Presentation for OS210 Organizational Communication, Goodwin College, East Hartford CT

1. Week 5
Chapter 9

2. Objective
By the end of the class you will be able to…
Define how communication influences conflict
management, and change in organizations.

3. Conflict Management
Processes
 When two or more
people come together
in the office with
different goals and
needs almost always
there are
disagreements.
 These disagreements
can be an opportunity
for growth and
learning, or it can
turn into a conflict.

4. Conflict Management
Processes
 The ability to
effectively deal with
conflict is one of the
most important skills
you will need to be
successful in your
career and life.

5. Conflict Management
Processes
 Conflict can be
 Destructive - can destroy work
relationships.
 Constructive - can create the need of
organizational change.

6. Conflict Management
Processes
 Through
communication,
members create
and work through
conflicts in
functional or
dysfunctional
ways.

7. Defining Conflict
“Interaction of independent people who
perceive opposition of goals, aims, and
values, and who see the other party as
potentially interfering with the realization of
these goals”
Putnam & Poole, 1987

8. Three Characteristics (I‟s)
of Conflict
1. Incompatible goals
2. Interdependent behaviors
3. Role of interaction

9. Three Characteristics (I‟s)
of Conflict
1. Incompatible goals
 Contradictory ideas about the
distribution or organizational resources.

10. Three Characteristics (I‟s)
of Conflict
 Incompatible goals
 A manager believes
that employees must
strictly follow the time
clock.
 A new employee
believes in doing the
work on a more flexible
schedule.

11. Three Characteristics (I‟s)
of Conflict
 Incompatible goals
 Mergers and acquisitions
– there is conflict if
values of the acquiring
company are different
from those of the
acquired company.

12. Three Characteristics (I‟s)
of Conflict
2. Interdependent behaviors
 When the behaviors of
the organizational
members are
interdependent.
 Participative decision-
making vs.
authoritative
management style.

13. Three Characteristics (I‟s)
of Conflict
3. Role of interaction
 Involves the expression of
incompatibility.

14. Three Levels of
Organizational Conflict
Interpersonal
Intergroup
Interorganizational

15. Three Levels of
Organizational Conflict
1. Interpersonal level
 Individual members of the organization
perceive goal incompatibility.

16. Three Levels of
Organizational Conflict
2. Intergroup conflict
 Groups of people
within an organization
as parties in the
conflict.

17. Three Levels of
Organizational Conflict
3. Interorganizational Conflict
 Involves disputes between
two or more organizations
 Competition in the
marketplace
 Trying to get the same
consulting contract

18. Phases of
Organizational Conflict

19. Latent Conflict
 Conditions for
conflict exists
because
interdependence and
possible
incompatibility exists
between the parties

20. Perceived Conflict
 One or more of the parties
perceives incompatibilities
and interdependence.
 Example: manager and
subordinate believe they
have different standards
about weekend work

21. Felt Conflict
 Parties begin to formulate
strategies about how to
deal with the conflict and
consider outcomes that
would and would not be
acceptable.

22. Manifest Conflict
 Interaction might involve
cycles of escalation and
de-escalation as the
different strategies are
used.

23. Conflict Aftermath
 Conflict has short and
long-term effects on the
individuals, their
relationship, and the
organization.

24. How Managing
Organizational Conflict?

25. Conflict Management
vs. Conflict Resolution
 Conflict management
 Ongoing nature of conflict
 Complexity of conflict situations
 Conflict resolution
 Means the conflict was resolved

27. Self-test
Conflict Management Style

28. Conflict Styles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv9FEuk4Mhk

29. Avoidance
 Non confrontational
 The people pass over the
issue or totally ignore
the person with whom
he is in conflict because
the issue is not easy to
resolve
 He/she might even deny
there is an issue

30. Accommodating
 People use this style when
his or her behavior is
agreeable and nonassertive.
 The person cooperates even
at the expense of personal
goals because wants to
make other happy.
 Is eager to help, non-
confrontational, comforting
and uncontroversial.

31. Compromise
 People who prefer this style try
to find a solution that will at
least partially satisfy everyone.
Everyone is expected to give
up something.
 This style is useful when the
cost of conflict is higher than
the cost of losing ground,
when equal strength
opponents are at a standstill
and when there is a deadline.

32. Competition
 People take a firm stand, and know
what they want.
 They usually operate from a position
of power, drawn from things like
position, rank, expertise, or
persuasive ability.
 This style can be useful when
 there is an emergency and a
decision needs to be make fast
 the decision is unpopular; or
when defending against someone
who is trying to exploit the
situation selfishly.

