MGMT 2103 - Exam #2 Review

Conflict

The energy created by the perceived gap between what is desired and what is experienced.

Nature of Conflict in Organizations

Conflict is a part of organizational life.

• May be cultivated and can have both positive & negative outcomes.

• Can have too much or too little conflict.

• Can be destructive if left unchecked.

Common causes of Conflict

• Personality differences.

• Irritating workplace behaviors.

• Unmet needs.

• Perceived inequities of resources and policies.

• Unclear roles.

• Competing responsibilities.

• Change.

• Poor management.

• Poor communication.

• Difference in work methods.

• Interdependent tasks.

Functional Conflict

• Constructive.

• Cooperative.

• Consultative interactions.

• Focus on the issues.

• Mutual respect.

• Give and take.

Dysfunctional Conflict

• Threaten or diminish an organization's interests.

• Absenteeism.

• Turnover.

• Unionization.

• Litigation.

Common reasons for avoiding Conflict

Most conflict is avoided due to fear

Other reasons include:

• Social – negative impacts on group from tension.

• Stressful - fear of rejection and raising difficult topics.

• Agreeableness - desire to be liked and avoid saying the wrong thing.

• Backlash - from damaged or lost relationships.

Desired outcomes of Conflict Management

• Agreement - on change and a new way forward

• Stronger relationships - by aligning goals and objectives

• Learning - that creates new ideas and innovation

Relational (Interpersonal) Conflict

Based on personal dislike or disagreement.

• Particularly harmful.

• Critically important to identify and remedy these conflicts.

Intergroup Conflict

• Conflict states (shared perceptions)

• Conflict process (how to solve)

• Cohesion and “in-group thinking.”

Work-Life (Boundaries) Conflict

Occurs when work-life demands or pressures are mutually incompatible.

Conflict can go either direction and negatively affect important outcomes:

• Lower job and career satisfaction.

• Job performance.

• Marital and family satisfaction.

Incivility

Any form of socially harmful behavior.

• Aggression.

• Interpersonal deviance.

• Social undermining.

• Interactional justice.

• Harassment.

• Abusive supervision.

• Bullying

Bullying

Different from other forms of incivility.

• Most often evident to others.

• Affects even those that are NOT bullied.

• Has group-level implications.

Programmed Conflict

Conflict that raises different opinions regardless of the personal feelings of the managers.

Gets contributors to either defend or criticize ideas based on relevant facts rather than personal preference or political interest.

Devil’s Advocacy

Assigning someone in the group the role of “critic”.

Dialectic Method

Fostering a structured debate of opposing viewpoints.

Integrating Conflict Management Style

Also known as “collaborative” style of conflict management.

Interested parties confront the issue and cooperatively identify it, generate and weigh alternatives, and select a solution.

Obliging Conflict Management Style

Also known as “accommodating” style

Tends to show a low concern for “self” and a great concern for “others”. People tend to minimize differences and highlight similarities to please the other party.

Dominating Conflict Management Style

High concern for self and low concern for others. “I win, you lose” tactics.

The other party’s needs are largely ignored, and it is commonly referred to as “forcing” because it relies on authority to force complicance.

Avoiding Conflict Management Style

Passive withdrawal from the problem and active suppression of the issue are common.

Compromising Conflict Management Style

“Give and take” approach with a moderate concern for both self and others.

Appropriate when parties have opposite goals or possess equal power.

Harassment

Discrimination based on a protected class (Race, Gender, Religion, Age, Pregnancy, Disability)

When to apply “Integrating” Conflict Management Style

• Issues are complex.

• Time is available for problem-solving.

• One party alone cannot solve the problem.

• Synthesis of ideas is needed to brainstorm better solutions.

When to apply “Obliging” Conflict Management Style

• You believe you may be wrong.

• Issue is more important to the other party.

• You are willing to give up something in exchange for something from the other party in the future.

• You are dealing from a position of weakness.

• Preserving relationships is important.

When to apply “Dominating” Conflict Management Style

• Issue is trivial or important to you.

• Speedy decision is needed.

• Unpopular course of action is implemented.

• Necessary to overcome assertive subordinates.

• Unfavorable decision by the other party may be costly to you.

When to apply “Avoiding” Conflict Management Style

• Issue is trivial.

• Potential dysfunctional effect of confronting the other party outweighs the benefits of resolution.

• Cooling-off period is needed.

When to apply the “Compromising” Conflict Management Style

• Goals of parties are mutually exclusive.

• Parties are equally powerful.

• Consensus cannot be reached.

• Integrating or dominating style is not successful.

• Temporary solution to a complex problem is needed.

Negotiation

A give-and-take decision-making process involving two or more partieswith different preferences (or goals).

