Deck 11: Handle Conflict, Negotiation, and Decision Making

Question 1

A dispute with one's boss over a plan of action to be followed, such as a marketing strategy for a new product, is an example of emotional conflict.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

In today's environment, with so much focus on competition, research shows that managers and team leaders spend relatively little time dealing with conflicts.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Unfortunately, functional conflict cannot bring important problems to the surface and as such they cannot be addressed constructively.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Conflict in organizations can be upsetting both to the individual directly involved and to others affected by its occurrence.

Question 5

Daniel and Carol are unable to work together because of their interpersonal differences. This exemplifies a destructive substantive conflict.

Question 6

Arbitration occurs whenever disagreements exist in a social situation over issues of substance, or whenever emotional antagonisms create frictions between individuals or groups.

Question 7

Disputes and open disagreements may erupt among units and people when workflow interdependence is high.

Question 8

Conflict antecedents establish the conditions from which future conflicts are likely to develop.

Question 9

Conflict resolution occurs when the underlying reasons for conflict are eliminated.

Question 10

Conflict resolution involves a fundamental disagreement over ends or goals to be pursued and the means for their accomplishment.

Question 11

Dysfunctional conflict works to the individual's, group's, or organization's disadvantage often diverting energies and hurting group cohesion.

Question 12

Functional conflict is also referred to as constructive conflict.

Question 13

Compromise is a superficial and often temporary form of conflict resolution.

Question 14

If conflict is severe and recurring, the continual use of upward referral may not result in true conflict resolution.

Question 15

When emotional conflicts creep into work situations, they can be conducive to teamwork because they get people to talk about their feelings.

Question 16

An appeal to common goals can focus the attention of potentially conflicting parties on one mutually desirable conclusion.

Question 17

Functional conflict can cause decisions to be considered carefully and to be perhaps reconsidered to ensure that the right course of action is being followed.

Question 18

Substantive conflict is commonly known as a clash of personalities.

Question 19

Reducing differences and tolerating differences are two strategies that are generally used to resolve functional conflicts.

Question 20

Functional conflict can offer opportunities for creativity that can improve individual, team, or organizational performance.

Question 21

Bounded rationality is choosing the first alternative that appears to give an acceptable or satisfactory resolution of a problem.

Question 22

In decision making, defining a problem involves checking for underlying moral problems that might need ethical analysis.

Question 23

Behavioral decision models view managers as acting in a world of complete certainty.

Question 24

Accommodation is a conflict management strategy that may be used when an issue is trivial.

Question 25

The behavioral decision model allows for an optimizing decision that gives the absolute best solution to a problem.

Question 26

The myth of the fixed pie occurs when people become committed to their demands and are reluctant to back down.

Question 27

When negotiating for a pay raise, it is important to do research and find out what others make for a similar position inside and outside the organization.

Question 28

Three criteria for effective negotiation are quality, harmony, and efficiency.

Question 29

Hard bargaining in distributive negotiation may lead to a win-lose outcome.

Question 30

The behavioral decision model is a five-step process that starts with the recognition and definition of the problem or opportunity and ends with the evaluation of results and any needed follow-up.

Question 31

Some examples of direct conflict management strategies are managed interdependence, appeals to common goals, upward referral, and altering of scripts and myths.

Question 32

Avoidance involves pretending a conflict does not really exist.

Question 33

Lose-lose strategies may result from outright competition or authoritative command where the solution is dictated by an authority figure.

Question 34

Heuristics is the process of choosing a course of action for dealing with a problem.

Question 35

Behavioral scientists are cautious about applying the classical decision model to many decision situations because they recognize that human beings have cognitive limitations that restrict their information-processing capabilities.

Question 36

In the classical decision model, a manager faces a clearly defined problem, knows all possible action alternatives and their consequences, and then chooses the alternative that offers the optimum solution to the problem.

Question 37

Optimizing refers to the idea that, while individuals reason well and are logical, they have their limits with respect to interpreting and making sense of things within the context of their personal situations.

Question 38

Classical decision models accept the notion of bounded rationality and suggest that people act only in terms of what they perceive about a given situation.

Question 39

In the classical decision model, a problem is not clearly defined, knowledge of possible action alternatives and their consequences is limited, and the manager responsible for the decision making chooses a satisfactory solution to the problem.

Question 40

In arbitration, the neutral third party has the power to issue a binding decision.

Question 41

The representativeness heuristic bases a decision on similarities between a situation at hand and stereotypes of similar occurrences.

