Conflict Resolution
Diyasingh
OrganizationalCommunicationandConflictResolution-Chapter2.pptORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION & CONFLICT RESOLUTION
CHAPTER 2
Inner Experience of Conflict
INNER EXPERIENCE OF CONFLICT
The psychological processes that influence conflict interaction is important.
We will consider:
Psychological dynamics that affect our perception and interpretation of conflicts.
How we process conflict related information.
How we behave during conflict.
Thinking and feeling are two different processes.
PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE
Freud believed the mind was a reservoir of psychic energy channeled into various activities.
This energy can be channeled into positive or negative behavior.
Example of positive behavior raising a family.
Example of negative behavior verbal attack or vandalism.
The energy must be released otherwise pressure can lead to one or another behavior.
Psyche is linked to a system of hydraulic pipes which turns off one outlet puts pressure on another.
Freud tried to explain how intrapersonal States a mental activity give rise to behavioral social contexts.
Psychodynamic perspective “think big”.
Issues like the meaning of life, how we face death, origins of love and hate.
Concepts like the ego, the unconscious, repression and wish fulfillment.
PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE
To avoid confrontations or breaking the law people are Channel that energy.
One form of channeling aggressive Energy is through suppression.
Suppression means not acknowledging the drives and channeling the energy positively.
An employee who is mad at his boss for not getting a promotion suppresses his aggression by working harder instead of acting out aggressively towards his boss.
However suppression can be a double edge sword.
Suppressing feelings can unconsciously cause destructive behavior.
In this case the employee could not do his work causing trouble for his supervisor by missing deadlines projects.
Frustrations and uncertainties involved in conflict lead to aggressive impulse and anxiety.
These two factors determine how people react to each other.
Aggressive energy arises from:
Feelings of guilt
A lack of self-worth
Frustrations resulting from unfulfilled needs or thwarted desires
PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE
The second strategy for dealing with aggression is directed towards more vulnerable people and not the actual source of frustration.
Rather than suffer the consequences of dealing with the actual source, people attribute the frustrations to other parties so that their impulses can be legitimized.
This energy can also be channeled towards a person who tries to intervene or assist.
This is also known as displaced aggression.
People know that aggression towards a group can cause rejection, therefore, they pick on a weak member of the group or an outsider.
DISPLACEMENT OF AGGRESSION
Often times, when a culture or ethnic group feels mistreated, not acknowledged, attacked, or betrayed, they will seek their wrath on their enemies.
Although this is a psychological manifestation, the aggression is directed towards a less weaker target.
Lords, politicians, monarchs use displaced aggression to get people to engage in immoral or harmful actions War
Look at the conflict that exists between religious groups, or political parties or ethic groups.
Eventually these groups are confronted with hatred and violence from other groups because of displaced aggression.
ANXIETY
Anxiety is also a by-product of conflict.
Anxiety is an internal state of tension that arises when we perceive impending danger.
Hope is the cure to anxiety.
As long as there is some hope that an agreement will be reached that meets each person’s needs.
If there is no hope, anxiety will increase throughout the conflict.
PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE
Two other sources of anxiety: Impulses & judgement
Anxiety results from fear of impulses.
Therefore we set boundaries and establish limits.
Anxiety fear of judgements people make about themselves.
Psychology suggests that the Superego gives people a capacity to make judgments about their behaviour.
Anxiety can cloud thinking and prevent people from understanding their own ambivalence.
Anxiety causes people to be rigid and inflexible in conflict.
EMOTION AND CONFLICT
EMOTION AND CONFLICT
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EMOTION AND CONFLICT
MOST COMMON EMOTIONS IN CONFLICT
Anger
Most common negative emotion associated with conflict.
Others emotions include: rage, disgust, contempt, irritation, and exasperation.
Angry people have accelerated heart rates, feel hot or flushed, and tense muscles.
People area angered when their goals are negatively affected or threatened.
VERBAL AGGRESSIVENESS
Highly argumentative people perceive arguing as exciting, intellectually challenging, and invigorating.
Low argumentative people perceive arguments as uncomfortable, unpleasant, a form of suffering, causing anxiety.
If you teach people and provide them with the knowledge and tools they need for conflict management society would be a much better place.
But most people don’t take the “high road” they chose to use violence or aggressive behaviour instead.
