Conflict Management Practices in Diverse Workplaces
What is a Conflict
A lot of people consider conflict as fighting, although it is important to realize that there are other sides of conflict. A conflict is often seen as a condition in which people experience a clash of opposing wishes, wants or even needs.
Organizational
Conflict
Organizational conflict is “the discord that arises
when the goals, interests or values of different individuals or groups are
incompatible and those individuals or groups block or thwart one another’s
attempts to achieve their objectives” (Jones & George, 2014, p.
532). The interference of another subjective opinion can cause diverse
conflicts which are allocated into several types according to a place and
number of participants:
1. Interpersonal conflict can easily degenerate into
dysfunctional and lead to a disintegration of the team (Eisenhardt, 1997, para.
3).
2. Intragroup conflict arises within a group, team or
department (Jones & George, 2014, p. 533).
3. Intergroup conflict with the allocation between groups, teams or departments with a possibility to grow into inter-organizational conflict.
Conflict
Management Strategies
Historically, conflict management strategies have ranged from
a basic face-negotiation theory by Ting-Toomey (1988) and competing theory
among team members to manage intergroup conflict by Cohen and Ledford (1994) to
the often-cited Thomas and Killman 5 model strategy (1974).
Thomas and Kilmann defined five modes for responding to
conflict situations and which are used by managers in decision making process (Mujtaba
and McCartney, 2010):
1. Competing is when an individual pursues
his/her own concerns at the other person's expense (Kilmann, 2007, para. 5).
This mode can be described as forcing and using a formal authority or power one
possesses to satisfy his/her wishes and desires. A party should act in a very
assertive way without any cooperation which might be necessary for emergency or
time sensitive situations. Ethical dilemma is likely to occur in this type of
conflict strategy as one of the parties could find it difficult to act in a way
that helps the organization or others as it goes against his or her principles
and interests (Jones & George, 2014, p. 101).
2. Accommodating is neglecting of an
individual’s concerns in favor of some other person. This type of conflict
solving technique appears when parties cooperate very well and one of the 19
members is an expert in the given situation, thus is able to provide a better
solution even if it works against somebody else’s goals and desired outcomes.
3. Avoiding is when a person neither pursues
his/her own concerns nor those of the other individuals (Kilman, 2007). This
type of situation takes place when one of the parties does not want to
participate in the conflict and pays no attention to it. It might happen when
one of the parties has no interest in the conflict, does not wish to win the
argument or is emotionally unwilling to create any tension, and hoping that the
situation would pass by.
4. Collaborating implies working together to
find a solution that satisfies all parties. The definition of collaboration in
many dictionaries can be summed up as cooperation with the other party to
express and hear concerns in the effort to find a mutually satisfactory
outcome. It is also called a “win-win” scenario which is possible when one
takes into consideration the wishes of all parties, broadens the frames of
usual solutions and analyzes all of the ideas to create absolutely new and
fresh outcome.
5. Compromising resolves the conflict with
partial satisfaction of both parties. Sadly, it resolves the issue temporary.
These conflict tactics can also be classified into three general groups:
integration or working with people, distributive or working against people, and
avoidance or working away from other people (Cupach and Canary, 1997). The
ultimate goals of any conflict managing technique are to create a positive and
conflict free atmosphere at the workplace, find a better solution to a problem
and provide long life for the organization and their teams.
References
Jones G. R., George J. M. (2014). Contemporary Management,
8th edition. McGraw Hill, New York
Eisenhardt K., Kahwajy J., Bourgeois L.J. III (1997). How
Management Teams Can Have a Good Fight. Harvard Business Review Blog. Retrieved
August 17, 2014, from
Thomas K.W., Kilmann R.H. (1974, 2007). Thomas-Kilmann
Conflict Mode Instrument. Mountain View, CA: CPP Inc, partly retrieved on
August 18, 2014, from
http://www.kilmanndiagnostics.com/overview-thomas-kilmann-conflict-modeinstrument-tki.
Mujtaba, B. G. and McCartney, T. (2010). Managing Workplace
Stress and Conflict amid Change, 2nd edition. ILEAD Academy: Florida, United
States.
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