Sociopsychological training to enhance the use of conflict resolution strategies

Sociopsychological Training has the objective of promoting the contingent use of Solution Strategies of Conflicts in the Board of Directors of a technical services organization located in Villa Clara province, Cuba. In contacts with the Management of this organization, the interest of the same in addressing the Conflict Resolution Strategies to improve the performance of the Board of Directors when facing Conflicts that in the internal dynamics and in relations with the environment are presented to the organization. The sample was made up of 12 of the members of the Board of Directors. Sociopsychological Training consists of 3 Stages: Diagnosis Stage, Intervention Stage and Verification Stage, they were developed in 11 group work sessions. Among the methods and techniques used are: Observations, Interviews, Questionnaires, Role Play, Sociodrama, Debate and Analysis of situations; promoting with them individual self-analysis. The results obtained show that the Sociopsychological Training enhanced the contingent use of Conflict Resolution Strategies in the organization's Board of Directors. Keywords: Socio-psychological training, conflict resolution strategies, communication, organization.

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Organizations are created and are made up of people. Its reason for being is to facilitate the achievement of common purposes. The structure of any Organization must serve the needs of those who form it. Adequate direction must be summarized as facilitating the achievement of common purposes using appropriate methods.

Therefore it is important train managers and management bodies of the organization to perform adequately in their role. One way to do so is the Sociopsychological Training, which is aimed at raising the capacity for development and active and conscious functioning of the personality before social demands; that is, to optimize the particularities of the subject, as well as the functioning of the group.

Sociopsychological Training has as a precedent the T Groups, which emerged in the United States in 1940, which have marked importance and methodological value. These groups evolved and gave rise to the Sensitivity Groups and Instrumental Training Groups. The former sought to improve self-image by committing participants to a system of authentic interpersonal relationships. The latter were aimed at guiding participants to collaborate more effectively in a group.

Sociopsychological Training is considered a method of psychological intervention, in which specific routes of transmission and assimilation of knowledge, skills and ways of operating that train people trained in the effective management of specific social demands. Each participant can structure new motivations, find directions, learn something new and be able to assess themselves and assess the behavior of the group.

M. Vorwerg, cited by Guerra and Segura (1998), states that regardless of whether specific psychic functions or essential structures of components are trained with With respect to a defined behavior, the effectiveness of the effort of modification through training depends on the correctness of the reproduction of the structure psychological of the demand in the simulated situation, of the experience that the participants have, of the initial state of the structure diagnosed in the "individual of activity". As well as the learning capacity of the subjects, the duration of the training (10-15 hours), the effects resulting from the training (sleeper and motivation) and finally of the social conditions of realization for an optimal behavior in real conditions of life.

Oscar J. Blake, cited by Guerra and Segura (1998), considers Sociopsychological Training as a training method that allows the improvement of management activity. Training that is oriented to satisfy the needs that Organizations have to incorporate knowledge, skills and attitudes in its members to contribute to the adaptation to new circumstances internal and external.

One of the aspects on which it has been possible to influence with this method is the conflict resolution and the strategies used to do so.

Every manager spends a good part of his time in solving and responding to unexpected conflicts. Conflicts do not arise just because inefficient managers ignore certain issues until they become conflicts, but also because skillful managers cannot anticipate all the consequences of actions they take. undertake.

Because of the importance of the contingent use of conflict resolution strategies to maintain the internal balance of the organization and the relationships it establishes with the environment; It is proposed to promote the contingent use of conflict resolution strategies in the board of directors of the organization in which the socio-psychological training takes place. Therefore the following are proposed specific objectives:

• To diagnose of the solution strategies conflicts and the contingent use of them.
• Empower the contingent use of conflict resolution strategies, through socio-psychological training for the members of the board of directors.
• Note the contingent employment of conflict resolution strategies, once the socio-psychological training has been developed.

It is necessary to specify essential aspects in relation to conflicts and the strategies for solving them on which this work is based.

