Resolving Conflicts at Work: Ten Strategies for Everyone on the Job, Third Edition

Resolving Conflicts at Work: Ten Strategies for Everyone on the Job, Third Edition

Released May 2011
Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
ISBN: 9780470922248

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Book description

The classic text on resolving workplace conflicts, fully revised and updated

Resolving Conflicts at Work is a guide for preventing and resolving conflicts, miscommunications, and misunderstandings at work, including dozens of techniques for revealing how the inevitable disputes and divisions in the workplace are actually opportunities for greater creativity, productivity, enhanced morale, and personal growth. In the third edition of this text, all chapters are completely infused with additional content, updated examples, and new case studies. Like its predecessors, it identifies core strategies for preventing and resolving both intermittent and chronic conflicts in the workplace. In addition, the book

  • Includes a new foreword by Warren Bennis, which represents his most recent thinking about judgment calls and candid communications in the workplace

  • Presents new chapters on leadership and transformational conflict coaching, and organizational systems design

  • Features downloadable teaching materials available for faculty using the book

This definitive and comprehensive work provides a handy guide for managers, employees, union representatives, human resource experts, and consultants seeking to maintain stable and productive workplaces.

Table of contents

  1. Copyright
  2. FOREWORD: CONFLICT: AN OPPORTUNITY FOR LEADERSHIP
    1. Alignment
    2. Empowerment
    3. Transparency
  3. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  4. INTRODUCTION: TEN STRATEGIES FOR EVERYONE ON THE JOB
    1. Conflicts at Work
    2. Chronic Conflicts at Work
    3. The Dark Side of Emotion in Conflict
    4. Settlement Versus Resolution
    5. Into the Eye of the Storm
    6. How Far Apart Are People Who Are in Conflict?
    7. The Transformational Power of Conflict
    8. About This Book
    9. The Ten Strategies
  5. 1. UNDERSTAND THE CULTURE AND DYNAMICS OF CONFLICT
    1. 1.1. Decoding the Culture of Conflict
    2. 1.2. Conflict Messages in Popular Culture
    3. 1.3. Shifting Conflict Cultures Globally and Locally
    4. 1.4. Altering the Dynamics: Seeing Conflict as an Opportunity
      1. 1.4.1. The Dynamics of Conflict
      2. 1.4.2. From Fight or Flight to Tend and Befriend
    5. 1.5. Creating Learning Organizations
      1. 1.5.1. Five Responses to Conflict
    6. 1.6. The Opportunity of Collaboration
    7. 1.7. How to Collaborate in Conflict
  6. 2. LISTEN EMPATHETICALLY AND RESPONSIVELY
    1. 2.1. Understanding the Listener
    2. 2.2. The Cost of Poor Communication
    3. 2.3. Clearing the Decks for Empathetic and Responsive Listening
      1. 2.3.1. Setting the Stage for Listening
    4. 2.4. The Elements of Communication
      1. 2.4.1. Hidden Frameworks for Communication
      2. 2.4.2. How Communication Gets Distorted
      3. 2.4.3. How Hierarchy and Bureaucracy Block Communication
      4. 2.4.4. Phrases for Miscommunication
    5. 2.5. Creating a Commitment to Communicate
      1. 2.5.1. Fifteen Steps for Effective Communication
      2. 2.5.2. Effective Communication for Listeners
      3. 2.5.3. Techniques for Active, Empathetic, and Responsive Listening
      4. 2.5.4. Listening with the Heart
  7. 3. SEARCH BENEATH THE SURFACE FOR HIDDEN MEANINGS
    1. 3.1. The Iceberg of Conflict
    2. 3.2. Applying Your Knowledge of the Iceberg
    3. 3.3. Steps to Get Below the Surface
    4. 3.4. The Language of Conflict
    5. 3.5. Metaphors and the Meaning of Conflict
      1. 3.5.1. Conflict as War
      2. 3.5.2. Conflict as Opportunity
      3. 3.5.3. Conflict as Journey
    6. 3.6. How Empathy and Honesty Lead to Transformation
    7. 3.7. Creating Empathy Through Role-Reversing Dialogue
      1. 3.7.1. The Connection Between Empathy and Honesty
    8. 3.8. Rationalizations for Not Being Honest
    9. 3.9. Rationalizations for Being Honest
  8. 4. ACKNOWLEDGE AND REFRAME EMOTIONS
    1. 4.1. Emotional Responses to Conflict
    2. 4.2. How Unexpressed Emotions Create Conflict
    3. 4.3. Families and Emotions
    4. 4.4. Common Myths and Assumptions About Emotions
    5. 4.5. Distinguishing the Elements of Emotion
    6. 4.6. Stages of Emotional Response to Conflict
    7. 4.7. Reframing Emotions
    8. 4.8. Behind the Mask: Hidden Markers in Emotional Communication
    9. 4.9. Taking Off the Masks and Revealing Hidden Emotions
    10. 4.10. Behaviors That Trigger Anger
    11. 4.11. Reasons for Anger
    12. 4.12. Subconscious Beliefs and Assumptions About Anger
      1. 4.12.1. Reasons for Letting Go of Anger
    13. 4.13. Methods for Responding to Anger
    14. 4.14. Ways of Apologizing
      1. 4.14.1. Transcending and Integrating Emotions
  9. 5. SEPARATE WHAT MATTERS FROM WHAT GETS IN THE WAY
