Leadership and Conflict Midterm Review

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering leadership conceptualizations, leadership styles, constructive climate, Radical Candor, Atomic Habits, conflict approaches, Fisher & Ury's principled negotiation, and high conflict dynamics.

Leadership Approach

A particular perspective or way of conceptualizing and understanding leadership, such as through traits, abilities, skills, behaviors, or influence.

Leadership Theory

A formal framework that provides principles and explains relationships to account for how or why leadership works and how leadership behavior occurs.

Trait Conceptualization of Leadership

A perspective emphasizing the enduring personal characteristics or qualities that a leader possesses, such as confidence, intelligence, determination, sociability, and integrity.

Ability Conceptualization of Leadership

A perspective focusing on what a person is capable of doing, emphasizing a leader's capacity or competencies rather than who they are.

Skill Conceptualization of Leadership

A perspective viewing leadership as involving learned or developed competencies, organized into administrative, interpersonal, and conceptual categories.

Administrative Skills

Leadership competencies involved in organizing and managing work, tasks, resources, schedules, and organizational operations.

Interpersonal Skills

Leadership competencies involved in working effectively with people, including communicating, listening, building relationships, motivating, and resolving interpersonal issues.

Conceptual Skills

Leadership competencies centered on understanding the big picture, complex systems, strategic thinking, organizational connections, and long-term consequences.

Behavior Conceptualization of Leadership

A perspective focusing on what leaders actually do and their observable actions, such as communicating expectations, providing feedback, and seeking input.

Influence Process Conceptualization of Leadership

A perspective viewing leadership as a dynamic process of affecting others' attitudes, behaviors, decisions, or directions, rather than possessing a formal title.

Social Penetration Model

A framework proposing that interpersonal relationships develop gradually through increasing self-disclosure, moving from superficial outer layers to deeper personal disclosures.

Theory of Reciprocity

The principle that people respond in kind to one another's actions; in communication, when one person discloses personal information, the other tends to share something equally personal.

Leadership

An organizational function primarily concerned with vision, influence, direction, change, people, and motivating others toward future goals.

Management

An organizational function focused on order, coordination, planning, allocation of resources, operating procedures, and maintaining day-to-day operations.

Theory X

A management philosophy assuming employees naturally dislike work, lack intrinsic motivation, avoid responsibility, and require close supervision and external control.

Theory Y

A management philosophy assuming employees are naturally motivated, capable of self-direction, committed to goals, and thrive when granted autonomy and responsibility.

Theory Z

A management philosophy emphasizing organizational effectiveness built upon trust, long-term relationships, employee involvement, and a cohesive corporate culture.

Authoritarian Leadership

A style where the leader retains total control, makes decisions unilaterally without employee input, and provides strict, explicit directions ("I'm making the decision").

Democratic Leadership

A style where the leader invites participation, facilitates collaboration, and shares decision-making authority with group members ("Let's decide this together").

Laissez-Faire Leadership

A hands-off leadership style granting high autonomy and decision-making freedom to subordinates with minimal intervention or direction ("You figure it out").

Contingency Theory of Leadership

A leadership theory positing that no single leadership style is universally best, and that leader effectiveness depends entirely on the requirements of the situation.

Climate

The overall atmosphere, tone, or social environment within a group that influences member communication, participation, performance, and conflict handling.

Constructive Climate

A group atmosphere that supports productive interaction and effective functioning through four factors: providing structure, clarifying norms, building cohesiveness, and promoting standards of excellence.

Providing Structure

A constructive climate factor where a leader outlines roles, responsibilities, goals, and workflows to eliminate ambiguity and coordination friction.

Clarifying Norms

A constructive climate factor establishing explicit or informal standards and behavioral expectations regarding how group members interact and treat one another.

Building Cohesiveness

A constructive climate factor fostering mutual trust, connection, belonging, and a sense of shared identity among team members.

Groupthink

A destructive group phenomenon where the desire for consensus and harmony overrides realistic appraisal of alternatives, critical thinking, and healthy dissent.

Promoting Standards of Excellence

A constructive climate factor focused on setting clear performance expectations, giving constructive feedback, holding members accountable, and encouraging continuous improvement.

"I" Language

Feedback communication phrased in terms of the speaker's own feelings, observations, and reactions, reducing defensiveness during difficult conversations.

