INTERPERSONAL

and
STRUCTURAL
Approach
to
CONFLICT
MANAGEMENT
EDLYN A. NACIONAL
MAED 311
Dr. MUSTAPHA
Professor

Kenneth W. Thomas,
Ph. D.

has an international reputation as a researcher,

author, and developer of training materials. He is the
developer, with Ralph Kilmann, of the Thomas-Kilmann
Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI), the leading measure of
conflict-handling styles. It has sold over six million copies
and been translated into many languages. He has also
conducted extensive research on work motivation and is
the author of Intrinsic Motivation at Work: What Really
Drives Employee Engagement, published jointly by BerrettKoehler and the American Society for Training and
Development (ASTD). With Walter Tymon, he has also
developed the Work Engagement Profile, a measure of the
intrinsic rewards that power work engagement. He has
served as Professor of Management at UCLA, Temple
University, the University of Pittsburgh, and the Naval
Postgraduate School. He gives presentations and conducts
workshops for groups of various sizes and has also served
as faculty member for the National Association for
Corporate Directors.

Ralph H. Kilmann, Ph. D

is CEO and Senior Consultant at
Kilmann Diagnostics (KD) in Newport
Coast, California. Formerly, he was the
George
H.
Love
Professor
of
Organization and Management at the
Katz School of Business, University of
Pittsburghwhich was his professional
home for thirty years. He earned both his
B.S. in graphic arts management and
M.S. in industrial administration from
Carnegie Mellon University (1970) and a
Ph.D. degree in the behavioral sciences
in management from the University of
California, Los Angeles (1972).

Traditional view:
The belief that all conflicts are harmful
and must be avoided
Human relations view:
That belief that conflict is a natural and
inevitable outcome in any group
Integrationist view:
The belief that conflict is not only a
positive force
in group but that it is
absolutely necessary for a group to

Functional conflict
Increase information & ideas
Encourages innovative thinking
Unshackles different points of
view
Reduce stagnation

Dysfunctional conflict

Tension, anxiety, stress

Drives out low conflict tolerant
people
Reduce trust
Poor
decision
because
of
withheld or
distorted
Reduce information

Sources of Conflict

Figure 17.3

17-7

Sources of Conflict
Different

Goals and Time Horizons

Different groups have differing goals and focus.

Overlapping

Authority

Two or more managers claim authority for the same

activities which leads to conflict between the
managers and workers.

Sources of Conflict
Task Interdependencies
One member of a group or a group fails to finish a task that
another member or group depends on, causing the waiting
worker or group to fall behind.

Different Evaluation or Reward Systems

A group is rewarded for achieving a goal, but another
interdependent group is rewarded for achieving a goal that
conflicts with the first group.

17-9

Sources of Conflict
Scarce Resources
Managers can come into conflict over the allocation of scare
resources.

Status Inconsistencies
Some individuals and groups have a higher
organizational status than others, leading to conflict
with lower status groups.

Lose-lose conflict.
Management by avoidance or accommodation.
Win-lose conflict.
Management by competition and compromise.
Win-win conflict.
Management by collaboration.

THOMAS & KILMANN

FIVE MODELS OF INTERPERSONAL APPROACH TO CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

Avoidance (withdrawal).

Uncooperative and unassertive.

Accommodation (smoothing).
Cooperative and assertive.

Competition (authoritative command).

Uncooperative and assertive.

Compromise.

Moderately cooperative and assertive.

Collaboration (problem solving).

Cooperative and assertive.

Conflict Management Strategies

Accommodation
one party simply gives in to the other party

Avoidance
two parties try to ignore the problem and do nothing to resolve
the disagreement

Conflict Management Strategies

Collaboration
parties try to handle the conflict without making concessions by
coming up with a new way to resolve their differences that
leaves them both better off.

Compromise
each party is concerned about their goal accomplishment and is
willing to engage in give-and-take exchange to reach a
reasonable solution.

Conflict Management Strategies

Competition
each party tries to maximize its own gain and has little interest
in understanding the others position

Structural approaches for resolving conflicts:

Appealing to superordinate goals.

Making more resources available.
Changing the people.
Altering the physical environment.

Superordinate goals at Tivoli Systems

The value of superordinate
goals was apparent in a paper
airplanes exercise at Tivoli
Systems. Teams discovered
that
they
succeeded
by
focusing on the organisations
goals rather than fighting over
conflicting
goals
between
teams.

2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the

Ed Lallo

Making more resources & Changing the people

Remove sources of
different values and
beliefs
Move employees around
to different jobs,
departments and regions
Other ways to reduce
differentiation:
encourage generalist
careers
common dress code and
status
common work experiences

2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on