how to manage relationship conflict executive summary - joneslabs

1、CIS 550 – Group Case 4 Page 1Team 2 – Simon Chan, Maggie Jones, Donna Li, Gene StolarovToo Hot to Handle? How to Manage Relationship ConflictExecutive Summary While most people agree that teamwork at the senior level of

2、an organization promotes better decision making, senior teams often find teamwork difficult. Most common management advice suggests that senior teams perform best by engaging in frequent task conflict and avoiding rel

3、ationship conflict. In Too Hot to Handle? How to Manage Relationship Conflict, Amy Edmondson and Diana Smith assert that separation of the task and relationship aspects of business conflict are not always possible with

4、in management teams. When teams discuss “hot topics,” discussion can quickly turn from a substantive disagreement into an emotionally-charged personal argument. Hot topics in management teams are those for which the st

5、akes are high, there is uncertainty surrounding the topic, and differing values shape the participants’ points of view. When discussing these topics, team members may attribute disagreement over task conflicts to a p

6、erson’s motives or abilities, planting the seeds for relationship conflict. In response to this tendency, most managers suppress their true thoughts making genuine discussion impossible. These negative interpersonal at

7、tributions may nevertheless affect future business conversations. According to Edmondson and Smith, these dynamics are almost evitable unless relationship conflict is addressed. Understanding the distinction between ho

8、t and cool topics enables managers to divine when avoiding discussion of relationship conflict is practical and how to effectively handle such conflicts when engaging hot topics. While this case concentrates primarily

9、 on relationships and conflict management in business, the general principles are far- reaching and applicable to personal relationships as well. Human Thought Process The human brain consists of three different structur

10、es reflecting different evolutionary periods: the reptilian brain, limbic system, and cerebral cortexi. The reptilian structure is responsible for basic bodily functions such as eating, breathing, aggression, and reac

11、tion to immediate danger. The limbic system produces the emotions including affection or friendship and facilitates relationships such as that of mother-child. This part of the brain is unique to mammals and, while hu

12、man infants live almost entirely in the reptilian, they start using the limbic system as they develop. The cerebral cortex is responsible for cognitive thinking. While the reptilian and limbic brains of humans are no

13、t that much different from those of other mammals and other animals do have some cerebral cortex, the human cerebral cortex is significantly larger. This part of the brain is responsible for problem solving, memory, an

14、d all other cognitive processes.Each part of the brain is responsible for different aspect of everyday activity. The basic reaction to danger is handled by the reptilian brain, emotionally charged situations are process

15、ed by the limbic portion, and cognitive processes are handled by the cerebral cortex. In order to process a situation and formulate a strategy, we need to involve our cerebral cortex. However, when faced with a situa

16、tion about which we feel strongly and for which we are not prepared, we involve the much more efficient limbic system. In an emotionally-charged situation controlled by the limbic reaction, it takes special training to

17、 stand back and think the situation through, rather than just blurt first thing that comes to our mind.CIS 550 – Too Hot to Handle? How to Manage Relationship Conflict Page 3Team 2 – Simon Chan, Maggie Jones, Donna Li,

18、Gene Stolarovsolution to the problem, it doesn’t benefit the organization as a whole. This response doesn’t teach the group to solve contentious issues that may arise in the future. Additionally, it is important to un

19、derstand that the original problem was a substantive disagreement and doesn’t mean that only one side was right and the other wrong. It’s possible that both sides could cool off, come to common understanding, and deve

20、lop a third solution that would benefit the organization more. Unfortunately, at some point, confrontation often crosses Rubicon and becomes so personal and emotional that it can’t be resolved without one side admittin

21、g wrong.Conflict Resolution Techniques Certain behaviors can promote “cooling off” so that teams can more effectively address the hot topics and engage conflict productively. These practices include manage self, manage

22、 conversations, and manage relationships. These skill sets provide teams with a deeper understanding of business issues and of each other by focusing on issues that need to be discussed without being overtaken by emot

23、ion.Manage Self One of the keys to managing conflict is developing the ability to manage one’s thoughts and feelings during heated discussion. This concept does not involve suppressing thoughts and feelings but rather

24、engaging in reflection and re-framing. Specifically, managing self requires reflecting on emotions and re-framing the situation. Reflection helps cools down emotional reactions, allows one to manage reactions rather th

25、an reactions managing the person, and promotes self-awareness. This is done by first observing and flagging the emotional reactions, identifying any interpretations of the situation or of others’ intentions, and explor

26、ing other interpretations of the situation. For example, when reflecting on reactions one may ask, “How am I interpreting the situation such that I’m reacting this way?”Upon reflection, members of the team can re-frame

27、d the situation by inventing alternative attributions, considering what have been missed that others might see, and extending to others the same rights. Deploying this strategy would enable the possibility of thinking

28、outside the box of current beliefs, fostering a mindset that allows team members to formulate questions to generate new ideas, and exercising individual cooling system. In summary, the practice of reflecting and re-fr

29、aming are fundamental practices of conflict management. The idea is to refrain from allowing emotions to take over so that one can coolly consider different interpretations and opinions.Manage Conversations Once a pers

30、on learns to control and constructively appraise his or her emotions, the next step is to expand the scope and try to manage conversations. After learning to step back and understand what make the topic so emotional, o

31、ne can begin to see that others are not necessarily motivated by a hidden agenda but have a different perspective and bring this out into the open. After calming oneself down, the next step is to openly admit to aggre

32、ssion and the value of others’ perspectives. This admission paves the way for the other parties to lower their defensive shields and follow suit. Sometimes, conflicting parties are too involved in the discussion to do

33、a rational thing. In this case, it’s helpful if a third party can step in as a cool-headed mediator who can point out that conflict has gone too far and prompt conflicting parties to cool down and admit that emotions