CONFLICT

MANAGEMENT

NAKABAGO JOHN
Session objectives.
By the end of the session, participants should
be able to:
1. Define conflict.
2. Discuss the conflict triggers in organizations.
3. Explain the various conflict resolution
styles/modes.
4. Describe circumstances under which each
conflict resolution style may be appropriate.

2
Statement to reflect upon.

‘As conflict-difference-is here in the world, as we can

not avoid it, we should use it. Instead of condemning
it, we should set it to work for us. The chief job of a
mechanical engineer is to eliminate friction, but it is
true that he also capitalizes on friction.The
transmission of power by belts depends on friction
between the belt and the pulley. The friction between
the driving wheel of locomotive and the track is
necessary to haul the train’ (John Child)

3
Cont’d
 Conflict is an inevitable by-product of
interpersonal and inter-group dealing. It is a
fact of life, inevitable and often creative.

4
Cont’d
 Conflict is said to occur if there are two or
more parties whose interests are not
compatible.
 Parties are therefore in opposition.

5
What is conflict?
‘any situation in which two or more parties are
in opposition’

6
Cont’d

‘A relationship between two or more

parties( individuals or groups) who have, or
think they have, incompatible goals’

7
Levels of Conflict.
 Conflict may occur within an employee,
between individuals or groups, and across
organizations as they compete.

8
Cont’d

 Intrapersonal conflict- results from unmet personal or

professional expectations within the individual. This
level of conflict may affect the organization negatively.
It can reduce the motivation and productivity of that
individual. Individuals expect such conflict when faced
with certain dilemmas at work, such as being required
to act against their moral values or receiving conflicting
demands from two bosses.

9
Cont’d
 Interpersonal conflict.
 Intragroup conflict- refers to a conflict
between a single person and a group of
people(such as between a project manager
and his/her project team).

10
Cont’d
 Inter group conflict- intergroup conflicts may
occur between departments. Each group sets
out to undermine the other, gain power and
improve its image. Conflicts arise from such
causes as different view points, group
loyalties and competition for resources.

11
Causes of conflict
 Task interdependence
 Ambiguity of roles, policies and rules
 Personality differences
 Ineffective communications
 Competition over scarce resources
 Differences in attitudes, beliefs and
experiences.

12
Conflict triggers/antecedents.
Certain situations produce more conflict than
others. By knowing the antecedents of
conflict, managers are better able to
anticipate conflict and take steps and resolve
it if it becomes dysfunctional. Among the
situations that tend to produce conflict are:

13
Cont’d
 Overlapping or unclear job boundaries.
The remedy is to develop clear job
descriptions that demarcate job boundaries.
Also restructure and reorganize the
organization. Restructuring may entail
merging departments/posts. Reorganization
involves changing officers.

14
Cont’d
 Incompatible value systems. People hold different
beliefs and adhere to different value systems. Their
philosophies may diverge, or their ethical values may
lead them in different directions. The resulting dispute
can be difficult to resolve, since they are less
objective than disagreements over alternative
products, inventory levels or promotional campaigns.

15
Cont’d
 Competition for limited resources.
Anything of value in an organization will be
competed for. This can be resolved through
provision of more resources.

16
Cont’d

 Interdependent tasks(e.g. one can not

complete his/her assignment until others have
completed their work)/

17
Cont’d
 Inadequate communication/communication break
down.
 Breakdown in communication is the most common and
obvious source of conflict.
 A lack of trust, respect and effective listening skills can
develop into serious communication problems.
 People may misinterpret messages, leading to conflict
and misunderstanding.

18
Cont’d
 Organizational complexity( conflicts tend to
increase as the number of hierarchical layers
and specialized tasks increase).

19
Cont’d
 Unreasonable or unclear policies, standards
or rules or procedures.
 Unreasonable deadlines or extreme time
pressure. Do not give unrealistic deadlines.
Give deadlines according to coping abilities of
individuals.

20
Cont’d
 Collective decision making( the greater the
number of people participating in a decision,
the grater the potential for conflict).
 Decision making by consensus(100%
agreement often is impossible to achieve
without much arguing0.

21
Cont’d
 Unmet expectations( employees who have
unrealistic expectations about job assignments, pay
or promotion are more prone to conflict). People join
organizations with different expectations-money,
recognition, promotion etc. you must know the
expectations of employees. If their expectations are
not satisfied, conflict arises.

