1. MASTERING AND MANAGING
CONFLICT
Jamaica Association of
Administrative Professionals
Convention 2012
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 1

2. What is conflict?
Antagonism or opposition between or among
persons
Conflict is the result of incongruent or
incompatible relationships between a dyad or
members of a group.
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 2

3. Nature of Conflict
Conflict is a condition of opposition wherein:
 There is a clash of self-interests
 One party’s action adversely affect another’s
 Two or more parties have an unresolved
controversy
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 3

4. The Elements of Conflict
Every conflict involves three basic elements:
• The issue
The things that caused the conflict
• The relationship
The association or connection between the
disputants
• The emotions
How the disputants feel
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 4

5. CONFLICT IN ORGANISATIONS
An expression of dissatisfaction or
disagreement with
• An Interaction
• A Process
• A Product
• A Service
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 5

6. Causes of Conflict
• Differing Perceptions • Differing Values
• Competing Goals • Unmet needs
• Conflicting Interests • Lack of Mutual Respect
• Lack or Limited Resources • Sexual Harassment
• Role conflict • Emotional Abuse
• Inequitable treatment • Departmentalization and
• Violation of territory specialization
• The nature of work
• Environmental change
activities
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 6

7. Myths About Conflict
• Conflict cannot be managed.
• All conflicts can be resolved.
• Conflict always results in a winner or loser.
• If avoided, dispute/conflict will eventually go away.
• Conflict destroys relationships.
• Conflict is dysfunctional in the workplace.
• Conflict represents communication breakdown.
• If we are careful, conflict can be avoided.
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 7

8. The two sides of conflict
Negative: Positive:
• Reduce productivity • Organizational
• Decrease morale innovation
• Cause dissatisfaction • Creativity and
• Increase tension and accommodation
stress • Growth and
development
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 8

9. Intra
Personal
Inter
Intra
Organizational
Group
Levels of
Conflict
Inter Intra
Personal Organizational
Inter Group
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 9

10. The management of conflict…
IGNORING AVOIDING COERCION
NEGOTIATION MEDIATION ARBITRATION
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 10

11. Approaches to conflict Resolution
Unfreezing 1. Initial problem identification
2. Obtaining data
3. Problem diagnosis
• Movement 4. Action planning
5. Implementation
6. Follow-up and stabilization
• Refreezing 7. Assessment of consequences
October 6, 2012 8. LearningA.from the process
By: Wayne St. Jones 11

12. Negative Outcomes
• Some people feel defeated and demeaned
• The distance between people increases
• A climate of mistrust and suspicion arises
• The Individual or the group focus on their own
narrow interests
• Resistance, rather than teamwork develops
• Turnover increases.
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 12

13. Positive outcomes:
•Improved ideas
•A tendency to search for new approaches
•A surfacing, then resolving of long-standing
problems
•Clarification of individual views
•Increased interest and creativity
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 13

14. Interpersonal conflict management
Respect
Withdrawal
Compromise
Mediation and arbitration
Super-ordinate goals
Problem solving
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 14

15. Structural conflict management
• Procedural change: Systems/processes
• Structural Organizational change:
Improved net-working processes and procedures/
qualify terms of reference for all tasks and
procedures
• Physical layout:
Design of the physical workplace
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 15

16. Common outcomes
Workplace Violence
• Internal
– Between supervisor and supervisee
– Team members
• External
– Customers
– Members of the Community
– Wider public
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 16

17. Main sources of workplace conflict
Change
“The power of technology…to build…and destroy…is such…
that it is likely…few of us have ever heard…the name of
what will be the world’s largest company in 2020.”
Juan Enriquez
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 17

18. Definition of Change
Change is the continuous adoption of
corporate strategies and structures to
changing external conditions. Today, change
is not the exception but a steady ongoing
process. In contrast ‘business as usual’ will
become the exception from phases of
turbulence. Change management comprises
both, revolutionary one-off projects and
evolutionary transformations.
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 18

