Resolving Conflict by HMC

Chapter Thirteen
Resolving Conflict
and Dealing with
Difficult People

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin
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Chapter Preview: Resolving Conflict and
Dealing with Difficult People
• Major causes of conflict in the work
setting
• Assertiveness skills in conflict situations
• Strategies for handling difficult people
• Effective negotiation skills
• The conflict resolution process
• Contemporary challenges facing labor
unions

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Views of Conflict
• Traditional view
– A clash between incompatible people,
ideas, or interests
– A negative experience

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Views of Conflict
• New view: An opportunity
– Personal growth
– To use positive, constructive conflict
resolution skills
– Discover creative solutions

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A New View of Conflict
• Discovering creative resolutions to a
conflict may serve to
– Clarify a relationship
– Provide new ways of thinking about the
source of the conflict
– Open up possibilities for improving a
relationship
– Open people to new points of view

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Total Person Insight
Companies pay a high price for conflict.
Productivity drops, work relationships
suffer and energy is wasted, as workers
become increasingly angry, stressed
and defensive.
Cheryl Shavers
Senior Manager, Intel Corporation

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The Cost of Conflict
• A lot of time and money is invested in
conflict resolution
• About 20% of managerial time
• Cost of unresolved conflict can also be
high

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Finding the Root of Conflict
• Conflict is caused by a range of factors
• Some are major and may be addressed
through
– the legal system
– labor negotiations
• Others are minor, but may affect
productivity

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• It is necessary to find the root cause of
conflict in order to deal with it
• Unless the root cause is identified, it is
likely to recur

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If root cause…
• stimulates constructive conflict, it can
be allowed to continue
• stimulates destructive conflict, steps
need to be taken to correct the problem

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Common Roots of Conflict
• Ineffective
communication
• Values clashes
• Culture clashes
• Work policies and
practices
• Adversarial
management
• Noncompliance
• Competition for
scarce resources
• Personality clashes

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Ineffective Communication
• Ineffective communication is a major
source of personal conflict
• When different people work closely
together, communication breakdowns
are inevitable
• First determine if the conflict is a
misunderstanding or a true
disagreement

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Ineffective Communication
• For misunderstanding
– explain your position or provide more
details
• For true disagreements
– persuading one or both parties to change
positions may be necessary
– root problem will persist until someone
changes

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Value Clashes
• Conflict may be due to value differences
between
– generations
– women and men
– people with different value priorities
– “loyalist” versus “job-hoppers”

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Culture Clashes
• Occurs between people
– from other countries
– between people from different parts of the
U.S.
• Work force reflects cultural diversity
• Different cultural traditions can easily
come into conflict in the workplace
• Issues range from simple to complex

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Work Policies and Practices
• Conflict may happen when
organizations maintain confusing or
arbitrary
– Rules
– Regulations
– Performance standards
• Often surface when managers don’t
understand that employees view
policies as unfair

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Adversarial Management
• Conflict can occur when managers view
employees and other managers with
distrust and suspicion
• View others as “the enemy”
• Leads to a lack of respect by
employees
• Makes teamwork and cooperation
difficult

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Noncompliance
• Workers refusing to comply with rules
• Or accept fair share of workload
• Makes other co-workers angry

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Competition for Scarce Resources
• Downsizing and cost cutting can lead to
destructive competition for scarce
resources
• When decisions are not clearly
explained, workers suspect coworkers
of devious tactics

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Personality Clashes
• People have differing
– Communication styles
– Temperaments
– Attitudes
• People may not be able to identify
cause of dislike

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Resolving Conflict Assertively
• Being assertive can be helpful in a
conflict
• Appropriate assertive behavior does not
violate the rights of others
• It is a matter of getting others to
understand your viewpoint

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Resolving Conflict Assertively
• People who exhibit assertive behavior
skills are able to
– handle conflicts with greater ease and
assurance
– maintain good interpersonal relations

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Aggressive or Assertive
• Distinction between being aggressive
and being assertive
• Aggressive behavior violates the rights
of others
• Aggressive people may interrupt, talk
fast, ignore others, and use other forms
of verbal abuse to maintain control

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Nonassertive Behavior
• People who avoid conflict by ignoring
things are exhibiting nonassertive
behavior
• Passive approach to conflict
• Less likely to make their needs known

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Nonassertive Behavior
• Nonassertive people are more likely to
be taken advantage of by colleagues
• Management may question their ability
to lead

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How to Become More Assertive
You can learn to express wants, dislikes
and feelings
• in a clear and direct manner
• without threatening or attacking others

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Develop Assertiveness Skills
1. In the beginning, take small steps
2. Use communication skills that
enhance assertiveness
3. Be soft on people and hard on
problems

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Learn to Negotiate Effectively
• Think win/win
• Beware of defensive behaviors
• Know that negotiating styles vary

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Think Win/Win
• Three basic approaches to
negotiations:
– Win/Lose
– Lose/Lose
– Win/Win

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The Win/Lose Strategy
• Attempt to achieve your goals at the
expense of others
• Short-term solution only
• Doesn’t address the underlying problem
• Loser feels frustrated which seeds
another conflict
• Use when two factions simply cannot
agree or cannot talk to each other

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The Lose/Lose Strategy
• Both parties give up something and
may feel frustrated
• Can be applied when
– There is little time to find a solution
– Negotiations are at a standstill
– To remove a conflict completely
• Union-management disputes often fall
into this trap

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The Win/Win Strategy
• Fix the problem, not the blame
• Not a “we versus they” approach
• Work toward a mutually satisfying
solution
• Resolution will be based upon the
merits of the case and not through
political or personal influence

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The Win/Win Strategy
• Process should be
– Flexible
– Sensitive
– Patient
– Calm
• Most vital skill is listening