33. Collaborate
 People try to reach a solution that could
benefit all people involved.
 These people can be highly assertive but
unlike the competitor, they cooperate
effectively and acknowledge that
everyone is important.
 This style is useful when
 you need to bring together a variety
of viewpoints to get the best solution
 there have been previous conflicts in
the group
 the situation is too important for a
simple trade-off.

34. Critique of Conflict
Styles Construct
 The grid does not reflect complex nature of
conflict
 Other factors than concern for self and
concern for others may play a role
 Limits communication to verbal
communication only
 Role of organizational setting is ignored.
Organization should be in the center and not
in the background

35. Bargaining and
Negotiation
 It‟s another strategy to
deal with organizational
conflict.
 Type of negotiation in
which participants seek
a mutual agreement
through an explicit or
implicit exchange of
views.

36. Bargaining and
Negotiation
 Bargaining is a formal activity
 Participants dispute and negotiate about
limited resources or policy disagreements
 There is a clear understanding of rules of
negotiation
 Involves individuals who serve as
representatives
 Often used to settle intergroup or
interorganizational conflict

37. Bargaining and
Negotiation
 Reaching a mutual agreement may take
very different roads depending on the
characteristics of the situation.
 Distributive bargaining – competitive
 Integrative bargaining – cooperative

38. Distributive Bargaining
 Participants try to divide or distribute
something
 The dispute is centered on the limited
resources that must be divided in the
negotiation: wages, benefits, hours

39. Distributive Bargaining
 Disputants can work
together to make the pie
bigger, so there is enough
for both of them to have
as much as they want
 They can also focus on
cutting the pie up, trying
to get as much as they
can for themselves.

40. Distributive Bargaining
 Common tactics they use include trying to gain
an advantage by insisting on negotiating on
one's own home ground
 having more negotiators than the other side
 using tricks and deception to try to get the
other side to concede more than you concede
 making threats or issuing ultimatums;
generally trying to force the other side to give
in by overpowering them or outsmarting
them, not by discussing the problem as an
equal (as is done in integrative bargaining).

41. Distributive Bargaining
 The goal is not to assure both
sides win, but rather that one
side (your side) wins as much
as it can, which generally
means that the other side will
lose, or at least get less than
it had wanted.
 Distributive bargaining tactics
rarely assume the pie will
divided in half.

42. Integrative Bargaining
 Also knows as the win win bargaining
because is more cooperative.
 Participants collaborate to find a win-win
solution to their dispute.
 This strategy focuses on developing
mutually beneficial agreements based on
the interests and not the positions of the
disputants.

43. Integrative Bargaining
 Interests include the needs, desires,
concerns, and fears important to each
side.
 Integrative refers to the potential for the
parties' interests to be combined in ways
that create joint value or enlarge the pie.

44. The Orange Example

45. Integrative Bargaining
 Integrative bargaining is more popular than
Distributive because it usually produces more
satisfactory results for the parties involved.
 Distributive focuses on opposing viewpoints
(positions) and tends to result in compromise
or no agreement at all. Compromises simply
split the difference between the two positions,
giving each side half of what they want.
 Integrative solutions is more creative, and can
potentially give everyone all of what they
want.

46. Third-Party Conflict
Resolution
 Sometimes individuals involve in a conflict
are unable to resolve the disagreement on
their own through informal discussion or
formal negotiation, and request the help of
a third party.
 Friend or coworker
 Supervisor
 Parties from outside the organization

47. Third-Party Conflict
Resolution
 Parties from outside organization
 Mediator – no decision power
 Arbitrator – makes decisions
 Information sharing and persuasion are
important

48. Third-Party Conflict
Resolution
 Mediation – the role of communication is
more pronounced

49. Third-Party Conflict
Resolution
 Tactics mediators use to facilitate
communication:
 Directive tactics
 Nondirective tactics
 Procedural tactics
 Reflective tactics

50. Third-Party Conflict
Resolution
 Directive tactics – initiate recommendations
 Nondirective tactics – secure information
and clarify misunderstandings
 Procedural tactics – establish agenda and
protocol for conflict resolutions
 Reflective tactics – regulates the tone of
interaction by developing rapport with
participants, using humor and speaking the
language of each side

51. 3 Factors that Influence
the Conflict Management
 Personal
 Relational
 Cultural

52. Personal Factors
 Personality and gender plays small role in
conflict resolution strategies
 Men are more likely to use competitive
strategies
 Women use more the Compromise style and
are more assertive
 People use strategies to manage conflict
according to their personal characteristics:
aggressiveness, introversion or need to
control

53. Personal Factors
 Involve perceptions of self, of others,
and of the conflict itself.
 Individual who frame conflicts in terms
of losses take more risks and seek
arbitration

