Question 1

Which of the following conflict management techniques involves designating a critic to purposely argue against the majority positions held by the group?

Accepted Answer

Appointing a devil's advocate is a conflict-stimulation technique where a critic is designated to purposely argue against the majority positions held by the group.

Question 2

During the behavior stage of the conflict process, the parties decide what the conflict is about.

Accepted Answer

During the cognition and personalization stage, the parties decide what the conflict is about. The definition of a conflict is important because it typically delineates the set of possible settlements.

Question 3

A review that examined the effects of the four sets of behaviors across multiple studies found that openness and collaborating were both associated with superior group performance.

Accepted Answer

A review that examined the effects of the four sets of behaviors across multiple studies found that openness and collaborating were both associated with superior group performance, whereas avoiding and competing strategies were associated with significantly worse group performance. These effects were nearly as large as the effects of relationship conflict. This further demonstrates that it is not just the existence of conflict or even the type of conflict that creates problems, but rather, the ways people respond to conflict and manage the process once conflicts arise.

Question 4

A collectivist Chinese manager is most likely to use which of the following techniques for conflict management?

Accepted Answer

To preserve peaceful relationships, collectivists will avoid direct expression of conflicts, preferring to use more indirect methods for resolving differences of opinion. Whereas U.S. managers are more likely to use competing tactics in the face of conflicts, compromising and avoiding are the most preferred methods of conflict management in China.

Question 5

Describe the five conflict-handling intentions that are based on the dimensions of cooperativeness and assertiveness.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Describe the five conflict-handling intentions that are...

Question 6

Collectivists are more interested in demonstrations of concern and working through third parties to resolve disputes, whereas individualists are more likely to confront differences of opinion directly and openly.

Accepted Answer

Collectivists are more interested in demonstrations of concern and working through third parties to resolve disputes, whereas individualists are more likely to confront differences of opinion directly and openly.

Question 7

Which of the following is a conflict-stimulation technique?

Accepted Answer

Bringing in outsiders, or adding employees to a group whose backgrounds, values, attitudes, or managerial styles differ from those of present members, creates a conflict-stimulation.

Question 8

Cross-cultural negotiations have no issues of trust.

Accepted Answer

Cross-cultural negotiations can also create issues of trust. One study of Indian and U.S. negotiators found that respondents reported having less trust in their cross-culture negotiation counterparts. The lower level of trust was associated with lower discovery of common interests between parties, which occurred because cross-culture negotiators were less willing to disclose and solicit information.

Question 9

According to a newly added office smoking regulation, only employees who have an enclosed office may smoke at their desks. This leads to a major conflict between various employees as virtually all employees with enclosed offices are higher-level managers and all other employees lack enclosed offices. Therefore, the lower-level employees who smoke argue that they should be offered enclosed offices. Which of the following, if true, strengthens the employees' argument?

Accepted Answer

If the smoking regulations allow all employees who smoke an equal opportunity to do so, regardless of an employee's job level, then the employees are justified in demanding enclosed offices. Hence, this strengthens their argument. If higher-level managers are willing to share, this only weakens the employees' argument as they don't need separate offices. The other options are all against rather than for the employees' argument. The fact that the company is a zealous supporter of the "Kick the butt before you kick the bucket campaign" is out of scope.

Question 10

Outline and discuss the conflict process.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Outline and discuss the conflict process....

Question 11

Which of the following statements is true regarding negotiation that takes place in a collectivist culture?

Accepted Answer

Compared to collectivist culture negotiators, their more individualist counterparts are more likely to see offers from their counterparts as unfair and to reject them.

Question 12

What are the various causes of conflict?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What are the various causes of conflict?...

Question 13

Explain the conflict resolution strategies used by collectivist cultures.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Explain the conflict resolution strategies used by...

Question 14

A review that examined the effects of the four sets of behaviors across multiple studies found that openness and collaborating were both associated with superior group performance, whereas avoiding and competing strategies were associated with significantly worse group performance.

Accepted Answer

A review that examined the effects of the four sets of behaviors across multiple studies found that openness and collaborating were both associated with superior group performance, whereas avoiding and competing strategies were associated with significantly worse group performance.