22
Cont’d
 Unresolved or suppressed conflict.
 The use of position power( forcing approach)
to resolve a conflict leaves bitter feeling and
generates more intense conflict at a later date.

23
Cont’d
 Personality clashes. People in organizations
are different. Not every one thinks, feels and
looks, or acts alike. Although personality
clashes can cause conflict, they are also a
rich resource for creative problem solving.
Employees need to accept, respect and learn
to use these differences when they arise.

24
Cont’d
 Lack of trust. Every continuing relationship
requires some degree of trust-the capacity to
depend on each other’s words and actions.
When someone has a real or perceived
reason not to trust another, the potential for
conflict arises.

25
Cont’d
 Threat to status. The social rank of a person
in a group is very important to many
individuals. Organizational structure brings
about status differentials. When one’s status
is threatened, conflict may arise between the
defensive person and whoever created a
threat to status.

26
Cont’d
 Contrasting perceptions.

27
Effects of conflict.
Conflict may be functional or dysfunctional.

28
Cont’d
 Conflict is often seen as destructive, but this is a
limited view. If all conflict with coworkers is avoided,
each party is likely deprived of important information
about the other’s preferences and views.
 Conflict is not all bad; rather, it may result into
productive or unproductive outcomes.

29
Cont’d
 Conflict is inevitable and we should be
searching for ways in which it can result into
positive outcomes.

30
Cont’d
 Benefits of conflict include:
 It stimulates people to search for improved
approaches that lead to better results (it
energizes them to be more creative and to
experiment with new ideas).

31
Cont’d
 It brings hidden problems to the surface,
where they may be confronted and solved.
Just as fermentation is necessary in the
production of fine wines, a certain amount of
fermentation can create a deeper
understanding among parties involved in a
conflict. And once the conflict is resolved, the
individual may be more committed to the
outcome through their involvement in solving
it.

32
Cont’d
 There are disadvantages of conflict especially
if conflict lasts a long period of time, becomes
too intense or is allowed to focus on personal
issues.The disadvantages of conflict include:
 At interpersonal level, cooperation and team
work may deteriorate.distrust may grow
among people who need to coordinate their
efforts.

33
Cont’d
 At the individual level, some people may feel
defeated, while the self-image of others will
decline and personal stress levels will rise.
The motivational level of some employees will
decrease.

34
Conflict Outcomes.
 Conflict may produce four outcomes
depending on the approaches taken by the
people involved.

35
Cont’d
 Conflict outcomes.

3 4
Win-Lose Win-win

1 2
Lose-Lose Lose-Win

36
Main conflict resolution
modes/styles or approaches.
 There is no ‘right’ way to settle a conflict. The choice
of an appropriate style for managing conflict depends
upon a broad range of factors such as:
 The relative importance and intensity of the conflict;
 The time pressure for resolving the conflict;
 The position taken by the players involved; and
 Motivation to resolve conflict on long-term or short-term
basis.

37
Cont’d
 In any conflict between individuals or groups,
the way resolution is sought depends on
ASSERTIVENESS and COOPERATION.

38
cont’d
 ASSERTIVENESS-Degree of concern for your
self.
 COOPERATION-Degree of concern for
others.

39
 Withdrawing or Avoiding.
 This involves either passively withdrawing from the
problem or active suppression of the issue.It refers to
refusal to deal with the conflict.
 Withdrawing does not solve the problem.
 This approach of resolving a conflict reflects a low
concern for each party’s outcomes and often results
into a lose-lose situation.

40
Cont’d
When should one use this style?
 When dealing with trivial issues or where
more important issues are pressing.
 When the cost of confrontation outweighs the
benefit of resolving the conflict.
 When you perceive no chance of satisfying
your concerns.
 To let people cool down and regain
perspective.
41
Cont’d
 When gathering more information supersedes
immediate decision;
 When others can resolve the conflict more
effectively.
 When issues seem symptomatic of other
issues.

42
Cont’d
 Strength and weakness of avoidance.
 The main strength of this style is that it is a
natural reaction to a difficult situation
 The main weakness is that it provides a
temporary fix that sidesteps the underlying
problem.

