DLD221

LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE
OF CONFLICT
MANAGEMENT
Dr. Samuel T. Owoeye
Department of Languages & General Studies

[email protected]
Lecture Overview
• Introduction
• Conflict
• Conflict management
• Sources of conflicts
• Conflict management skills for
leaders.
• Conclusion
 Introduction
• Human beings always belong to groups (family,
association, religious group, union, organization,
community, ethnic group, race, etc.
• They relate and interact in these groups.
• Because of potential differences, conflict normally
arises.
• Conflict is neither good nor bad. Much depends on
the way it is handled, especially by leaders.
 Leadership
• “Leadership is taking the
lead in your field that makes
men refer to you.”
– David Oyedepo
• "Leadership is the capacity
to translate vision into
reality.”- Warren G. Bennis
 Leadership
• “The ability to influence a group
towards the achievement of a
vision or a set of goals”
Robbins & Judge (2015)
(Organizational Behavior)
 What is conflict?
• An active disagreement between people with
opposing opinions or principles – Cambridge
Dictionary

• “the condition in which people’s concerns are

incomparable- Kenneth Thomas and Ralph
Kilmann.
 What is conflict?
• “An incompatibility of goal or values between two
or more parties in a relationship, combined with
attempts to control each other and antagonistic
feelings toward each other” -Ron Fisher, 1990.
 Biblical Perspectives
• God knows that man will experience conflict in
relationship:
• A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to
anger appeaseth strife. – Proverbs 15:18
• A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth
chief friends. Proverbs 16:28
• A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words
stir up anger. Proverbs 15:1
 Biblical Perspectives
• You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth
for tooth. But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If
anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the
other cheek also. –Matthew 5:38
• Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that
there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly
joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment. – 1 Corinthians 1:10
 Sources of Conflicts
• Economy – involves competing motives to attain
scarce resources.
• Value – involves incompatibility in ways of life and
ideologies.
• Power – occurs when each party wishes to
maintain or maximize the amount of influence that
it exerts in the relationship and the social setting.
 Sources of Conflicts
• Ethnicity – comes up when people of different ethnic identities
belong to the same society.
• Religion – this results where people in a group belong to opposing
religions.
• Role – involves very real differences in role definitions, expectations
or responsibilities between individuals who are interdependent in a
social system.
• Ineffective communication – Miscommunication and
misunderstanding can create conflict even when there are no basic
incompatibilities.
 Levels of Conflict
• Interpersonal level – occurs when two people have
incompatible needs, goals, or approaches in their
relationships. Communication breakdown is its major
source.
• Intergroup level – occurs between collections of people such
as ethnic, political, religious or racial groups.
• International conflict – occurs between states at the global
level. Competition for resources, value and power conflict
are major sources.
 Followership Behaviour
Robert Kelley’s Followership Behaviour Model
 Conflict Management
• Conflict management refers to techniques and ideas
designed to reduce the negative effects of conflict and
enhance the positive outcomes for all parties involved.
• Conflict management is closely related to but not the same
thing as conflict resolution.
• It is believed that conflict management is more practical
than conflict resolution as the later is seen as most of the
time not realistically feasible, especially in organizations.
 Conflict Management Techniques for Leaders
• There are techniques that have been tested and found out to be
potent in managing conflicts.
Conflict Management Techniques for Leaders
• Five techniques advanced by Kenneth W. Thomas and
Ralph H. Kilmann. - 1979
 Conflict Management Techniques for Leaders
1. Accommodating
• This is a situation where the leader accommodates the
conflicts that exist within the area of his/her
leadership activities.
• The leader does not need to be assertive here.
• This technique works where the people in conflicts are
experts.
• It is a win-win approach.
 Conflict Management Techniques for Leaders
2. Avoiding
• In this conflict management technique, the leader
just avoid to do anything about the conflicts.
• The leader’s assertiveness is not necessary in this
situation, also.
• This works well when the issue is trivial or where the
conflict cannot work against the vision.
 Conflict Management Techniques for Leaders
• Collaborating
• This technique enables the leader to
partner with all parties in the conflict.
• When this technique is used both parties
realize their goals in a win-win manner.
• Leadership assertiveness is needed here.
 Conflict Management Techniques for Leaders
4. Competing
• Leaders use this technique with a high level of
assertiveness.
• In this technique, the leader makes sure collective
goals of the, group, organization or society is
prioritized in a win-lose manner.
• This approach is reliable in emergency situations.
 Conflict Management Techniques for Leaders
5. Compromising
• Leaders use this approach of conflict management
to ensure a lose-lose situation.
• The leader also lose something along the line.
• This technique may be appropriate for scenarios
where you need a temporary solution or where both
sides have equally important goals.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7-bbd1F9bk

Conflict Management in the workplace

 Conclusion
• Conflict is an inevitable fact of human existence. If we
work to understand and manage it effectively, we can
improve both the satisfaction and productivity of our
social relationships.
• Since everything rises and falls on leadership (John C.
Maxwell), every leader should be abreast with the conflict
management skills.
• Unmanaged conflicts will work against progress in any
organization or society.
Recommendations for further Reading