Conflict Management
THE CONFLICT PROCESS
The conflict process can be seen as comprising five stages: potential opposition or incompatibility, cognition and personalization, intentions, behavior, and outcomes. The process is diagrammed in Exhibit 13-1.
Stage I: Potential Opposition or Incompatibility
The first step in the conflict process is the presence of conditions that create opportunities for conflict to arise. They need not lead directly to conflict, but one of these conditions is necessary if conflict is to surface. For simplicity’s sake, these conditions
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Part III Groups in the Organization EXHIBIT 13-1 The Conflict Process
Stage III Intentions Stage IV Behavior Stage V Outcomes
Stage I Stage II Potential opposition Cognition and or incompatibility personalization Perceived conflict Antecedent conditions • Communication • Structure • Personal variables Felt conflict
Increased group performance Conflict-handling intentions • Competing • Collaborating • Compromising • Avoiding • Accommodating Overt conflict • Party’s behavior • Other’s reaction Decreased group performance
(which also may be looked at as causes or sources of conflict) have been condensed into three general categories: communication, structure, and personal variables.4 Communication The communication source represents the opposing forces that arise from semantic difficulties, misunderstandings, and noise in the communication channels. Much of this discussion can be related back to our comments on communication in Chapter 10. A review of the research suggests that differing word connotations, jargon, insufficient exchange of information, and noise in the communication channel are all barriers to communication and potential antecedent conditions to conflict. Evidence demonstrates that semantic difficulties arise as a result of differences in training, selective perception, and inadequate information about others. Research has further demonstrated a surprising finding: The potential for
The conflict process can be seen as comprising five stages: potential opposition or incompatibility, cognition and personalization, intentions, behavior, and outcomes. The process is diagrammed in Exhibit 13-1.
Stage I: Potential Opposition or Incompatibility
The first step in the conflict process is the presence of conditions that create opportunities for conflict to arise. They need not lead directly to conflict, but one of these conditions is necessary if conflict is to surface. For simplicity’s sake, these conditions
214
Part III Groups in the Organization EXHIBIT 13-1 The Conflict Process
Stage III Intentions Stage IV Behavior Stage V Outcomes
Stage I Stage II Potential opposition Cognition and or incompatibility personalization Perceived conflict Antecedent conditions • Communication • Structure • Personal variables Felt conflict
Increased group performance Conflict-handling intentions • Competing • Collaborating • Compromising • Avoiding • Accommodating Overt conflict • Party’s behavior • Other’s reaction Decreased group performance
(which also may be looked at as causes or sources of conflict) have been condensed into three general categories: communication, structure, and personal variables.4 Communication The communication source represents the opposing forces that arise from semantic difficulties, misunderstandings, and noise in the communication channels. Much of this discussion can be related back to our comments on communication in Chapter 10. A review of the research suggests that differing word connotations, jargon, insufficient exchange of information, and noise in the communication channel are all barriers to communication and potential antecedent conditions to conflict. Evidence demonstrates that semantic difficulties arise as a result of differences in training, selective perception, and inadequate information about others. Research has further demonstrated a surprising finding: The potential for