating scarce
resources leaves both
parties with less than
they wanted
Conflict aftermath

28. Conflict Episodes Latent conflict Perceived conflict Felt conflict
Manifest conflict
Text book Figure 11.1
Conflict reduction
Conflict aftermath

29. Conflict Episodes (Cont.)
Perceived conflict
Become aware that one is in conflict with another party
Can block out some conflict
Can perceive conflict when no latent conditions exist
Example: misunderstanding another person’s position on an issue

30. Conflict Episodes (Cont.)
Felt conflict
Emotional part of conflict
Personalizing the conflict
Oral and physical hostility
Hard to manage episodes with high felt conflict
What people likely recall about conflict

31. Relationships Among Conflict Episodes
Episodes link through the connection of conflict aftermath to latent conflict
Effective conflict management: break the connection
Discover the latent conflicts and remove them

32. Relationships Among Conflict Episodes (Cont.)
Conflict reduction
Latent conflict
Manifest conflict
Conflict aftermath
Latent conflict
Manifest conflict
Conflict aftermath
Latent conflict
Manifest conflict
Conflict aftermath

33. Conflict Frames and Orientations
Perceptual sets that people bring to conflict episodes
Perceptual filters
Remove some information from an episode
Emphasize other information in an episode

34. Conflict Frames and Orientations (Cont.)
Relationship-Task
Cooperate-Win
Emotional-Intellectual

35. Conflict Frames and Orientations (Cont.)
Conflict frame dimensions
Relationship-Task
Relationship: focuses on interpersonal relationships
Task: focuses on material aspects of an episode
Emotional-Intellectual
Emotional: focuses on feelings in the conflict episode (felt conflict)
Intellectual: focuses on observed behavior (manifest conflict)

36. Conflict Frames and Orientations (Cont.)
Conflict frame dimensions (cont.)
Cooperate-Win
Cooperate: emphasizes the role of all parties to the conflict
Win: wants to maximize personal gain

37. Conflict Frames and Orientations (Cont.)
Limited research results
End an episode with a relationship or intellectual frame: feel good about relationship with other party
Cooperation-focused people end with more positive results than those focused on winning

38. Conflict Frames and Orientations (Cont.)
Conflict orientations
Dominance: wants to win; conflict is a battle
Collaborative: wants to find a solution that satisfies everyone
Compromise: splits the differences
Avoidance: backs away
Accommodative: focuses on desires of other party

39. Conflict Frames and Orientations (Cont.)
Can change during conflict episode
How firmly the person holds orientation
Importance of the issues to the person
Perception of opponent's power
Collaborative orientation: more positive long-term benefits than the others

40. Conflict Frames and Orientations (Cont.)
Conflict orientation and the conflict aftermath
Avoidance
Accommodative
Dominance
Collaborative
Compromise
No residue
High residue
Conflict aftermath

41. Conflict Frames and Orientations (Cont.)
Combinations of conflict orientations in a group
Dominance, avoidance
Dominance, dominance
Avoidance, avoidance
Dominance, collaborative, compromise
Collaborative, compromise, avoidance
Collaborative, compromise, avoidance, dominance, accommodative

42. Latent Conflict: The Sources of Conflict in Organizations
Antecedents to conflict episodes
Many natural conditions of organizations act as latent conflicts
Lurk in the background; trigger conflict when right conditions occur
Does not always lead to manifest conflict
Give us clues about how to reduce dysfunctionally high conflict

43. Latent Conflict: The Sources of Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
Some representative latent conflict
Scarce resources: money, equipment, facilities
Organizational differentiation: different orientations in different parts of organization
Rules, procedures, policies: behavioral guides that can cause clashes
Cohesive groups: value and orientation differences among groups

44. Latent Conflict: The Sources of Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
Some representative latent conflict (cont.)
Interdependence: forces interaction
Communication barriers: shift work and jargon
Ambiguous jurisdictions: areas of authority not clearly defined
Reward systems: reward different behavior in different parts of the organization
Sales on commission; manufacturing rewarded for meeting schedules. Communication differences.

