Conflict Administration
- Eva Luong
- Nov 17, 2018
- 5 min read
Updated: Dec 4, 2018
What is Conflict Administration?
When people work together, often times conflicts of interest arise. This can be in the form of disagreements, differences of opinions and perspectives on key issues or ideas, even conflicting self-interests (Chartered Management Institute, 2018). As a team that is working towards a common goal, a leader must have the ability to confront and resolve these uncomfortable situations. Conflict administration is the ability of a leader to limit the negative aspects of conflict, while simultaneously increasing the positive aspects of conflict. By managing this, leaders can build a collaborative environment for their employees in order to prevent conflicts from escalating to the point that it disrupts the team dynamic and performance, while helping team members to use conflict to further their growth.
It might sound controversial, since people often associate conflict as a bad thing; however, what they forget is that conflicts help us to learn and grow from the experience as well as gain a mutual understanding of each other's view points so that we can handle it better in our constantly changing environment. Conflict Administration is the voluntary action for us to deal with undesirable situations, both to prevent or even to amplify them (Elgoibar, Euwema, & Munduate, 2017).
Leaders should have the ability to identify problems and approach these problems with innovative solutions. They should lead by example for team members to properly learn how to manage conflicts within group environment and grow from the setbacks. Otherwise, being a leader who is unable to apply different conflict administration styles can lead to a toxic team dynamic, undesirable tension and low productivity in the long-run.
The Benefit of Conflict Administration:
trust and credibility will strengthen with colleagues and team members
leverage potential conflict situations as opportunties for conversation that improve work relationships
Gain experience and confidence in holding conversation with composure and objectively
Able to manage conflicts proactively and effectively
Theories
The Dual-Concern Model
This model assumes that parties within a conflict prefer handling it in two dimensions: assertiveness and empathy. The assertiveness dimensions centre around the degree we will demandingly try to satisfy our own needs and interests. In contrast, the empathy dimension focuses on the extent in which we will try to satisfy the needs and interests of the other party. The intersection point of these two dimensions is a balance between the two.
Conflict Styles:
Competing/Forcing: maximizes assertiveness and minimizes empathy. In this case, one party will try and impose their solution, ideas or opinions onto the other party to achieve their self-interest even at the expenses of the other party. They only care about their needs and interests.
Accommodating: maximizes empathy and minimizes assertiveness. Where the party gives in and goes along with the wishes, ideas, needs of the other party. This style is the result of low concern for one's own conflictive interest while placing high concern for the interest of the other party. This can result in being taken advantage of by others.
Avoiding: low in assertiveness and low in empathy. In this conflict style, the party aims to stay away from all confrontation with the other party or parties of the conflict. This behaviour of avoiding the problem prevents efforts to give in, negotiate, or even to compete for one's own gains. This leads to no solutions or outcome and the situation can get worse overtime.
Collaborating/Integrating: high assertiveness and high empathy. This is the best conflict style where both parties work together to create a win-win solution aimed at optimizing rather than satisfying the parties involved.
Compromising: the middle ground on both assertiveness and empathy dimensions. Parties value fairness and engage in each party making a concession. This conflict styles is appropriate when the goals of each party is mutually exclusive. Otherwise, it may prevent parties from thinking of creative solutions to better results.
Bell and Hart's Eight Sources of Conflicts in the Workplace:
Conflicting Resources: motive to attain scare resources when more than one person or group needs access to it. For example, booking a conference room or getting expertise from a certain person.
Conflicting Styles: people work differently due to individual personality and needs. Working styles may clash, resulting in conflict. For example, a person getting things done at the last minute when you need their work before their deadline to finish your part.
Conflicting Perception: individual perspective of oneself may differ from the perception other sees. For example, negative performance reviews.
Conflicting Goals: have conflicting goals in your work. For example, your company wants you to provide high-quality service to customers, while your manager wants you to help as many customers as possible. The only way to do this is to quickly get through each customer, which might go in conflict with providing quality service.
Conflicting Pressures: clashing short-term objectives. For example, you need a report from your coworker by noon, but they currently have multiple reports from others that needs to be done in a short amount of time.
Conflicting Roles: when you or someone has to perform a task outside of your or their responsibilities. This can lead to conflict because someone might feel you are steeping into their territory or vice versa. Power struggle and conflict will occur between the two parties. For example, your manager wants you to work on a project outside of your area since they think you are fit for the part, but you might be taking over a project someone else has already started.
Different Personal Values: incompatibility in value and ideologies. For example, your manager asked you to perform a task that goes against your ethical standards.
Unpredictable Policies: when you as the leader, ineffectively communicate to the team rule and policies change at work or when you fail to apply workplace policies effectively. Confusion in team members can lead to conflict.
All relationships will have some form of conflict, this can arise from differences in personal values, goals and circumstances in achieving your objectives (Mind Tools, 2018). Therefore, identifying the cause of conflict and knowing certain conflict styles can effectively allow you to manage the conflict for better performance and build stronger lasting relationships.
Implementations
Identifying the source of the conflict: it is easier to resolve a conflict if you have more information about it, by getting to the root of the problem. As a leader, give both parties a chance to share their side of the story privately with you. It will give you insights to better understand the situation. Be encouraging to give them the chance to open up with you (AMA, 2018).
Look beyond the conflict: often it is not the situation but the perspective of each party that amplify the conflict. Be the mediator and have both parties look beyond the triggering incident to get to the root cause. Ask probing questions to get both parties to realize the root of the problem (AMA, 2018).
Request solutions: After understanding the source of the conflict ask them how the situation could be changed. Be an active listener, be aware of verbal nuances and read their body language. Steer the discussion towards ways of resolving the situation (AMA, 2018).
Identify solutions both parties can support: Brainstorm together to find integrating, creative methods in order to produce a win-win strategy that both parties are happy with. In this stage, generate options for mutual gains for both parties and evaluate the alternatives by setting objective criteria to choose the best option (AMA, 2018).
Ted Talks
Below are additional sources for effective conflict administration:
References
ADR Toolbox. (2013). Dual Concern Model. Retrieved from http://www.adrtoolbox.com/library/the-dual-concern-model/
AMA. (2018). The Five Steps to Conflict Resolution. Retrieved from https://www.amanet.org/training/articles/the-five-steps-to-conflict-resolution.aspx
Chartered Management Institute. (2018). Conflict Management. Retrieved from https://www.managers.org.uk/knowledge-bank/conflict-management
Elgoiar, P., Euwema, M., & Munduate, L. (2017, June). Conflict Management. Oxford Research Encyclopedias. Retrieved from http://psychology.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.001.0001/acrefore-9780190236557-e-5
Mind Tools. (2018). Bell and Hart's Eight Causes of Conflict. Retrieved from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/eight-causes-conflict.htm
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