Unit 11 Handling Business Conflicts

Exercise 1.

How good are you at managing conflict? Answer the questions in the quiz below:

1. You are in a meeting. People cannot agree with each other. Do you

a. say nothing?

b. intervene and propose something new?

c. take sides with those you like?

d. suggest a 10-minute break?

2. Your two closest friends have an argument and stop speaking to each other. Do you

a. behave as though nothing has happened?

b. bring them together to discuss the problem?

c. take the side of one and stop speaking to the other?

d. talk to each one separately about the situation?

3. You see two strangers. One begins to hit the other. Do you

a. pretend to be an off-duty police officer, and ask tem what is going on?

b. call the police?

c. shout at them to stop?

d.walk away quickly?

4. Your neighbours are playing very loud music late at night Do you

a. ask them to turn it down?

b. do nothing?

c.call the police?

d. play your own music as loudly as possible?

5. You are in the check-in queue at an airport. Somebody pushes in. Do you

a. ask them to go o the back of the queue?

b. say nothing?

c. complain loudly to everyone about people jumping queues?

d. report to an airport official?

6. A colleague criticizes your work. Do you

a. consider carefully what they say?

b. ignore them?

c. get angry and criticize them?

d. smile but wait for an opportunity to get back at them?

Give yourself the following marks.

1. a 2. b 3 c. 1 d. 4

2. a .2 b . 3 c. 1 d. 4

3. a. 3 b. 4 c. 2 d .1

4. a. 4 b. 2 c..3 d. 1

5 a. 4 b 2 c. 1 d. 3

6. a. 4 b. 3 c. 1 d. .2

Results.

6-11 You need to improve your conflict management skills

12-17 You are quite good at conflict management in certain situations

18-22 You are good at conflict management in most situations.

23-24 You are excellent at conflict management. You should be working for the United Nations.

Listening

(CD)Task 1. Eileen Carroll is Deputy Chief Executive of the centre for Executive Dispute Resolution, an organization that helps to resolve business conflict. Listen to the first part of the interview and complete each cause of conflict with one word.

• …expectations about what a contract can deliver

• lack of …when expectations are not being met

• …badly or not at all

• a change in …

• change of … structures

(CD)Task 2. Eileen is a mediator, i.e. a person who tries to end a disagreement between two people or groups. Listen to the second part of the interview. What are the three key elements that help her resolve business disputes?

(CD)Task 3.

Tell your partner about any experience you have of:

1. a conflict which was handled well

2. a conflict which was handled badly.

(CD)Task 4.

Discuss the following questions:

1. What qualities does a mediator need?

2. Disagreement is a form of conflict. In what ways can it make meetings and discussions more productive.

Reading.

Task 1.

Work in groups of four. You are going to read some advice about handling conflict. Two of you work on Article A and two on article B. In your pairs, match the words from the article (1-4) to their meanings (a-d) before you read. Then discuss the five pieces of advice and rank them in order of usefulness

.

Article A

Match the columns:

1. to jump to conclusions	a. not to change your attitude or behaviour
2. to move things forward	b. to make someone feel unimportant
3. to be consistent	c. to make a situation better
4. to talk down to somebody	d. to make a decision too quickly

• Don’t set up a meeting if it is something that you can deal with informally. Listen to all sides first, separately, so you can understand each person’s views and feelings. Then set up a meeting. Don’t jump to any conclusions before you go in.

• Too often, people think about what they want done to the other person. Instead, you need to get people to think about what they need from the other person and what they can offer the other person to help move things forward.

When you handle conflict, don’t think of it as fighting a battle, but as a service

• you can offer your employees. Make sure you are consistent in how you handle conflict across the organization.

• Try not to talk down to people. Sometimes, managers start treating people like naughty school kids, but that doesn’t work.

You need to check what is motivating people. Sometimes an issue just begins to appear, but it’s got deeper roots.

Article B

Match the columns.

1. to move things forward	a. to make a decision quickly
2. to get in somebody’s shoes	b. when you treat a person better than others unfairly
3. favouritism	с. to make a situation better
4. to jump to conclusions	d. to try and see things from someone else’s point of view

• Explore what is happening like someone who really wants to move things forward, not like an investigator. Go in, ask some questions, find out what’s happening, if possible from both sides of the argument. Win people’s trust early on.

• Treat people with respect. The best way to do that is to listen to what they’re saying and to try to get in their shoes.

• Try to find a win-win scenario. You want both people to go away happy and for it to be good for the organization. There must be no favouritism.

• What you really want people to tell you is three things: what’s happening, their perception of what’s going wrong, and what can be changed.

• Managers shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Sometimes a person will come to see them to say they have an issue with someone and they decide what they are going to do without checking with the other person. There are two sides to every story.

Task 2.

Work with one person from the other pair.

1. In your own words, tell each other about your two most useful pieces of advice.

2. Tell each other if there is any advice in the articles that you do not completely agree with