Managerial Interventions in Third Party Conflicts
Summary of the article
The article “Managing conflict: Third-party interventions for managers” delineates the essential steps followed by a manager in effectively and efficiently managing organizational conflict and the various approaches adopted for its resolution. It identifies certain key variables to consider for each step of the decision process concerning intervention and presents guidelines for making appropriate choices. It also describes a variety of pitfalls that a manager must beware of when intervening as third party in managing conflict. Third-party intervention by the manager assumes greater significance in the light of increasing use of teams and participatory management approaches used by organizations wherein timely conflict resolution greatly impacts team performance. When a conflict arises between two individual disputants, appropriate third-party managerial intervention not only improves the working relationships of the disputants but also helps them develop their own conflict-management and problem-solving skills.
The steps followed in the decision process of manager for interventions are as under:
• Step 1 – Is intervention necessary or appropriate? The key variables that influence the managerial decision in this step are the urgency and importance of the impact of conflict and the disputants’ capability to resolve the conflict themselves, in terms of both their abilities and motivation to resolve it and implement appropriate solutions. For example, if the conflict is neither important nor its resolution urgent, managerial intervention is not required irrespective of the capacity of the disputants. Similarly, regardless of the urgency and importance of conflict, if both the disputants are judged to be capable enough both in terms of abilities required to resolve conflict and motivation to do so, then intervention is not appropriate. Non-intervention not only helps disputants in enhancing their conflict-management and relationship-building
The article “Managing conflict: Third-party interventions for managers” delineates the essential steps followed by a manager in effectively and efficiently managing organizational conflict and the various approaches adopted for its resolution. It identifies certain key variables to consider for each step of the decision process concerning intervention and presents guidelines for making appropriate choices. It also describes a variety of pitfalls that a manager must beware of when intervening as third party in managing conflict. Third-party intervention by the manager assumes greater significance in the light of increasing use of teams and participatory management approaches used by organizations wherein timely conflict resolution greatly impacts team performance. When a conflict arises between two individual disputants, appropriate third-party managerial intervention not only improves the working relationships of the disputants but also helps them develop their own conflict-management and problem-solving skills.
The steps followed in the decision process of manager for interventions are as under:
• Step 1 – Is intervention necessary or appropriate? The key variables that influence the managerial decision in this step are the urgency and importance of the impact of conflict and the disputants’ capability to resolve the conflict themselves, in terms of both their abilities and motivation to resolve it and implement appropriate solutions. For example, if the conflict is neither important nor its resolution urgent, managerial intervention is not required irrespective of the capacity of the disputants. Similarly, regardless of the urgency and importance of conflict, if both the disputants are judged to be capable enough both in terms of abilities required to resolve conflict and motivation to do so, then intervention is not appropriate. Non-intervention not only helps disputants in enhancing their conflict-management and relationship-building