1. Conflict

2. Put yourself in the protagonist’s place (be ‘you’ in the case) – how would you handle Bossman/the situation with Bossman?

3. Which style(s) do(es) the strategy you just designed fit in with?
Is there a match between the strategy you just designed (and its underlying style)?

4. In which direction would you like to develop your conflict handling style?

5. What other suggestions do you have for resolving the conflict between Bossman and the protagonist?

6. What is conflict?
Process whereby one party perceives that another party has taken or will take actions that are incompatible with one’s own interests
Form of interaction among parties that differ in interests, perceptions, and preferences (Kolb et al., 1995: 282)
Situation in which goal-directed behaviour of an individual or a group interferes with the goal directed behaviour of other individuals or groups (George & Jones, 1996)

7. Levels of conflict in an organisation
Intrapersonal
Approach- approach
Avoidance-avoidance
Approach-avoidance
Dissonance and ambivalence
Dilemmas and choices
(values, attitudes, feelings, etc.)
Interpersonal
Individual differences and perceptual errors
Communication gaps (including destructive criticism)
Competence/performance, visibility, competition
Power, authority and status
Goal incompatibility
Interdependence and reciprocity
Competition for scarce resources
Grudges and distrust

8. Group
Intragroup
Intergroup

9. Differences between people are inevitable and need not be labelled either good or bad
Strategies to deal with differences should be situation specific

10. TRANSITIONS IN CONFLICT THOUGHT – dysfunction to function, Hatch
High
Organizational effectiveness
Low
Low
High
Level of conflict

11. Types of interpersonal conflict
Task conflict
Content and goals of work
Relationship conflict
Interpersonal relationships
Process conflict
How work gets done

12. Pondy’s model of organisational conflict
Phase of anticipation latent
Phase of conscious, but unexpressed, conflict
difference
felt conflict
Phase of discussion
Phase of open dispute
Phase of open conflict manifest conflict
conflict aftermath

13. Conflict handling styles
Assertive
Competing/Forcing/
Dominating
Collaborating/ Problem-solving
Emphasis on one’s own concerns
Compromising
Unassertive
Avoiding
Accommodating
Unco-operative
Co-operative
Emphasis on others’ concerns/co-operation

14. Avoiding – the desire to withdraw from/suppress a conflict
Competing – a desire to satisfy one’s interests, regardless of the impact on the other party to the conflict
Accommodating – the willingness of one party in a conflict to place the opponent’s interests above his/her own
Compromising – a situation in which each party to a conflict is willing to give up something
Collaborating – a situation in which the parties to a conflict each desire to satisfy fully the concerns of all parties

15. Manager’s task
Organisational environment – its culture, structure and people orientation – as well as its leadership are critical factors providing the background. These could work towards pre-empting conflict or ensuring that conflict is healthy for the organisation
Influencing interpersonal and intrapersonal issues

16. Conflict resolution techniques
Understand the problem
What is the difference about?
What has caused the difference?
What stage have the differences reached?
Separating people from problems
Using objective criteria
Exploring options
Third party interventions

17. Where does power come from?
Power is the potential ability of one person/department to influence other persons/departments to behave in ways that they would have otherwise not done
Successful influence
Sources of personal power
Legitimate/formal
Reward
Coercive
Expert
Referent