Managing Conflict in the Organization

Overview/Description
 As a manager, you will inevitably have to sort out some of the conflict that occurs in your organization. Sometimes, this will be between individuals, but often it will be between teams, and even departments. The different nature of these conflicts is likely to require different approaches, and there are also likely to be a range of particular demands on you in the way that you manage the conflicts. A way of differentiating and applying these approaches is by adopting a short-term approach against a longer-term strategy. The first is categorized by a "quick and dirty" style of containment and reduction. The second is characterized by approaches that are concerned with resolving the roots of the conflict by finding structural remedies to prevent the conflict occurring in the future. Another form of a long-term approach is to attempt to prevent conflict from occurring. This is, of course, probably impossible, but this approach is characterized by considering in what ways a manager can act to discourage negative conflict.

Target Audience
 Managers who must deal with conflict in the workplace

Expected Duration
6.0 hours

Lesson Objectives:

Prevention of Conflict

  • recognize the benefits of preventing conflict in the workplace.
  • characterize the causes of conflict.
  • eradicate the causes of role conflict in the workplace.
  • characterize a collaborative approach to preventing conflict.
  • apply a collaborative approach to manage conflict in a given workplace situation.
  • characterize the rationale of interpersonal skills training in helping to prevent conflict in the workplace.

    • Conflict Reduction and Containment

  • recognize the benefits of reducing and containing conflict.
  • characterize coercion as a way of managing conflict in the workplace.
  • apply coercive methods to manage conflict in the workplace in a given situation.
  • match characteristics of successful arbitration with related descriptions.
  • use arbitration techniques correctly to manage conflict in a given workplace situation.
  • characterize elements of mediation as a way of managing conflict.
  • employ mediation in a given scenario to manage conflict in the workplace.

    • Resolving Conflict

  • recognize the benefits of resolving conflict.
  • establish common goals as a method of managing conflict in a given workplace situation.
  • characterize the qualities of effective communication to resolve conflict.
  • use communication to resolve conflict in a given workplace situation.
  • utilize structural methods to manage conflict in the workplace in a given scenario.

    • Course Number: COMM0343