Managing Conflict in Organizations

M. Afzalur Rahim (Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh) is a University Distinguished Professor of Management, emeritus, and Hays Watkins Research Fellow, Western Kentucky University. He is also the Founding Editor of Applied Management Journal (formerly Current Topics in Management) and is the founder of the International Journal of Organizational Analysis, International Journal of Conflict Management, International Association for Conflict Management, International Association for Applied Management (formerly International Conference on Advances in Management), and Bangladesh Academy of Business Administration. Dr. Rahim has 25 edited books and five for which he is the sole author. He has published 75 journal articles, 53 book chapters, and presented over 100 papers at various conferences. The published works involve 70 different coauthors. He has also produced onemanuals and 16 measurement instruments. In the organizational sciences Dr. Rahim has over 16,900 Google citations. His articles were published, among others, in the Academy of Management Journal, Intelligence, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, and Multivariate Behavioral Research. His current research interests are in the areas of cross-cultural conflict management, leaders’ emotional, cultural, and social intelligence.

Foreword

Preface

1 Social Conflict Construct

Contributions from Various Disciplines

Organizational Conflict

2 Nature of Conflict

Defining Conflict

Threshold and Grey-Zone Conflicts

Conflict and Competition

Classifying Conflict

Styles of Handling Interpersonal Conflict

3 Organizational Learning and Effectiveness

Nature of Organizational Learning

Types of Learning

Nature of Organizational Effectiveness

Characteristics of the Old Paradigm

Problem Solving

Conflict Management in the New Paradigm

4 Conflict-Management Design

Nature of Conflict Management

Contingency Approach

Conflict Management Process

5 Intrapersonal Conflict

Types of Intrapersonal Conflict

Role

Role Conflict

Role Ambiguity

A Model of Role Conflict and Ambiguity

Consequences of Role Conflict

Managing Intrapersonal Conflict

6 Interpersonal Conflict

Prisoner's Dilemma

A Model of Conflict

Consequences of Interpersonal Conflict

Negotiation

Managing Interpersonal Conflict

Conflict- Management Styles in a Global Setting

7 Intragroup Conflict

Types of Groups

Effects of Intragroup Conflict

Managing Intragroup Conflict

8 Intergroup Conflict

Dynamics of Intergroup Conflict

Effects of Intergroup Conflict

Managing Intergroup Conflict

Intervention

9 Ethics and Morality

Ethics and Morality Defined

Behavioral Perspectives for Conflict Management

Ethical Evaluation of Conflict Management

Ethics and Leadership Structure

Four Methods of Discourse

General Appropriateness of the Methods

Practical Methods and Conflict Management Styles

Stages of Moral Development

Empirical Study on Stages and Styles

10 The Measurement of Conflict

Development of the ROCI– I

Development of the ROCI– II

Sample Items of the ROCI– I and ROCI– II

New Measurements Scales that are being Developed

11 Epilogue

A Design for Managing Conflict

Appendix A: Cases

Case 1: Allen Manufacturing Corporation

Case 2: New Employee at the Credit Union

Case 3: Minnis Service

Case 4: The Hormel Strike at Austin, Minnesota

Appendix B: Exercises

Exercise 1: Contract Building

Exercise 2: Technique of Role Analysis

Exercise 3: Job Design

Exercise 4: Transactional Analysis

Exercise 5: Managing Interpersonal Conflict

Exercise 6: Team Building

Exercise 7: Intergroup Problem Solving

Exercise 8: Organizational Mirroring

Exercise 9: Analysis of Task Interdependence

References

Author Index

Subject Index