45. Conflict Management Model
Maintain conflict at functional levels
Not complete elimination
Reducing to functional levels
Increasing dysfunctionally low conflict
Choose desired level of conflict based on perceived conflict requirements
Varies in different parts of an organization
Manager’s tolerance for conflict plays a role

46. Conflict Management Model (Cont.)
Organizational
culture
Product or
service
Fast-changing
environment
Perceived conflict requirements
Desired conflict level

47. Conflict Management Model (Cont.)
Dysfunctionally
low conflict
Dysfunctionally
high conflict
Normal
Increase
conflict
Decrease
conflict
Text book Figure 11.2

48. Conflict Management Model (Cont.)
Symptoms of dysfunctionally high conflict
Low trust
Information distortion
Tension/antagonism
Stress
Sabotage of organization’s product or service

49. Conflict Management Model (Cont.)
Symptoms of dysfunctionally low conflict
Deny differences
Repress controversial information
Prohibit disagreements
Avoid interactions
Walk away from conflict episode

50. Reducing Conflict Overview
Lose-lose methods: parties to the conflict episode do not get what they want
Win-lose methods: one party a clear winner; other party a clear loser
Win-win methods: each party to the conflict episode gets what he or she wants

51. Reducing Conflict (cont.)
Lose-lose methods
Avoidance
Withdraw, stay away
Does not permanently reduce conflict
Compromise
Bargain, negotiate
Each loses something valued
Smoothing: find similarities

52. Reducing Conflict (Cont.)
Win-lose methods
Dominance
Overwhelm other party
Overwhelms an avoidance orientation
Authoritative command: decision by person in authority
Majority rule: voting

53. Reducing Conflict (Cont.)
Win-win methods
Problem solving: find root causes
Integration: meet interests and desires of all parties
Superordinate goal: desired by all but not reachable alone

54. Reducing Conflict (Cont.)
Summary
Lose-lose methods: compromise
Win-lose methods: dominance
Win-win methods: problem solving

55. Increasing Conflict Increase conflict when it is dysfunctionally low
Heterogeneous groups: members have different backgrounds
Devil’s advocate: offers alternative views
Organizational culture: values and norms that embrace conflict and debate

56. Conflict Insights Possible positive effects of conflict
Latent conflict
Conflict aftermath
Conflict episodes
Links between episodes
Latent conflict and methods of reduction

57. International Aspects of Conflict in Organizations
Cultures that emphasize individualism and competition
Positively value conflict
English-speaking countries, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium
Cultures that emphasize collaboration, cooperation, conformity
Negatively value conflict
Many Asian and Latin American countries; Portugal, Greece, Turkey

58. International Aspects of Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
No direct research evidence
Cultural differences imply different functional conflict levels

59. International Aspects of Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
Cross-cultural research has dealt with intergroup processes
Collaborative and cooperative cultures expect little conflict during intergroup interactions
Favor suppression of conflict with little discussion about people's feelings
Felt conflict likely part of some conflict episodes but hidden from public view

60. International Aspects of Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
Managers from an individualistic country operating in a less individualistic country
Acceptable to express feelings during a conflict episode
Suppression of feelings could baffle them
Increasing conflict can confuse local people
Almost immediate dysfunctional results

61. Ethical Issues in Conflict in Organizations
Tolerance for conflict
Manager with a high tolerance for conflict; keeps conflict levels too high for subordinates
Should such managers reveal their intentions about desired conflict levels?
Full disclosure: subordinates could leave the group if conflict levels became dysfunctionally stressful
Ethical question applies equally to newly hired employees

62. Ethical Issues in Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
Deliberately increasing conflict is an effort to guide behavior in a desired direction
Subtle methods of increasing conflict (forming heterogeneous groups) connote manipulation
Full disclosure: manager states his intention to use conflict to generate ideas and innovation
If people are free to join a group or not, the ethical issue likely subsides

63. Ethical Issues in Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
Experiencing intrapersonal conflict
Requests to act against one's moral values
Observing behavior that one considers unethical
Reduce intrapersonal conflict
Report unethical acts
Transfer to another part of the organization
Quit

64. Ethical Issues in Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
Different cultures place different values on conflict
Optimal conflict levels vary among countries
Lower levels conflict in collectivistic countries than individualistic countries
Should managers honor such values even if their home country values support higher levels of conflict?