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Chapter 10
Leading Others and Resolving Conflict
ABOUT CHAPTER 10
In this chapter we define leadership, and we distinguish among leadership styles. We explore
how trait theory, situational theory, functional theory and transformational leadership contribute
to our understanding of leadership and how it works.
We also explore why conflict is an inevitable part of group life. Groups experience conflict
whenever one member’s thoughts or actions interfere with those of another member. Some
techniques for resolving conflict—such as blaming, withdrawing, intellectualizing, distracting
and forcing—actually impair the group’s effectiveness.
Students are introduced to effective conflict resolution techniques, including focusing on the
issues, checking the accuracy of perceptions, using “I” messages, listening empathically, and
using role reversal. Students are also encouraged to use problem-solving techniques to find the
most appropriate solutions to conflict.
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES AND CONTENT
Objectives and Content Activities and Resources
LO1 Define leadership, and distinguish
among various leadership styles: type X,
type Y, autocratic, laissez-faire, and
democratic.
In the text
Pages 267-271
Work It Out: Explore
Work It Out: What Do You Perceive
Media Wise: Shakespeare on Leadership
Discussion Starters
Review, Reflect & Reply
Understand
Apply
Analyze
LO2 Compare and contrast trait,
situational, functional and transformational
theories of leadership In the text
Pages 272-274
Work It Out: Create A Problem
Sidebar Discussion Starters
Review, Reflect, & Apply
Recall
Understand
IM 10-1
Evaluate
In the Instructor’s Manual:
10.3 Skill Builder: How are You Situated
Skill builder: Keeping Down with the
Competition
LO3 Discuss how personal, gender, and
cultural factors influence approaches to
leadership conflict.
In the text:
Pages 274-279
Sidebar Discussion Starters
Exploring Diversity: Win Win
Ethics & Communication: My Way or the
Highway
Review, Reflect & Apply
Recall
Understand
Evaluate
In the Instructor’s Manual:
10.3 Skill Builder: A Personal Conflict
Inventory
10.11 Skill Builder: Which Cultural
Differences Make a Difference in How a
Group Functions?
Online Campus: Self-Inventory
LO4 Summarize the Conflict Grid In the text:
Pages 280-282
Groupthink Questionnaire
Sidebar Discussion Starters
In the Instructor’s Manual
10.12 Skill Builder: Work it Out
10.13 Skill Builder: Pressure
LO5 Define Groupthink In the text:
Pages 282-284
Skill Builder: Are You a Group Thinker?
Review, Reflect & Apply
Recall
Understand
Apply
Evaluate
Discussion Starters
LO6 Describe the impact of technology on
group conflict.
In the text:
Pages 284-285
Review, Reflect, & Apply
Recall
Understand
Apply
IM 10-2
In the Instructor’s Manual:
10.1 Skill Builder: Conflict Grid
10.6 Skill Builder: To Be Rational or
Irrational
10.7 Skill Builder: Brown Paper
LO7 Identify ways of resolving conflict
constructively.
In the text:
Pages 285-286
Discussion Starters
In the Instructor’s Manual
10.14 Skill Builder: Listen/View
10.15 Skill Builder: Service Learning
10.16 Reflect and Respond
10.4 Skill Builder: Viewing a
Conflict--Changing Roles
10.5 Skill Builder: Conflict Between
Nations
10.14: Skill Builder: Listen, Read
Self-Analysis Scale
Additional Activities On the Online Learning Center (OLC):
Key Term Flashcards
Self-Quizzes
Key Term Crosswords
Self Quizzes
PowerPoint Files (Teacher Area of OLC)
Unit Summary: Consider this Case Sorry, Wrong Number, Page 298
You can use the case study as a class
discussion or group discussion which will
summarize the work done in chapters 10
and 11.
The case is an excellent essay exam
assignment as well.
UNIT SUMMARY
SORRY WRONG NUMBER
You may want to us the Sorry Wrong Number case as a class discussion or as the stimulus for an
essay assignment. A segment from The Office will generate a great deal of discussion of what the
characters are doing correctly and how they need to change their behavior.
