Working Through Conflict: Strategies for Relationships, Groups, and Organizations

by Joseph P. Folger, Marshall Scott Poole, Randall K. Stutman

Overview

Covering the whole range of conflict settings-interpersonal, group, and organizational-Working Through Conflict provides an introduction to conflict and its management that is firmly grounded in current theory, research, and practice. Encompassing a broad spectrum of theoretical perspectives, the text includes an abundance of real-life case studies that illustrate concepts and help you learn how to apply theory. The sixth edition of this engaging and comprehensive text has been thoroughly revised and updated to be even more accessible.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781040146118
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/01/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	376
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Joseph P. Folger is Professor Emeritus of Adult and Organizational Development at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA. He is the co-founder of the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation, an international network of conflict interveners and researchers.

Marshall Scott Poole is the David L. Swanson Professor of Communication, Senior Research Scientist at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and Director of I-CHASS: The Institute for Computing in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA.

Randall K. Stutman is the Managing Partner of CRA | Admired Leadership, a global leadership and communication consulting firm headquartered in Wayne, PA. He is the founder of the Admired Leadership Institute.

Table of Contents

List of Cases     xv
Preface     xvii
Introduction     1
The Women's Hotline Case     2
The Women's Hotline Case (Continued)     3
Conflict Defined     4
Arenas for Conflict     5
Productive and Destructive Conflict Interaction     7
Judgments About Conflict Outcomes     9
Plan of the Book     11
Summary and Review     11
Communication and Conflict     13
A Model of Effective Conflict Management     13
Moving Through Differentiation and Integration     14
Taking the Middle Path: Moving Toward Integration     18
Recognizing Destructive Cycles     19
Tacking Against the Wind     20
Properties of Conflict Interaction     22
Property 1: Conflict Is Constituted and Sustained by Moves and Countermoves During Interaction     23
Property 2: Patterns of Behavior in Conflict Tend to Perpetuate Themselves     25
Property 3: Conflict Interaction Is Influenced by and in Turn Affects Relationships     27
Confrontation Episodes Theory     28
Property 4: Conflict Interaction Is Influenced by the Context in Which It Occurs     32
The Columnist's Brown Bag     33
Summary and Review     34
Conclusion     36
The Inner Experience of Conflict     38
The Parking Lot Scuffle     39
The Psychodynamic Perspective     39
Collusion and Intractable Conflict     42
Emotion and Conflict     44
Psychodynamic Theory and the Parking Lot Scuffle     44
Verbal Aggressiveness     46
Emotion in the Parking Lot Scuffle     51
Social Cognition and Conflict     51
Social Knowledge About Conflict and Conflict Interaction     52
Social Knowledge About Conflict and the Parking Lot Scuffle     58
Social Cognitive Processes and Conflict     58
Expectancy Violations and the Parking Lot Scuffle     60
The Role of Attributions in the Parking Lot Scuffle     63
The Interaction of Psychodynamics, Emotion, and Social Cognition in Conflict     65
Trained Incapacities and Conflict Interaction     67
Summary and Review     69
Conclusion     71
Conflict Interaction     73
Stages of Conflict     74
Rummel's Five-Stage Model     75
Pondy's Model     76
Stage Models of Negotiation      76
Insights of Stage Models of Conflict     76
Multiple Sequences in Conflict     78
Final Thoughts About Stage Models of Conflict     79
Charting a Conflict     79
Stage Models and the Parking Lot Scuffle     79
Interdependence     80
Interdependence and the Parking Lot Scuffle     82
Reciprocity and Compensation     82
Can Conflict Competence Be Assessed?     84
Reciprocity and Compensation in the Parking Lot Scuffle     86
The Tit-for-Tat Strategy     87
Framing Issues in Conflict Interaction     87
Issue Framing and the Parking Lot Scuffle     90
Social Identity and Intergroup Conflict     91
Intergroup Conflict Dynamics and the Parking Lot Scuffle     97
Counteracting the Negative Impacts of Social Identity and Intergroup Conflict     98
Summary and Review     100
Conclusion     101
Conflict Styles and Strategic Conflict Interaction     104
Origins of Conflict Styles     105
Conflict Styles in the Parking Lot Scuffle     106
What Is a Conflict Style?     107
An Expanded View of Conflict Styles     109
Competing      111
Avoiding     112
Accommodating     114
Compromising     115
Collaborating     116
Determining the Styles of Others     118
Pairings of Conflict Styles     119
Shifting Styles During Conflict Episodes     120
College Roommates     121
Selecting Conflict Styles     123
A Procedure for Selecting Conflict Styles     124
Cultural and Gender Influences on Conflict Styles     128
Cultural Influences     128
Gender Influences     130
