conflict management course
TRANSCRIPT
Agenda: Managing Confl ict Welcome
Introduction of Participants , Session Description and Objectives
Managing Conflict• Definition of Conflict
• Why Should Managers and Supervisors Develop this Competency
• Causes of Conflict
• Understanding One’s Response to Conflict
• Self-Awareness
• Roles of Manages and Supervisors in Conflict
• The Value of Conflict
• Managing Conflict with the Boss
• Managing Conflict with Direct Reports
• Managing Conflict with Colleagues
• Mediating between Direct Reports
• Facilitating Conflict in a Team Setting
Evaluation of Course
Welcome
The process of developing new skills should include the following:
•Identify a needed skill area.
•Agree on a learning method for improvement.
•Practice and receive feedback.
•Increase awareness of the effects of performance on others.
•Measure change within a well-defined timeframe.
•Recognize and reward skill enhancement.
Introduction of Participants
• Who are you?
• Why are you here?
• Describe your typical day.
• What are five strengths you bring to this class?
• What would you like to take away from this session?
Learning Objectives1. Describe the cycle of conflict
2. Identify causes of conflict in organizations
3. Understand one’s own response to conflict
4. Demonstrate good conflict management strategies, both internally and between stakeholders
5. Understand strategies for managing conflict with colleagues
6. Identify strategies for managing conflict in a team setting
Promote Lifelong Learning
You can develop lifelong learning traits:
• By showing curiosity about human nature and
how the world works.
• By seeking and valuing diversity.
• By persisting in seeking out new solutions.
• By using your unique talents and intelligence to promote positive change.
• By learning and applying technology tools to solve problems.
Show Respect
• Value yourself. Be honest and ethical, and practice strong moral values.
• Treat all members of the school community and with politeness and respect.
• Honor the ideas and opinions of others.
• Offer to help.
• Be responsible for keeping an open mind.
Policies
• Bring notebook, textbook, planner, and appropriate writing tools to class.
• Ask questions at any time.
• Listen to all ideas and opinions.
• Leave for restroom when needed.
• Please be back from lunch and breaks on time.
• Let us know if the day is not working for you.
What is Conflict Management?
• Definition:
• As defined by Joyce Hocker and William Wilmot in Interpersonal Conflict, conflict is an expressed struggle between at least two interdependent parties who perceive a situation differently or have incompatible goals, are competing for scarce resources, or perceive interference from the other party in achieving their goals.
How Some People Feel About Confl ict Management Training• This short humorous film shows two different
reactions to a class on conflict management.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e632M8qEdyw
Why Develop this Competency?
• Conflict can be useful in achieving objectives. If managed correctly, conflict can productively leverage diversity, unify individuals around a common goal, promote cooperation, and encourage innovative solutions.
Causes of Confl ict in Organizations
• Relationships
• Data
• Interests
• Structure
• Values
• Resources
• Others?_____________________
• Others?_____________________
Confl ict Resolution for Everybody• This short film identifies some of the causes
and solutions for many types of conflict.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwoy7j94xxE
Fishbone Exercise for Confl ict
• This exercise uses the Fishbone Diagram to examine how the causes of conflict may impact your department or unit.
• Refer to your participant workbook for this exercise.
Understanding One’s Own Response to Conflict
• How we respond to conflict is determined by our own biases, prejudices, ideas and expectations.
• Better understanding our conflict style can help us in managing conflict more effectively.
• Using a self-assessment instrument is a good place for managers and supervisors to start in attempting to understand their own response to conflict
Five Conflict Styles
• Collaborating: This is seen as win-win
• Competing: This is seen as win-lose
• Avoiding: This is seen as lose-lose
• Accommodating: This is seen as lose-win
• Compromising: This is seen as win-some, lose some
• All styles have a place and time when they are most useful and effective.
Confl ict Style Quiz
• The quiz in your workbook allows you to see what your preferred conflict style is.
• Refer to your workbook for this exercise.
Self-Awareness
• One key to understanding another person’s point of view is recognizing that people interpret things somewhat differently based on their own previous experiences and observations. We all have different “lenses” through which we see things.
• The Conflict LensTM, a diagnostic tool developed by Creative Metrics, offers a model to help managers and supervisors understand a variety of options for resolving conflicts. That model, includes 10 dichotomies of behaviors and attitudes used in responding to conflict.
