Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972)
Analyze how the United States Supreme Court Justices? arguments are constructed in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972). In this case that analyzes the constitutionality of the death penalty please identify and evaluate the authors? rhetorical strategy, including, but not limited to the writers? assumptions, tone, use of evidence, and so on.
Paper Topic and Description
The paper will critically analyse the four conflict management styles/theoretical models (Randeree&Faramawy 2011) based on my knowledge of the conflict management behaviours of a manager I have had the chance to observe, and answer the following questions.
1. How does the manager undertake conflict management?
2. How effectively the SALAM model explains what the manager is doing and why he is doing it?
3. How effective is the manager in conflict management and how does the theory explain this?
4. What are the major strengths and weaknesses of the SALAM model?
Data Analysis (going from Data to Theory to Analysis)
• Please provide real-life examples (data) of the manager’s conflict management styles. The data can include:
o the manager’s behaviours, words and actions
o actions and words of other employees working under his management
o my reflections on the observations
• What are the interesting things in the data?
o Repetitive behaviors
o Something that strikes me as unusual or that I didn’t expect
• The data should show that the manager uses a mix of S.N.T, SALAM and Cooperative conflict-handling strategies. However, the data analysis should show that the manager’s conflict management style is primarily explained by the SALAM model.
o According to the SALAM model, does the manager do this well?
o What does this tell you about the strengths and weaknesses of the theory?
? In this manager’s case
? Extrapolate using critiques of the SALAM model?
erly (Farmer and Roth, 1998). Gardiner and Simmons
(1992) in discussing conflict in construction project management,
define it as “any divergence of interests, objectives
or priorities between individuals, groups, or
organisations; or non-conformance to requirements of a
task, activity or process.”
Aritzeta et al. (2005) underline three basic facets that
can formulate conflict definition. The first facet is that conflict
arises when parties involved in any argument perceive
it as a conflict. Secondly, there is a degree of interdependence
between the parties involved, which allows for
mutual influence over one another. Finally, scarcity of
resources, such as monetary, human, or prestige, are major
reasons of conflict.
A rule of thumb is that the earlier one discovers conflict
developing, the easier it is to resolve. In a project management
context, to establish a constructive conflict culture,
project managers need to concede that conflict is inevitable.
Thus, conflict management has a great impact on project
success if precautionary steps are taken to ensure constructive
outcomes to the conflict. Manifesting the bright side of
conflict will encourage employees to face conflicts and
resolve them in a managed way. This, in turn will raise
communication, efficiency, increase commitment and nurture
loyalty during the project (Farmer and Roth, 1998;
Jameson, 1999; Thamhain and Wilemon, 1975). A further
example in the context of project managed environments,
from a study by Tjosvold and Su (2006) is that of team
members who share a common goal, but have conflicting
views about the process of achieving them. Such conflict,
if seen positively and properly managed can be useful
and constructive.
The expression Conflict Management Strategy is used to
demonstrate any action used by a disputant or third party
to attempt to handle or resolve a conflict, which may
include formal mechanisms for managing conflict such as
negotiation, arbitration, or mediation (Jameson, 1999).
According to Rahim (2002) such strategies can be considered
as conflict resolution strategies. On the other hand,
informal mechanisms are described by most scholars in
the field of conflict management strategies and techniques
as the five basic behavior or styles to deal with conflict,
namely: Avoiding, Accommodating, Forcing, Collaborating,
and Compromising. Commonly conflict style refers
to particular behavioral practices that individuals prefer
to utilize when faced with a situation of conflict. Studies
indicate that, inherently the adopted style reflects how the
individual’s concern is directed towards his needs or the
needs of others on a scale of two: high and low (Brown,
1992; Farmer and Roth, 1998; Gross and Guerrero, 2000;
Jameson, 1999; Jones and Melcher, 1982; Moberg, 2001;
Rahim et al., 1999; Wall and Callister, 1995).
Rahim (2002) provides a sophisticated interpretation to
distinguish between ‘conflict resolution’ and ‘conflict management’.
He argues that conflict resolution involves reduction,
elimination, or termination of conflict. In other
words, conflict resolution perceives conflict as a destructive
phenomenon. On the other hand, conflict management
implies designing effective strategies to reduce the destructive
facet of conflict and enhance constructive roles of conflict
to improve learning and effectiveness in organisations.
Among the factors that determine the complexity of
managing a conflict are the source, size, number of individuals
or groups involved, and the type of conflict (Farmer
and Roth, 1998; Jameson, 1999; Jones and Melcher,
1982). Furthermore, literature is available which covers
issues of conflict between project team members (Porter
and Lilly, 1996), project clients and contractors (Thamhain
and Wilemon, 1975) and conflicts in managing stakeholders
(Pinto, 2000).
A general consensus from researchers indicates that
what triggers conflict may be an internal or external
change, cause or result of communication, emotions, values,
organisation structure, workgroups diversity or personal
experience (Desivilya and Yagil, 2005; Farmer and
Roth, 1998; Fine et al., 1990; Jameson, 1999; Jones and
Deckro, 1993; Jones and Melcher, 1982; Tjosvold and Su,
2006; Wall and Callister, 1995). These scholars and others,
present classifications for conflict within projects as: Interpersonal,
Intergroup, Inter-organisational, and International.
Interpersonal conflict is typified as the conflict
within the person and it takes the forms of role conflict
between colleagues when their values, beliefs, or benefits
contradict. Or it could arise when the person has multiple
roles and the requirements of the roles cannot be met
concurrently.
Intergroup conflict arises when the interests or tasks of
multiple groups oppose. Such conflict is widespread in construction
project management as a result of scarcity of
resources, cost overrun, scope change, administrative procedures,
schedules, technical resources, and personnel
(Thamhain and Wilemon, 1975). Inter-organisational conflict
arises between organisations due to high market competition.
In project management, inter-organisational
conflict is currently common between contractors and clients
as a result of various economic factors including, but
not limited to, inflation and material price fluctuation, particularly
in long term mega-projects. International conflict
arises between nations and it is commonly visible within
programme management and is caused by a multitude of
factors.
3. The Islamic perspective on conflict management
The Islamic approach to conflict management is derived
from the major principles and values of Islam as a religion,
such as justice (Randeree, 2008), equality, freedom, and
affirmative critical and goal oriented thinking (Abdalla,
2001; Al-Buraey, 2001; Khadra, 1990; Yousef, 2000). Leadership
has a vital impact on effective conflict management
from an Islamic viewpoint. In the case of the project manager,
the leadership role includes resolving conflict (Khadra,
1990; Randeree and Chaudhry, 2007). The nature of
Islam as an adaptive method of thinking allows individuals
K. Randeree, A.T.E. Faramawy / International Journal of Project Management 29 (2011) 26–32 27
