Deck 9: A: Organizational Conflict: Communicating for Effectiveness

Question 1

Emotional labor jobs require regulated emotions because they entail voice or face contact with the public,require workers to produce certain reactions to customers,and are regulated by employers who control the emotional activities of their workers.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Felt conflict is the emotional impact the perception of conflict has on potential conflict participants.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The context of the conflict is important but does not influence the conflict symptoms,behaviors,and outcomes.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The individual who prefers the competitive conflict style approaches conflict by emphasizing personal goals/needs while considering the opinions or needs of others in the conflict.

Question 5

The conditions and causes of conflict described in the text are not responsible for the rise of incivility,aggression,and violence in the workplace.

Question 6

Intrapersonal conflict is readily observable through overt behaviors.

Question 7

The conflict aftermath influences our satisfaction with a particular conflict but has little influence on future interactions among conflicting parties.

Question 8

Conflict can be described as a process that occurs when individuals,small groups,or organizations perceive or experience frustration in attaining goals and concerns.

Question 9

The complex interactions of both individual and group perceptions,emotions,behaviors,and outcomes can be viewed as a process we call a conflict episode.

Question 10

When individuals or groups become aware differences exist,we describe that stage of the conflict episode as felt conflict.

Question 11

The manifest conflict stage consists of conflicting behaviors,problem solving,open aggression,covert action,or numerous other possibilities.

Question 12

Conflict styles frequently are described as five basic orientations based on the balance between satisfying individual needs/goals and the satisfying of the needs/goals of others in the conflict.

Question 13

Latent conflict refers to underlying conditions in organizations and individual relationships that have the potential for conflict.

Question 14

Conflict can occur in any organizational setting where there are two or more competing responses to a single event.

Question 15

Daily organizational life is filled with conflicts in a variety of contexts.

Question 16

The conflict aftermath is a result of the complex interactions of latent conditions,perceived conflict,felt conflict,and manifest conflict.

Question 17

Latent conflict conditions almost always continue to manifest conflict.

Question 18

The manifest conflict stage is our emotional reaction to perceived differences.

Question 19

Individuals preferring the avoidance conflict style are unlikely to pursue their own goals/needs or to support relationships during conflict.

Question 20

Orientations or predispositions for conflict are the balances individuals try to make between satisfying their personal needs and satisfying their personal goals.

Question 21

Collaboration is the most frequently used conflict style and is the theoretical ideal.

Question 22

A strategic choice is a planned method of conducting conflict operations and is usually one of four directions: escalation,reduction,maintenance,or avoidance.

Question 23

It is not necessary to understand the cultural context of conflict behaviors because conflict is universal.

Question 24

Strategic objectives in conflict are determined not only by orientations or preferences for conflict styles,but by assessments of the probable outcomes of behavior within particular contexts.

Question 25

Conflict tactics are communication behaviors that attempt to move the conflict toward escalation,reduction,maintenance,or avoidance.

Question 26

Defensive organizational climates are characterized by evaluation,control,strategy,neutrality,certainty,and superiority.

Question 27

As Kenneth Thomas suggests,the strategic objectives of individuals in conflict are determined by orientations or preferences in conflict style,rather than by assessment of the probable outcomes of behaviors within particular contexts.

Question 28

Workplace burnout may be an outcome of organizational conflict.

Question 29

Ethical communication behaviors are exhibited when the individual stays with the issue at hand without hidden agendas;constructs reasonable,logical arguments rather than arguments designed to discount and devalue others;and keeps an open mind to new ideas while avoiding a win-at-all-costs attitude.

Question 30

Compromise is almost always an appropriate style choice.

Question 31

The organizational member who communicates effectively under harmonious conditions can be expected to handle conflict well.

Question 32

Supportive organizational climates are characterized by evaluation,problem orientation,strategy,empathy,and equality.

Question 33

A format for productive conflict includes self-analysis of the issues,setting a meeting to work on the problem,defining the problem,developing solutions,narrowing the choices for action,committing to solutions,and monitoring the process.

Question 34

Expressions of anger in organizations can be constructive and may stimulate creativity.

Question 35

Organizations that encourage dissent during decision making generally experience more productive conflict than organizations that do not.

Question 36

In general,we can say that a major value of conflict is its stimulus for creativity.

Question 37

Compromisers prefer to balance people concerns with task issues.

Question 38

Deception contributes to the potential for organizational conflict.

Question 39

Recent research indicates we view our own conflict resolution behaviors positively,whereas we see others as using control or aggressive approaches.

Question 40

Conflict tactics are communication behaviors which serve to escalate conflict,not to reduce or avoid it.

Question 41

Group conflict in organizations is common,resulting from factors such as individual characteristics,procedures,interpersonal and substantive issues,and groupthink.

Question 42

Tricia Jones suggests conflict is best handled by focusing on rational discussion of major points of disagreement.

Question 43

Integrative approaches to conflict are characterized by cooperative and collaborative behaviors.

Question 44

The organizational member who communicates effectively under harmonious conditions can be expected to handle conflict well.

Question 45

Organizational climates which produce defensiveness are characterized by all-too-clear perceptions of motives,values,and emotions of those in conflict.

Question 46

Avoidance styles of conflict describe behaviors that minimize addressing conflict.

Question 47

Conflict is inevitable,unfortunately,and is very seldom desirable except for manipulative reasons.

Question 48

Principled negotiation is a strategy for group conflict based on supportive climates and ethical behaviors.

Question 49

Abuses of power are often associated with behaviors that marginalize others and attempt to maintain the status and position of the person(s)exercising power.

Question 50

Defensive climates are described by Gibb as being evaluative,while supportive environments are characterized by problem description.

Question 51

The theory of marginalization is a communication-based explanation for the continued existence of discrimination in the workplace.

Question 52

As long as formal power structures are in place,informal power relationships rarely play a role in organizational conflict.

Question 53

There are characteristic behaviors of defensive groups that are distinctly different from the characteristic behaviors of supportive groups.

Question 54

Distributive styles of conflict utilize a confrontive approach by one side with the other side conceding.

Question 55

Group conflict can be managed using a variety of processes such as negotiation,bargaining,mediation,forcing,and arbitration.