Conflict management notes for MBA students

1. CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
COURSE OUTLINE:
I. Conflict Defined
A. Causes of Conflict
B. Types of Conflict
C. Stages of Conflict
D. Reaction to Conflict
II. Resolution to Conflict
A. Approaches to Conflict Resolution
B. Conflict Management
C. Strategies for Conflict Resolution
D. Elements
OBJECTIVE: At the end of the lesson, students will be able to identify,
classify, relate, apply and resolve concepts on:
• Types, Causes, Stages and Reactions to Conflict
• Approaches to Conflict Resolution
• Conflict Management
• Strategies for Conflict Resolution
• Elements

2. What is a Conflict?
• A state of disharmony between incompatible or antithetical persons, ideas, or
interests; a clash.
• Opposition between characters or forces in a work of drama or fiction, especially
opposition that motivates or shapes the action of the plot.
• A psychic struggle between opposing or incompatible impulses, desires, or
tendencies.
Causes of Conflict:
1.Security
2. Inability to control self and others
3. Respect between parties
4. Limited Resources
5. Frustrations
Types of Conflict:
1. Intrasender – conflict originates in the sender who gives conflicting instructions
2. Intersender – arises when a person receives conflicting messages from one or more
sources.
3. Interrole – occurs when a person belongs to more than one group.
4. Person-role – result of a discrepancies between internal and external role.
5. Interperson – between people whose positions require interaction with other persons
who fill various roles in the same organization or other organizations.
6. Intragroup – occurs when a group faces new problem, when new values are imposed
on the group from outside, or when one’s extragroup role conflicts with one’s intragroup
role.
7. Intergroup – common when two groups have different goals and can only achieve their
goals at the other’s expense.
8. Role Ambiguity – condition where an individual do not know what is expected of
them.

3. 9. Role Overload – individuals cannot meet the expectations placed on them.
Stages of Conflict
1. Latent conflict – phase of anticipation
It exists whenever individual, groups, organization or nations have differences that
bother one or the other but those differences are not great enough to cause one side to act
to alter the situation. There is not yet an outright conflict present but a number of factors
exist that create the conditions that could result in a conflict.
2. Perceived conflict – indicates cognitive awareness of stressful situation
It exists when there is a cognitive awareness on the part of at least one party that
events have occurred or that conditions exist favorable to creating overt conflict.
Groups recognizes that a conflict is emerging and starts to look for possible
explanation.
3. Felt conflict – presence of affective states such as stress, tensions, anxiety, anger,
hostility.
Organization, groups or individual become more internally cohesive. Other group in
the organization are viewed with suspicion as outsider. Us versus them mentality begins
to really take hold.
4. Manifest conflict – overt behavior resulting from the above three stages.
At this stage the conflicting parties are actively engaging in conflict behavior which is
usually very apparent to non-involved parties. Feelings of conflict are now translated
into actions and words which could either be constructive obstructive to problem solving
process.
Reactions to conflict
1. Sublimation- a defense mechanism by which the individual satisfies a socially
prohibited instinctive drive through the substitution of socially acceptable behavior.
2. Vigorous physical exercise
3. Increase efforts
4. Identification- a persons association with or assumption of the qualities,
characteristics or views of another person or group.
– attribution to yourself ( consciously or unconsciously) of the characteristic
of another person.
5. Re-interpret goals
6. Substitute goals – setting another goal
7. Rationalization- a defense mechanism by which your true motivation is concealed by
explaining your actions and feelings in a way that is not threatening.
8. Attention getting

4. 9. Reaction formation- a defense mechanism by which an objectionable impulse is
expressed in an opposite or contrasting behavior.
10. Flight into fantasy
11. Projection- the attribution of one’s own attitudes, feelings or desires to someone or
something as a naïve or unconscious defense against anxiety or guilt.
12. Displacement- unconscious defense mechanism whereby the mind redirects emotion
from a dangerous object to a safe object.
13. Fixation- a strong attachment to a person or thing especially such an attachment
formed in childhood or infancy and manifested in the immature or neurotic behavior
that persists throughout life.
14. Withdrawal- detachment as from social or emotional involvement.
15. Repression- the classical defense mechanism that protects you from impulses or
ideas that would causes anxiety by preventing them from becoming conscious.
16. Conversion- repressed ideas conflicts or impulses are manifested by various bodily
symptoms, such as paralysis or sensory deficits that have no physical cause.
- a change in which one adopts a new religion, faith or beliefs.
Approaches to Conflict Resolution
1. ACCOMMODATING - the person neglects personal concerns to satisfy the
concerns of others. It is cooperative but unassertive.
2. COMPROMISING – the individual attempts to find mutually acceptable solutions
that partially satisfy both parties in reflects assertiveness and cooperation
3. COLLABORATING – the individual attempts to work with others toward
solutions that satisfy the work of both parties it is both assertive and cooperative
4. COMPETING – the person pursues personal concerns at another’s expense. It is a
power oriented mode that is assertive but uncooperative. the competition is
aggressive and pursues one’s own goals at another’s expense.
Conflict Management
Negotiation – is a strategic process used to move conflicting parties toward an
outcome.
PROCESS/PHASES OF NEGOTIATION:
PHASE 1 Establishing the issue and agenda
PHASE 2 Advancing demands and uncovering interests
PHASE 3 Bargaining and discovering new options – inflict resolution to both parties;
options to resolve

5. PHASE 4 Working out an agreement
PHASE 5 Aftermath – is the period following an agreement in where parties are
expending the consequences of their decisions.
Collaboration – is achieved through a developmental process. It is sequential yet
reciprocal and characterized by seven strategies and activities.
1. Awareness – makes a conscious entry into a group process, focus on goals of
convening together, generate definition of collaborative process and what it means to
team members
2. Tentative exploration and mutual acknowledgement
a. Exploration – disclose professional skills for the desire process; disclose
areas where contribution cannot be mace, disclose values reflecting
priorities; identify roles and disclose personal values, including time,
energy, interest and resources.
b. Mutual acknowledgements – clarify each members potential
contributions; clarify member’s work style, organizational supports and
barriers to collaborative efforts.
3. Trust building – determines the degree to which reliance on others can achieved;
examines congruence between words and behaviors; set interdependent goals;
develop tolerance for ambiguity.
4. Collegiality – defines the relations of the members with each other; define the
responsibilities and tasks of each; defines entrance and exit conditions.
5. Consensus – determine the issues for which consensus; determine the process for
reevaluating consensus outcomes.
6. Commitment – realize the physical; emotional and material actions directed
toward the goal; clarify the procedures for reevaluating commitment in light of
goal depends and group for deviance.
7. Collaboration – initiate process of joint decision making reflecting the synergy
that results from combining knowledge and skills.
Strategies of Conflict Resolution
1. Win Lose
a. Position Power
b. Mental or Physical Power
c. Failure to respond

6. d. Majority rule
e. Railroading
2. Lose-lose
a. Compromise
b. Bribes
c. Arbitration
d. General Rules
3. Win-win
a. Consensus
b. Problem-solving
Elements
1. Research – more powerful tool in generating knowledge.
2. Participation – democracy (people power)
- involves social trained researcher to guide to people
- involve stakeholders
3. Action – Stakeholders will initiate the action done by the people
COPAR – community organizing participatory action research