Distributive Bargaining

Usually concerns a single issue (fixed pie), in which one person gains at the expense of another.

• “Win-Lose” outcomes.

• Most common type of negotiation.

Integrative Bargaining

Numerous interests are considered, resulting in an agreement that is satisfactory for both parties.

• “Win-Win” outcomes.

• Based on a problem-solving, collaborative approach.

Added-Value Negotiation Process

Parties cooperatively develop multiple deal packages while building a productive, long-term relationship by following 5 steps.

5 Steps of the Added-Value Negotiation Process

1. Clarify interests.

2. Identify options.

3. Design alternative deal packages.

4. Select a deal.

5. Perfect the deal.

Tips to Manage Emotions in the Negotiation Process

1. Identify your ideal emotions and match them to your objectives.

2. Manage your emotions and take steps to promote positive emotions.

3. Know your hot buttons.

4. Keep your balance and know when to break or redirect.

5. Identify your take-away emotions and set a goal for emotions.

Decision Making

Process for identifying and choosing alternative solutions that lead to a desired state of affairs.

Rational Decision Making Process

• Explains how managers should make decisions.

• It assumes that managers are completely objective and possess all information for their decisions.

• Decisions demonstrate logic and promote the organization’s best interests.

Non-rational Decision Making Process

• Explains how managers actually make decisions.

• Assumes that decision-making is uncertain, decision-makers do not possess complete information, and that managers struggle to make optimal decisions.

• Represented by 2 different models.

Simon’s Normative Model: “Satisfactory is Good Enough”

Actual decisions are very often non-rational.

Guided by Bounded Rationality.

Bounded Rationality

• Our ability to make decisions is restricted or bounded by a series of constraints, for example, resources and personal attributes.

• Manageable amounts of information sought, rather than complete or optimal amounts.

• Results in satisficing when arriving at a solution.

Satisficing

Consists of choosing a solution that meets some minimum qualifications and thus is “good enough”.

The Intuition Model: “It Just Feels Right”

Based on intuition.

• Automatic, involuntary, and effortless.

or

• Controlled, voluntary, and effortful.

Intuition

Consists of judgments, insights, or decisions that “come to mind on their own without explicit awareness of the evoking cues and without explicit evaluation of the validity of these cues.

Holistic Hunch

A judgement based on the subconscious integration of information stored in memory.

Automated Experience

Represents a choice based on a familiar situation and a partially subconscious application of learned information related to it.

Explicit Knowledge

Information that can easily be put into words.

Tacit Knowledge

Information that we gain through experience that is difficult to express and formalize.

Confirmation Bias

Pertains to how we selectively gather information.

Has 2 components:

1. The decision-maker who subconsciously decides something before investigating what is right.

2. The decision-maker seeks information that supports or confirms the decision whilst discounting information that does not.

Overconfidence Bias

Results in overestimating our skills relative to those of others, as well as overestimating the accuracy of our predictions.

Availability Bias

Decision-maker’s tendency to base decisions on information readily available in memory.

Uses the availability heuristic.

Availability Heuristic

Cognitive shortcuts or biases that are used to simplify the process of making decisions.

Representativeness Bias

Leads us to look for information that supports previously formed stereotypes.

Anchoring Bias

Occurs when decision-makers are influenced by the first information they receive about a decision, even if it is irrelevant.

Hindsight Bias

Occurs when knowledge of an outcome influences our belief about the probability that we could have predicted the outcome earlier.

Framing Bias

Related to the manner in which a question is posed or framed and leads us to change the way we interpret alternatives.

Escalation of Commitment Bias

Tendency to hold to an ineffective course of action even when it is unlikely that bad situation can be reversed.

Evidence-Based Decision-Making

The process of conscientiously using the best available

data and evidence.An approach used when making, informing, or supporting a decision.

Big Data

Reflects the vast quantity of data available for decision making used to create ac ompetitive advantage by:

• Making information transparent and usable.

• Allowing organizations to measure and collect all types of performance information to enhance productivity.

• Allowing for more narrow segmentation of customers.

• Being used to develop new products.

Advantages of Group Decision Making

• Large knowledge pool.

• Diversity in approaches.

• Commitment to decision.

• Better understanding of decision rationale.

• Visible role modeling.

Disadvantages of Group Decision Making

• Social pressures.

• Potential for few participants to be dominant.

• Goal displacement (secondary goals).

• Groupthink

Groupthink

Occurs when:

• Members become deeply involved in a cohesive in-group.

• Striving for unanimity overrides motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action.

Symptoms of Groupthink

• Invulnerability.

• Inherent morality.

• Rationalization.

• Stereotyped views of opposition.

• Self-censorship.