    1. 5.1. Positions Versus Interests
    2. 5.2. Separating the Issues in Conflict
      1. 5.2.1. Separate Positions from Interests
      2. 5.2.2. Separate People from Problems
      3. 5.2.3. Separate Problems from Solutions
      4. 5.2.4. Separate Commonalities from Differences
      5. 5.2.5. Separate the Future from the Past
      6. 5.2.6. Separate Emotions from Negotiation
      7. 5.2.7. Separate Process from Content
      8. 5.2.8. Separate Options from Choices
      9. 5.2.9. Separate Criteria from Selection
      10. 5.2.10. Separate Yourself from Others
  10. 6. SOLVE PROBLEMS PARADOXICALLY AND CREATIVELY
    1. 6.1. Conceptual Preparation for Creative Problem Solving
      1. 6.1.1. Shift One: Adopt a Positive Attitude Toward Problem Solving
      2. 6.1.2. Shift Two: Approach Problem Solving as a Collaborative Process
      3. 6.1.3. Shift Three: Solve the Problem of How to Solve Problems
    2. 6.2. Paradoxical Problem Solving
    3. 6.3. Obstacles to Creative Problem Solving
    4. 6.4. Five Steps in Creative Problem Solving
      1. 6.4.1. Step One: Admit You Have a Problem, Recognize It as a Problem, and Accept It as Needing to Be Solved
      2. 6.4.2. Step Two: Collaboratively Define and Clarify the Elements and Nature of the Problem
      3. 6.4.3. Step Three: Jointly Investigate, Analyze, Categorize, and Prioritize the Problem
      4. 6.4.4. Step Four: Invent Solutions That Satisfy Everyone's Interests Without Becoming Attached to Any Particular Solution
      5. 6.4.5. Step Five: Jointly Act, Evaluate Results, Acknowledge Efforts, and Celebrate Successes
    5. 6.5. Conflict Resolution, Problem Solving, and Strategic Planning
    6. 6.6. Problem Solving and Consensus Decision Making
    7. 6.7. Transformation and Problem Solving
  11. 7. LEARN FROM DIFFICULT BEHAVIORS
    1. 7.1. Defining the Problem Is the Problem
      1. 7.1.1. The Problem with Identifying the Problem as a "Difficult Person"
      2. 7.1.2. The Problem with Identifying the Problem as a "Difficult Personality"
      3. 7.1.3. Identifying the Problem as a "Difficult Behavior" or Relationship
    2. 7.2. Why People Engage in Difficult Behaviors
    3. 7.3. Stop Rewarding Difficult Behaviors
    4. 7.4. Methods for Changing Difficult Behaviors
    5. 7.5. Difficult Behaviors Start in the Family
    6. 7.6. It's Your Button
    7. 7.7. Attitudes, Approaches, and Techniques
      1. 7.7.1. Mediating Difficult Relationships: Bullying
    8. 7.8. Changing Difficult Behaviors in Organizational Cultures
    9. 7.9. Feedback Versus Evaluation
    10. 7.10. Responding to Difficult Behaviors in Meetings
    11. 7.11. Imagining a World Without Difficult Behaviors
  12. 8. LEAD AND COACH FOR TRANSFORMATION
    1. 8.1. Leaders as Committed Listeners
      1. 8.1.1. Leaders as Transformational Change Agents
    2. 8.2. Competencies of Leaders as Conflict Resolvers
      1. 8.2.1. Competency One: Master the Context
      2. 8.2.2. Competency Two: Know Yourself
      3. 8.2.3. Competency Three: Create a Vision for the Future
      4. 8.2.4. Competency Four: Communicate with Meaning
      5. 8.2.5. Competency Five: Maintain Trust Through Integrity
      6. 8.2.6. Competency Six: Realize Intention Through Action
    3. 8.3. Resolving Conflicts Through Social Networks
    4. 8.4. Leaders as Conflict Coaches
      1. 8.4.1. A Coaching Questionnaire
      2. 8.4.2. Questions for Leaders as Conflict Coaches
      3. 8.4.3. Steps in the Conflict Coaching Process
      4. 8.4.4. Elements in the Coaching Process
      5. 8.4.5. Risky Transformational Coaching
    5. 8.5. Leading Through Committed Action
    6. 8.6. Taking Responsibility for Actions and Inactions
  13. 9. EXPLORE RESISTANCE AND NEGOTIATE COLLABORATIVELY
    1. 9.1. Success and Failure in Conflict Resolution
    2. 9.2. Some Reasons for Resistance
    3. 9.3. Resistance and Change
      1. 9.3.1. Techniques for Reducing Resistance and Overcoming Impasse
    4. 9.4. Collaborative Negotiation
      1. 9.4.1. Aggressive Versus Collaborative Negotiating Styles
      2. 9.4.2. Preparing for Collaborative Negotiation
    5. 9.5. Participating in Collaborative Negotiations
      1. 9.5.1. Before the Negotiation Session Begins
      2. 9.5.2. During the Negotiation Process
      3. 9.5.3. After Negotiation Ends
  14. 10. MEDIATE AND DESIGN SYSTEMS FOR PREVENTION
    1. 10.1. Why Mediation Works
      1. 10.1.1. Designing Conflict Resolution Systems
    2. 10.2. The Costs of Conflict
      1. 10.2.1. Why Systems Design
    3. 10.3. Designing Organizational Systems
    4. 10.4. Conduct a Conflict Audit
    5. 10.5. Shifting the Culture to Support Conflict Resolution Systems
      1. 10.5.1. Steps in Changing Conflict Cultures
      2. 10.5.2. Reaching Closure
    6. 10.6. Conclusion
  15. THE AUTHORS

Product information

  • Title: Resolving Conflicts at Work: Ten Strategies for Everyone on the Job, Third Edition
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: May 2011
  • Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
  • ISBN: 9780470922248