When Goliath Clash

When Goliaths Clash
Managing Executive Conflict to Build a More Dynamic Organization

by Howard M. Guttman AMACOM © 2003 272 pages

Focus
Leadership & Mgt. Strategy Sales & Marketing Corporate Finance Human Resources Technology & Production Small Business Economics & Politics Industries & Regions Career Development Personal Finance Concepts & Trends

Take-Aways
• The biggest misconceptionpeople have about conflict is that it is inherently bad. Properly managed conflict can help your organization become more effective. • Conflict is necessary, but it can destroy an organization if it is improperly managed. • Some estimate that managers spend 20% of their time resolving conflicts. • Depersonalization is one of the keys to successful conflict management — removing personal egos from thesituation. • Protocols, or Rules of Engagement, help minimize conflict’s collateral damage. • Change and limited resources stimulate conflict within an organization. • Differences in style can be a source of conflict, because style is so closely linked to the communication skills used to resolve disagreements. • Getting executives to acknowledge conflicts within their organization is a big problem.Human nature is to avoid looking at the reality, and hope it will go away. • Good listening habits are a big advantage when you are resolving conflicts. • Making it okay for people to disagree openly — as long as they follow the Rules of Engagement — can create a more dynamic, healthy organization.

Rating
Overall

(10 is best)

Applicability

Innovation

Style

9

10

8

8

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Relevance
What You Will Learn In this Abstract, you will learn: 1) How to manage conflict among your organization’s leaders;2) What individual and group factors generate conflict; and 3) How to use the Rules of Engagement to make conflict productive. Recommendation This book is built on the premise that a lot of companies have, metaphorically speaking, the head of a dead elephant sitting in their boardrooms. The dead elephant’s head represents conflict, disagreement and rivalry between the executives themselves. No onewants to talk about the dead elephant’s head, because no one wants to admit that it’s there. Unfortunately, it’s a big, ugly reality that must be addressed sooner or later, and everyone knows it. Author and consultant Howard M. Guttman maps out a process companies can use to deal more openly and honestly with internal conflicts. He begins with the premise that conflict isn’t inherently bad and can evenserve a productive purpose, if it’s properly managed and conducted according to the rules. getAbstract.com strongly recommends this book to corporate executives — and to the worker bees who have to duck when those Goliaths in the corner offices start slinging rocks.

Abstract
War Zone Conflicts are a little like taxes. You’d love to be able to do away with them entirely. In reality, you justhope to learn how to manage them effectively. Effectively managing conflict is one of the secrets to an organization’s success. Companies that fixate on eliminating conflict altogether are as doomed to failure as those which ignore conflict, thus creating an organization where internal competition is even fiercer than marketplace competition. Neither extreme is healthy. The enemy isn’t conflict. It’s...