FEAR
Another emotion that occurs in conflict is fear.
Symptoms of fear include: perspiration, muscle tension, pupil dilation.
Fear is associated with harm.
Natural reaction to fear is the “flight” response I need to get out of this situation.
Fear in conflict results in withdrawing, accommodating the other, and avoidance.
HURT
Hurt is another emotion that occurs during conflict.
Results when someone feels psychologically injured by someone else.
Hurt is associated with: sadness, anger, anguish, and suffering.
Hurt mixed with sadness leads to: tears, lump in the throat, muscle tension, quietude.
Causes of hurt of hurt include: accusations, negative evaluations, lies and betrayal.
GUILT
Guilt is a negative emotion that results from hurting another.
People experience guilt when they perceive they have injured or hurt or failed to help someone.
Responses to guilt include lump in the throat, accelerated heart rate, irregular breathing, muscle tension.
Example: unfulfilled obligations, apologies.
EMOTIONS AND CONFLICT
There has been less attention paid to positive emotions in conflict.
Since conflict is founded on differences and interference with goals, negative emotions are primary.
One positive response to conflict is hope.
Hope is based on anticipation of positive outcomes that is associated with an optimistic outlook.
A moderate emotional state, in the middle not too intense.
A manager can view conflict with his employees as a constructive/positive way to problem solve.
Positivity leads to hopeful situations in conflict.
EMOTION AND CONFLICT
Another positive emotion in conflict is energy.
Feeling that one is eager to act and capable of acting.
Having energy to tackle a conflict leads to:
enhanced awareness
focused attention
increased heartbeat
muscle tension
Energy signals to an individual that they are ready for the challenge, makes people invest in activities and view situations positively.
EMOTIONS AND CONFLICT
The assumption that emotions impact conflict negatively is false.
Emotions are part of the human experience, assisting people in responding to the conflict in a manner that affects that individual.
Emotions energize our responses to conflict.
What needs to be discussed is not weather emotion is good or bad for conflict, rather when and under what conditions it has positive and negative effects.
EMOTIONS AND CONFLICT
- Emotional Flooding: Tendency for emotions to spread among parties in a conflict.
- In professional sports, athletes in times of competition or conflict with another player, try to keep their “cool”, an maintain their demeanor.
- People through experience learn how to emotionally respond to certain situations of conflict or competition.
- POKER FACE!
| Questions to Ask and Measures to Take Regarding Emotions in Conflict |
| Accept emotion as natural part of conflict and acknowledge your emotions. Identify your emotional states. You may not always be aware of exactly what emotions you are feeling. Ask yourself whether the emotion you have labeled your current state with is appropriate for this situation. Be aware of the behavioral tendencies associated with various emotions and consider whether these tendencies are constructive or destructive in the current situation. Realize the possibility of emotional flooding. If your emotions overwhelm you, find a way to get some distance perspective on them. Foster hope and positive energy. Own up to your emotions and discuss them with the other party. Help the other party discuss his or her emotions. Recognize the other's emotions as legitimate and respect his or her feeling. |
SOCIAL COGNITION AND CONFLICT: BELIEFS
Thoughts are organized by various cognitive structures and processes.
In this case, our focus is on conflict and conflict interaction.
Beliefs are assumptions and standards.
Assumptions: beliefs such as whether conflict is desirable or not, how others will behave in conflict, and how a conflict will turn out.
CULTURE AND CONFLICT
People with different backgrounds have different standards about conflict.
They have different attitudes about conflict.
Different expectations about appropriate conflict behaviour.
Different approaches to managing conflict.
Kozan came up with three cultural models:
The Harmony Model
The Confrontational Model
The Regulative Model
Three standards people hold about conflict.
REGULATIVE MODEL
Emphasizes setting conflict through application of principles.
Reliance on codes, rules and laws to address differences or issues.
Personal aspects of the conflicts tend to be underplayed or ignored.
Emotions are underplayed and are seen as less relevant to the conflict resolution process.
Third parties are usually people in ascribed roles who have the power to apply rules to specific conflict situations.
Procedural justice is an important element of conflict resolution process.
CONFRONTATIONAL MODEL
Emphasizes the aggressive pursuit of individual goals.
Conflicts are valued because they can address the needs of individuals.
Less emphasis on relations or group preservation.
Tendency to open up conflict and engage in negotiations.
