Communication & Theatre 310

Organizational Communication

Visible Conflict = Resistance

Environmental stressors

War

Violence

Greed

Materialism

Lack of community

• National culture

• Intercultural difficulties

Prejudice

Language

Taboos

Physical Characteristics of workplace

• Location

• Lighting

• Noise

• Temperature

• Overcrowding

• Lack of privacy

• Poor equipment

Organizational stressors

• Lack of social support

• No participation in decision making

• Racism

• Sexism

• Expression of emotion discouraged

Job stressors

• Workload

• Role uncertainty

• Job design

Individual stressors

• Personality traits (type A)

• Personal life

• Communication style

Conflict = an expressed struggle between or among interdependent parties who perceive:

•Scarce resources,

•Incompatible goals, and

•Interference from the other in achieving their goals.

Parties in conflict are in a position of opposition in conjunction with a need to cooperate.

conflict may be either

• destructive or

• constructive

Conflict may either be managed or resolved. When we resolve a conflict we try to end the conflict.

• Negotiation

• Mediation

• Arbitration

• Research

• legislation

• judicial settlement

• physical force

Kilmann and Thomas Conflict Management Model

concernfor self

non-assertion

assertion

concernfor other

non-cooperation cooperation

avoid accomodate

compete collaborate

compromise

avoiding = little concern for self or other

• ignore conflicts

• invoke slow procedures

• put problems on hold

• secrecy

When to avoid:

• issue is trivial

• no chance of winning

• negative potential outweighs benefits

• cool off to regain perspective

accommodating = giving in

• submission

• compliance

• going along with

• obedience

when to accommodate:

• when you are wrong

• when it is more important to others

• build credit for later

• when harmony is crucial

competing = trying to get your way.

• win-lose

• lose-lose

• forcing submission

when to compete:

• you are right

• quick action is needed

• unpopular action is needed

• when you are up against people who take advantage of cooperative behavior

collaboration is the team approach

• problem solving

• confront differences by sharing ideas and information

• search for integrative solutions

• win-win

• to work through problems which have interfered with a working relationship

collaborate when:

• both sets of concerns are too important to be compromised

• to merge insights from people with different perspectives

• to gain commitment thru consensus

compromise = get part of what you want

is this glass half full, or half empty?

compromising behaviors:

• negotiation

• looking for deals

• tradeoffs

when to compromise:

• people are equal in power and have mutually exclusive goals

• temporary settlement

• deal with time pressure

• when goals are important but so are the relationships

• as a backup to competition or collaboration

BLAKE AND MOUTON CONFLICT MANAGEMENT GRID

CONCERN FOR PEOPLE

LOW

HIGH

CONCERN FOR TASK

LOW HIGH

1,1neutrality

9,1 win-lose

harmony 1,9

middle ground 5,5

problem solving 9,9

Attributions in Conflicts

self otherCollaboration 41% 4%Compromise 25% 6%Accommodation 8% 2%Avoidance 5% 16%Competition 21% 73%

Thomas, K. & Pondy, L. (1977) Toward an 'intent' model of communication conflict, Human Relations, 30, p. 1094.

• abstracta part of the universe

a human being

US citizen

a Montanan

a student at MSU-B

a person in the class

a male in the class

Rusty• concrete

Questions to ask yourself concerning sexual harassment

• Would the person accused of sexual harassment want their supervisor to see them?

• Would the person accused of sexual harassment want their spouse/significant other to see them?

• Would the person accused of sexual harassment want their behavior to be the subject of a memo or discussion?

Personality and conflict management

• win-lose battler = internal control, takes risks, aggressive

• friendly helper = external control, no risks, trusting

• problem solver = internal control, trusting, respectful

WL FH PS

WL

FH

PS

stalemate WL WL

stalemate PS

consensus

End of Conflict Session