essays Flashcards
(64 cards)
1
Q
definition of conflict
A
a discomforting difference
2
Q
4 truths about conflict
A
-it will always occur
-It always involves costs and risks
-Most conflict damage results from dysfunctional conflicts behavior
-Much of the damage is irreversible
Broken trust, lost relationships
Organizational time & resource
3
Q
3 fundamental strategies
A
- fight
- flight
- negotiate
4
Q
what does constructively mean?
A
- Direct, honest, conversation between the parties involved
- Aimed at solving the problem
- Resulting in mutual agreements for which the parties can hold one another responsible
5
Q
7 steps for negotiating
A
- Define the problem
- Consider your goals
- Decide whether to try negotiating
- Request a meeting
- Meet
- Contract a resolution
- Follow through
6
Q
define the problem
A
DO:
Focus on behavior
Present or future tense
DON’T:
Object to feelings
Judge character
7
Q
consider your goals
A
Content goals
Relational goals
Identity goals
Note: Goals focus on the present and future, not the past.
8
Q
decide whether to negotiate
A
Consider the importance of your goals
Assess the emotions (yours & other party’s)
Consider the risks, rewards & odds of success
Decide (promptly)
Take responsibility for your decision
9
Q
request a meeting
A
Approach directly and privately State the problem State your wish for a mutually agreeable solution Ask for a meeting Reassure and persist if necessary What if the other party won’t meet?
10
Q
meet
A
Use “Principled Negotiation” (Fisher & Ury) as a guide Focus on problems, not persons Focus on interests, not positions Generate options for mutual gain Choose based on objective criteria Begin by thanking the other party Keep your goals in mind Focus on understanding, then on solutions Come prepared and willing to listen
11
Q
contract a resolution
A
Agree on who will do what (behavior)
State the agreement clearly
Make sure both parties clearly agree
12
Q
follow through
A
Do what you agreed to do
Pay attention to whether the other party complies
If they do: give positive feedback
If they don’t: negotiate again, escalate, leave, or give up
13
Q
management to dos in organizational conflicts
A
Model Set policy Create formal structures/procedures Create and nurture informal processes Set policies, expectations & provide accountability Avoid creating unnecessary conflict Help with mending
14
Q
conflict climate
A
Climate = “how it feels to be and work here”
Conflict Climate = “The influences of the organization’s climate on its members behavior in managing their conflicts”
Remember: it is how individual members manage every day conflicts that have the greatest effect.
15
Q
to do for individual members
A
Check existing policies and procedures Check on accountability Observe actual practice Asses climate for yourself Observe norms, but nudge them in the right direction
16
Q
other possible helps
A
- mediation
- coaching
- training
17
Q
moral conflicts
A
- A matter of framing
- Allure of “moral” framing
- tends to preclude compromise and collaboration
- Impedes transcendence
- Encourages judgment and condemnation
- Sometimes justifies violence
18
Q
What Pearce and Littlejohn Suggest
A
Reframe (but the problem is unwillingness/inability to adjust frame)
“Find ways to transcend” (but moral conflicts are seen as already transcendent)
19
Q
conflicts have complex histories
A
- Multiple causality
- History limits options
- Conflicts may have deep, multiple roots Resentments don’t die when people do.
- Incivility, violence, war
- Historical moral conflicts
20
Q
close relationships
A
Significant interdependence
Emotional involvement
Involve identities
= conflict is more likely, and consequences matter most
21
Q
Critical Communication Contexts
A
-Destabilizing event
-Changes:
Roles
Power and power bases
Freedoms/opportunities
Needs
Identities
Generates stress
Creates conflict
Much harder and much necessary to communicate intimately
22
Q
Relationship Styles of Conflict
A
- Avoid?
- Compete?
- Compromise?
- Collaborate?
23
Q
conflict and emotion
A
Emotions motivate. Arousal = energy to act
Events trigger emotions, responses
Intensity varies
Identity is at stake
Emotions define relationships
24
Q
how triggers work
A
Perception of an event
Attribution/judgment
Emotional response(s)
Multiple, conflicting emotions
25
emotions are...
