What cause conflicts

2/1/2024
 HOW COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN LEADS TO CONFLICT

➢ In response to massive layoffs in the 1990s, Dofasco’s mill

employees became unhappy and sought ways to press
grievances against the company and protect their jobs.
Employees were kept out of the loop, felt they were not
respected, and looked to alternative arrangements to get
their voices heard by management.
➢ The communication breakdown led to a major conflict
between the employees and the company’s CEO. What can
be done about conflict to make sure it does not get out of
control?
➢ Conflict can be a serious problem in any organization. Still, it
can certainly hurt an organization’s performance and lead to
the loss of good employees.
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WHAT ARE CEOS GETTING COACHING FOR?

A recent poll conducted by Stanford University and the

Miles Group asked CEOs two questions:

➢ What skills are you working on?

➢ What skills do you think you need more development

for?

They also asked their boards of directors what skills

CEOs need development in.

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Areas in which CEOs Receive Coaching

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Conflict management
➢ Is critical in the CEO role— just about anything that gets to the
CEO’s desk has an element of pleasing someone and making
someone else unhappy.

➢ When the CEO avoids conflict, it can shut down the whole
organization: Decisions are not made and problems fester,
creating a domino effect of unproductive behaviors down the
ladder.

➢ A CEO who can manage and channel conflict in a

constructive way can get to the root of issues, apply rigor to the
team’s thinking, and, ultimately drive the best outcomes. So
cultivating this skill can be a powerful tool to help the entire
organization.

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Conflict defined
➢ Conflict Definition

A process that begins when one party perceives that

another party has negatively affected, or is about to
negatively affect, something that the first party cares
about.

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 Functional vs. Dysfunctional conflict

➢ functional conflict
Conflict that supports
the goals of the group
and improves its
performance.

➢ dysfunctional conflict
Conflict that hinders
group performance

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The relationship between conflict and performance

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Conflict and Group
Performance

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Cognitive vs. Affective conflict
➢ cognitive conflict

Conflict that is task-oriented and related to differences

in perspectives and judgments.

➢ affective conflict

Conflict that is emotional and aimed at a person rather

than an issue.

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 Causes of Organizational Conflict
1. Substantive conflict. This occurs because people have different
opinions on important issues in the organization that affect them.
➢ For example, there may be differences of opinion about which advertising
campaign would best promote a new product. Such conflict can result in
better decisions because both sides have to defend their position.
2. Affective conflict. This is conflict that engenders strong emotions such
as anger or disgust. This may be due to personality differences or
arguments.
➢ For example, two individuals in the organization escalate an argument to
the level of shouting (it happens). This form of conflict may be highly
disruptive to both parties and may even create stress for other members
of the work group.
3. Process conflict. At times, people disagree on what course of action to
pursue or the best way to operate even after a decision has been made.
➢ For example, team members may disagree on what aspects of a project
should be assigned to specific individuals. This type of conflict reduces
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team performance
 Conflict Management Strategies
➢ Conflict researchers often use dual concern theory to describe people’s
conflict management strategies.

➢ Dual concern theory considers how one’s degree of cooperativeness

(the degree to which one tries to satisfy the other person’s concerns) and
assertiveness (the

➢ The five conflict-handling strategies identified by the theory are as

follows:
• Forcing. Imposing one’s will on the other party.
• Problem solving. Trying to reach an agreement that satisfies both one’s own and
the other party’s aspirations as much as possible.
• Avoiding. Ignoring or minimizing the importance of the issues creating the conflict.
• Yielding. Accepting and incorporating the will of the other party.
• Compromising. Balancing concern for oneself with concern for the other party in
order to reach a solution.
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Conflict – Handling Strategies and Accompanying Behaviours

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➢ What are the advantages and disadvantages of
every strategy?
➢ When we use each strategy ?

➢ G1: Forcing
➢ G2: Avoiding
➢ G3: Yielding
➢ G4: Problem solving
➢ G 5: Compromising

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Conflict Management Strategies

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 Conflict Management Strategies
➢ Forcing is a win-lose solution,
➢ as is yielding, while problem solving seeks a win-win solution.
➢ Avoiding conflict and pretending it does not exist, and compromising, so
that neither person gets what they want, can yield lose-lose solutions.
➢ these five strategies, along with specific actions that one might take when
using them.
➢ Choosing a particular strategy for resolving conflict depends on a variety
of factors.
➢ some situations call for particular strategies. For instance, when a small
child insists on trying to run into the street, a parent may need a forcing
strategy to restrain the child.
➢ Co-workers who are having a conflict over setting deadlines to complete
a project on time may decide that problem solving is the best strategy to
use.

