Conflict is when two or more values, perspectives and

opinions are contradictory in nature and haven't been

aligned or agreed about yet

Conflicts includes:

1. Within yourself when you're not living according to your values;2. When your values and perspectives are threatened; or3. Discomfort from fear of the unknown or from lack of fulfillment

Conflict, whether between individuals, groups, or nations, is a complex

process with consequences that endure beyond the initiating events

Conflict is inevitable and often healthy and constructive in

reasonable doses(Functional)

Good teams always go through a "form, storm,

norm and perform" periodGetting the most out of diversity means often contradictory values,

perspectives and opinions

Conflict is a great generator of energy and

can be particularly effective in bringing out

new information, sharpening, analysis, and

stimulating innovation and creativity

Conflict advantages… it:

1. Helps to raise and address problems.2. Energizes work to be on the most appropriate issues.3. Helps people "be real", for example, it motivates them to participate. 4. Helps people learn how to recognize and benefit from their differences

Conflict can also be a problem

(Dysfunctional)

BUT

A number of surveys indicate that people in all

occupations report the most uncomfortable, stress-

producing parts of their jobs are the interpersonal

conflicts that they experience on a daily basis

between themselves and co-workers or supervisors

A number of surveys indicate that people in all

occupations report the most uncomfortable, stress-

producing parts of their jobs are the interpersonal

conflicts that they experience on a daily basis

between themselves and co-workers or supervisors

Conflict is a problem when it:

1. Hampers productivity.2. Lowers morale.3. Causes more and continued conflicts.4. Causes inappropriate behaviors.

The nature of conflict

Even when the conflict is initially rationally , a “difference in cognitive belief," it is difficult

to prevent emotional issues from coloring and eventually dominating the controversy

"does not exist in the absence of emotion"

COMMON SOURCES OF CONFLICT

1- Incompatible goals or commitments2- Disagreement over achieving goals3- Emotional focusing4- Competition for scarce resources

Types of Managerial Actions that Cause Workplace Conflicts

1. Poor communicationsa. Employees experience continuing surprises, they aren't informed of new decisions, programs, etc. b. Employees don't understand reasons for decisions, they aren't involved in decision-making.c. As a result, employees trust the "rumor mill" more than management.

2. The alignment or the amount of resources is insufficient. There is:

a. Disagreement about "who does what".b. Stress from working with inadequate resources.

3. "Personal chemistry", including conflicting values or actions among managers and employees, for example:

a. Strong personal natures don't match.b. We often don't like in others what we don't like in ourselves.

4. Leadership problems, including inconsistent, missing, too-strong or uninformed leadership (at any level in the organization), evidenced by:a. Avoiding conflict, "passing the buck" with little follow-through on decisions.b. Employees see the same continued issues in the workplace. c. Supervisors don't understand the jobs of their subordinates.

Sources of the issues proliferate

as the conflict intensifies

1-the atmosphere of conflict allows suppressed disagreements to surface2-"a move on the part of the antagonists ... to solidify opinion and bring in new participants by providing new bases of response."

3) Allows previously suppressed issues against opponents to appear

2 )Disrupts equilibrium previously of community relations

1) Initial Single Issue

4) More and more of opponent's beliefs enter into disagreement

5) Opponent appear totally bad

6) Charges against opponent as a person

7) Dispute becomes independent of initial disagreement

Managing ConflictsManaging Conflicts

Methods of managing and solving conflicts are vital to

the dental team

Methods of managing and solving conflicts are vital to

the dental team

Major ways that people use to deal with conflict:

1- Avoidance and denial 2- Smoothing3- Compromise 4- Forcing5- Confrontation

1- Avoidance and denial

Pretend it is not there or ignore it

Use it when it simply is not worth the effort to

argue

For example, they tend to "mind their own business"

and look the other way when other employees are discussing office politics or ways to

equalize the work load

The pitfalls in denying or avoiding conflict are

many

1- Usually this approach tendsto worsen the conflict over time

If conflicts are denied when they occur, they simply go underground to reemerge

2- Conflict is a powerful energizing and motivating force, and avoidance and denial seek to bottle up this force This can be tension producing in creating that sense of diffuse, accumulated resentment that leads to future conflicts

3- Individuals can feel manipulated and resentful if their strongly held cognitive beliefs or emotional commitments are denied expression

2- Smoothing

2- Smoothing

Seek to deal with conflict by attending primarily to the

emotional overtones

Yielding or Giving in to others, sometimes to the extent that you

Usually this approach tends to worsen the

conflict over time, and causes conflicts within

yourself BC The basic issues that initiated the conflict have

not been dealt with directly

BUT

Can be both a time-saving and a face-saving device:

time saving in the sense that, if a middle ground found, the group

can get on to something else, and face saving in the sense 'that the designation of clear winners and

losers is avoided

Use this approach very sparingly and

infrequently, for example,

in situations when you know that you will have

another more useful approach in the very

near future

3- Compromise (Accommodation)

Seeks to satisfy your own and other persons needs

Is an appropriate strategy when both the relationship and the issue are of moderate importance to you

May produce outcomes which neither party is happy or

committed to

4- Forcing(Dominance)

4- Forcing(Dominance)

Is to force a resolution of issue by appeal to authority

“I don’t have time to argue with you, do it this way bc I

said so”

Is to force a resolution of issue by appeal to authority

“I don’t have time to argue with you, do it this way bc I

said so”

Forcing is a particularly tempting method because it:

1 -Avoids emotional entanglements2- Is clean and direct3- Has at least the appearance of being rational

Forcing Pitfalls

1- Forcing avoids any resolution in terms of the initiating issue itself

2- The long-term effect of the habitual use of force is to arouse competing farces. This tends to emphasize the win-lose nature of conflict and often to destroy the group

5- Confrontation

)integration)

5- Confrontation

)integration)

Is to handle the initiating issues directly, to confront them

Any approach to conflict must deal with the emotional involvements and with the substantive points of disagreement if a long-term resolution is to be achieved

Is to handle the initiating issues directly, to confront them

Any approach to conflict must deal with the emotional involvements and with the substantive points of disagreement if a long-term resolution is to be achieved

To confront the points of disagreement directly:

1- To accept the inevitability of conflict and to define the terms of the present disagreement

2- To place the conflict in the context of the larger concerns and needs of the group )e.g. the overriding goals)

3- The use of a third party, however the function is not that of an arbitrator who selects a winner from among the competing viewpoints but rather that of a guide and counselor who helps the competing parties to "keep on track" while they develop their own resolution