Multiple
Conflicting
Changing
Hard to recognize
Harder to articulate
26
5 Requisites of Expressing Emotions Constructively
Access
Self Esteem
Safe Environment
Communication skills
Willing/able receiver
27
listening
Listening is 80% of our communication activity, but most don’t do it well
Hearing is not listening
Listening is not passive, its active
All messages are mixed
Sense, feeling, tone, and intention
28
listening well means...
We got the message the speaker actually meant to send, and we let the speaker know we got it.
Or, we asked questions to clarify meanings, and then conformed with the speaker that we got it.
29
what listeners can do
- Appreciate difficulty of the task
- Appreciate speaker’s trust
- Focus (eliminate “noise” & no multi-tasking)
- Set time limits
- Equal responsibility/speaker’s meaning
- Give feedback
- Check perceptions
- Respond
30
how speakers can help
- Appreciate listener’s willingness & trust
- Show appreciation
- Avoid face challenges
- I statements
- Partner with the listener
31
conflict aftermath: what if we didn't resolve it?
```
-Accepting what is, and what isn’t
No other person will meet all our needs & wishes
Important relationship at stake
I’m responsible for choosing acceptance
Everyone lives with non-deal breakers
Can still revisit issues (but not constantly)
-Escalation is an option
Seeking allies
Official channels and processes
Threats (can be used to help gain mutual negotiation
effort)
-Termination is an option
Not necessarily a failure
Requires courage
Requires accepting the other party as is
Don’t just run
Don’t rely on anger
Good good-byes
```
32
6 essential parts of an apology
- Specific description of offending behavior
- Acknowledgement of harm
- taking responsibility
- Statement of regret
- Promise not to repeat
33
Cloke’s 6 Step Process for Forgiving
No guarantee, but it helps
- Remember what happened to you
- Understand how the other felt
- Identify reasons for not forgiving
- Consciously release each reason
- Identify the costs of holding on to each reason
- Choose to let go/create a ritual act for letting go
34
bargain
“attempt to make a deal—try to resolve the conflict through negotiation—rather than fighting it out”
35
Mnookin’s Analysis for Bush
Alternatives to negotiation? Military force.
Reasonable prospect an agreement would be carried out? No.
Potential costs of negotiating? Undermine credibility. Set bad precedent. Loose ability to form coalition.
US interests at stake? Yes.
Alternative morally justifiable? Yes.
Conclusion: Don’t negotiate.
36
Evaluating Costs, Benefits, and Beyond
- Interests
- Alternatives
- Potential negotiated outcomes
- Costs
- transaction costs
- Spillover costs (ex: reputation, precedent)
- Likelihood of Implementation
37
Recognition, Legitimacy and Morality
Being true to myself
Not just about being rational
Does negotiating give recognition & legitimacy?
Does moral judgment happen in the intuitive side of the brain?
Inherent tension between pragmatism, morality, and the heart
38
Poorly Handled Conflict Costs the Organization
- Time and effort (on the clock)
- Opportunity costs
- Damaged communication
- Damaged relationships
- Reduced motivation
- Turnover
- Litigation
- More time and effort
39
Poorly Handled Conflict Costs Individuals
- Time and effort
- Stress
- Damaged self identity
- Damaged relationships
- Damaged performance
- Reduced motivation
- Hindered career development
- Reduced income
40
Classical Management & Conflict
```
Assumptions:
Boss knows & rules
Top-down communication
Define everything and follow procedure
Status with hierarchy
Keep everything impersonal
```
41
human relations
Assumptions
Classical assumptions apply EXCEPT
Friendly relationships help productivity
Top management sets up communication system/middle managers solve problems/workers take orders and work
42
human resources
```
Assumptions:
People are the main resources
Motivation is key to productivity
Must match individual goals with organization goals
Teams & participative decision making
```
43
what is power
Control
Ability to force
Influence
One definition: “Ability to cause or influence an outcome.”
44
Ways We View Power
```
Ethical Views: “rights” “power trips” “weakness as moral failure.”
Distributive view/ Integrative view
Power as identity need (potency)
Power as responsibility
powerlessness as inosence
```
45
Kinds of Power
Relational Power (relative)
Personal (inner)
Situational
Official
46
Power in a Specific Conflict
Focus on relational currencies
Leverage (Dues, 1990) Mine = “The other party’s stake in my being satisfied with the outcome of this conflict.”