Societies are heterogeneous, and not all people share the same world within a society. Individuals, classes and professional interests can be in Conflict as their objectives and modes of action are contradictory.

Therefore, one of the aspects that is inherent to the life of the Organization is the Conflict; which has been approached from different points of view:

• The Traditional: It assumes that all Conflict is negative and therefore should be avoided. Conflict is seen as a dysfunctional result of poor communication, lack of openness between the people and the failure of managers to respond to the needs and aspirations of their employees. This point of view corresponds to the prevailing attitudes regarding group behavior in the 1930s and 1940s.
• The Human Relations: It takes for granted that Conflict is a natural fact in all groups and Organizations and advocates for acceptance of the Conflict, states that it cannot be eliminated and that there are occasions when it can be beneficial for the performance of the group. This point of view dominated Conflict theory from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s.
• The Interactionist: It stimulates Conflict on the basis that a harmonious, calm and cooperative group is prone to remain static and unable to respond to its needs for change, innovation. Therefore, the main contribution is to encourage group leaders to maintain a minimum and continuous level of Conflict, which makes the group viable, self-critical and creative.

In "Administration: Theory and Practice", Stephen P. Robins (1994) defines conflict as a process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected him in something that the first party believes. This concept allows adaptation to the diversity of conflict situations and their intensity in the work context.

Five intentions for the management of a Conflict are identified, which other authors call Conflict Resolution Strategies. They are:

• To compete, when the person seeks to satisfy her interests regardless of the impact it has on the other people involved in the conflict.
• Evade: A person may recognize that there is a conflict and wants to withdraw or end it.
• Please: When a party seeks to appease its opponent above his interests, a party sacrifices his interest.
• To collaborate: When the conflicting parties wish to personally satisfy the concern of all the parties, the intention of the parties is to resolve the conflict by clarifying differences, rather than interposing different points of view (win win).
• Arrangement with Concessions: Each party to the conflict tries to give up something, a participation takes place, leading to an intermediate result. There is no definite winner or loser.

The important thing when facing the conflict is not to consider that there is a single strategy with which a solution can be given to all, but rather that the diversity of aspects that characterize each of the circumstances and carry out a particular analysis that allows adapting the strategy to the current situation depending on the uses that they possess. In short, this refers to contingently employing conflict resolution strategies.

Kenneth Clocke and Joan Goldsmith (1995) based on professional experiences offer certain uses for each of the Strategies:

• Evade: when the matter seems trivial; in order to cool down, reduce stress or regain composure; when the matter is tangential or symptomatic.
• To compete: to achieve decisive and quick actions; In an emergency; to enforce unpopular rules and discipline.
• Please: When one is wrong or to show that one is reasonable; to obtain credits; to preserve harmony or avoid breakdowns.
• Arrangement with Concessions: When your goals are moderately important; to achieve a temporary adjustment of complex matters; to reach expedited solutions under time pressures.
• To collaborate: When the goal is to learn; when long-term solutions are required; to gain commitment by making consensual decisions; to encourage one or both participants.

Communication plays an essential role in the emergence of Conflicts and in the behavior that is followed when using the Strategies for the solution that is intended to be given to the

Communication is defined as a process by which people try to share meaning through the transmission of symbolic messages. This definition includes three essential points: People, and therefore to understand Communication it is necessary to try to understand how people relate to each other; it is about sharing meaning, which means that in order for people to communicate, they have to accept the definitions of the words they are using; it is symbolic, the sounds, gestures, letters, numbers and words only represent or are an approximation of the ideas you are using.

The fact that iInterferences that limit understanding of the message emitted (Barriers) has a negative impact on the communicative act. In the interaction established by the sender-receiver, the presence of these Communication Barriers can distort a situation of Conflict, the image that each party has of the Conflict and the one that each of them has with respect to the other in the situation that face. Hence the need to reduce the existence of Communication Barriers to achieve the least distorted perception of the communication as possible. Conflict situation, the position of the other with respect to his opponent and with respect to the Conflict and also the Strategy that he employs in those circumstances. All this will affect the success of the communication process and consequently in the resolution of the Conflict.

