Managing Conflict with Peers

Contents

Is Conflict Destructive?

A Process for Managing Conflict

How Emotional Hot Buttons Affect Conflict

How Values Affect Conflict

Identifying Your Values

Identifying Your Peer’s Values

How Power and Politics Affect Conflict

Identifying Your Power

Mapping Organizational Power

Managing Conflict for Results

Suggested Readings

Background

Key Point Summary

Conflict Resolution Worksheet

Lead Contributor

Ideas into Action Guidebooks

Aimed at managers and executives who are concerned with their own and others’ development, each guidebook in this series gives specific advice on how to complete a developmental task or solve a leadership problem.

LEAD CONTRIBUTOR	Talula Cartwright
GUIDEBOOK ADVISORY GROUP	Victoria A. Guthrie Cynthia D. McCauley Ellen Van Velsor
DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS	Martin Wilcox
Editor	Peter Scisco
DESIGN AND LAYOUT	Joanne Ferguson
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS	Laura J. Gibson Chris Wilson, 29 & Company

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

CCL No. 419

ISBN-13: 978-1-882197-74-3

ISBN-10: 1-882197-74-7

Center for Creative Leadership

Post Office Box 26300

Greensboro, North Carolina 27438-6300

336-288-7210

www.ccl.org/publications
pfeiffer.com/go/cclguidebooks

The Ideas into Action Guidebook Series

This series of guidebooks draws on the practical knowledge that the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL^®) has generated in the course of more than thirty years of research and educational activity conducted in partnership with hundreds of thousands of managers and executives. Much of this knowledge is shared – in a way that is distinct from the typical university department, professional association, or consultancy. CCL is not simply a collection of individual experts, although the individual credentials of its staff are impressive; rather it is a community, with its members holding certain principles in common and working together to understand and generate practical responses to today’s leadership and organizational challenges.

The purpose of the series is to provide managers with specific advice on how to complete a developmental task or solve a leadership challenge. In doing that, the series carries out CCL’s mission to advance the understanding, practice, and development of leadership for the benefit of society worldwide. We think you will find the Ideas Into Action Guidebooks an important addition to your leadership toolkit.

Executive Brief

A great many peer conflicts arise from incompatible goals or from different views on how a task should be accomplished. With honest dialogue these kinds of conflicts can usually be resolved. But other peer conflicts are more troublesome because they involve personal values, office politics and power, and emotional reactions.

To resolve these more difficult peer conflicts, managers should examine three key issues that can cause such clashes and also influence their outcome. One, they should assess their emotional “hot buttons” that trigger ineffective behaviors and make conflict difficult to manage. Two, they should examine their personal values and how those might conflict with what their peers find important. Finally, they should assess their power in the organization – which can be related to position, influence, expertise, or some other factor – and learn how to use it to manage conflicts.

Navigating these issues won’t rid an organization of conflict among peers. But by paying attention to them managers can build effective relationships that will survive these inevitable conflicts and bolster their ability to achieve organizational goals.