CAHSS Faculty Books and Book Chapters

In Pursuit of Harmony: How a Shared Leadership Practice Works as a Conflict Management System

Chapter Title

In Pursuit of Harmony: How a Shared Leadership Practice Works as a Conflict Management System

Book Title

From Discord to Harmony: Making Your Workplace Hum

Department

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies

Files

Link to Full Text

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Document Type

Book Chapter

Editors

LaVena Wilkin, Tony Belak

Description

Conflicts happen, and the workplace can be a cacophony for competing interests. Consider that organizational culture is an ensemble of shared values, beliefs, assumptions, perceptions, and norms. Organizations are not solos. They are an accompaniment of individuals, departments, and divisions, and each is competing for scarce resources. Measure in a little power imbalance and organizational political posturing. Then, scale in the fact that today’s managers are faced with diversity and cultural issues ranging from race and gender to individual ethnicity, principles, and philosophies, about which employees are more vocal. All this discord can strike a sharp note of dissonance. However, effective resolutions can change this discord to harmony.


Consider that music is not a single note. Rather, it is the silence between the notes that makes beautiful music, and conflict is that silence. Unfortunately, conflict has a bad reputation, and it is often labeled as disagreement, fighting, or arguing that leads to stress, retaliation, and resentment. Some managers spend a disproportionate amount of their workdays dealing with conflicts. They have not learned what causes conflicts or how to productively manage them. As a result, they often avoid or force outcomes causing discord, fractured relationships, loss of productivity, and even lawsuits. Learning to fine tune inevitable conflicts will help managers orchestrate a more harmonious workplace.

From Discord to Harmony: Making the Workplace Hum is largely evidence-based, and many of the chapters contain cutting-edge research by experts in their respective fields.

ISBN

9781641139847

Publication Date

3-1-2020

Publisher

Information Age Publishing

City

Charlotte, NC

Keywords

conflict, conflict management system, leadership, management, shared leadership practice

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Social and Behavioral Sciences

In Pursuit of Harmony: How a Shared Leadership Practice Works as a Conflict Management System
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