For the development of the socio-psychological training, a group of 12 people who were members of the board of directors of the organization under study, all of whom showed interest in participating in the same.

The Sociopsychological Training is designed in 3 stages with 11 sessions of an hour and a half of group work. The diagnostic stage consisted of 3 sessions, the intervention stage with 6 sessions and the Confirmation stage with 2 sessions carried out 5 weeks after the intervention stage. The sessions have a weekly frequency and a duration of 2 hours.

Diagnostic Stage Its objective was to diagnose conflict resolution strategies and their contingent use. With the tasks: Observe a Board of Directors; form the working group; apply techniques that allow the identification of conflict resolution strategies and communication barriers; analyze the results obtained in the techniques; make an intervention proposal taking into account the results obtained.

Intervention Stage. Objectives: to promote the contingent use of conflict resolution strategies; promote the reduction of the Communication Barriers diagnosed. With the tasks: Implement the work techniques for the development of the sessions; analyze the results of the techniques performed.

Verification Stage. Objective: to verify the contingent use of conflict resolution strategies. And the lowering of communication barriers. With the tasks: Carry out group work sessions where the expected changes are verified with the performance of techniques; compare the results of the Diagnosis Stage and the Verification Stage.

Diagnostic stage: It was revealed that in conflict situations, the strategies most used by the board of directors when working as a team they are: collaborate used in 59.6% of the cases and evade used in 29.8%, in the rest of the conflict situations presented, the strategies compete, please and compromise are used, without any of them reaching hundreds relevant.

When managers face conflict situations individually, the most used strategies are: collaborate, compete and please.

The existence of Communication Barriers is also diagnosed: the habit of bad listening in 83.3% of the subjects; evaluation by 50.0%; emotions by 25.0% and stereotyping by 8.33%. Physical Barriers affect 100% of the subjects and are present throughout the Stage.

As the presence of communication barriers in the subjects and in the external environment where the group work sessions take place is evident; It was decided to include two group work sessions in the Intervention Stage to promote the reduction of same and favor the development of Sociopsychological Training in the use of Conflicts

Verification Stage: It is revealed that the strategies most used by the board of directors when working as a team are; collaborate 49.6%, compete 20.8% and agreement with concessions 18.7%. The rest of the strategies do not reach relevant hundreds in the frequency of use. Conflict resolution strategies are used contingentially in 84.37% of conflicts; and not contingently by 15.62%.

When working individually, the most used conflict resolution strategies are: collaborate, compromise, compete and please.

The personal communication barriers They are manifested as follows: evaluation in 18.18% of the subjects; stereotyping in 9.09% and the habit of bad listening in 45.5%. 81.81% of the subjects report that they are affected by Physical Barriers.

When comparing the results in both stages, it is found that: the number of subjects who use conflict resolution strategies to collaborate, settle with concessions and compete increases. Decrease the number of subjects that employs the conflict resolution strategy to please. It is evident that the subjects incorporate Conflict Resolution Strategies that they did not use in the diagnosis stage. The number of situations in which conflict resolution strategies are contingently used is increasing. Personal communication barriers that are manifested in the work of these managers decrease, particularly those related to the habit of bad listening and evaluation; those referring to emotions no longer appear. The number of subjects who report feeling affected by Physical Barriers decreases.

As a team, the use of conflict resolution strategies increases, collaborate, and compromise. Like the contingent use of conflict resolution strategies.

Sociopsychological Training promoted the contingent use of Conflict Resolution Strategies in the Board of Directors of the organization in which they worked, both for the type of strategies most frequently used, and for the increase in their use on a contingency basis. At the individual level, managers modified the conflict resolution strategies used and reduced the presence of personal communication barriers.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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