Conflict Management for Managers: New Tools for Practitioners

Dr. Susan Rainessraines@Kennesaw.edu

School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding & Development

The Costs of Conflict in Organizations• How much time is spent dealing with conflict at work?• “The typical manager spends 25% of his time dealing with

conflicts” (Bass & Bass, 2009, p. 319). • 42% of the average manager’s time (Watson & Hoffman, 1996)

• Fortune 500 executives devoting 20% of their time explicitly to litigation (Watson & Hoffman, 1996)

• Huge variation exists between managers and industries, and differences in the way conflict is defined and measured.

• To make matters worse: Conflict is underreported.

The Costs of Conflict for Organizations • Costs= Legal fees, lost customers, employee turnover, fines from

regulators, managerial & staff time, damage to reputation and brand.

Employee Turnover:• Hiring & training to replace an employee = between 75-150% of

his annual salary (Raines, 2013).• Reducing turnover rates has been shown to improve sales growth

and workforce morale (Allen, 2008, p. 5).

• Happy customers require happy employees.

Conflict Management for Managers: Proactive Skills, Processes and Tools for Organizational Leaders

Section 1: Basic Conflict Management Knowledge & SkillsChapter 1: Manager Know Thyself: The skills and behaviors of great conflict managersChapter 2: Practical Conflict Theory: Conflict’s origins, escalation and de-escalationChapter 3: The Power of Negotiation: Essential Concepts, Skills and Tools Chapter 4: Mediation, Arbitration and other processes within the Alternative Dispute Resolution Continuum Chapter 5: Intercultural communication for Civility and Globalization?

Section II: The Prevention and Resolution of Internal Organizational Conflicts

Chapter 6: Building & Sustaining a Conflict Competent Organizational Culture

Chapter 7: Reducing and Managing employee conflict: Performance reviews, turnover, motivation

Chapter 8: Building & Leading Successful Teams

Chapter 9: Designing Conflict Prevention and Early Resolution Systems

Chapter 10: Ombuds at Work: Coaching, Intervention, Training; and Shaping Organizations

Conflict Management for Managers: Proactive Skills, Processes and Tools for Organizational Leaders

Section III: The Prevention and Resolution of External Organizational Conflicts

Chapter 11: Principles and Systems for Superior Customer Service and Customer Recapture

Chapter 12: Conflict & Collaboration between Regulators and Regulated Entities: Environmental and Public Policy Conflict Resolution: Trends and Best Practices

Chapter 13: Meeting Management & Large Group Decision-making processes

Tools for Workplace Conflict

• For Ombuds and Managers

Culture Change

InitiativesDispute Systems

Design &

Implementation

Training for Conflict Prevention & Skill Development

Mediating or facilitating difficult conversations between 2+ people

Listening, Coaching, Referral to Resources

Hierarchy of Org CM Tasks

To Minimize Risk/Maximize Rewards

1. Build coalitions of support:• President/CEO, HR, Legal, Unit Leaders

– Spur collaborative projects related to conflict prevention and + change.

2. Create Shared Understandings to Reduce ConflictProject Aristotle

3. Coach/Teach specific skills: Example = Delegation Task Matrix

Specific Tasks to Build Coalitions of Support

• A) Don’t wait until the crisis comes.• B) Interest-based negotiations:

– What do they need/want?• Reduce negative press/protect Brand name• Reduce litigation• Improve mission accomplishment (teamwork, engagement,

etc.)– What are your shared interests?– How can you help each other?– Communicate boundaries/concerns– Set shared priorities/timelines

2) Create Shared Understandings to Reduce Conflict

• Common Conflict = Dysfunctional Teams

• Project Aristotle: Google’s Study of Teams• “What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect

Team: New research reveals surprising truths about why some work groups thrive and others falter”.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html?_r=0

Improving Team Performance:What we thought we knew

• Q: Does spending bonding/social time outside of work improve teamwork?

• A: Sometimes• Q: Do teams of similar backgrounds or identities have

fewer conflicts?• A: Sometimes• Q: Do teams that work face-to-face have fewer conflicts

than virtual teams?• A: Sometimes• Q: Do teams with flat (collaborative) organization have

less conflict than hierarchically organized teams.• A: Sometimes

What makes great teams?• Conflict comes from unmet expectations.• High performing teams have shared

expectations of each other. • How? Meta-communicating & Consensus on

Norms– Intent before content– Communicating about how we will communicate– Agreements about how the work gets done,

rewards get distributed, decisions get made, problems get resolved.

Teach/Coach on Specific Skills• Common Management Challenge: Delegating• 5 Conflict Modes Applied to Common Sources

of Conflict: Avoiding, Accommodating, Compromising, Collaborating, Competing

• Avoiders=Avoid delegating to avoid conflict• Competers= Avoid delegating to retain

control. Don’t delegate effectively. • Managers MUST delegate effectively

Task Priorities & Delegation

Not Me

Maybe Me

MeCORE

DUTIES

Delegation Matrix

Delegate or Lead Lead

Delegate Avoid

High-Impact Task

Low-Impact Task

Easy Task Hard Task

Last Note: Creating Positive Culture

• Support + Culture Change at every level.• How we treat each other. What we value.

– Highest levels: • Lead from the front• Set example for others to follow

• Every level:– Active bystander training– Open door policies that are real– Confidential/Anonymous Tip lines/venues for reporting

Conflict Management for Managers

• Knowledge & Skills to Manage Conflict at Work

• 1st Edition, Jossey-Bass 2013• 2nd Edition: Rowman & Littlefield

2019.