54. Relational Factors
 Relationship between parties has strong
impact on conflict resolution
 Power and hierarchical positions of
individuals are important
 Competitive styles when dealing with
subordinates

55. Relational Factors
 Accommodation or collaboration when
dealing with superiors
 Accommodation or avoiding when
dealing with peers

56. Relational Factors
 Conflict management style depends on the
hierarchical relationship between the
conflict parties.
 Conflicts with supervisors and
administrators are more emotionally
intense than conflicts with individuals at
the same hierarchical level

57. Relational Factors
 Workers depend on on each other, but also
want to maintain independence.
 This contradiction can cause conflict

58. Cultural Factors
 National culture
 Ethnic and racial culture
 Can influence resolution process

59. Cultural Factors
 Negotiations between U.S. and Japanese
negotiators are less successful than
intracultural among these two groups.

60. Cultural Factors
 Japanese negotiators understood the U.S.
priorities, the U.S. negotiators didn‟t
understand the Japanese schema.
 African-American and European-American
women viewed conflict negatively.
 In addition, African-American women were
passive.
 European-American are more conflict-
avoidant

61. Chapter 10

62. Models of
Organizational Change

63. Models of
Organizational Change
 Change is constant as organizations evolve
and age, especially as we move further into
this new millennium.
 Organizations must organize for continuous
change to become flexible and adapt quickly
to environmental changes
 Mergers
 Layoffs
 Job redefinitions

64. Models of
Organizational Change
Start
up
Kimberly & Miles |
Hannan & Freeman –
80’s
Organizational
Decay Growth
Life Cycle
Harvest

65. Models of
Organizational Change
 The natural life cycle of an organization might
include:
 Start-up– company develops a market and
creates systems and procedures
 Growth – clients relationship are developed and
the size of the company grows
 Harvest – the company serves existing customers
 Decay stage – the services become less relevant
to the marketplace and the firm eventually folds
or is bought by another company.

66. Models of
Organizational Change
 Other models look at planned change
 Implementation not simple
 Disseminate information about the
change
 Integrate changes into the day-to-day
operations of the organization

67. Models of
Organizational Change
 Model of planned change (Connor & Lake,
1994)
 Involve a number of different types of
change (individual, behavior, organizational,
processes)
 It is accomplished using different methods
(technical, structural, managerial)

68. Models of
Organizational Change
 Schools introducing the new
method for teaching reading
because of the national
standard No Child Left
Behind initiative
 Changes in the school
population
 New developments in
elementary school

69. Models of
Organizational Change
 School‟s culture, textbooks, lesson plans,
community involvement and pressure make the
change complicated.

70. Models of
Organizational Change
 Many organizational
practitioners are concerned with
ways of managing change and
don‟t support the idea of just
letting the organizational life
cycle take its course.
 Successful organizations are
those that initiate change,
respond to change, plan change
and implement change as an
ongoing way of life.

72. Reactions to
Organizational Change
 Management support for the change
process is critical
 Senior management has the most
impact on change
 When senior management don‟t backup
the change, change effort is not
successful
 Ownership tension

73. Reactions to
Organizational Change
 Another area of concern in the change
process is the resistance to change.
 Change can threaten the organizational
culture of a workplace
 Company's core values
 Mission
 Work environment

74. Reactions to
Organizational Change
 Employees gain a
sense of group
identity and belonging
from organizational
culture.
 Fear is natural.

75. Reactions to
Organizational Change
 Resistance to Change
 Behavior that prevent
the implementation or
use of a system to
prevent systems
designers from
achieving their
objectives.

76. Reactions to
Organizational Change
 Reasons for Resistance
to change
 Ignorance of a
change initiative
 Inadequate training
 Fear

77. Reactions to
Organizational Change
 Another reaction to change is the
uncertainty of organizational members
because of
 Stress
 Anxiety
 Defense mechanism

78. Communication in the
Change Process
 Communication and Information
 The best ways to deal with
uncertainty and anxiety.

79. Communication in the
Change Process
 Employees prefer having negative
information to having no information about
organizational change.

80. How do communication activities
translate into meaningful
coordinated strategy?
 Assessment - to understand the territory
before taking action, and especially to identify
interests
 What are their key beliefs and values?
(cognitive)
 What is their emotional state? (emotional)
 What are they willing to do and why?
(intentions, interests)

81. Case Study

82. How do communication activities
translate into meaningful
coordinated strategy?
 Assessment - to understand the territory before taking
action, and especially to identify interests
 Evaluate the existing communication system
 What are the existing channels of communication?
 What are the communicative goals for each
channel?
 What types of messages are typically transmitted
in these channels?
 What is the target audience for each channel?

