1. What is conflict? Is conflict always bad? Understand the conflict model
Conflict – one party perceives its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party
Conflict is not always bad.
Functional conflict – severs organization’s interests; typically issue – focused; stimulates creativity
Dysfunctional conflict – threatens org interests; typically person – focused; stifle communication
The relationship between conflict intensity and outcomes

2. How can managers stimulate functional conflicts?
Devil’s advocacy approach – assigning someone the role of critic
Action proposed
Devil’s advocate criticizes it
Both sides presented to decision makers
Decision is made and monitored
Dialectic decision method – fostering a debate of opposing viewpoints to better understand and issue
Action proposed
Assumptions identified
Counterproposal generated on different assumptions
Debate takes place
Decision is made and monitored
3. Five conflict-handling styles and their characteristics?

Conflict handling styles

4. Three types of conflicts
Type 1 – personality conflict Tips for employees and managers to deal with personality conflict
Tips for employees having a personality conflict
Tips for managers whose employees are having a conflict
Communicate directly with the other person to resolve the perceived conflict
Investigate and document conflict. If appropriate, take corrective action (e.g. , feedback)
Avoid dragging co-workers into the conflict
If necessary, attempt informal dispute resolution
If dysfunctional conflict persists, seek help from direct supervisors or human resource specialists
Refer difficult conflict to human resource specialists or hired counselors for formal resolution attempts and other interventions

Type 2 – intergroup conflict
Level of perceived intergroup conflict tends to increase when
Recommended actions
Conflict within the group is high
There are negative interactions between groups
Influential third-party gossip about other group is negative
Work to eliminate specific negative interactions between group and members
Conduct team building to reduce intra-group conflict and prepare employees for cross-functional teamwork
Encourage personal friendships and good working relationships across groups and departments
Foster positive attitudes toward members of other groups
Avoid or neutralize negative gossip across groups or departments

Type 3 – cross-cultural conflict
Tips to build cross-cultural relationships
1) Be a good listener
2) Be sensitive to the needs of others
3) Be cooperative rather than overly competitive
4) Advocate inclusive 9participative )leadership
5) Compromise rather than dominate
6) Build rapport through conversations
7) Be compassionate and understanding
8) Nurture others (develop and mentor)
5. Two types of negotiation
Negotiation – give and take process between conflicting interdependent parties
Distributive negotiation – single issue in which one person gains at the expense of the other. “a fixed-pie”; “win-lose”
Integrative negotiation – an agreement can be found that is better for both parties. “win-win”

Chapter 14
1. Process model of communication

2. What are the barriers to effective communication?
1) Process barriers – every factor in the process model would be a barrier (e.g., sender, encoding, message, medium, decoding, receiver, feedback)
2) Physical barriers – the distance between employees can interfere with effective communication (e.g., time zone)
3) Personal barriers
Ability to effectively communicate
Way people process and interpret information
Level of interpersonal trust between people
Stereotypes and prejudice
Egos
Poor listening skills
Natural tendency to evaluate or judge sender’s message
Inability to listen with understanding
4) Semantic barriers – encoding and decoding errors – involve transmitting and receiving words and symbols – fueled by the use of jargon and unnecessary words
3. Compare three communication style, what are the