Confl ict Lens: Self-Reflection
• Using the charts in your workbook which depict the 10 Conflict Lens scales, please complete the individual activity described. Describe your situation Circle the scales that most applied in your
situation.
• When the individual activity has been completed, in small groups, please complete the four questions noted in your workbook.
• Select a spokesperson to describe findings and observations to the class.
The Role of Managers and Supervisors in Conflict Situations• Managers and supervisors play several different
roles in conflict resolution, depending on the people involved in the situation. The relationship and the level of authority involved influence the role the manager or supervisor will likely play in managing conflict.
The Value of Conflict
1. Conflict identifies problems that need to be solved.
2. Conflict is a way of creating evolutionary change,
thereby reducing the need for violent upheaval.
3. Conflict helps us define who we are.
4. Conflict is a way of discharging some of the animosity or
resentment that is generated by the limiting aspects of a
relationship, or the sharing of resources.
5. Conflict can be stimulating and challenging.
What Makes Conflict Destructive?• Conflict can be destructive when it escalates
beyond a certain point. The sequence of conflict escalation is as follows:
1. Triggering comment or action
2. Proliferation of issues
3. Formation of adversarial alliances
4. Distortion of communication
5. Rigid and extreme positions
6. Focus on hurting each other
Managing Conflict with the Boss• Managing conflict with the boss is an integral part of a
manager’s or supervisor’s success. Perhaps the most effective approach is to work at preventing such conflict.
Key Elements in Building and Maintaining an Effective Relationship Between a Manager or
Supervisor and a Boss
Understand your boss and his or her context
Learn your boss’s goals, objectives, pressures, strengths, weaknesses, and preferred work style to reduce miscommunication and ambiguous expectations.
Assess your needs as a supervisor/manager
Assess your own strengths, weaknesses, and work style. Assess your predisposition to authority in order to better understand your reactions to your boss.
Confl ict Approach Exercise
• Refer to your workbook for this exercise.
• Please complete the exercise and answer the questions.
• When completed, consider sharing the activity with the larger class.
Managing Conflict with Direct Reports
• Based on their position, managers and supervisors have the authority and the responsibility to accomplish tasks. However, if they abuse that authority when interacting with their direct reports, they are likely to lose respect and trust.
Managing Conflict with Direct Reports
Steps for Dealing With Conflict Between a Manager or Supervisor and a Direct Report
Explain the situation as you see it. Emphasize that you are presenting your perception of the problem. Use specific facts and feelings. Use “I” statements when possible.
Describe how it affects performance.
Keep attention on the work-related problems and away from personalities. Present the problem concretely, in a way that will be readily understood.
Ask for an explanation of the other person’s viewpoint.
Before proposing solutions, gather as much information as possible. This confirms that you respect the other person’s opinion and need his or her cooperation. Listen carefully while he or she talks and be open to learning and changing. Paraphrase the other person’s concerns and ask clarifying questions.
Agree on the problem. Summarize the various viewpoints and state clearly the problem that you and the other participant think needs to be solved. Ideally, it is best for the manager or supervisor and the direct report to agree on the problem so they can more easily focus on developing solutions. However, if they cannot agree, the manager or supervisor has the rank to define the problem at stake.
Explore and discuss possible solutions.
To ensure shared ownership of the problem’s resolution, all participants in the conflict should be involved in developing solutions. Such synergy may result in better solutions than any participant would have produced alone. Ideally, participants will develop a solution mutually, but if they cannot agree, the manager or supervisor has the authority to prescribe the solution.
Establish levels of accountability for each stakeholder involved in resolving the problem.
Each person involved must clearly understand his or her role in the solution and accept responsibility as an individual to make it work.
Schedule a follow up meeting. Establish clearly defined benchmarks as appropriate.
A follow up meeting allows the manager or supervisor to evaluate progress and make adjustments as necessary. People are much more likely to follow through if they know they will be held accountable for their commitments at a follow up meeting.
How Disputes Escalate: Exercise• This exercise allows you to identify behaviors
that start disputes and helps you to see the dispute as if you were an observer.
• Refer to your workbook for this exercise.
• This is a group exercise. The instructor will establish small groups for the exercise and briefly review the instructions.
Managing Conflict with Colleagues
• Managers and supervisors need to develop the skills to negotiate with their colleagues in a way that addresses differences while preserving the collegial relationship.