Styles and Tactics in Practice     130
The Would-Be Borrower     131
Summary and Review     133
Conclusion     135
Power: The Architecture of Conflict     136
Power and the Emergence of Conflict     136
A Raid on the Student Activity Fees Fund     137
A Raid on the Student Activity Fees Fund (Continued)     138
A Relational View of Power     140
The Eccentric Professor     142
Social Categorization     143
The Mystique of Power     144
Interaction     145
Legitimacy     146
Implications of Endorsement for Power      146
Power and Conflict Interaction     147
The Creativity Development Committee     148
The Use of Power in Conflict Tactics     152
Threats and Promises     152
Relational Control     154
Issue Control     155
The Balance of Power in Conflict     158
The Dilemmas of Strength     158
The Copywriter's Committee     159
Unbalanced Intimacy     160
Job Resignation at a Social Service Agency     161
The Dangers of Weakness     162
Cultural Differences in Values     165
Working with Power     165
Diagnosing the Role of Power in Conflict     165
Fostering Shared Power in Conflicts     167
Summary and Review     170
Conclusion     172
Face-Saving     174
The Dimensions of Face     175
Face Loss as It Relates to Face-Saving     176
A Threat to Flexibility in Conflict Interaction     176
The Professor's Decision     178
The Outspoken Member     178
The Controversial Team Member     179
Conflict Interaction as a Face-Saving Arena     183
Face-Saving Frames in Conflict Interaction     188
Resisting Unjust Intimidation     188
Refusing to Give on a Position     190
Suppressing Conflict Issues     191
Face-Giving Strategies     192
Working With Face-Saving Issues     196
The Productivity and Performance Report     199
Summary and Review     200
Conclusion     202
The Context of Conflict Interaction     203
History     204
Coordinated Management of Meaning in the Parking Lot Scuffle     207
Working with History     209
Climate     210
Riverdale Halfway House     213
More Detail on Climate     215
Climate and Conflict Interaction     217
Identifying Climates     219
Working with Climate     220
Breakup at the Bakery     221
Creating Constructive Climates     222
The Expanding Printing Company     225
The Organizational Context     227
What Type of Dispute Resolution System Does an Organization Have?     227
Working with Organizational Dispute Resolution Systems     229
Summary and Review     230
Conclusion     232
Managing Conflict     234
Review of the Normative Model for Conflict Management     234
Navigating Differentiation     235
Framing Problems or Issues     236
Cultivating a Collaborative Attitude     238
Moving from Differentiation to Integration     239
A Procedure for Managing Conflicts     241
How Can We Manage Extreme Conflict?     244
Additional Useful Techniques     245
The Psychological Evaluation Unit     249
Summary and Review     251
Conclusion     252
Third-Party Intervention     254
Property 1: Conflict Interaction Is Constituted and Sustained by Moves and Countermoves During Interaction     255
Third-Party Mandate     256
Responsiveness to Emerging Interaction     260
Organizational Co-Heads     262
The Family Conflict     263
Property 2: Patterns of Behavior in Conflict Tend to Perpetuate Themselves     266
Third Parties and Conflict Cycles     266
Neighbor Noise Problems     269
Third Parties and the Overall Shape of Conflict Behavior     270
Third Parties, Differentiation, and Integration     271
Property 3: Conflict Interaction Is Influenced by and in Turn Affects Relationships     276
Property 4: Conflict Interaction Is Influenced by the Context in Which It Occurs     278
Third-Party Roles and Ideologies     279
Transformative Mediation: A Relational Approach to Conflict Intervention     281
Third-Party Roles and Climate     282
Summary and Review     284
Conclusion     287
References     288
Index     305

Editorial Reviews

A primary textbook for a course in conflict and conflict management, or a supplement in courses that devote substantial attention to conflict or third-part work. The many case studies range from intimate relationships through small and large organizations of different kinds. No dates are noted for previous editions, but the fourth takes account of the recently increasing interest in conflict as a communication-based phenomenon. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

PRAISE FOR THE 8th EDITION:

Working through Conflict provides an excellent and broad overview of the scholarship on conflict across a range of contexts. It also does a great job of explaining enduring insights about conflict while also discussing emerging trends, such as new communication technologies and conflict. Overall, it serves as an excellent introduction to the conflict literature.

- John P Caughlin, University of Illinois, USA

The eighth edition of Working Through Conflict is clearly the most comprehensive, broad-based text on communication and conflict. With its process focus, new material on media and conflict, updated research, and excellent case studies, it is the textbook that gives readers a foundation for navigating conflict productively and successfully.

-Linda L. Putnam, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

From the Publisher