Chapter Thirteen
Resolving Conflict
and Dealing with
Difficult People
Chapter Preview: Resolving Conflict and
Dealing with Difficult People
• Major causes of conflict in the work
setting
• Assertiveness skills in conflict situations
• Effective negotiation skills
• The conflict resolution process
• Contemporary challenges facing labor
unions
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Views of Conflict
• Traditional view: a clash between
incompatible people, ideas, or interests
• New view: an opportunity for personal
growth
• Discovering resolutions to conflict may
– Clarify a relationship
– Broaden thinking about the source
– Open people to new points of view
• Too much agreement is not always
healthy in an organization
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Finding the Root of Conflict
• Unless the root cause is identified, it is
likely to recur
• If the root cause…
– Stimulates constructive conflict, it can be
allowed to continue
– Stimulates destructive conflict, steps need
to be taken to correct the problem
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Organizational Change
• Most organizations have tension
between stability and change
• Too much stability and the organization
may lose its competitive position in the
market place
• Too much change and the mission blurs
and employee anxiety develops
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Ineffective Communication
• When different people work closely
together, communication breakdowns
are inevitable
• For a misunderstanding
– explain your position or provide more
details
• For true disagreements
– persuading one or both parties to change
positions may be necessary
– root problem will persist until someone
changes
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Value and Culture Clashes
• Conflict may be due to value differences
between individuals
• Work force reflects cultural diversity
• Different cultural traditions can easily
come into conflict in the workplace
• Issues range from simple to complex
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Work Policies and Practices
• Conflict may happen when
– Organizations maintain confusing or
arbitrary rules, regulations and
performance standards
– Managers fail to recognize that employees
perceive policies as unfair
– Workers refuse to comply with rules or
work their fair share
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Adversarial Management
• Conflict can occur when managers view
employees and other managers with
distrust and suspicion
• View others as “the enemy”
• Leads to a lack of respect by employees
• Makes teamwork and cooperation
difficult
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Competition for Scarce Resources
• Downsizing and cost cutting can lead to
destructive competition for scarce
resources
• When decisions are not clearly
explained, workers suspect coworkers
of devious tactics
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Personality Clashes
• People have differing
– Communication styles
– Temperaments
– Attitudes
• People may not be able to identify
cause of dislike
• Even people who get along well in the
beginning of their work relationship may
begin to clash after many years
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Resolving Conflict Assertively
• Conflict is often uncomfortable
• People who exhibit assertive behavior
skills are able to
– handle conflicts with greater assurance
– maintain good interpersonal relations
• Nonassertive behavior ignores the
problem
• Aggressive behavior violates the rights
of others
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Figure 13.1 - Dealing with People
You Can't Stand
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How to Become More Assertive
• You can learn to express wants, dislikes
and feelings in a clear and direct
manner without threatening or attacking
others
• In the beginning, take small steps
• Use communication skills that enhance
assertiveness
• Be soft on people and hard on problems
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Learn to Negotiate Effectively
• Traditionally supervisors resolved
conflict, today empowered workers
resolve it themselves
• Think win/win
• Beware of defensive behaviors
• Know that negotiating styles vary
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The Win/Lose Strategy
• Attempts to achieve goals at the
expense of others
• Short-term solution only
• Doesn’t address the underlying problem
• Loser feels frustrated which seeds
another conflict
• Use when two factions simply cannot
agree or cannot talk to each other
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The Lose/Lose Strategy
• Both parties give up something and may
feel frustrated
• Can be applied when
– There is little time to find a solution
– Negotiations are at a standstill
– The goal is to remove a conflict completely
• Union-management disputes often fall
into this trap
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The Win/Win Strategy
• Fix the problem, not the blame
• Work toward a mutually satisfying
solution
• Focus on discovering creative solutions
• Listening is the most vital skill
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Figure 13.2 - Top Negotiating Tips
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Beware of Defensive Behaviors
• When one person becomes defensive,
others may mirror the behavior
• Progress is stopped because people
stop listening and think about defending
• Prevent defensive behavior by
consciously maintaining a positive
image of the other people involved
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Total Person Insight
Any method of negotiation may be fairly
judged by three criteria: It should
produce a wise agreement if agreement
is possible. It should be efficient. And it
should improve or at least not damage
the relationship between the parties.
