Exam 13: Conflict and Negotiation in the Workplace

Organizational behavior research is discovering that it is difficult to separate constructive conflict from socioemotional conflict.However,it is possible to minimize socioemotional conflict during constructive conflict episodes.Describe two strategies that would help a team of employees to reduce the level of socioemotional conflict while the team is engaging in constructive conflict.Your answer should also briefly explain why each strategy may be effective.

The preference for arbitration or mediation in work disputes partly depends on cross-cultural values.

Talking circles manage conflict among employees mainly through which of these strategies?

The yielding conflict management style is preferred when both parties have equal power and enough trust to share information.

When negotiators have an audience watching their progress in the negotiations,the audience's negotiator:

Buffers tend to resolve conflict by reducing the level of interdependence between the conflicting parties.

Two team members who disagree over their work schedule approach their team leader to help resolve the conflict.Based on your knowledge of third-party conflict resolution,the team leader should:

The preferred conflict management style tends to depend partly on the individual's cross-cultural values.

Although constructive conflict can degenerate into socioemotional conflict,it is easy to prevent this from happening.

Compared to those with an individualist value,employees with a strong collectivist value tend to manage disagreements through:

Emotional intelligence and team cohesiveness are two ways to:

A major game software firm experienced conflict between the young Internet-savvy employees who designed the games and the older computer-illiterate executives who ran the company.The company hired team leaders who could work with the executives but were computer literate and therefore respected by the development staff members.By hiring these team leaders as liaisons between the executives and employees,the company would:

Constructive conflict:

Almost every day,supervisors must help employees to resolve conflicts with other employees.What third-party conflict resolution strategy do supervisors most often use and why do they tend to prefer this style? Also identify one third-party intervention that managers should apply in everyday disputes and explain why that strategy should be used most often.

Mediation has a high level of process control but a low level of decision control.

GlobalCo formed a task force consisting of eight employees from four culturally diverse countries who have not previously met.The task force must work closely together for a month to solve a troublesome customer problem.These employees have similar technical training,but they have different religious beliefs,different languages,and different standards of living.If these employees experience conflict,this conflict might be caused by:

Constructive conflict is more likely to escalation into socioemotional conflict among employees in highly cohesive teams

Third-party interventions are defined in terms of their:

A logical strategy for minimizing conflict due to different values and beliefs is to have employees move through different departments,regions and occupations of the company throughout their careers.

Although forcing is one of five interpersonal styles of conflict management,it should never actually be used to manage conflict.