Question 42

Judgment, or the use of one's intellect, is important in all aspects of decision making.

Question 43

Two persons continually in disagreement over each other's work attire is an example of __________.

A) perceived conflict
B) substantive conflict
C) emotional conflict
D) felt conflict
E) manifest conflict

Question 44

Reducing differences and tolerating differences are the two approaches used to generate positive outcomes in the process of __________.

A) foreshadowing
B) individualized consideration
C) conflict resolution
D) resistance
E) escalating commitment

Question 45

Which of the following statements regarding conflict is INCORRECT?

A) Managers and team leaders should always avoid conflict since it creates a negative environment and leads to destructive performance results.
B) Managers and team leaders may act as mediators to resolve conflicts between other people.
C) Managers and team leaders can spend considerable time dealing with conflicts.
D) Managers and team leaders should be able to recognize situations that have the potential for conflict.
E) Managers and team leaders should be able to deal with conflict situations in ways that will best serve the needs of both the organization and the people involved.

Question 46

Two persons debating each other aggressively on the merits of two different proposed advertising campaigns is an example of __________.

A) cooking conflict
B) felt conflict
C) perceived conflict
D) substantive conflict
E) emotional conflict

Question 47

Optimizing decisions are simplifying strategies or rules of thumb used to make decisions.

Question 48

Teams engaged in systematic thinking are expected to plan before acting.

Question 49

If John and Jose are not able to work together because of interpersonal differences, they may contribute to the emergence of which type of conflict?

A) Constructive conflict
B) Functional conflict
C) Dysfunctional conflict
D) Cooking conflict
E) Process conflict

Question 50

Samantha stated that she does not like her coworker, Mary. Samantha said, "Mary always rubs me the wrong way." Samantha is experiencing __________ conflict with Mary.

A) substantive
B) emotional
C) indigenous
D) rational
E) manifest

Question 51

Which of the following establishes the conditions from which conflicts are likely to develop?

A) A conflict antecedent
B) A premise
C) Invoking the collective
D) A functional conflict
E) Being congruent

Question 52

Intuition adds elements of flexibility and spontaneity to decision making, thereby offering potential for creativity and innovation.

Question 53

The availability heuristic involves assessing a current event based on past occurrences that are easily available in one's memory.

Question 54

Conflict as it is experienced in the daily workplace involves at least two basic forms:

A) rational conflict and irrational conflict.
B) sanctioned conflict and ad hoc conflict.
C) substantive conflict and emotional conflict.
D) bureaucratic conflict and personal conflict.
E) institutional conflict and rational conflict.

Question 55

__________ occurs when win-lose strategies fail to address the root causes of a conflict and end up burying the desires of at least one of the conflicting parties. As a result, future conflicts over the same issues are likely to occur.

A) Submission
B) Suppression
C) Satisficing
D) Avoidance
E) Foreshadowing

Question 56

Which type of conflict diverts energies, hurts group cohesion, promotes interpersonal hostilities, and overall creates a negative environment for workers?

A) Inappropriate conflict
B) Inconsistent conflict
C) Functional conflict
D) Dysfunctional conflict
E) Contradictory conflict

Question 57

An example of the application of the anchoring and adjustment heuristic is when Jason, an HR manager at ABC Manufacturing, selects a new member not because of any special qualities of the person but only because the individual comes from an educational institution known to have produced high performers in the past.

Question 58

Which of the following involves interpersonal difficulties that arise over feelings of anger, mistrust, dislike, fear, resentment, and the like?

A) Substantive conflict
B) Emotional conflict
C) Indigenous conflict
D) Rational conflict
E) Impulsive conflict

Question 59

Which of the following is NOT considered a benefit of functional conflict?

A) Functional conflict can bring important problems to the surface so they can be addressed.
B) Functional conflict can cause decisions to be considered carefully.
C) Functional conflict can cause decisions to be reconsidered to ensure that the right course of action is being followed.
D) Functional conflict can decrease the amount of information used for decision making.
E) Functional conflict can offer opportunities for creativity that can improve individual, team, or organizational performance.

Question 60

A key element in decision making under risk and uncertainty is intuition.

Question 61

Suppose that a manager responds to a disagreement between subordinates by saying "I do not want to get in the middle of your personal disputes." Which of the following conflict management styles is the manager using?

