OEC Consultant's Corner
The Dynamics
of
Conflict print
page 
By: Craig Runde
Workplace conflict—situations in
which people have incompatible goals, interests, principles, or feelings—is
inevitable. It can also be disruptive. Studies show that managers
typically devote more than a third of their time to dealing
with conflict and its consequences. Unmanaged conflict accounts for some 65 percent
of work-performance problems.
A New Approach to Conflict
Management
The
Conflict Dynamics Profile® (CDP) was created by the Leadership Development Institute
at Eckerd College to help address conflict in the
workplace. This 360° assessment tool, also available in a self-assessment version,
focuses on specific behavioral responses to conflict. The
ultimate goal is not to eliminate but to manage conflict,
reducing the harmful impact and maximizing beneficial aspects such as problem solving
and creativity.
The CDP measures
the
degree to which individuals display
- constructive
responses —behaviors that move
toward problem solving
- destructive
responses—behaviors derived from fight-or-flight survival instincts that
inflame or prolong conflict and make it personal
- active and passive
responses
—which can be either constructive or destructive
It also
looks at
- hot buttons—behaviors in
others that irritate or frustrate the individual enough
to provoke conflict
- the organizational/contextual
perspective—how the measured behaviors are regarded
within the culture as potential career derailers
This
high degree of behavioral specificity and the fact
that it is available as a 360° assessment
distinguish the CDP from the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument
(TKI). While the CDP gives feedback on real conflict behaviors,
providing a concrete focus for change, the more general
TKI simply provides individuals with an understanding of their stylistic approach to
conflict: competitive, compromising, collaborative, accommodating, or avoiding.
A Vital Component of Leadership
Developed primarily
for use in leadership development, the
CDP is used by the Center for Creative Leadership® in
its Foundations of Leadership Program to assess a
vital component of leadership—conflict-resolution behaviors.
I recently
worked with The Ayers Group to certify a dozen of its coaches
in the use of this new instrument. As a result of the
assessment, executives can
see what triggers conflict for them and
how they behave once conflict has begun. It
helps them recognize areas of strength and weakness
so they can then work with a coach on
a development plan. Because conflict management brings communications and interpersonal
skills to bear in an extreme context, improvement of
conflict-related responses tends to help executives develop those broader skill sets—something that
carries over outside the workplace as well.
Although feedback from the assessment is
normally given on a one-to-one basis, to ensure
confidentiality, it can be helpful for individuals to share
some observations—particularly about hot buttons. What
triggers a destructive response in one person might not bother
another at all, so people tend to be surprised when they learn
about one another’s triggers. “I never knew that bothered
you!” And once they know, it’s a whole different situation.
As a leadership development tool,
the CDP can be used organization-wide or for small groups.
In this application, it is receiving wide use with
managers in U.S. and Canadian corporations and government agencies—often in tandem
with the less involved self-assessment version
for supervisors and lower-level employees. The versions share a common
vocabulary and conceptual model, making them ideal for
use together within an organization.
Other Applications
Hospitals
are using the CDP with nurses
because conflict tends to arise during their shift changes, when
complex information has to pass between individuals quickly
and around interaction with doctors.
Tech companies have begun using the tool
because people in engineering roles tend to be good at science and
not as good at communicating and interacting.
Another application is intervention in
situations where ongoing conflict is causing problems in a
team or high-performance individual. In the case of a team,
the contextual-perspective component of the tool becomes
particularly important. The objective is not only to change
the behavior of team members but also to get them to agree to
new norms for dealing with conflict.
Alternative dispute-resolution
professionals—mediators and conflict-management specialists—are adopting the CDP
as a preventive measure, to address conflict early in the
cycle before it becomes a dispute.
Back to
Top
For more
information about CDP and other 360° products and coaching
services available through The Ayers Group, contact Joan
Caruso, Managing Director, Organizational Effectiveness
Consulting, at joan.caruso@ayers.com or
212.889.7788.
Craig Runde is
Director of New Program Development at the Leadership
Development Institute (LDI) at Eckerd College. He received a
B.A. degree from Harvard, a J.D. from Duke, and an M.L.L. from
the University of
Denver.
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