83. SMART Goal
 To educate 100% of employees about the
state of the business, by January, 2012 at
a cost of $3,000.

84. Strategies for Communicating
about Change
 Clampitt, DeKoch, and Cashman
(2000) proposed communication
strategies that management can use
in communicating about change to
employees.

85. Strategies for Communicating
about Change
 Spray & Pray: Executives shower
employees with all kinds of information,
hoping that employees will be able to
sort out the significant from
insignificant
 Tell & Sell: Executives communicate a
more limited set of messages, first
telling employees about the key issues,
then selling them on the wisdom of
their approach.

86. Strategies for Communicating
about Change
 Underscore & Explore: Executives focus
on developing a few core messages
clearly linked to organizational success,
while actively listening for potential
misunderstandings and unrecognized
obstacles.
 Identify & Reply: Executives identify key
employee concerns and then reply to them.

87. Strategies for Communicating
about Change
 Withhold & Uphold: Executives
withhold information until necessary.
Secrecy and control are the implicit
values of this strategy.

88. Strategies for
Communicating about
Change
 The Spray and Pray strategy creates the
illusion that everyone is informed.
 Spray and Pray and Withhold and Upload are
least effective.
 The Tell & Sell strategy demonstrates the
(cheer) leader‟s enthusiastic endorsement of
an initiative. But, no one ever asks for
employee feedback or checks to see if the
message was understood.

89. Strategies for Communicating
about Change
 The Underscore & Explore strategy is the
most effective strategy.
 It addresses fewer issues and explores
employee interpretations.
 It has the added benefit of creating
dialogue around a few core concepts
that have the greatest potential to
transform the organization.

90. Tactics to Implement Strategies
 Repetition & Redundancy
 Repeating a slogan while varying the
examples increases the likelihood to hear,
remember and act on a similar message:
Moving forward, We try harder
 Repetition also help to break the
resistance.
 Car license tags, acronyms,
conferences, newsletters, employee
stories

91. Tactics to Implement Strategies
 Opinion Leaders
 Identify a leader who serves
a vital role in the social
structure of employees
 Provides insight and
expertise
 Clarify opinions for others
 Help the group make sense
of the organizational life
 set the norms for acceptable
and unacceptable behavior

92. Tactics to Implement Strategies
 Select the right Communication Channels
 Build new channels into the system to allow for the
routine and systematic discussion of key issues.
 Channels of communication, and the way they
are used, influence how messages are
interpreted.
 The channel choice symbolizes „importance‟.
 When announcing major changes, leaders should
use multiple channels because it increases the
probability employees will hear key messages.

93. Tactics to Implement Strategies
 Use “rich” channels, such as face-to-face
meetings, to allow for rapid feedback and quick
adaptation to employee concerns.
 Provoke Dialogue – a meaningful dialogue
promotes deeper commitment to the leader‟s
ideas, purpose or mission.

94. Tactics to Implement Strategies
 Check the pulse
 A survey to identify employee
concerns
 A Pulse Report with a summary of the
findings
 A “Talking Points” document, which is
a summary for managers, outlining
how executives think about the issues
drawn from the current Pulse. This
serves as the basis for the updates
managers provide to their employees.

95. 1.
Organizational Crisis
 Organizational crisis evolves in three stages
1. Precrisis – prevent or prepare for possible problems
 Have a crisis management plan and update it at least
annually.
 Have a designate crisis management team that is
properly trained.
 Conduct exercise at least annually to test the crisis
management plan and team.
 Pre-draft select crisis management messages including
content for dark web sites and templates for crisis
statements. Have the legal department review and
pre-approve these messages.

96. 1.
Organizational Crisis
2. Crisis – there is a trigger that can damage the
reputation of organizations; there is uncertainty
 Avoid the phrase “no comment” because people think
it means the organization is guilty or try to hide
something.
 Present information clearly by avoiding jargon or
technical terms. Lack of clarity makes people think
the organization is purposefully being confusing in
order to hide something.

97. 1.
Organizational Crisis
 Appear pleasant on camera by avoiding nervous
habits that people interpret as deception.
 Brief all potential spokespersons on the latest crisis
information and the key message points the
organization is trying to convey to stakeholders.

98. Organizational Crisis
3. Postcrisis – communication focuses on determining
responsibility, or apologizing and establishing systems
to deal with similar crisis in the future.
 Deliver all information promised to stakeholders as
soon as that information is known.
 Keep stakeholders updated on the progression of
recovery efforts including any corrective measures
being taken and the progress of investigations.
 Analyze the crisis management effort for lessons
and integrate those lessons in to the organization‟s
crisis management system.