Conflict management techniques by type: group - group were studied and developed by such specialists as D. Geldman, S. Robbins, and M. Dilton.
This group of confrontations is characterized in that the causes of collisions and the flow patterns are very diverse. Therefore, such conflicts are difficult to analyze and manage. Each stage of working with groups requires a specific approach and a developed action plan.
But we will only consider such a management method as conflict stimulation. Its forms and means are especially interesting to consider. Indeed, earlier in the Soviet history of management it was believed that all contradictions needed to be smoothed out. But now everything is changing.
What is the purpose of the conflict?
Sometimes the pre-conflict situation is delayed, relations between team members become purely formal or even hostile. In order to defuse the situation, an experienced leader must do something. Otherwise, bad relations between employees will necessarily affect the quality of their work.
What does conflict stimulation technology mean? This prevention of even greater disagreements, so to speak, is a way to reduce the passions. But there is another goal. Sometimes a manager needs such a step in order to mobilize his employees. However, first things first.
The basics of conflict management. Conflict management
Conflict (lat. Conflictus clash) is a confrontation between public entities, each side has its own goal, namely to achieve those positions that this side considers correct.
Conflict management is the activity of a social leader to prevent confrontation in a team, stimulate conflict or correct the behavior of participants. This is precisely a social leader, since there is also such a figure in psychology as an ideological leader who has no relation to managing people.
The social leader monitors the relationships in the team and how compatible the team members are. His duties include a very important task - to prevent a prolonged destructive conflict in the environment. Absolutely any conflict is manageable. Only some knowledge is needed.
It must be mentioned here that conflict can be constructive and destructive. Constructive leads to the development of personal qualities, which favorably affects the activities of the entire organization or any hierarchical structure. And a destructive conflict, on the contrary, is badly reflected both in the whole work of the collective and in individuals. As a result of a destructive conflict, a person or group of people is psychologically exhausted, and there is absolutely no result.
So, the stimulation of the conflict involves the timely submission of controversial issues to the general "court". That is, the manager must create the preconditions for a normal discussion between hostile parties.
What is the stimulation of conflict?
An experienced leader sees that a specific problem is brewing in the team. He must decide what to do in this situation: either resolve the war of interests in some peaceful way, or act by punishment.
But there is another way - to create a new conflict, to regulate its development and, upon completion, to obtain a new result that exceeds expectations. After all, conflicts do not exist in vain. If they are able to manage them skillfully, any group will develop rapidly, solve common problems better and the workflow will therefore proceed faster and better.
Stimulating the conflict involves the creation of conditions in the team under which competition will begin. This is a surprisingly controversial way of regulating relationships between colleagues. A deliberate collision leads, oddly enough, to greater harmony within the collective.
Forms of conflict stimulation should be gentle. Do not set up subordinates so that they only recognize enemies as others. Competition within the team is good only within the acceptable range. A newcomer is better for the leader to take under his protection for the first time so that he is not "eaten" by the old "sharks".
People learn to adapt to new conditions, learn to negotiate and take into account the interests of others. However, this only works when the leader has chosen the right tactics, firstly; and secondly, if he himself is a good social leader, not a nominal one.
The concept of the subject of conflict
The subject in conflict resolution is a real, or far-fetched problem, on which there are different points of view. Conflicts are often associated with inadequacy, inconsistency and violation of expectations. Without agreeing among themselves, people cannot fulfill the plan given by their superiors. Therefore, such situations must be resolved.
Conflict resolution is often possible through agreement on the subject of a quarrel. If the manager is going to confrontation in his work team, he will be faced with the choice of a form of stimulating the conflict and with the basis of which the provocation will take place. The manager can use any quarrel to provoke disagreement. About how to do this, wrote such a management specialist as Stephen Robbins.
Stages of conflict
The leader must perfectly understand all the subtleties of the management process. He needs to know how the conflict develops and what stages distinguish in management:
- The latent period is an increase in negative trends. At this stage, the parties are not yet aware of the conflict as such, but they feel discontent.
- The acute period of conflict. The parties are actively figuring out who is right and who is to blame. Usually, when the argument is emotional, no one listens to the opponent and this exacerbates the situation.