Roger Fisher and William Ury
Authors, Getting to Yes
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Know that Negotiating Styles Vary
• Style develops based on
– Personality
– Assertiveness skills
– Past experiences dealing with conflict
• Five styles combine assertiveness and
cooperation
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Figure 13.3 - Behavioral Styles
for Conflict Situations
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Negotiating Styles Vary
• Avoidance style
– Uncooperative/Nonassertive
• Accommodating style
– Cooperative/Nonassertive
• Win/lose style
– Uncooperative/Aggressive
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Negotiating Styles Vary
• Problem-solving style
– Assertive/Cooperative
• Compromising style
– Moderately assertive/Moderately
cooperative
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Conflict Resolution Process
• The conflict resolution foundation
requires
– Application of assertiveness skills
– Understanding how to deal with difficult
people
– Supporting the win/win approach
– Learning how to negotiate
• The conflict resolution process consists
of five steps
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Follow These Steps
Step 1: Decide whether you have a
misunderstanding or a true
disagreement
• A misunderstanding is the failure to
accurately understand another’s point
• A disagreement is a failure to agree in
spite of accurate understanding
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Follow These Steps
Step 2: Define the problem and collect
facts
• Everyone needs to focus on the
problem, not what happened as a result
• Establishing the problem can expose
real cause of conflict
• Separate facts from opinions or
perceptions
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Follow These Steps
Step 3: Clarify perceptions
• Interpretation of the facts surrounding
the situation you encounter
• Attempt to see the problem as others
see it
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Follow These Steps
Step 4: Generate options for mutual gain
• Generate options that will fix the
problem
• People often want to negotiate for a
single solution
• Use brainstorming
– Process that encourages generation of a
wide variety of ideas and possibilities
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Follow These Steps
Step 5: Implement options with integrity
• Finalize a solution or agreement that
offers a win/win strategy
• Establish timetables for implementation
• Avoid the temptation to implement
quick-fix solutions
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Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Some conflicts between workers and
employers cannot be resolved
• Alternative dispute resolution programs,
or ADRs can involve
– An open door policy
– Toll-free hot line
– A peer panel review
– A third-party mediator
– An arbitrator
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Labor Unions in Conflict Resolution
• Disputes escalate when employment
contracts expire and need to be
negotiated
• Procedure that defines the rights and
privileges of both sides involved and
establishes the terms of employment
and length of contract
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Collective Bargaining
• If labor and management cannot come
to an agreement, they may submit their
disputes to:
– Mediation
– Voluntary arbitration
– Compulsory arbitration
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Collective Bargaining
• As a last resort, unions may
recommend that their members vote to
strike
• Generally lose/lose situation
• Virtual strikes: wages and salaries go
into an escrow account
– Neither side gets money unless they settle
– Customers and suppliers experience no
change
– Especially viable for public services
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Contemporary Issues Facing
Labor Unions
• The percent of Americans who are members
of a labor union has declined
• The future of unions depends on union
organizers’ ability to attract new members
• Many employers actively strive to keep
workers happy and productive so they don’t
want to unionize
• The “card-check neutrality” process allows
eligible unions to negotiate the employees’
next labor contract
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Contemporary Issues Facing
Labor Unions
• As labor unions strive for survival, they
must address the needs of the current
and future work force
– Adopt global mentality
– Address executives to employees pay gap
– Provide affordable health care
– Re-train to create higher paying jobs
– Provide membership to temporary and
contract workers
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Chapter Review
• Major causes of conflict
– Poor communication
– Values and culture clashes
– Confusing work policies
– Competition for scarce resources
– Adversarial management
– Coworkers who refuse to do their share of
work or have a difficult personality
• A difference of opinion may force people
toward a creative solution
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Chapter Review
• Assertiveness skills in conflict situations
– Assertiveness skills are necessary but
avoid being overly aggressive
– Build assertiveness skills by tackling
relatively minor issues first
– Use “I” statements rather than “you”
statements
– Focus on fixing the problem rather than
attacking the person
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Chapter Review
• Effective negotiation skills
– You can improve your human relations
skills by learning five negotiation styles:
• Avoidance style
• Accommodating style
• Win/lose style
• Problem-solving style
• Compromising style
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Chapter Review
• The conflict resolution process
– When people cannot solve their conflicts
informally many organizations create
solutions through a conflict resolution
process
– The five-step process is dependent on a
clear outline of the steps to resolve the
conflict
– Often an ADR program can resolve
conflicts that might otherwise lead to legal
action
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Chapter Review
• Contemporary challenges facing labor unions
– Finding new ways to cooperate
– Flexible, innovative styles are effective
– Each side may submit their disputes to mediation,
voluntary arbitration or compulsory arbitration
– Labor unions today must respond to
• Executive to employee wage gap
• Health care cost
• Retraining to high-paying jobs
• Containing jobs competition
• Temporary and part-time workers
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