43
Smoothening/Accommodating or
Obliging.
 An obliging person neglects his or her own concern to
satisfy the concern of the other party.
 This style involves playing down differences while
emphasizing commonalities.
 This approach places greater emphasis on concern
for others, usually to one’s detriment, resulting in a
win-lose situation.
 It may be an appropriate conflict handling strategy
when it is possible to eventually get something in
return.

44
Cont’d
 It is inappropriate for complex or worsening
problems.
 Its primary strength is that it encourages
cooperation.

45
Cont’d
 Its main weakness is that it is a temporary fix
that fails to confront the underlying problem.
 People tend to associate accommodation with
weakness,especially subordinates. Apply
accommodation when it is necessary.

46
cont’d
Use accommodation when:
 You find you are wrong and to allow a better
position to be heard.
 To learn
 To show your reasonableness.
 When issues are more important to others
than to yourself.
 To satisfy others and maintain cooperation.

47
cont’d
 To build social credit for later issues.
 To minimize loses when you are outmatched
and losing.
 When harmony and stability are especially
important.
 To allow subordinates to develop by learning
from mistakes.

48
Dominating/Forcing or competing.
 High concern for self and low concern for others
encourages ‘ I win, you lose’ tactics.
 Domination is a victory of one side over the other.
 The other party’s needs are largely ignored.
 This style relies on formal authority to force
compliance

49
Cont’d
 Implies the use of position power to resolve
the conflict.it involves imposing one view
point at the expense of another and is
characterized by a win-lose outcome in which
one party overwhelms the other.

50
Cont’d
 Dominating is appropriate when an unpopular
solution must be implemented, the issue is
minor, or a deadline is near.
 It can be used when there is no doubt about
the right course of action.

51
Cont’d
 It is inappropriate in an open and participative
process.
 Speed is its primary strength.
 The primary weakness of domineering style is
that it breeds resentment.

52
Compromising.
 This is primarily ‘bargaining’- receiving
something in exchange for something else.
 It involves considering various issues,
bargaining, using tradeoff ,negotiation and
searching and solutions that bring a certain
degree of satisfaction to both parties.

53
Cont’d
 It is a give and take approach involving moderate
concern for both self and others.
 Each party is required to give up a little in order to
have peace or in order that the activity which may
have been interrupted by the conflict may go
on.something of value.
 It includes external or third party interventions,
negotiation and voting.

54
Cont’d
 Compromise is a basis of trade union tactics.
 In collective bargaining, the trade unionist
asks for more than he expects to get, allows
for what is going to be lopped off in the
conference.

55
cont’d
 compromise is inappropriate when overuse
would lead to inconclusive action(e.g. failure
to meet production deadlines).

56
Cont’d
 The primary strength of this tactic is that the
democratic process has no losers, but it is a
temporary fix that can stifle creative problem
solving.

57
cont’d
Use compromise when:
 When goals are important but not worthy the effort
of potential disruption of more assertive approaches,
 When opponents with equal power are committed to
mutually exclusive goals,
 To achieve a temporary settlement to complex
issues,
 To arrive at expeditious solutions under time
pressure,
 As a backup when collaboration or competition is
unsuccessful.
58
Integration/ problem solving or
confronting.
 It implies a direct confrontation where
disagreement is addressed directly.
 Conflict is treated as a problem in this process
and both parties are interested in finding a
mutually acceptable solution.

59
Cont’d
 In integration, two desires are integrated, that
is a solution is found in which both desires
have found a place, that neither side has had
to sacrifice anything.

60
Cont’d
 This tactic seeks to maximize the
achievement of both party’s goals, resulting in
a win-win outcome.

61
Cont’d
 Confrontation method addresses the basic
differences involved and removes them
through creative problem solving.

62
Cont’d

 Both parties will more likely see the conflict as

productive, since both receive gains.

63
Cont’d
 The advantages of this style that it has a
longer-lasting impact since it deals with with
the underlying problem rather than merely
with symptoms.
 Its disadvantage is that it is very time-
consuming.

64
Cont’d
 Obstacles to integration.
 It requires a high order of intelligence, keen
perception and brilliant inventiveness.
 Habit of enjoying domination.
 Inappropriate language.

65
Learning Points.
 Conflict is part of society. We should be
preoccupied with its management rather than
prevention.
 Compromising does not provide a permanent
solution.
 In any conflict situation, there is always a
solution

66
Cont’d
 It takes more than one party to start a conflict
 Constructive conflict is necessary for
organizational growth and development.

67