- Post-conflict phase. At this time, the parties, with a positive outcome of the confrontation, recognize the importance of cooperation and make mutual concessions.
If no one wants to give in, the situation worsens and third-party intervention is necessary. At each stage of the development of the conflict, it is important to remember the unifying factors and goals. Without team spirit, collaboration is impossible in principle.
Models of behavior in conflict. When can not be provoked?
According to the idea of Thomas Kilman, there are 5 basic patterns of behavior. Each person, depending on his character and communication habits, often uses one or 2 models.
Distinguish:
- The confrontation.
- Cooperation.
- Concessions.
- Evasion of confrontations.
- Compromise is the best option, but also difficult to implement.
Softer people by nature do not seek to compete and easily concede in a dispute. These people agree with the decisions made, not because they do not have their own point of view, but because they strive for general harmony. More aggressive behaviors are chosen by impulsive people with high ambitions and good intelligence. Often, they strive to take leadership positions in society in the future. In addition to the theory of T. Kilman, there are other models.
It is believed that the behavioral model largely depends on the accentuation of character. Timid sensitive types never confront. The presence of conflict in their environment leads such people to a state of stress. But demonstrative types themselves always strive to "get into a fight" in order to show their potential.
Stimulating conflict is not a way to “teach a lesson” to someone, or “play around” with staff. An experienced leader must understand who he is dealing with and how to behave with subordinates of a different nature.
Advantages and disadvantages of stimulating conflict in an enterprise
The advantage of stimulating the conflict is that all its participants mobilize their capabilities. And at the end of a conflict situation, new ways of interaction, new ideas and experience are always born. However, the leader, who is taken to stimulate the conflict of interests, assumes responsibility. After all, if something goes wrong, he will be to blame for the destruction of the team and the disruption of the work schedule.
Stimulating conflict is a very risky step. It is necessary to calculate many options for the development of the situation.
In fact, development in society is gradual, and new leaders do not appear out of nowhere. They must go their own way and prove the worthiness of their ideas that promote.
The new always comes into conflict with the old, and this period can be stressful and dangerous for both sides. But still this conflict is needed. Constructive conflicts often provide a new round of social evolution, which is developing in a spiral.
Stimulation of the conflict or its prevention?
Which is better - to stimulate a conflict or prevent it? This is an important issue. Even a highly qualified manager will not always find a solution if the conflict has dragged on and the team members are so annoyed by each other that they cannot even be in the same office. Therefore, it is better not to let the situation go by its own accord, but under the supervision of management to understand the current situation.
Warning - this is the impact of the manager on the team in order to preventively prevent a dangerous situation.
How can a leader prevent conflict:
- take care of the needs of each subordinate;
- to place employees taking into account compatibility and their abilities;
- in all decisions to observe the principle of justice.
But when the method of preventive control of the situation does not work, perhaps you need to take a chance and act differently. Provoke a confrontation between the parties.
What is a provocation of conflict in principle? Stimulating the conflict involves a method of influencing the team that helps all participants in the situation to better understand their mistakes. When each member of the team begins to work on himself, the manager will be able to avoid the destructive consequences that would inevitably ensue if no preventive measures were taken.
So, what to choose a leader? Prevention or promotion of conflict? If the director of an enterprise is confident that he will be able to take conscious control of the entire current situation, improve productivity or existing relationships in the team, then you can safely raise provocative questions right at the general meeting.
Methods of provocation
In conflict management, the method of S.P. Robbins is known, which allows to qualitatively improve the effectiveness of the team.
Stephen P. Robbins sees the following structural methods of stimulating conflict:
- increasing the amount of information that needs to be processed;
- use of unclear or threatening information;
- the conclusion from the transmission channels of information of a specific message;
- a change in the task assigned to subordinates;
- change of prescribed activity.
As you can see, the main form of conflict stimulation is the redistribution of resources between participants or a change in the structure of their interaction. Struggling for their place and their ambitions, each employee will strive to "get around" the other, to do more. As a result of the conflict situation, each of them will master new areas of activity and will be less dependent on others.