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Beware of Defensive Behaviors
• When one person becomes defensive,
others may mirror the behavior
• We often become defensive when we
feel our needs are being ignored
• Progress is stopped because people
stop
– Listening
– Thinking

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Beware of Defensive Behaviors
• Address needs of all parties involved
• Prevent defensive behavior by
consciously maintaining a positive
image of the other people involved

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Total Person Insight
Any method of negotiation may be fairly
judged by three criteria: It should
produce a wise agreement if agreement
is possible. It should be efficient. And it
should improve or at least not damage
the relationship between the parties.
Roger Fisher and William Ury
Authors, Getting to Yes

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Know that Negotiating Styles Vary
• Style develops based on
– Personality
– Assertiveness skills
– Past experiences dealing with conflict

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Know that Negotiating Styles Vary
• Five different behavioral styles
• Based on two factors
– Assertiveness
– Cooperation
• Different styles are appropriate in
different situations

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Negotiating Styles Vary
• Avoidance style
– Uncooperative/Nonassertive
• Accommodating style
– Cooperative/Nonassertive
• Win/lose style
– Uncooperative/Assertive

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Negotiating Styles Vary
• Compromising style
– Moderately assertive/Moderately
cooperative
• Problem-solving style
– Assertive/Cooperative

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Figure 13.2
Behavioral Styles
For Conflict Situations
Source: Adapted from Robert B. Maddux, Team Building: An Exercise in Leadership, Crisp
Publications Inc. Menlo, CA, 1986, p. 53. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

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Conflict Resolution Process
• Progressive organizations want
employees to resolve conflicts
whenever possible
• Every employee needs to possess
conflict resolution skills
• The conflict resolution process consists
of five steps

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Follow These Steps
Step 1: Decide whether you have a
misunderstanding or a true
disagreement
• A misunderstanding is the failure to
accurately understand another’s point
• A disagreement is a failure to agree in
spite of accurate understanding

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Follow These Steps
Step 2: Define the problem and collect
facts
• Everyone needs to focus on the
problem, not what happened as a result
• Establishing the problem can expose
real cause of conflict
• Separate facts from opinions or
perceptions

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Follow These Steps
Step 3: Clarify perceptions
• Interpretation of the facts about a
situation
• Attempt to see the problem as others
see it

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Follow These Steps
Step 4: Generate options for mutual gain
• Generate options that will fix the
problem
• People often want to negotiate for a
single solution
• Use brainstorming
– Process that encourages generation of a
wide variety of ideas and possibilities

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Follow These Steps
Step 5: Implement options with integrity
• Finalize a solution or agreement that
offers a win/win strategy
• Establish timetables for implementation

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Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Some conflicts between workers and
employers cannot be resolved
• Many companies are creating
alternative dispute resolution programs,
or ADRs

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Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Can involve
– An open door policy
– Toll-free hot line
– A peer panel review
– A third-party mediator
– An arbitrator

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The Role of Labor Unions
• Labor unions were given the right to
organize and represent workers in the
1930s
• Union membership has declined over
the past half century
– International competition
– Deregulation
– Mergers
– Automation

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Labor’s Role in the New Economy
• Only 13.5 percent of today’s workers
belonging to labor unions
• Less incentive to form unions due to
– Dual-income families
– Growing use of temporary and contract
workers
– Telecommuters
– Erosion of traditional employment bonds

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Labor’s Role in the New Economy
• Unionization of nontraditional workers
– Graduate students
– Physicians
• Unions working closer with
management
– More cooperative relationships

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Collective Bargaining
• Disputes escalate when employment
contracts expire and need to be
negotiated
• Procedure that defines the rights and
privileges of both sides involved and
establishes the terms of employment
and length of contract

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• If labor and management cannot come
to an agreement, they may submit their
disputes to:
– Mediation
– Voluntary arbitration
– Compulsory arbitration

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Mediation: A neutral third party listens to
both sides and suggests solutions.
• It carries no binding authority
• Both parties are free to reject or accept
the mediator’s decision

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Voluntary arbitration: Both sides willingly
submit their disagreements to a neutral
party
• The arbitrator's decision must be
accepted by both sides

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Compulsory arbitration: An arbitrator who
dictates a solution that is binding on
both sides and can be enforced in a
court of law
• The government appoints when the
labor-management dispute threatens
national health and safety or will
damage an entire industry

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• When collective bargaining, mediation,
and arbitration are not enough to settle,
unions may recommend that their
members vote to strike
• Generally lose/lose situation

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Contemporary Issues
Facing Labor Unions
• As labor unions strive for survival, they
must address the needs of the current
and future work force
– Women
– Inequities between executives and
employees
– Health care
– Living wage
– Stable employment

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Summary
• Conflicts happen every day
• They can arise from
– Poor communication
– Values and culture clashes
– Confusing work policies
– Competition for scarce resources
– Adversarial management

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Summary
• Conflict can also come from employees
who
– refuse to carry their share of work
– have difficult personalities
• Conflicts can have negative or positive
effects on an organization

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Summary
• Positive effect sometimes forces
creative and innovative solutions
• Assertiveness skills are necessary in
conflicts

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Summary
• There are several approaches for
dealing with conflict:
– win/lose
– lose/lose
– win/win
• Listening is important in a win/win
strategy

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Summary
• Organizations often use a five-step
process
• Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
can be used to resolve conflicts and
avoid legal action

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Summary
• Labor unions were established to help
balance the power between labor and
management
• Today, labor leaders and business
owners are finding new ways to
cooperate with each other

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Summary
• Flexibility and innovation are far more
productive than old adversarial styles
• Labor unions today face a number of
contemporary issues, including the
changing needs of employees

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