Question 15

Which of the following terms best describes the process that occurs when two or more parties decide how to allocate scarce resources?

Accepted Answer

We can define negotiation as a process that occurs when two or more parties decide how to allocate scarce resources.

Question 16

Conflict is dysfunctional when it ________.

Accepted Answer

Among the more undesirable consequences of dysfunctional conflict are hampered communication, reductions in group cohesiveness, and subordination of group goals to the primacy of infighting among members.

Question 17

The division manager at Xperience Inc. wants to replace the SAP ERP currently used in his division with Epicor ERP as it costs 30 percent less to train new staff in Epicor ERP. But this leads to a conflict with the general manager, who insists that they can simply hire only people who already know how to use SAP ERP. Which of the following, if true, weakens the general manager's objection to the replacement of SAP ERP with Epicor ERP?

Accepted Answer

The general manager's objection is based on avoiding training costs altogether. But if hiring experienced users of SAP ERP is significantly more costly than hiring otherwise qualified people who would have to be trained to use Epicor ERP, the objection is weakened. Hence, the fact that experienced users of SAP ERP command much higher salaries weakens it. The fact that the high costs of updates and upgrades make Epicor ERP more expensive to maintain than SAP ERP argues independently against replacing SAP ERP with Epicor ERP and thus is also incorrect. The rest of the options do not provide any information relevant to an evaluation of SAP ERP as compared with Epicor ERP.

Question 18

All of the following are benefits of conflict in organizations except ________.

Accepted Answer

Conflict is constructive when it improves the quality of decisions, stimulates creativity and innovation, encourages curiosity and interest among group members, provides the medium for problems to be aired and tension released, and fosters self-evaluation and change.

Question 19

A conflict-intensity continuum has "annihilatory conflict" at the upper end and "no conflict" at the lower end. In the context of this conflict-intensity continuum, which of the following statements is true of conflict intensities?

Accepted Answer

All conflicts exist somewhere along the conflict-intensity continuum. At the lower part are conflicts characterized by subtle, indirect, and highly controlled forms of tension. Conflict intensities escalate as they move upward along the continuum until they become highly destructive. Strikes, riots, and wars clearly fall in this upper range. Conflicts that reach the upper ranges of the continuum are almost always dysfunctional. Functional conflicts are typically confined to the lower range of the continuum.

Question 20

The potential for conflict increases when too much communication takes place.

Accepted Answer

The potential for conflict increases when either too little or too much communication takes place. Apparently, an increase in communication is functional up to a point, after which it is possible to overcommunicate, with a resultant increase in the potential for conflict.

Quiz 14: Conflict and Negotiation

Which of the following conflict management techniques involves designating a critic to purposely argue against the majority positions held by the group?

During the behavior stage of the conflict process, the parties decide what the conflict is about.

A review that examined the effects of the four sets of behaviors across multiple studies found that openness and collaborating were both associated with superior group performance.

A collectivist Chinese manager is most likely to use which of the following techniques for conflict management?

Describe the five conflict-handling intentions that are based on the dimensions of cooperativeness and assertiveness.

Collectivists are more interested in demonstrations of concern and working through third parties to resolve disputes, whereas individualists are more likely to confront differences of opinion directly and openly.

Which of the following is a conflict-stimulation technique?

Cross-cultural negotiations have no issues of trust.

Outline and discuss the conflict process.

Which of the following statements is true regarding negotiation that takes place in a collectivist culture?

What are the various causes of conflict?

Explain the conflict resolution strategies used by collectivist cultures.

A review that examined the effects of the four sets of behaviors across multiple studies found that openness and collaborating were both associated with superior group performance, whereas avoiding and competing strategies were associated with significantly worse group performance.

Which of the following terms best describes the process that occurs when two or more parties decide how to allocate scarce resources?

Conflict is dysfunctional when it ________.

All of the following are benefits of conflict in organizations except ________.

A conflict-intensity continuum has "annihilatory conflict" at the upper end and "no conflict" at the lower end. In the context of this conflict-intensity continuum, which of the following statements is true of conflict intensities?

The potential for conflict increases when too much communication takes place.