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Forcing / Competing Style

Should be used when

quick, decisive action
is vital on
important issues or
emergencies
 Choosing Strategies to Deal With Conflicts
➢ Forcing

➢ ➔ In emergencies

➢ ➔ On important but unpopular issues

➢ ➔ On vital issues when you know you are right

➢ ➔ Against people who take advantage of noncompetitive behaviour

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 Choosing Strategies to Deal With Conflicts
➢ Problem solving

➢ ➔ If both sets of concerns are too important to be compromised

➢ ➔ To merge different perspectives

➢ ➔ To gain commitment through a consensus

➢ ➔ To mend a relationship

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 Collaborating / problem solving Style

Enables a win-win,
may require bargaining and
negotiation
Important when both sets of concern
are
too important to be
compromised, insights from different
people need to be merged in an
overall solution, and when the
commitment of both sides is needed
for a consensus.
 Choosing Strategies to Deal With Conflicts

➢ Avoiding

➢ ➔ When an issue is trivial

➢ ➔ When your concerns won’t be met

➢ ➔ When potential disruption outweighs the benefits of resolution

➢ ➔ To let people cool down and regain perspective

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Avoiding Style

Appropriate with trivial

issues, when there is no
chance of winning, or
when disruption would be
costly.
Choosing Strategies to Deal With Conflicts
➢ Yielding

➢ ➔ When you find you are wrong

➢ ➔ To show your reasonableness

➢ ➔ When issues are more important to others than yourself

➢ ➔ To build social credits for later issues

➢ ➔ When harmony and stability are especially important

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Accommodating (Yielding) Style

Works when people realize

they are wrong, an issue is
more important to others
than to oneself
Used when maintaining
harmony is especially
important
Choosing Strategies to Deal With Conflicts

➢ Compromising

➢ ➔ When goals are important but not worth more assertive

approaches

➢ ➔ When opponents are committed to mutually exclusive goals

➢ ➔ To achieve temporary settlements to complex issues

➢ ➔ To arrive at expedient solutions under time pressure

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Compromising Style
Moderate amount of
asertiveness and
cooperation.
Appropriate when goals on
both sides are equally
important, when
opponents have equal
and both sides want to
split the difference, or
when people need to
arrive at temporary or
expedient solutions
under time pressure.
How leaders resolve conflicts

➢ An organizational development (OD) company

provides some specific examples of where
conflict in organizations may originate and
recommend solutions a leader may follow to
resolve each type:

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How leaders resolve conflicts
➢ 1. Personalities
➢ 2. Sensitivity/hurt
➢ 3. Differences in perception and values
➢ 4. Differences over facts
➢ 5. Differences over goals and priorities
➢ 6. Differences over methods
➢ 7. Competition for scarce resources
➢ 8. Competition for supremacy
➢ 9. Misunderstanding
➢ 10. Unfulfilled expectations

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1) Personalities
➢ Organizational strife is sometimes traced to personalities.

➢ This is one person differing with another based on how he or

she feels about that person.

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2. Sensitivity/hurt
➢ This occurs when a person, because of low self-esteem,
insecurity, or other factors in his or her personal life, sometimes
feels attacked by perceived criticism.

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3. Differences in perception and values
➢ Most conflict results from the varying ways people view the
world. These incongruent views are traceable to differences in
personality, culture, race, experience, education, occupation,
and socioeconomic class, as examples.

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4. Differences over facts
➢ A fact is a piece of data that can be quantified or an event that
can be documented. Arguments over facts typically need not
last very long since they are verifiable. But a statement like “It is
a fact that you are insensitive to my feelings” is neither
documentable nor quantifiable is actually a difference in
perception.

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5. Differences over goals and priorities
➢ • This is a disagreement over strategy. For example, this may be
an argument about whether a bank should focus more
resources on international banking or on community banking.
Another example would be whether or not to increase the
amount of advanced professional training given to employees.

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6. Differences over methods
➢ • Two sides may have similar goals but disagree on how to
achieve them.
➢ For example, a manager and their direct reports may not agree
on how a training program should be conducted.

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7. Competition for scarce resources

➢ This occurs when there are limited resources that must be

allocated in the organization.
➢ For example, two managers might argue over who has the
greater need for an assistant, whose budget should be
increased more, or how to allocate recently purchased
computers. Dealing with Differences

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8. Competition for supremacy
➢ This occurs when one person seeks to outdo or outshine
another person.
➢ You might see it when two employees compete for a promotion
or for power.
➢ Depending on personalities, this type of conflict can be visible or
very subtle.
.

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9. Misunderstanding
➢ The majority of what looks like interpersonal conflict is actually a
communication breakdown.
➢ Communication, if not attended to, is as likely to fail as to
succeed.
➢ And when it does, a listener’s incorrect inferences about a
speaker’s intent often create interpersonal conflict.

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10. Unfulfilled expectations
➢ • Many of the causes listed previously can be linked to one
person not fulfilling the expectations of another. Unfulfilled
expectations are often the cause of firings and other forms of
relational breakdown.
➢ Expectations go unfulfilled because they may be unreasonable,
inappropriate, too numerous, or unstated.

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Tips for leaders whose employees are having a
personality conflict
➢ ➔ Investigate and document conflict.

➢ ➔ If appropriate, take corrective action (e.g.,

feedback or behaviour shaping).

➢ ➔ If necessary, attempt informal dispute

resolution.

➢ ➔ Refer difficult conflicts to human resource

specialists or hired counsellors for formal resolution
attempts and other interventions.

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 LEADERSHIP IMPLICATIONS:PERSPECTIVE TAKING

➢ Having EI and empathy may be a critical skill for resolving

conflict.

➢ To do this, a person needs to be able to see the situation from

the other party’s point of view.

➢ This is called perspective taking, which is defined as the

ability to see things from another person’s perspective that
holds a view that conflicts with your own.

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 LEADERSHIP IMPLICATIONS:PERSPECTIVE TAKING

➢ There are two reasons why perspective taking helps resolve

conflict.

➢ First, when people engage in active perspective taking, they are

more likely to empathize with the other person.

➢ Second, the expression of perspective taking relates to positive

attributions about another person’s behavior, such as
recognizing the effects of external circumstances on what they
do

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