Steps for Negotiating Conflict Between Two Managers or Supervisors with Equal Authority
1. Establish rapport and set a positive tone
2. State the purpose of the negotiation
3. Begin negotiating by educating one another on each person’s
interests (disclose and listen)
4. Frame the problem as a joint task to meet both individuals’
needs
5. Look for ways to expand the pie (create value before value is
claimed)
6. Generate multiple options for settlement. If options are not
forthcoming, go back and review the interests of both
individuals.
7. Evaluate the options on the basis of how well they meet the
expressed needs
8. Select or modify options based on which one meets the most
needs
9. Develop a plan to implement the agreement by answering the
questions who, what, when, where, and how.
Emotional Triggers Exercise
• The purpose of this exercise is to give people an opportunity to think about the things that trigger their emotions in conflict.
• This exercise is for small groups of five or six.
• Refer to your workbook for this exercise.
• Your instructor will review the steps for this exercise.
• Select a spokesperson to share findings and observations from this activity.
Mediating Between Direct Reports
Mediating Between Direct Reports
Steps for Mediating a Conflict Between Two Direct Reports
1. Make an opening statement
• Extend a welcome and say words of encouragement
• State the purpose of the session and the mediator’s role of neutrality
• Explain what will happen
• Assure the participants that confidentiality will be respected
• Review ground rules and check for acceptance
2. Give each participant uninterrupted time
• Have each participant explain in objective terms what is happening and then state how he or she feels about it, taking responsibility for his or her own feelings.
• Require each participant to use active listening and allow both sides to vent
3. Structure an exchange between the individuals
• Encourage deeper discussion of the issues, establishing the interests of each individual
4. Build the agreement
• Facilitate a discussion that focuses on practical considerations in resolving the conflict
• Include specifics about the agreement: who, what, when, and how
• Check for acceptance from both individuals
5. Finalize the agreement
• Write it down
• Provide for the future be establishing means for following up
6. Close the meeting
• Thank participants
• Evaluate
Facil itating Conflict in a Team Setting
• Managers and supervisors are responsible for ensuring that their teams operate in a cohesive manner. Conflicts within teams can hurt team performance and employee morale. Managers and supervisors, therefore, need to know how to resolve such conflicts in the team setting.
Defining Facil i tation
• Facilitation is the use of a third party who can provide procedural assistance to group participants to enhance the exchange of information or promote effective decision making.
• The Team Leader's Role in Managing Conflict is first to understand that conflicts are part of individual relationships and organizational development, and no relationship or organization can hope to mature to productivity and be successful without being able to resolve conflicts effectively (Cottringer, 1997, p. 6).
Steps for Facil itating Conflict in Teams
Steps for Facilitating Conflict Resolution in a Team Setting
1. Set a positive, optimistic tone.
2. Revisit or establish ground rules to protect the process and the
relationships of team members.
3. State the purpose of the problem-solving meeting.
4. Ask the parties about their needs and concerns. Try to get team
members to disclose and listen.
5. Summarize what is stated. This includes listing key issues to be
resolved and acknowledging feelings, interests, and concerns.
6. Frame the problem as a joint task to meet both parties’
interests.
7. Ask parties for ideas to solve the problem.
8. Ask parties to evaluate the options based on how well their
interests are met.
9. Establish the agreement.
10. Help parties plan to implement the agreement by defining who,
what, when, and how.
11. Express appreciation for efforts and accomplishments.
Resolving Project Team Conflict: Film• This film describe two scenarios. One shows
the wrong way to handle problems in a team.
• The second scenario shows the right way to handle problems in a team.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGj0uALxc4Q
A Dysfunction Team: Case Study• Please refer to your workbook for this exercise.
• Read the case in the workbook.
• In small groups, answer the questions.
• Select a spokesperson to share your ideas and comments with the class.
The Walk from No to Yes: Film
• This film from TED features the noted co-author of Getting To Yes, Mr. William Ury.
• William Ury, offers an elegant, simple (but not easy) way to create agreement in even the most difficult situations -- from family conflict to, perhaps, the Middle East.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/william_ury.html
Evaluation of Session
• Please complete the evaluation form in your workbook. (Leadership Course Evaluation)
• In small groups, would you please summarize your conclusions in terms of what worked for you in this session and what did not.