Be Aware of, Accept, Assess, Use Strategically & Responsibly
47
When You Have Less Power
```
Assess your leverage
Assess the other’s leverage (what is my risk here)
Persistence
Allies
Structural protections and resources
```
48
WHEN YOU HAVE MORE POWER
Recognize the other’s leverage
Use it to motivate negotiation, not to dictate solutions
The difference between legitimate power and real power
Avoid damaging relationships
Do use it when necessary
49
Managing Status During Conflicts
Be aware of yours and the other party’s
Avoid threats to status if possible
Can use status as leverage
Humility really helps
50
A “gold standard” for handling conflicts
```
Direct communication among the parties
Win-win if you can
Compromise when it’s the best available solution
Compete if you must
Clear agreement to settle issues
Follow through
```
51
Five Conflict Styles
High Competition Collaboration
Aggression
Compromise
Avoidance Accommodation
___________________________________________
Low Aggression
Low Cooperation High Cooperation
52
Relationship Qualities?
Trust
Transparency
Good will
53
what is a crisis
A major occurrence with a potentially negative outcome affecting the organization, company, or industry, as well as its publics, products, services or good name.
“A GIANT conflict affecting a large public
54
The KEY is TRUST
Being proactive is the best way to ensure trust with your publics
Media Relations
Community Relations
Employee/internal relations
Consumer Relations
Government, labor, international, investor etc…
Public Relations is concerned with reputation
55
5 Stages of the Crisis
```
Detection
Prevention/ preparation
Containment
Recovery
Learning
```
56
Crisis Communication Theories
-Apologia Theory
Apologia: an effort to defend reputation and protect image… NOT NECESSARILY AN APOLOGY!!!
The organization may deny, explain, or apologize for actions through discourse
-Image Restoration Theory
Organizations determining what is threatening the image and what public to address and persuade in order to maintain/ restore image
-Decision Theory
Concerned with counseling management and other leaders to make the most effective decision
Decision makers should consider the possible benefit of each alternative
-Diffusion Theory (Diffusion of Innovations)
New procedures, practices, and objects are adopted and accepted
57
7 TRUTHS Cloke
- Takes place in multiple contexts
- No context is neutral
- Any issue can aggravate interpersonal conflicts
- Social, economic and political systems generate chronic global
- Common set of attitudes, emotions, ideas and behaviors connect “internal” conflicts with conflicts in relationships
- Veiled social, economic and political features influence the evolution of nearly all conflicts
- These contextual, economic, and systemic elements are rarely acknowledged or addressed.
58
3 questions Cloke
- Can we become more skillful at addressing the systemic, contextual and environmental factors that trigger conflicts?
- Can we use conflict management principles pro-actively to reduce the inequalities, inequities and dysfunctions that generate systemic conflict?
- Can we redesign our social, economic, and political communities, institutions, processes and relationships to encourage more humane, compassionate, and collaborative outcomes?
59
For Collaboration, we need
Appreciation of the value and importance of diversity
Strategic insight into the chronic sources of social, economic and political conflict
Willingness to apply advanced negotiation and conflict skills when we interact
Efforts to develop more conflict management skills
Readiness to redesign our social, economic, and political institutions from a conflict resolution perspective
60
3 Ways to Settle Conflicts
Power
Rights
Interests
Leads to equality, equity, democracy
And to change and community
61
Power requires/Rights require
Power:
Hierarchy, absolute military state
Allows domination to continue
Rights:
Bureaucracy, legal state based on formal democracy
Allows domination to continue
62
Interest Based Institutions
Require end to domination
Value differences and diversity
Allow collaboration
Lead to popular will
63
Overcoming injustice requires
Resolving issues not based on power or rights, but on interests, through collaborative processes
Assigning responsibility to all. Stop focusing on blame
Employ restorative justice appraoch
64
10 Steps from Argument to dialogue
- 1 Agree on ground rules
- 2 Openly and empathetically discuss commonalities in visions, values and beliefs
- 3 Tell stories about our lives that connect with who we think we are
- 4 Ask questions that elicit interests
- 5Jointly define, analyze and search for solutions that meet common interests
- 6. Brainstorm solutions, and prioritize them
- 7. Identify and collaboratively negotiate differences
- 8. Mediate to resolve impasses
- 9. Redesign institutions and systems to transcend conflicts at their source
- 10. Get feedback, evaluate, learn, continue improving
