CH

C HA
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7
Conflict
Management

Stewart L. Tubbs

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Slide 2

Sources of Conflict

• Conflict is “an expressed struggle between

at least two interdependent parties who
perceive incompatible goals, scare
resources, and interference from others in
achieving their goals” (Wilmot and Hocker,
1998)
• Conflicts exist whenever incompatible
activities occur.

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Slide 3

Sources of Conflict

• Conflicts may originate from a number of

different sources, including:
• Differences in information, beliefs, values, interests,
or desires.
• A scarcity of some resource.
• Rivalries in which one person or group competes
with another.

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Slide 4

Desirability of Conflict

• Many writers believe that conflict in a group

is desirable.
• Conflict helps eliminate or reduce the
likelihood of groupthink.
• A moderate level of conflict across tasks
within a group resulted in increased group
performance while conflict among
personalities resulted in lower group
performance (Peterson and Behfar, 2003)
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Slide 5

Types of Conflict

• Conflict of ideas
– Dooley and Fryxell (1999) found that conflict of
ideas at the early stage of decision making (idea
formulation) was desirable.
– That same conflict sometimes caused problems
at a later stage when the ideas actually had to
implemented.
• Conflict of feelings (often called personality
conflict)

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Slide 6

Types of Conflict

• Opposition and Support

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Slide 7

Undesirability of Conflict

• Conflicts are often hard to keep under

control once they have begun.
– There is a definite trend toward escalation and
polarization.
– Once conflict escalates to a point at which it is
no longer under control, it almost always yields
negative results.

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Slide 8

Game Theory

• Game theory puts people into the mixed-

motive situation.
– Covey (1990) in The Seven Habits of Highly
Successful People refers to the scarcity
mentality versus the abundance mentality.
• The scarcity mentality leads us to resent the success
of others.
• The abundance mentality allows us to think of
situations in which everybody can win.

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Slide 9

Toward Conflict Management

• Blake and Mouton (1970) have proposed a

scheme whereby we can try to avoid
win-lose situations and, when possible,
apply a win-win approach.
– The 1,1 style is the hands-off approach, also
called avoidance.
– The 1,9 position, also called accommodation, is
excessively person-oriented.

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Slide 10

Toward Conflict Management

– The 5,5 position represents a willingness to

compromise.
– The 9,1 is the bullheaded approach, also called
competing.
– The optimum style for reducing conflict is the
9,9 approach, also called collaboration.

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Slide 11

Toward Conflict Management

– Unilateral negotiation strategies

• They include:
– The trusting collaboration strategy.
– The open subordination strategy.
– The firm competition strategy.
– The active avoidance strategy.

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Slide 12

Toward Conflict Management

– Interactive negotiation strategies

• Trusting collaboration
• Principled negotiation
• Firm competition
• Soft competition
• Open subordination
• Focused subordination
• Active avoidance
• Passive avoidance
• Responsive avoidance

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Slide 13

Toward Conflict Management

• Fisher, Ury, and Patton (1991) outline four

principles that compose principled
negotiation.
– Separate the people from the problem.
– Focus on interests, not positions.
– Invent options for mutual gain.
– Seek objective criteria.

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Slide 14

Toward Conflict Management

• Blake and Mouton’s Conflict Grid

Source: Reproduced by permission from Robert R. Blake and Jane Syngley Mouton. “The Fifth
McGraw-Hill © 2007 TheJournal
Achievement.” McGraw-Hill Companies,
of Applied Inc. All
Behavioral rights6(4),
Science reserved.
1970..
 Slide 15

Toward Conflict Management—

Practical Tips
Walker and Harris (1995) offer the following
practical tips for implementing the 9,9 style.
Encouraging behavior occurs when a team
member:
1. Avoids feelings or perceptions that imply the other
person is wrong or needs to change.
2. Communicates a desire to work together to explore a
problem or seek a solution.
3. Exhibits behavior that is spontaneous and destruction-
free.

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Slide 16

Toward Conflict Management—

Practical Tips

4. Identifies with another team member’s problems, shares

feelings, and accepts the team member’s reaction.
5. Treats other team members with respect and trust.
6. Investigates issues rather than taking sides on them.

– The same principles can be applied to negotiating with

others outside your team, or with a supplier or
customer.

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Slide 17

Toward Conflict Management

• Tubbs, Kryska, and Cooper (1997) propose

that one frequent source of conflict is the
leadership struggle between superior and
subordinate in decision making.
– The Continuum of Decision-Making Behavior
has been described as including four styles of
decision making:
• Tells
• Sells
• Consults
• Joins

McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Slide 18

Toward Conflict Management

• A Continuum of Decision-Making Behavior

Source: From Stewart L. Tubbs. Empowerment (Ann Arbor, Mich.: U-Train, Inc., 1993), pp 5-9. Adapted from R. Tannenbaum
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
and H.W. Schmidt. “How to Choose a Leadership Pattern,” Harvard Business Review March-April, 1958.