- Compromising. Agreeing with the other party that each
will give up something of value to reach an accord. - Avoidance. Withdrawing from, or suppressing, the conflict.
The choice of technique may depend on how serious the
issue is to you, whether you take a win-win or a win-lose
approach, and your preferred conflict management style.
When the conflict is specifically work-related, there are
additional techniques that might be used: - Expansion of resources. The scarcity of a resource—say,
money, promotion opportunities, office space—can cre-
ate conflict. Expansion of the resource can create a win-
win solution. - Authoritative command. Management can use its formal
authority to resolve the conflict and then communicate
its desires to the parties involved. - Altering the human variable. Behavioural change tech-
niques such as human relations training can alter atti-
tudes and behaviours that cause conflict. - Altering the structural variables. The formal organization
structure and the interaction patterns of conflicting par-
ties can be changed through job redesign, transfers, cre-
ation of coordinating positions, and the like.
Resolving Personality Conflicts
Personality conflicts are an everyday occurrence in the workplace. While there is no
available data for Canada, supervisors in the United States spend about 18 percent of their
time handling personality conflicts among employees.^56 A variety of factors leads to
personality conflicts, including the following:^57- Misunderstandings based on age, race, or cultural differences
- Intolerance, prejudice, discrimination, or bigotry
- Perceived inequities
- Misunderstandings, rumours, or falsehoods about an individual or group
- Blaming for mistakes or mishaps (finger-pointing)
Personality conflicts can result in lowered productivity when people find it difficult
to work together. The individuals experiencing the conflict may seek sympathy from
other members of the work group, causing co-workers to take sides. The ideal solution
would be for the two people in conflict to work it out between themselves, without
involving others, but this does not always happen. However, it is not always possible for
people to talk things out, and it may be a Western cultural bias to expect that individ-
uals should generally be able to do so.^57 OB in Action—Handling Personality Conflicts
on page 205 suggests ways of dealing with personality conflicts in the workplace.NEGOTIATION
When management-employee relations break down, it is not unusual that employees start to con-
sider joining a labour union. If the employees are successful in their bid for unionization, then it is the
labour union that negotiates with management over wage and working conditions. While Dofasco’s
mill employees did consider joining either the Canadian Auto Workers or the United Steelworkers204 Part 3Interacting Effectively
Choosing Strategies to Deal With
Conflicts(continued)Yielding
➔When you find you are wrong
➔To show your reasonableness
➔When issues are more important to others than
yourself
➔To build social credits for later issues
➔When harmony and stability are especially important
Compromising
➔When goals are important but not worth more
assertive approaches
➔When opponents are committed to mutually exclu-
sive goals
➔To achieve temporary settlements to complex issues
➔To arrive at expedient solutions under time pressureSources:Based on K. W. Thomas, “Toward Multidimensional
Values in Teaching: The Example of Conflict Behaviors,”
Academy of Management Review,July 1977, p. 487; and
C. K. W. De Dreu, A. Evers, B. Beersma, E. S. Kluwer, and A.
Nauta, “A Theory-Based Measure of Conflict Management
Strategies in the Workplace,” Journal of Organizational
Behavior 22, no. 6 (September 2001), pp. 645–668.