Page 321 - Effective group discussion theory and practice by Adams, Katherine H. Brilhart, John K. Galanes, Gloria J

304 Chapter 11

FIGURE 11.2 High
Your conflict
management style Competition Collaboration
depends in part on
how assertive and
cooperative you are

Assertive Behavior Compromise

Avoidance Accommodation

Low High
Cooperative Behavior

Avoidance The avoidance style is a passive approach in which a person expends no
Avoidance
energy discussing or exploring options. The member who disagrees privately but says
The passive conflict nothing is avoiding conflict. Sometimes called nonconfrontation, conflict avoidance
management style reduces satisfaction in groups. As we stated earlier, avoiding is particularly detrimen-
45
that ignores a
conflict. tal to task groups that have a relatively short time to solve a problem. In addition,
avoiding conflict over perceived inequity of member contributions only sets up the
group for more conflict later. Such passive behavior is appropriate only when the
problem is unimportant and the risks of making a poor decision are slight. For exam-
ple, a committee to which one of us belonged was asked to develop a decorating plan
for a student lounge/study area. The art instructor on the committee recommended a
color scheme not particularly appealing to the chemistry professor on the committee.
The students liked the colors, so the chemistry professor kept his objections to him-
self. He reasoned that because he spent so little time in the lounge, color did not
matter much to him.
Individuals avoid conflict by using tactics such as denying, managing the topic,
46
and making noncommittal or irreverent remarks. A group member expresses to you
that another member, Chason, is not doing his fair share of the work and something
needs to be done. A response such as “I don’t see that as a problem” can be construed
as denial. Or a response such as “We are winding down our meeting and need to get
to the next agenda item” effectively shifts the topic away from the potential issue.
A noncommittal remark might be, “You know that is Chason being Chason.” Replying
with laughter to the concern is considered an irreverent remark that also tries to avoid
conflict.

gal37018_ch11_291_320.indd 304 3/28/18 12:38 PM