Monthly Archives December 2015
Helping Managers Learn How to Wait
In MTI’s Manager-as-Mediator course, managers have three tasks to accomplish in the three-way meeting with their employees: Keep disputants engaged in the Essential Process (by preventing violations of the Cardinal Rules) Support Conciliatory Gestures, and Wait! (remember the abbreviation W.A.I.T. = “Why Am I Talking”) While each of these steps is conceptually straightforward, they can each be challenging to perform. In many cases, the most difficult one for managers is the last one. It is simple – as long as the parties are engaged in face to face talking about the problem and there are no conciliatory gestures that are… Continue Reading Helping Managers Learn How to Wait
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Trends in Conflict Research and the CDP Model
In the late 1990s, when the Conflict Dynamics Profile was originally developed, organizational research in conflict had begun to focus on the concept of conflict types. Three main types were described: task conflict which involved differences over substantive issues, process conflict which dealt with how to organize various functions, and relationship conflict which focused on interpersonal problems. At first it was thought that task conflict could lead to enhanced productivity, improved creativity, and better decision making. Relationship conflict and to a lesser extent process conflict were seen as producing negative outcomes – both in terms of productivity and morale. In… Continue Reading Trends in Conflict Research and the CDP Model
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Practitioners, Research, and Uncategorized.