ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT Dr' Aytul Ayse OZDEMIR

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ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT Dr. Aytul
Ayse OZDEMIR

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• The Concept of Conflict
• The Process of Conflict
• Sources of Conflict in Organizations
• The Styles of Conflict Management
• Turkish Culture and Conflict Management Styles of
  Turkish Managers
• Structural Approaches to Conflict Management

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Conflict

• is defined as an interactive process manifested
  in incompatibility, disagreement, dissonance
  within or between social entities. (Rahim, 1983).

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The Conflict Process
Sources of Conflict
Dysfunctional outcomes Diverts energy and
resources Encourages organizational
politics Encourages stereotyping Weakens
knowledge management Potential benefits Improves
decision making Strengthens team dynamics
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Task-Related vs. Socioemotional Conflict

• Task-related conflict
• Conflict is aimed at issue, not parties
• Basis of constructive controversy
• Helps recognize problems, identify solutions, and
  understand the issues better
• Socio-emotional conflict
• Conflict viewed as a personal attack
• Foundation of conflict escalation
• Leads to dissatisfaction, stress, and turnover

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Sources of Conflict
Goal Incompatibility
Different Values and Beliefs
Task Interdependence
Scarce Resources

• Increases competition for resources to fulfill
  goals

Ambiguity

• Lack of rules guiding relations
• Encourages political tactics

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Conflict Management Styles
High
Integrating
Dominating
Assertiveness
Compromising
Avoiding
Obliging
High
Low
Cooperativeness
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• Integrating style, high concern for self and the
  others, is characterized by a willingness to
  exchange information openly, to address
  differences constructively, and to make every
  effort to pursue a solution that will be mutually
  acceptable.

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• Avoiding style results from having little concern
  for either ones own or the others interests.
  When the issue of conflict is important and
  requires taking over the responsibility of quick
  decision making, withdrawing from conflict could
  generate harmful outcomes for the party.

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• Obliging style, low concern for self and high
  concern for others, focuses on protecting and
  maintaining the relationships rather than
  pursuing an outcome that only meets an
  individuals own concerns.

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• Compromising style reflects a moderate concern
  for ones own interests and a moderate concern
  for the others interests. An outcome that is
  mutually acceptable for both sides is a desirable
  strategy to solve conflict. This style involves
  give and take.

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• Dominating style or labeled as competing is
  identified as win-lose strategy. Ignoring the
  needs and expectations of the other party and
  pursuing ones own interests through the use of
  forceful tactics is suitable, when the conflict
  issues involve routine matters or require speedy
  decision making .

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Cultural Side of Conflict Management

• The concept of individualism and collectivism
  provides one means of distinguishing broad
  differences in cultural values (Hofstede, 1980).
  People from individualistic cultures tend to be
  concerned with individual images, task
  accomplishment, and individual goals relative to
  the group's interests they also tend to exhibit
  more self-face-saving conflict styles, such as
  dominating. On the other hand, people from
  collectivistic cultures tend to see themselves as
  part of the group, place the group's goals over
  the individual's goals, and focus on maintaining
  harmony.

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• Individualists tend to prefer confrontational and
  competing conflict management styles, whereas
  collectivists appear to prefer harmony-enhancing
  conflict management styles.
• Individualistic cultures prefer to use forcing
  more than collectivist cultures. On the other
  hand, collectivist cultures choose withdrawing,
  compromising and problem solving.

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Conflict Management Styles of Turkish Managers

• The Economic Context
• Turkeys population of 70 million is young and
  growing
• Its economy is the 17th largest in the world
  (IMF, 2006).
• 6311 foreign investment companies operate in
  Turkey.
• The leading trading partners of Turkey are
  Germany, UK, US, Italy, Russia, Switzerland and
  France.

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The Cultural Context

• Collectivism,
• power distance,
• uncertainty avoidance
• and conservatism
• Turkish organizations are known as vertical
  hierarchical structure, low delegation,
  centralized decision making and paternalistic
  qualifications.

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• Hierarchy played a significant role in impacting
  Turkish conflict management styles. Overall, the
  tendency was to be more accommodative towards
  ones superiors (respect for authority)
  suppressing/and or avoiding competition between
  peers (focus on collectivism and group harmony)
  and imposing solutions on subordinates (analogous
  to a parent-child relationship). Turkey has been
  found to be relationship and consensus oriented
  in negotiations.

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The Research Findings
Source Ozkalp, Sungur and Ozdemir (2008), How
Turkish Managers Cope With The Conflict in Their
Organizations An Exploratory Study in
Turkey, 9th International Conference on Human
Resource Development across Europe.
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The Research Findings(continued)

• In our study, integrating at first, and
  compromising at second are found as the most
  preferred conflict styles of Turkish managers.
  This finding is compatible in a sense of a
  collectivist culture of Turkish society.
• The other important finding is that preferring
  obliging styles of conflict management changes
  according to the status of managers. Obliging is
  mostly used when the conflict partner has an
  upper level status.

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Structural Approaches to Conflict Management

• Emphasizing Suberordinate Goals
• Reducing Differentation
• Improving Communication and Understanding
• Reducing Task Interdependence
• Increasing Resources
• Clarifying Rules and Procedures