LETS GO TO THE DVD
Investigating
The Office
IM 10-3
Using as a resource the organization depicted in the television series The Office write an analysis
of the group communication of people who work there. Be sure to answer these questions:
1. How do the ethics and culture affect the group?
2. What decision making and problem solving techniques does the group use?
3. What kinds of roles do group members enact?
4. How would you describe the group’s leadership?
5. How does the group react to conflict?
6. How does it react when facing a crisis?
7. What are the group’s strengths and weaknesses?
8. What suggestions can you make to improve the group’s functioning?
LESSON OUTLINE FOR CHAPTER 10
I. What Is Leadership?
Select Activities from the text and the Instructor’s Manual
II. Describe the following theories of leadership.
A. Trait
B. Situational
C. Functional
D. Transformational
Select Activities from the text and the Instructor’s Manual
III. What Does Conflict Mean to You?
IV. Avoiding Conflict: Groupthink
Select Activities from the text and the Instructor’s Manual
V. Diversity and Conflict: Different Views
Select Activities from the text and the Instructor’s Manual
VI. Resolving Conflicts: Cooperative versus Competitive Conflict
Select Activities from the text and the Instructor’s Manual
VII. Goals and Styles: A Conflict Grid
A. Outcomes
B. Productive versus Destructive Results
Select Activities from the text and the Instructor’s Manual
VIII. The Ethical Management of Conflict: Skills and Strategies
Select Activities from the text and the Instructor’s Manual
IX Unit summary
A. Consider This Case
B. Lets Go to the DVD
Select Activities from the text and the Instructor’s Manual
IM 10-4
DISCUSSION STARTERS
1. Do you see yourself as a leader? Why or why not? Are there situations when you could
assume leadership and others when you would just as soon let someone else assume the
responsibility? If so, why?
2. Locate biographical material on a contemporary corporate or political leader. Identify the
theory of leadership that he or she seems to exemplify.
3. A home philosopher who makes his living doing odd jobs once told your authors that people
used to talk less and have fewer conflicts in the days before radio, because in those days
people did not feel a need to talk. What do you think of this observation?
4. Can you think of situations when you felt that competition helped you attain a goal? When
has conflict hurt or hindered you?
5. Have you ever been able to transform a conflict from one that was destructive to one that was
constructive? If so, what techniques did you use to accomplish this?
6. How important is trust in resolving conflicts? Explain your answer.
7. Discuss your usual approach to resolving conflict. To what extent, if any, could you alter
your approach in order to become more effective in your interactions with others?
8. Consider a conflict situation you have faced while on the job. How did the parties handle it?
What was the outcome?
9. Agree or disagree, and provide reasons: Most people look for all possible solutions to a
problem before trying to determine which solution is the most appropriate.
ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION STARTERS
1. Describe a person who you believe was born to be a leader. What attributes do you believe
destined this person to lead?
2. Who would you rather have as the leader of your group or team—a man or a woman? Why?
3. How do you act when participating in group situations you define as cooperative? In
situations you define as competitive? To what extent do the genders of the other group
members appear to make a difference?
4. Which high school groups did you belong to? Were you and your groups part of the school’s
“in” group? In your opinion, might the presence of in and out groups in high school
contribute to the kind of atmosphere that sets the stage for school violence?
5. How would being in conflict with others affect your ability to function on the job?
6. Have you ever observed gender differences during a conflict?
7. With whom have you had to negotiate recently? Over what issues? What was the outcome?
8. Interview a manager. Ask about the nature of a conflict he or she had to resolve and the
strategies he or she used to handle it.
9. In what ways, if any, does online conflict compare and contrast with face-to-face conflict?
ADDITIONAL SKILL BUILDERS
10.1 SKILL BUIILDER: Conflict Grid
IM 10-5
Have students examine Blake and Mouton’s “conflict grid” and compare it with the
decision-making grid. What do the similarities—and differences—between these two grids
suggest to them about the nature of decision making and conflict?
