Managing Conflict in Organizations by Richard Mettler
(Part I) Interpersonal Conflict
Interpersonal conflict is disagreement between people expressed with emotion, either overtly or covertly. Common norms for processing conflict are avoidance—distancing, withdrawal, flight; and aggression—coercion, competition, fight. Both conflict norms exact personal, interpersonal, and organizational costs, as seen in the following example consequences of unproductive conflict.
• Diminished motivation, accountability, and commitment, with lost work time and falling productivity and quality • Disincentives to open and accurate communication, cooperation, and collaboration with impaired decision making • Poor morale, job satisfaction, and quality of work life with increased absenteeism and turnover—lost work place talent with physical and psychological withdrawal • An atmosphere of anger, mistrust, and anxiety with retaliation and escalation of hostilities—competition and individualism with suspicion and rumors • Organizational restructuring and the emergence of informal organizations—‘shadow organizations’—behind the formal organizational structure with defensive alliances and cliques • Scapegoating & bullying: _____o Blaming and ridiculing _____o Playing politics and passing the buck _____o Appearing better than others—‘climbing over’ others
• Deliberate acts of sabotage
Common organizational responses to conflict include: • Ignore the conflict in hopes that it gets resolved without intervention • Suppress the conflict to keep it out of sight • Threaten people with disciplinary action/termination • Encourage people to work through conflict on their own • Separate people through work re-assignments • Reorganize work patterns structurally
Mediation is an additional organizational intervention. Mediation is a voluntary and confidential structured process of conflict resolution in which a neutral third party, the mediator, facilitates communication between principal parties in dispute who are in an ongoing interdependent relationship toward self-determined and mutually acceptable agreements for mutual gain.
Mediation is not concerned about adjudicating the past through fault finding, determining who is right and who is wrong, assigning blame and punishment, or any related form of evaluative judgement. Mediation is concerned with the here and now, and future work place behavior.
Mediation can be broken down into six process phases.
Phase 1: Entry into the Conflict, when preliminary meetings are held separately with each party in dispute to discover the issues driving this conflict. Issues are matters of concern over which there exists emotionally charged disagreement.
Phase 2: Conflict Analysis includes separation of positions from interests, the single most fundamental distinction in mediation. A position is framed as a solution to a problem. Positional bargaining is only one way of representing interests, and often not the most accurate way. Positions are rights-based—someone is right, someone is wrong; someone wins, someone loses. Positional bargaining commonly results in resolutions that are built upon limiting and avoidable compromises.
An interest concerns an underlying need, fear, or want that motivates people to take their position. Interests are the desired resources that one’s stated position is expected to satisfy. Once respective interests are identified, opportunity emerges for creative solutions that promote mutual gain—win/win solutions. Mediation is concerned with a congruent reconciliation of interests.
Phase 3: Mediation Meeting Planning
Phase 4: Conducting the Mediation Meeting
Phase 5: Securing Agreements. The final agreement is:
• Balanced: Both parties benefit, and any burdens or compromises are shared equally. • Behaviorally detailed as to concrete, observable, and verifiable conditions. • Written: Each party receives a copy of the agreement (most commonly a Memorandum of Agreement/Memorandum of Understanding) stating the terms and conditions of each party’s promises regarding future behavior.
In an optimum agreement each party’s interests are contingent upon each party contributing to the interests of the other party. ************************************************************************************************************************************** •Part II of this mini-tutorial will be posted next week. If you have questions or would like more detail, contact the author: Richard E. Mettler, Communicate Services (402) 420-1139 remettler@aol.com www.fieldsinc.com/PrefProvider.html#Prvdr_Mettler ************************************************************************************************************************************** ************************************************* {Please leave a 'Thank you' for the contributor and a Yes or No comment on this posting to let us know if it should be incorporated into the SL6 FAQ&T library. Thank you} *************************************************