"You" Language

Accusatory or blaming feedback directed at the recipient's character or actions, which frequently triggers defensiveness and escalation.

Care Personally

A dimension of Radical Candor involving genuine empathy, concern, respect, and recognizing employees as whole human beings beyond work outputs.

Challenge Directly

A dimension of Radical Candor involving the willingness to speak the truth clearly and provide candid feedback even when it is uncomfortable.

Radical Candor

A communication quadrant resulting from high personal care combined with high direct challenge, allowing for constructive, honest, and caring feedback.

Ruinous Empathy

A communication quadrant with high personal care but low direct challenge, where a leader withholds critical feedback to avoid hurting feelings, ultimately hindering growth.

Obnoxious Aggression

A communication quadrant characterized by low personal care and high direct challenge, where criticism is delivered in a harsh, blunt, or disrespectful manner.

Manipulative Insincerity

A communication quadrant marked by low personal care and low direct challenge, characterized by passive, politically convenient praise or backstabbing behavior.

The Habit Loop

A four-stage neurological mechanism of behavior change consisting of a Cue, a Craving, a Response, and a Reward.

Cue (Atomic Habits)

The external or internal trigger that signals a reward is available and initiates a behavioral sequence; governed by the law 'Make it Obvious.'

Craving (Atomic Habits)

The motivational desire to change one's internal state resulting from a cue; governed by the law 'Make it Attractive.'

Response (Atomic Habits)

The actual physical or mental action or behavior performed; governed by the law 'Make it Easy' by reducing friction.

Reward (Atomic Habits)

The ultimate payoff that satisfies the craving and reinforces the habit loop; governed by the law 'Make it Satisfying.'

Conflict

A felt struggle between interdependent parties accompanied by emotional affect and perceived differences regarding goals, resources, or values.

Interdependence (in Conflict)

The condition in which conflicting parties are linked together such that the actions or decisions of one party directly affect the other.

Competition (Conflict Approach)

A conflict approach characterized by an uncooperative, win-lose stance where a party pursues their own outcomes at the expense of others.

Avoidance (Conflict Approach)

A conflict approach marked by unassertiveness and passivity, where a party deliberately deflects, suppresses, or refuses to engage in the dispute.

Accommodation (Conflict Approach)

A cooperative, unassertive conflict approach where one side yields entirely to the other's preferences to maintain harmony or preserve the relationship.

Compromise (Conflict Approach)

A conflict approach where both parties give up a portion of their goals to reach an expedient, mutually acceptable middle ground.

Collaboration (Conflict Approach)

An assertive, highly cooperative conflict approach where parties jointly investigate underlying needs to achieve an integrative win-win solution.

Principled Negotiation

Fisher and Ury's method of conflict resolution based on four pillars: separate people from the problem, focus on interests not positions, invent options for mutual gains, and use objective criteria.

Position (Negotiation)

The explicit, stated demand or outcome that a negotiating party insists upon having.

Interest (Negotiation)

The underlying motivation, need, or rationale that explains why a negotiating party adopts a specific position.

Objective Criteria (Negotiation)

Fair, unbiased benchmarks (such as market value, precedent, policy, or data) used to evaluate solutions rather than relying on arbitrary will.

High Conflict

An escalating, destructive conflict cycle that becomes stuck, characterized by entrenched us-versus-them mindsets, emotional intensity, and resistance to resolution.

Confirmation Bias (in Conflict)

The psychological tendency to selectively notice, interpret, and recall information that confirms existing negative views of an opponent while disregarding contradictory data.

False Dichotomy

A cognitive bias framing a complex disagreement as an 'either-or' binary with only two mutually exclusive choices, blinding parties to intermediate or alternative solutions.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to attribute another person's actions to inherent flaws in character or personality while ignoring external, situational explanations.

The 4th Way

A high-conflict resolution strategy that rejects binary polarized framings and actively seeks alternative possibilities that address the underlying concerns of both sides.

Looping

An active listening technique in conflict resolution that involves listening, reflecting back what the speaker expressed, and confirming understanding to break defensive cycles.

Shared Identity

A high-conflict resolution strategy that de-escalates conflict by highlighting common goals, values, or overarching group belonging ('we') to bridge divisive divides.

Contact Theory

The proposition that structured, meaningful interpersonal interaction between opposing groups reduces prejudice, dissolves stereotypes, and resolves hostility under constructive conditions.