10.2 SKILL BUILDER: Cartoon: I’m Lousy at Arguments . . .”
Ask students to consider the cartoon in the text. Have them recall a time when they were given
the silent treatment. How did it affect their relationship with the other parties? What seems to be
the best way to combat such tactics?
10.3 SKILL BUILDER: A Personal Conflict Inventory
1. For one week, keep a record of how you handle conflict. Use the following format to record
your observations:
Day Conflict How it was handled Outcome
2. Use your chart to answer these questions:
a. How often were you involved in conflict situations? Over what issues did you argue?
b. How many times were you involved in a conflict situation with the same person or the
same people?
c. What strategies did you use to handle the conflicts? Do you think your strategies were
effective? Why or why not? How did the other people react to them?
d. What strategies did the other people use to handle the conflicts? Do you think their
strategies were effective? Why or why not?
e. To what extent do you think the conflicts were resolved satisfactorily? Why?
f. What did you learn about yourself from this experience? What did you learn about the
people with whom you were in conflict?
10.4 SKILL BUILDER: Viewing a Conflict—Changing Roles
1. Recall a time when you observed a conflict in a group of people, one of whom was your
friend. Alternatively, observe a group of people (one of whom is your friend) who are
attempting to settle a conflict. Then answer these questions:
1. What was the conflict about?
2. How did the parties attempt to resolve it?
3. Were they successful? Why or why not?
4. Which person did you side with? Why?
5. Recall the discussion of selective perception in Chapter 4. To what extent did selective
perception affect your view of the conflict situation?
2. Rewrite a fairy tale from the point of view of one of the characters in it—for example, Little
Red Riding Hood--from the point of view of the wolf. Consider these questions:
a. How did things look to the character?
b. How did the change in frame of reference affect the story?
10.5 SKILL BUILDER: Conflict Between Nations
IM 10-6
Divide the class into two “nations.” Nation A is highly urbanized. It produces all the
technological goods and services for both countries. It has a great deal of wealth. It has plenty of
food because Nation B must pay for all technological products with food.
Nation B is quite poor. It has an agrarian economy. Most of its citizens are farmers.
Most of what it produces must be used to feed its own people or to purchase supplies and
equipment from Nation A.
Nations A and B have come to a point of crisis. Nation A wants to raise the prices on what it
sells, but Nation B does not have enough money to pay higher prices.
Nation B has begun to talk about a strike in which no food would be grown. Nation A is
considering no longer providing security and safety for Nation B.
Each nation is to send negotiators to a meeting to work out a settlement.
The goal for your class is to create a win-win solution. During the negotiation
periods (five minutes each), the other team members may only send notes to the negotiators.
However, during breaks between negotiations, they may give advice directly to their negotiators.
They can also decide to rotate their negotiators.
As you and your students experiment with this exercise, you will find additional rules and
regulations to incorporate into the game. The exercise can closely reflect some current national,
international, state, or even school conflicts.
10.6 SKILL BUILDER: To be Rational or Irrational?
This exercise can be done orally in class, or it can be assigned as a written exercise to be
submitted either for a grade or as a part of class participation. In either case, let students share
their experiences with groups.
Identify two group conflict situations that you attempted to settle through irrational means,
rational means, or both. Use the questions and charts to help you identify your own behaviors,
and those of the other people involved. For example, did you begin the interaction by acting like
a screeching “parrot” or an overly intellectual “owl”? Did you switch strategies during the
interaction? Why? What was you behavior like at the conclusion of the interaction? If possible,
ask the other people to fill out similar charts. Compare and contrast your perceptions.
For each situation, answer the following questions:
1. Which ineffective behaviors did you find yourself using during the course of the interaction?
2. What consequences did your behaviors have?
3. Which factors or occurrences do you believe kept you from functioning in a
human-to-human manner?
10.7 SKILL BUILDER: Brown Paper
1. Divide class into groups of three to five.
2. Give each group a 3’ X 5’ piece of brown wrapping paper.
3. At a signal, each individual will work cooperatively with the other members of the group to
lift the paper off of the floor without making any sound. They then will lower the paper again
without sound.