19. What Causes Change?
• Technology
• Cultural ideologies
• Competition
• Government
• Climate
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 19

20. Change Areas
Strategy A change in the direction of the
organization
Technology Change to production processes
A change in the organization’s product or
service input
Products
Any change in organizational design and
management
Structure
Culture/People Change in employees values, norms,
attitudes, beliefs and behaviours.
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 20

21. Nature of Change
• Planned
• Accidental Occurrence
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 21

22. Planned Change
• Change activities that are intentional and goal
oriented
Planned Change
Second-Order/
First Order/ Incremental Transformational
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 22

23. Levels of Change
• Effectiveness- Doing the right thing
• Efficiency- Doing the right things right
• Improving- Doing things better
• Cutting- Doing away with thing
• Copying- Doing things others are doing
• Different- Doing things no one else is doing
• Impossible- Doing things that can’t be done
Lee & Krayer (2003)
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 23

24. Why change that which is not broken?
• Five main reasons:
1. To improve the ‘fit’ between strategy and
organisational capability
2. To install ‘best practice’ elements
3. To exploit organisational core competencies
4. To create an adaptive organisation
5. To improve capacity for strategy-making
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 24

25. Change What?
• Structures including processes
• Cultures
• Processes
• Personnel systems:
- Recruitment/selection
- Performance management/appraisal
- Assessment
- Rewards
- Training/development
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 25

26. Discussion?
• “When organizations are caught flat-
footed, failing to anticipate or respond to
new needs, management is at fault”
Daft (2006)
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 26

27. Resistance to Change
Resistance - any opposition to a shift in the
status quo
• Idea Champions will not always get much
enthusiasm about their ideas.
• This is so especially if the employees were not
a part of the change process.
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 27

28. Sources of Resistance to Change
Selective
Information
Processing Habit
Individual
resistance Security
Fear of
the
unknown
Economic factors
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 28

29. Sources of Resistance to Change
Threat to
established Structural
resource inertia
allocations
Organizational
Threat to resistance
established Limited
power focus of
relationships change
Threat to
expertise
Group inertia
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 29

30. Tactics for Overcoming Resistance to Change
Approach When to Use
Communication •Change is technical
Education •Users need accurate information and analysis to
understand change
Participation • Users need to feel involved
•Designed requires information from others
•Users have power to resist
Negotiation • Group has power over implementation
•Group will lose out in change
Coercion •A crisis exists
•Initiators clearly have power
•Other implementation techniques have failed
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 30

31. Tactics Cont’d
Approach When to Use
Top management • Change involves multiple departments or reallocation of
support resources.
•Users doubt legitimacy of change
Facilitation + • Where people are resisting because of fear and anxiety
Support
Manipulation + • Where other tactics will not work or are too expensive
Co-Optation
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 31

32. Increasing Workforce Diversity
Those supervisors who approach the issues
with sensitivity and think of their employees
as unique individuals, rather than uniform
members of a class, will be better managers of
diversity and will be more likely to be given
some reprieve by their employees when they
make a mistake.
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 32

33. Diversity types in Jamaican
Organisations
– Gender
– Social Status
– Education Level
– Age
– Race
– Nationality
– Religion
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 33

34. Changing age structure in USA
• Baby Boomers – born between 1946-
1964 (78 million)
• Generation X – born between 1965
-1976 (45 million)
• Generation Y – born between
1977-1994 (72 million)
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 34

35. Guidance for Supervisors
Employers must make employment decisions on
the basis of individual behaviours and
characteristics.
 Do not use any of these classifications, such
as race, sex, and age, to make employment
decisions related to hiring, compensating,
promoting, assigning, terminating employees.
 Do not ascribe characteristics to individuals
because of their membership in a class.
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 35

36. DISCUSSION QUESTION
What are some of the challenges in managing a
diverse workplace ?
October 6, 2012 By: Wayne St. A. Jones 36