Conflict Management

Conflict

• Natural

• Can be a useful growth experience

• Arises between 2 or more individuals from a perceived threat to their wants, needs, feelings, behaviors, or attitudes

• Organizational conflict: arises from competition for limited resources

Conflict Theory

• Conflict closely related to power and political issues

• May offer an individual personal gain, provide prestige to the winner, be an incentive for creativity, and serve as a powerful motivator

• Conflict that is managed instead of avoided, ignored or suppressed can be used effectively…if ineffective it can be debilitating

Sources of Conflict

• Conflict can arise because of differing attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors

• May arise because the individuals involved have differing viewpoints

• People working together in complex environments encounter numerous sources of conflict

• Conflict increases with both the number of organizational levels and the number of specialties

• Greater as the degree of association increases and when some parties are dependent on others

• Competition for scarce resources, ambiguity, communication barriers and the need for consensus all contribute to conflict

Conflict

• Job conflict: the struggle between individual & organizational goals

• Conflict occurs because of discord between one’s individual values, philosophies & beliefs and those of others

• When conflict is handled positively, there can be personal or professional growth, improved creativity, & satisfaction

• Conflict handled poorly can cause fear, retaliation, anger and hostility

Categories of conflict

• Intrapersonal: arises within an individual from 2 competing demands or ideas

• Interpersonal: the battle between 2 or more individuals arising from miscommunication or differences in values

• Intergroup: the result of struggles between 2 or more groups

Conflict for Nurses

• Nurses can feel conflict in form of role overload (required to do the work of other professionals); role ambiguity (the nurses’ responsibilities and duties expand without a job description); and role stress (the nurses’ boss has one idea about the job and the nurse has a different perception)

Managing conflict

• Essential for all leaders

• Essential for positive work groups

• Nurses also need to be effective at managing conflict with clients, physicians and other health care providers

Escalation of conflict tactics

• Competition escalates conflict• When we feel we are righteous we stop

listening…then we lose an opportunity to learn• Labelling escalates conflict• Dealing with personalities escalates conflict…

separate the person from the problem• Constricting others and making threats escalates

conflict• Issue expansion…need to stay focused

Stages of conflict

• Latent – antecedent conditions predict conflict behavior

• Perceived – cognitive awareness of stressful situation exists

• Felt – feelings and attitudes are present and affect the conflict

• Manifest – overt behavior results from 3 earlier stages

Conflict Resolution

• Techniques include avoiding, forcing, competing, compromising, confronting, collaborating, bargaining, and problem solving

Avoiding

• One party does not pursue own concerns or those of other party

• Unassertive or uncooperative: the conflict is not addressed

• May relate to the sense of powerlessness associated with roles

• Creates lose-lose situations• Withdrawal from a conflict does not resolve it, &

the individual who retreats may becoming increasingly angry

Accommodating

• Cooperative but unassertive• One party neglects own concerns to satisfy

concerns of others; emphasizes similarities, minimizes differences, self sacrificing

• By complimenting one’s opponent and accentuating points of agreement, one may smooth out an agreement on minor issues but the real issues still need to be dealt with

Compromising

• Assertive and cooperative

• One party gives up something to satisfy both parties; middle position

• Because both parties feel that they sacrifice something they are only partially satisfied and it feels like a lose-lose situation; may seem like a “quick fix” for temporary settlement of complex issues

Collaborating

• One party works with other party to find solution that satisfies both parties

• Cooperative, confronting issues

• Merge insights from different perspectives with the commitment developed through participation and resolution of hard feelings

• Win-win

Competing

• Power oriented mode: assertive but uncooperative

• One party wins, one party loses; high concern for self, low concern for others

• Used for quick decisions; unpopular causes; issues vital to the organization; defence against people who exploit noncompetitive behaviors

• win-lose situation

Deescalating

• Listening

• Showing tact and concern for others

• Appealing to deescalation

• Goodwill gestures

• Airing feelings

• Negative inquiry

• metacommunications

• Responding to all levels of communication

• Fractionalization

• Position paper

• Problem solving

• Establishing outside criteria

Win – Lose strategies

• Position power

• Mental or physical power

• Failure to respond

• Majority rule

• Railroading

• competing

Lose-lose

• Compromise

• Bribes

• Arbitration

• General rules

Win-win

• Consensus

• Problem solving

• Collaborating

Strategies

• Don’t blame the person for the problem

• Focus on the issues, not the personalities

• Protect each party’s self respect

• Facilitate open and complete discussion of the issues

• Give equal time to each party

• Encourage the expression of both positive and negative feelings

• Encourage each party to listen actively and try to understand the other person’s point of view

• Help develop alternative solutions

• Summarize key points and plans

Outcomes

• Win-win: when both parties are satisfied with the outcome

• Win-lose: when one party wins without concern for the other

• Lose-lose: when neither party gets what they want.