Emotions are experienced intensely and expressed openly.
Use of third parties to help facilitate the negotiation between parties.
HARMONY MODEL
Emphasis maintaining smooth relationships.
Tendency to prevent or avoid open expression of conflict.
Reliance on cooperativeness and connection.
Lack of self-assertion.
Restrictions on negative emotional display.
Preservation of honor, pride and face.
Strives for long-term, stable outcomes to conflict.
CONFLICT SCRIPTS
Script: a cognitive structure that describes appropriate sequences of events in an episode.
Research shows that men and women had expectations about how they would react to anger and how their partner would respond to their reaction
The most common expected response for men and women in response to expression of anger was to talk it over, be conciliatory, and express hurt feelings.
THREE METAPHORICAL SCHEMES
Conflict is War
- A battle that involves a great cost to the participants.
- Clash of the titan, fighting like cats and dogs, guerilla warfare.
- Victory for one side, defeat for the other.
Conflict is Impotence
- Victimizing process in which participants were powerless to influence or alter unpredictable events.
- Parties see themselves as trapped in a conflict they have some control over. Unpredictable!
- Bear praying on a baby.
Conflict is a rational process
- Views conflict in collaborative terms and emphasizes its potentially positive outcomes.
- Discussion, debate, and exploring issues.
- Conflict can be constructive.
CONFLICT FRAMES
Frame: Is a cognitive structure based on previous experience, which guides our interpretation of an interaction or event.
There has been substantial research on conflict frames.
There are six dimensions of conflict frames that guide interpretations of interpersonal conflict:
Instrumentality: Degree to which the party focuses on factual or substantive issues and outcomes.
Other Assessment: The degree to which the party focuses on the other’s conduct and judging whether it was good/bad, right/wrong, or fair/unfair.
Affect: The degree to which the party has negative emotions towards the other or the conflict in general.
Face: Degree to which the party focuses on issues related to self-image.
Affiliation: the degree to which the party is concerned with finding a mutually acceptable solution and maintaining a good relationship with the other.
Distributiveness: Degree to which the party interpreted conflict in win-lose or competitive terms.
CONFLICT FRAMES
Prior experience with the other party encourages us to select certain frames over others.
If Jim has been competitive in previous conflicts we're likely to apply distributive frame in the future.
Negative experiences significantly affect individuals experiences in upcoming situations.
From past experience to the present situation.
Three processes influence conflict interaction:
Expectancy violations
Attributions about others
Thinking about the conflict
LETS DISCUSS
You drive to work everyday and have your own private reserved parking spot.
Reserved means that no one else aside from you can park in that slot.
You drive to work one day and try to pull into your parking spot as usual, but realize you hit something.
You get out of the car and see a bike in your parking spot.
As you try to asses the situation, and figure out who would park in a reserved spot, you hear someone approaching you, the owner of the bike -- Jerry.
Jerry angrily and states, “ARE YOU BLIND! Did you not see my bike. What’s wrong with you? You have to pay for damages to my bike. Your in trouble”
How do you handle this conflict? How do you behave? How do you respond?
LETS DISCUSS
The beliefs and standards the two parties brought to the conflict set up expectations about how the other should behave.
You expected Jerry to accept responsibility for parking his bike in the wrong place.
You expect Jerry to graciously apologize and not get angry.
Jerry expecting you to accept responsibility for the accident and offer to repair his bike.
This mirroring of expectancy violations between the two of you created a self-reinforcing cycle of negativity that could lead to physical violence.
The best approach is to find a mediator or third party in this case the parking lot manager or security guard who could look at the policy and diffuse the situation.
Each party should also take some responsibility in attributing to the conflict.
EXPECTANCY VIOLATIONS
Expectancy Violations Theory: People have predictive and prescriptive expectancies about others behavior.
Predictive expectancies: pertain to expectations about how another will act in a particular situation.
Prescriptive expectancies: pertain to expectations about how another should act in a particular situation.
For example: a strange in the an elevator is rude to you. There is a good chance because you don’t know this person, or have anything to loose, you may respond negatively. On the other hand, your boss is rude to you, in which case you may shrug it off, pretend like it was a joke, or simply not say anything because you don’t want it affecting your promotion.
Scripts describe sequences expected behavior.
Expectancies are for the most part single processes.