• Illusion of unanimity.

• Peer pressure.

• Mindguards.

Brainstorming

Used to help groups generate multiple ideas and alternatives for solving problems.

Rules of Brainstorming

• Defer judgement.

• Build on the ideas of others.

• Encourage wild ideas.

• Go for quantity or quality.

• Be visual

• Stay focused on the topic.

• One conversation at a time.

The Delphi Technique

Group process that anonymously generates ideas or judgements from physically dispersed experts.

Use when:

• Face-to-Face discussions are impractical.

• Disagreements and conflict may occur.

• Group domination is an issue.

• Groupthink is likely.

Decision Support System (DSS)

Computer-based interactive systems that help decision makers use data and models to solve unstructured problems.

Power

The ability to marshal human, informational, and other resources to get something done.

• The discretion and the means to enforce your will over others.

• Concerned with influencing others.

Five Bases of Power

Legitimate, Reward, Expert, Referent, Coercive

Legitimate Base of Power

Formal authority to make decisions.

Reward Base of Power

Promising or granting rewards valued by others.

Coercive Base of Power

Make threats of punishment and deliver actual punishment.

Expert Base of Power

Have valued knowledge or information over those who need the knowledge or information.

Referent Base of Power

Personal characteristics, reputation and social relationships.

3 Primary Responses to Power

• Resistance.

• Compliance.

• Commitment.

Position Power

Tend to produce compliance or resistance.

Includes:

• Legitimate Negative.

• Reward.

• Coercive.

Personal Power

Tend to foster commitment.

Includes:

• Legitimate Positive.

• Referent.

• Expert.

Empowerment

Efforts to enhance employee performance, well-being, and positive attitudes by:

• Giving employees greater influence.

• Use of centralized management practices.

Structural Empowerment

Transferring authority and responsibilities from management to employees.

Shared with those who are competent to do what is necessary.

Increase in:

• Effectiveness of decision-making

• Performance

• Well-being

• Job-related attitudes

Psychological Empowerment

Creates self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation.

Occurs when we feel a sense of:

• Meaning from our work.

• Competence in our ability to perform.

• Self-determination: degree of control over how we perform our jobs.

• Impact at work: the difference our efforts make.

Soft Influence Tactics

• Rational persuasion.

• Inspirational appeals.

• Consultation.

• Ingratiation.

• Personal appeals.

Hard Influence Tactics

• Exchange.

• Coalition tactics.

• Pressure.

• Legitimizing tactics.

Rational Persuasion

Trying to convince someone with reason, logic, or facts.

Inspirational Appeals

Trying to build enthusiasm by appealing to others’ emotions, ideals, or values.

Consultation

Getting others to provide insights, experience, or information you can use in planning and making decisions.

Ingratiation

Getting someone in a good mood prior to making a request. Being friendly and helpful and using praise, flattery, or humor.

Personal Appeals

Referring to friendship and loyalty when making a request.

Exchange

Making explicit or implied promises and trading favors.

Coalition Tactics

Getting others to support your effort to persuade someone.

Pressure

Demanding compliance or using intimidation or threats.

Legitimating Tactics

Basing a request on authority or right, organizational rules or policies, or explicit/implied support from superiors.

Which influence tactics are most effective at fostering commitment?

• Inspirational Appeals.

• Consultation.

• Rational Appeals.

Leadership

A process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.

Managing vs. Leading

Managers:

• Plan.

• Organize.

• Control.

• Implement.

Leaders:

• Inspire.

• Influence.

• Create and share vision.

• Provide strategic direction.

Trait Theory Leadership Approach

Attempts to identify personality characteristics or interpersonal attributes that differentiate leaders from followers.

Behavioral Styles Approach

Attempts to identify the unique behaviors displayed by effective leaders.

Task-Oriented Leader Behavior

Primary purpose is to assist other in accomplishing their goals and those of the work unit.

Initiating Structure

Leader behavior that organizes and defines what group members should be doing to maximize output.

Transactional Leadership

Focuses on clarifying employees’ role and task requirements and providing followers with positive and negative rewards contingent on performance.

Relationship-Oriented Leader Behavior

Primary purpose is to enhance employees’ skills and create positive work relationships among coworkers and between leaders and their employees.

Consideration

Leader behavior that creates mutual respect or trust and prioritizes group members’ needs and desires.

Servant-Leadership

Focuses on increased services to others rather than to oneself.

Less likely to engage in self-serving behaviors that hurt others.

Contingency Leadership Theories

Propose that the effectiveness of a particular style of leader depends on the situation.

Fiedler’s Contingency Model

Based on the premise that a leader’s effectiveness is contingent on the extent to which the leader’s style matches the characteristics of the situation.