Organizational Culture: Organizational Conflict
Organizational Culture and Communications Styles
Maria Simpson, Ph.D.
Maria Simpson, Ph.D.
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Dr. Maria Simpson is an organizational consultant specializing in executive coaching, and team and leadership development. Her goal is to bring the skills and techniques of mediation into the workplace, improve conflict resolution skills to reduce the fear of disagreement, and increase the productive and creative outcomes of organizational conflict.
As an executive coach she works with organizational leaders to help them define their roles and develop management communications and leadership skills. As a team coach, she has worked to improve team collaboration and decision-making. As an OD consultant, she has designed projects that create organizational change and include methods of conflict resolution as part of the process.
Since 2003 Dr. Simpson has written a weekly email on management communications and conflict resolution called “Two Minute Training” and speaks frequently on the topics of management communications and conflict resolution. She is a mediator for the Los Angeles County Superior Court, and now serves on the boards of directors of the South Bay Center for Dispute Resolution and NEAS: Western, an EAP provider.
Dr. Simpson received her Ph.D. from New York University, has held a variety of senior management positions, and teaches communications and conflict resolution at CSUDH in the graduate program on Negotiation, Conflict Resolution, and Peacebuilding. Among her clients are Kaiser Permanente, Bank of America, Easter Seals Southern California, and Toyota Financial Services USA.
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For a more extensive exploration of the connection between organizational culture and communications style, go to and click on Organizational Culture to get a complete table of contents for Is This a Good Fit? The Connection Between Organizational Culture and Communications Style.
This white paper synthesizes established concepts of culture and communications, and creates a new approach to organizational understanding. (The cultural models are from Riding the Waves of Culture by Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, and the communications model is based on the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument.)
Using a case study, the white paper first explores the definition and models of organizational culture, and includes examples of each type. Then, conflict and communications styles are discussed, especially which styles work best in which cultures, and how these styles impact all aspects of organizational functions. In addition, the implications of this level of understanding on benefits, performance, and organizational values, among others, is demonstrated. Finally, there is a detailed analysis of the case study, and tips on how you can apply the concepts and insights to your own organization.
For those in Organizational Conflict Resolution or mediation, understanding organizational culture as the context for conflict can help resolve employment disputes and team conflict. For those in OD, this information will help you design projects and processes that will fit well and will be successful in your culture. For those in HR, this information will add another layer of understanding to hiring and evaluating employees.
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Family Culture: Person
Status Levels Clearly Defined
High status people:
Engage in highly competitive behavior with little compromise or accommodation for others
Low status people:
Accommodate the leader’s wishes to maintain relationship
Avoid conflict with those far above to get along and gain favor
Compromise to avoid challenging leadership
Compete only with people near their own status to move up in the hierarchy
No system for disagreeing
Task
Person
Hierarchical
Egalitarian
Eiffel Tower: Role
Power and Authority Ascribed to Roles
High status people:
Make all decisions and rules (compete)
Little compromise acceptable
Low status people:
Comply with the rules
Accommodate or avoid disagreements
Disagreements are challenges to the system, not the person, and are considered highly competitive behavior
Disagreements are addressed through formal complaint systems
Incubator Culture: Fulfillment
Flat Hierarchy
Focus on individuals results in avoiding, accommodating, compromising and collaborating to maintain relationships
Little or informal hierarchy may result in more collaboration than competition, especially for leadership status
Competition may be for resources or self-development, not for status
Guided Missile Culture:
Project
Highly Competitive Within Groups
Temporary relationships based on tasks and outcomes create highly competitive group environments
Collaborate and compromise to reach the goal, not maintain relationships
Accommodating or avoiding will make you appear weak in supporting your goals
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