ATTRIBUTION PROCESS
Attribution process has two premises.
People interpret behaviour in terms of causes.
People naturally contribute characteristics intentions, and attitudes to the people they encounter.
After discovering a plausible reason or cause, the other’s behaviour is attributed to one of the two categories: Dispositional Factors or Situational Factors.
Fundamental Attribution Error: Individuals commonly attribute their own behaviour to situation factors while they attribute others behaviour to depositional factors.
ATTRIBUTION PROCESS
Self Serving Bias: To maintain and enhance self of esteem, individuals, often defensively attribute actions resulting in negative consequences to external forces, and attribute positive consequences of the action to themselves.
Often occurs in times of success or failure.
For example: If my students do well, it is because I am a great instructor and I help them improve, however, if they do bad it is attributed to the shortcomings as students.
The mentality that I am doing more than others to resolve the conflict.
THINKING ABOUT CONFLICT
Have you ever thought about a conflict that you expected to occur or mulled over one that you previously had?
What thoughts ran through your head?
How did you feel?
Did thinking about the conflict make you angrier at the other party, or did you feel regretful and wish you did something different?
Have you ever rehearsed what you were going to say to someone you were angry at?
Think about conflict, but don’t obsesses as it may lead to negative emotions and behaviour.
MODEL OF THREAT-RIGIDITY CYCLE
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When individuals feel threatened they experience an increase in psychological stress and anxiety.
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Fosters emotional reactions such as fear or anger, and physiological arousal.
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There two routes the cycle can take, once the individual has responded:
1) If habitual responses happen to be appropriate for the situation, the result will be positive. 2) if the habitual responses are inappropriate and make the situation worse, then perception of threat, stress, and anxiety increase and the cycle starts again.
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These reactions result in a) restricted information processing and b) constriction of behaviour. Habitual response no consideration of alternative possibilities.
THE FIVE STEPS TO CONFLICT RESOLUTION
- Step 1: Identify the source of the conflict.
The more information you have about the cause of the conflict, the more easily you can help to resolve it.
To get the information you need, use a series of questions to identify the cause, like, “When did you feel upset?” “Do you see a relationship between that and this incident?” “How did this incident begin?”
As a manager or supervisor, you need to give both parties the chance to share their side of the story.
It will give you a better understanding of the situation, as well as demonstrate your impartiality.
As you listen to each disputant, say, “I see” or “uh huh” to acknowledge the information and encourage them to continue to open up to you.
THE FIVE STEPS TO CONFLICT RESOLUTION
- Step 2: Look beyond the incident.
Often, it is not the situation but the perspective on the situation that causes anger to fester and ultimately leads to a shouting match or other visible—and disruptive—evidence of a conflict.
The source of the conflict might be a minor problem that occurred months before, but the level of stress has grown to the point where the two parties have begun attacking each other personally instead of addressing the real problem.
In the calm of your office, you can get them to look beyond the triggering incident to see the real cause. Once again, probing questions will help, like, “What do you think happened here?” or “When do you think the problem between you first arose?”
THE FIVE STEPS TO CONFLICT RESOLUTION
- Step 3: Request solutions.
After getting each party’s viewpoint on the conflict, the next step is to get each to identify how the situation could be changed.
Again, question the parties to solicit their ideas: “How can you make things better between you?”
As mediator, you have to be an active listener, aware of every verbal nuance, as well as a good reader of body language.
Just listen.
You want to get the disputants to stop fighting and start cooperating, and that means steering the discussion away from finger pointing and toward ways of resolving the conflict.
THE FIVE STEPS TO CONFLICT RESOLUTION
- Step 4: Identify solutions both disputants can support.
You are listening for the most acceptable course of action.
Point out the merits of various ideas, not only from each other’s perspective, but in terms of the benefits to the organization.
For instance, you might point to the need for greater cooperation and collaboration to effectively address team issues and departmental problems.
THE FIVE STEPS TO CONFLICT RESOLUTION
- Step 5: Agreement.
The mediator needs to get the two parties to shake hands and agree to one of the alternatives identified in Step 4.
Some mediators go as far as to write up a contract in which actions and time frames are specified.
However, it might be sufficient to meet with the individuals and have them answer these questions: “What action plans will you both put in place to prevent conflicts from arising in the future?” and “What will you do if problems arise in the future?”