A very effective method is to play with information transfer channels. The manager who will master the methods of stimulating conflict. And also he will learn how to properly direct the competition within his team, will achieve better staff productivity.
Stimulating conflict. His forms and means
To provoke a conflict is considered appropriate if it is not destructive. How can I provoke? S. Robbins sees the following structural methods of stimulating conflict:
- Criticism of the conflict situation, at this time all participants are included and each contributes to the solution of the problem.
- Submission of a provocative issue at a meeting with senior officials.
- Removing the problem outside the firm and bringing all the nuances of the conflict to the media.
Such tasks can only be assigned to an experienced and qualified manager. If the conflict develops into a more violent showdown, the provocation of such things, both morally and from pragmatic views, is not justified.
Positive Initiative Development Strategy
For each strategic goal, some targeted steps are needed. In order to achieve his goal, for example, making a profit, the leader must create his portfolio of initiatives.
It is necessary to skillfully manage the marketing department, and staff, and actually production. And for each area of activity, a certain set of initiatives is suitable. Moreover, it is desirable to work in all directions at the same time.
If the goals of each department are achieved in such a way that the interests of not one of them are infringed, then we can assume that the head worked perfectly. But more often, the manager still ignores one of the projects. Strategic initiatives should be built on the basis of primary goals. This is an important skill.
Stimulating constructive conflicts sometimes helps to understand which of the subordinates is better adapted to unforeseen situations, who does not lose their temper when exposed to stress factors. In this regard, the provocation of the leader can also be regarded as a positive initiative.
Why is incentive confrontation an effective management method?
Modern management no longer considers conflicts as negative processes. If the old "schools" trained managers, explaining to them that confrontation should be avoided by all methods, since they destroy the team, now it is the other way around. Stimulating conflict involves a form of conflict management that helps bring the entire organization to a new stage of development.
Specialists identify several positive functions that a constructive conflict carries:
- he enhances the loyalty of team members to each other;
- allows you to defuse the tense atmosphere;
- forms the principles of social equilibrium;
- is the driving force behind positive change;
- promotes the disclosure of opposing intentions and tendencies;
- facilitates the reassessment of all those standards that are already established in the circle of employees.
In contrast to the constructive, destructive conflict brings with it a decrease in the degree of cooperation and cultivation of the image of the enemy in other persons.
It is clear that the stimulation of the conflict involves the resolution of current problems, such as stagnation in production, misuse of working time, for example. But it does not involve personal clarification of relationships or achievement of ambitious plans.
3-way conflict resolution
The participation of a third party in the solution of any confrontation between the parties is a very old effective practice of regulating relations. Today, management distinguishes several forms of conflict resolution with the participation of a third person:
- Arbitration.
- Reconciliation.
- Mediation.
- Facilitation.
Mediation is a simple mediation. The subjects achieve reconciliation when they understand the importance of a common goal and the insignificance of disagreements. Facilitation is a relatively new way to help with conflict. Work is carried out with each separately. Very often, the real cause of the confrontation is not an event or external stimuli, but old resentment. In such cases, it is necessary either to transfer one of the employees to another department or to threaten with dismissal when the employees again begin to solve personal issues during working hours.
Stimulating the conflict involves the answer to the question posed by the edge: either a change in behavior in the team, or dismissal. A manager, as a person who bears all responsibility for the activities of a certain community of people, is obliged to respond to such situations in time.
As a result
One of the management methods - conflict stimulation assumes that the manager calls all the parties to the conflict and becomes an arbitrator in resolving a non-standard situation. It is very difficult to reach a consensus, especially when 3 or more opinions are involved in the confrontation. And, due to the fact that all parties cannot be satisfied with the decision, the leader sometimes has to be very tough and categorical.
Conflict stimulation methods can be very different. It all depends on the education and experience of the leader. According to Robbinson, communication methods of stimulating conflict include criticism of the situation during the general operational meeting.
The emergence of conflict is already an opportunity for the emergence of new institutions and tools to maintain stability. And from this point of view, provoking a conflict is a justified step when the leader’s goals are exclusively peacekeeping.