Week 9 - Conflict Management Processes

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Welcome to Week 9, guys, the topic of this week revolves around conflict management processes in organisation. Conflict occurs every day and everywhere around the world, for organisations, conflict can be both destructive and productive (Miller 2012, p.161). Through communication, organisational members create and work through conflicts in ways that can be either functional or dysfunctional.

Conflict is the interaction of interdependent people who perceive opposition of goals, aims, and values, and who see the other party as potentially interfering with the realisation of these goals (Putman & Poole 1987, cited in Miller 2012, p.162).

There are three basic level of organisational conflict:

1)   Interpersonal level

2)   Intergroup conflict

3)   Interorganisational conflict.

Likewise, people move through phases as conflicts develop subside. Pondy (1967, cited in Miller 2012, p.163) proposes five phases that characterise organisational conflict:

1)   Latent conflict

2)   Perceived conflict

3)   Felt conflict

4)   Manifest conflict

5)   Conflict aftermath

Some theorists used the Managerial Grid as a way of exploring the styles and strategies when people involved in interpersonal conflict. Thomas (1976, cited in Miller 2012, p.165) conceptualise the two dimensions of the Managerial Grid, 1) concern for self, 2) concern for others. He then identified five conflict styles:

l  Competition

l  Collaboration

l  Compromise

l  Avoidance

l  Accommodation

Bargaining and negotiation is seen as a more formal way of settling organisational dispute. Third-party intervention is a very effective way to buffer conflicts.

There are a number of approaches can be used to resolve conflict, approaches ranged from classical approach to critical approach. Please see Table 9.4 in your text book, page 176.

As far as I am concerned, resolving conflicts in an organisation is very complicated and thorny, therefore problem solvers require sophisticated skills regarding conflict management and organisational communication.

When I worked for that English-training organisation, I was involved in a conflict that that was long been stuck in my mind. One day our department manager requested me and my colleague to discuss a teaching activity regarding Christmas Day with colleagues of the Department of Academy. But the conflict between us occurred instantly,

1.    Our department expect to do more entertainment-oriented and marketing-oriented activity so that students are able to have a chance to be involved in further services and products out of traditional studying and teaching activity.

2.    The colleagues of the Department of Academy insist in their notion that students would not be interested in any commercial and creative events, they focus only on study and score.

But our managers tried not to be involved in our conflict because they did not want to be in trouble with their own relationships. As a result, the Christmas Day event was become naught. So a set of concise and consistent conflict management is crucial for organisational communication.

It is therefore obvious that conflict management techniques are substantially indispensable for organisations.

Don Capener wrote a very detailed and comprehensive media coverage regarding workplace conflict management and resolution. He provides a six-step conflict resolution model that can be employed effective in resolving organisational conflict. Please click the link below and find something useful from his article.

References:

Capener, D 2013, ‘Conflict resolution – a proven model for success’, Advantage Business Magazine, 5 November, viewed 11 November 2013,
< http://advantagebizmag.com/archives/17568>

Miller, K 2012, Organisational communication – approaches and processes, 6^th edn, Wadsworth Cengage Learning, Boston.