A) Avoidance
B) Authoritative command
C) Accommodation
D) Collaboration
E) Unassertiveness

Question 62

The __________ conflict management style involves being both cooperative and assertive. This style is characterized by trying to fully satisfy everyone's concerns by working through differences and finding and solving problems so that everyone gains.

A) avoidance
B) accommodation
C) competition
D) compromise
E) collaboration

Question 63

During a conflict situation, Kyle is cooperative but unassertive with his employees. He tries to smooth over their differences, but it only produces a false sense of harmony among them. Which type of conflict management style is Kyle using?

A) Avoidance
B) Competition
C) Accommodation
D) Compromise
E) Collaboration

Question 64

__________ deal with outcomes that relate to the "content" issues under negotiation.

A) Relationship goals
B) Substance goals
C) Object goals
D) Discretionary goals
E) Material goals

Question 65

Which type of negotiation takes place when one party is willing to make concessions to the other to get things over with?

A) Indirect negotiation
B) Hard bargaining distributive negotiation
C) Direct distributive negotiation
D) Integrative negotiation
E) Soft bargaining distributive negotiation

Question 66

__________ negotiation occurs when substance issues are resolved and working relationships are maintained or even improved.

A) Effective
B) Decisive
C) Congruent
D) Conclusive
E) Evaluative

Question 67

Which conflict management style involves being uncooperative and assertive? This style is characterized by working against the wishes of the other party, engaging in win-lose competition, and forcing things to a favorable conclusion through the exercise of authority.

A) Avoidance
B) Accommodation
C) Competition
D) Compromise
E) Collaboration

Question 68

__________ negotiation focuses on positions staked out or declared by the parties involved who are each trying to claim certain portions of the available pie.

A) Integrative
B) Distributive
C) Good faith
D) Consolidating
E) Process

Question 69

The ability of union members and management representatives to work together effectively after a contract dispute has been settled reflects which of these goals?

A) Emotional goals
B) Discretionary goals
C) Relationship goals
D) Substance goals
E) Article goals

Question 70

In the context of dysfunctional conflicts, __________ involve disagreements over how roles and responsibilities should be assigned.

A) process conflicts
B) cross-cultural conflicts
C) status conflicts
D) hierarchical conflicts
E) relational conflicts

Question 71

__________ deal with outcomes that relate to how well people involved in the negotiation and any constituencies they may represent are able to work with one another once the process is concluded.

A) Process goals
B) Substance goals
C) Relationship goals
D) Collaborative goals
E) Statutory goals

Question 72

Which of these are the two important goals that must be considered in negotiation?

A) Substantive goals and emotional goals
B) Substance goals and relationship goals
C) Statutory goals and discretionary goals
D) Interpersonal goals and intrapersonal goals
E) Direct goals and indirect goals

Question 73

Which of the following is NOT a common cause of conflict in organizations?

A) Unresolved prior conflicts
B) Resource scarcities
C) Role ambiguities
D) Structural differentiation
E) Authoritative command

Question 74

The type of negotiation that takes place when each party holds out to get its own way is called __________ negotiation.

A) soft bargaining
B) hard bargaining
C) direct distributive
D) indirect
E) integrative

Question 75

Which type of negotiation focuses on the merits of the issues, and the parties involved try to enlarge the available pie rather than stake their claim to certain portions of it?

A) Integrative
B) Distributive
C) Good faith
D) Consolidating
E) Process

Question 76

When dealing with conflict situations in her department, Morgan emphasizes cooperation and assertiveness. Differences are worked through together so that everybody's concerns are addressed, and everyone gains something in the end. Which conflict management style does Morgan use?

A) Competition
B) Avoidance
C) Collaboration
D) Accommodation
E) Compromise

Question 77

In __________, a formal authority simply dictates a solution and specifies what is gained and what is lost by whom.

A) competition
B) avoidance
C) collaboration
D) authoritative command
E) compromise

Question 78

Which type of conflict management style involves being cooperative and unassertive? This style is characterized by letting the wishes of others rule and overlooking differences to maintain harmony.

A) Avoidance
B) Accommodation
C) Competition
D) Compromise
E) Collaboration

Question 79

The dollar amount of a wage agreement in a collective bargaining situation is an example of a(n) __________.

A) emotional goal
B) discretionary goal
C) relationship goal
D) substance goal
E) article goal

Question 80

When issues are more important to others than to yourself or when you want to build credits for use in later disagreements, __________ may be used.

A) collaboration and problem solving
B) avoidance
C) authoritative command
D) accommodation
E) compromise