CONFLICT MANAGEMENT The Psychology of conflict and conflict ...

64 JAFFEE
The managerial application of Maslow’s (1943) theoretical ideas involved
the restructuring and redesign of job tasks and authority structures to
enhance levels of variety, autonomy, and participation. McGregor (1966), for
example, suggested greater decentralization and delegation, job enlargement,
consultative management, and employee-determined performance
targets. It is important to emphasize that these workplace reforms would
not have been considered were it not for organizational tensions and conflicts
prompting reflection and revisions in organization theory and management
practice.
A distinction has been made between human relations theory, which did
not necessarily call into question the scientific management–based organization
of production and tasks, and human resources theory, which advocated
structural reforms to meet ego and self-actualization needs (Tausky,
1970). However, both perspectives offer practical suggestions for reducing
tension, conflict, and recalcitrance stemming from the coordination
of the human factor. Both assume that managerial strategies can simultaneously
satisfy the various needs of workers and advance administrative
objectives for efficiency. Human relations theory assumes a human
desire for association, while human resource theory assumes a drive for
self-actualization (Argyris, 1964; Likert, 1961; McGregor, 1966). Each of
these managerial approaches continues to have a significant impact on the
structure and processes in most organizations (Pfeffer, 1994). Both were
also incorporated into the Japanese-style management reforms (e.g., Toyotaism)
popular in the 1980s as a means to gain the consent of workers and
address productivity problems (Boswell, 1987; Dohse, Jurgens, & Malsch,
1985; Lincoln & Kalleberg, 1985).
An important qualifier must be added to any discussion of internally
initiated organizational restructuring designed to satisfy human
needs and elicit consent. That is, managerial discretion over organizational
structures and processes is significantly constrained by external
or environmental pressures that lie outside the immediate control of
management. What has now come to be known as the “open-systems,”
“environmental,” or “resource dependence” model of organizations
(Aldrich, 1979; Burns & Stalker, 1961; Lawrence & Lorsch, 1967; Mintz
& Schwartz, 1985; Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978; Useem, 1996) posits pressures
deriving from market competition, external constituents, buyers,
sellers and suppliers, and regulatory agencies. The interorganizational
network in which most organizations conduct their businesses dictates
the implementation of particular personnel, managerial, and technological
strategies that contribute to organizational conflict and tension.
These pose a particular challenge for negotiation, resolution, and compromise
given that the parties that must be satisfied are “external” and
reside outside the formal management and administrative structure of
the organization.
In the midst of the humanistic approaches to organizations, and the
recognition of environmental constraints, organization theory and practice