IM 10-7
4. For the final segment of the exercise, the group will again work cooperatively to raise the
paper off of the table or floor. At a given signal, each member will develop an individual
agenda and PULL in his or her direction. The agenda is now to get as much of the paper for
himself or herself as possible.
5. Ask students to consider the experience. What happened when the personal agendas
eliminated the cooperative atmosphere? Have you ever seen this type of conflict tear apart
teams at work?
10.8 SKILL BUILDER: Keeping Down with the Competition
What problems are encountered when a group aspires to produce not the best work it possibly
can, but work that is only as good as that produced by competing groups?
Is a group as good as its strongest member? As bad as its weakest member?
10.9 SKILL BUILDER: Thinking about the Culture of a Group
A group’s culture is the pattern of values, beliefs, norms and behaviors that are shared by group
members. The culture of a group provides the foundation for the rules followed, standards of
behavior adhered to, actions undertaken, and behaviors exhibited.
Describe the culture of an organization in which you would like to work. What makes the
organization’s culture, and especially its norms, attractive to you?
10.10 SKILL BUILDER: Lets Go to the DVD
Investigating the Office
This exercise uses the television series “The Office” as a resource. You will want to tape the
program, or purchase one of the earlier segments available through video stores or online from
Amazon.com. View the segment as a class and ask students to work in groups to answer the
seven questions. You will want to open the discussion to the entire class.
10.11 SKILL BUILDER: Which Cultural Differences Make a Difference in How a Group
Functions?
In the United States, recognition of one’s work is a great reward. In Russia, compromise is
viewed as a weakness. The Chinese expect a strong relationship before reaching an agreement.
In what ways would these cultural differences affect conflict resolution?
10.12 SKILL BUILDER: Work it out
Explore what leadership means to you by completing these sentences:
I like a leader who. . . . .
I am a leader when . . . . .
It is essential for a leader to possess the following skills. . . .
I lack the following leadership skills. . . .
Develop a list of characteristics that you believe set leaders apart
10.13 SKILL BUILDER: Pressure
Select a group faced with making a significant decision, such as the College of Cardinals who
are responsible for naming a new Pope when one dies, or the FDA whose responsibility it is to
IM 10-8
approve new drugs of marketing to the public. Analyze the decision making pressures the group
would face as it approaches the task.
10.14 SKILLBUILDER: Listen and View
Ask students to work in groups. The group should select and bring in music and/or films
or film clips that they feel relate to the content of this chapter. Ask them to play the clips
and discuss why they feel they are related to the chapter.
10.15 SKILL BUILDER: Focus on Service Learning
Using resources on conflict management resolution, develop a plan to address a campus conflict
such as how to resolve disagreements between dorm and apartment mates. Lead t team in
executing your plan, creating press releases for the campus paper and working with residence
hall and student life counselors to develop a workshop based on your plan to present on campus.
If appropriate, present your ideas to the appropriate college authorities.
IM 10-9
WORKSHEET
To Be Rational or Irrational?
1. Identify two group conflict situations that you attempted to settle through irrational means,
rational means, or both. Use the questions and worksheets below to help you identify your
own behaviors and those of the other people involved. For example, did you begin the
interaction by acting like a screeching “parrot” or like an overly intellectual “owl”? Did you
switch strategies during the interaction? If so, why? What was your behavior like at the
conclusion of the interaction?
2. If possible, ask the other people to complete similar worksheets. Then, compare and contrast
your perceptions.
3. For each situation, answer the following questions:
a. Which ineffective behaviors did you find yourself using during the course of the
interaction?
b. What consequences did these behaviors have?
c. Which factors or occurrences do you believe kept you from functioning in a
human-to-human or person-to-person manner?
CONFLICT INTERACTION 1
Issue:
Myself Others
Start End Start End
Human
Gorilla
Parrot
Owl
Cuckoo
Sheep
Turtle
Ostrich
CONFLICT INTERACTION 2
Issue:
Myself Others
Start End Start End
Human
Gorilla
Parrot
Owl
Cuckoo
Sheep
Turtle
Ostrich
IM 10-10
IM 10-11
