Organisational

Conflicts
“Peace is not absence of conflicts , it is the ability to
handle the conflict by peaceful means.”
- RONALD REAGAN

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A Definition of Conflict

Conflict - “A process that begins whens one party perceives that another party has negatively
affected, or is about to negatively affect, something that the first party cares about”

● Conflict is a perception. If no one is aware of a conflict, then it is generally agreed no

conflicts exists.
● Opposition or incompatibility and some sort of interaction is needed to begin the conflict
process.
● The definition describes that in any ongoing activity when an interaction crosses over to
become an inter party conflict.
● The conflict can range from overt and violent acts to subtle forms of disagreement.
● Conflict enhances understanding of choices, allowing better options thus enhancing
decision making.

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Sources of Conflict
● Incompatibility of Goals
● Differences over interpretations of
Facts
● Disagreement Based on
Behavioural expectations
● Limited Resources
● Departmentalisation and
specialisation
● The nature of work activities
● Role conflict
● Inequitable treatment
● Violation of territory
● Environmental Change
● Individual- attitudes, personality
characteristics or particular
personal needs, illness or stress
● Group- group skills, informal
organisation and group norms
● Organisation- communications,
authority structure, leadership
styles, managerial behavior
● The age gap
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Does Organisational Conflict have a positive
or negative outcome in an organisation?

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Conflict within an organization can lead to creative solutions. As organizations
strive to achieve their goals, they are often met with challenges they must
overcome as a team.
While “conflict” often has a negative connotation, the outcomes of conflict
within an organization can be positive and negative.
Negative Outcomes of Conflict in an
Positive Outcomes of Conflict in an
Organization
Organization

● Better ideas produced; ● Some people felt defeated and

● People are forced to search for new
approaches;
● Long standing problems brought to
surface and resolve;
● Stimulation of interest and
creativity;
● A chance for people to test their
capacities.
demeaned;
● The distance between people
increased;
● A climate of mistrust and suspicion;
● Individuals and groups
concentrated on their own narrow
interests;
● Resistance developed instead of
teamwork;
● An increase in employee turnover. 6
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Transitions in Conflict Thought

01 Traditional View

02 Interactionist View

03 Managed Conflict View

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01 The Traditional View Of Conflict

The Belief that all conflict is harmful and must be avoided.

Conflict was viewed negatively and discussed with such terms as violence, destruction
and irrationality to reinforce the negative connotations.

Conflicts was a dysfunctional outcome resulting from poor communication, a lack of

openness and trust between people, and the failure of managers to be responsive to the
needs and aspirations of their employees.

This view fell out of favour for a long time as researchers came to realise that some level
of conflict was inevitable.

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02 The Interactionist View Of Conflict

The Belief that conflict is not only a positive force in a group but also an
absolute necessity for a group to perform effectively.

Encourages conflict on the grounds that a harmonious, peaceful, tranquil, and

cooperative group is prone to becoming static, apathetic and unresponsive to needs for
change and innovation.

It recognises that a minimal level of conflict can help keep a group viable, self-critical and
creative.

It does not propose that all conflicts are good.

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 For Conflict to be productive,it must be kept in certain boundaries.

For example: one study in China found that moderate level of task conflict in the early
development stage could increase creativity in group, but high levels of task conflict
decreased team performance.

Intense arguments about who should do what become dysfunctional when they create
uncertainty about task roles.

Low to moderate levels of task conflict stimulate discussions of ideas, relate to creativity
and innovation.

● Task Conflict- Conflict over content and goals of work.

● Relationship Conflict- Conflict based on interpersonal relationship.
● Process Conflict- conflicts over how work gets done.
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Example of Functional Conflict
Susie Steel is a vice president in a real estate
development firm called Hearts Development. She
● Awareness of both sides of issues
has spent enormous amounts of energy cultivating a
● Improvement of working conditions due to
relationship with a local town regarding an available
accomplishing solutions together
plot of land. Susie would like to purchase the land to
● Solving issues together to improve overall
build townhomes for sale. She has developed an
morale
excellent relationship with the town politicians and
● Making innovations and improvements
community members.
within an organization
An issue has developed over the planned usage of
In Susie's case, constructive criticism and discussion
the land, though. The town will sell the land to Susie's
resulted in a compromise and a solution between the
company but feels that townhomes would be bad for
parties. Susie understood the town's concern but
the overall community. They're concerned with the
needed to find something to build that would bring
additional cost and burden of kids that the
revenue for the company. Through their joint
townhomes would bring into the community. Susie
meetings, the end solution was for Hearts
understands the community's concern and wants a
Development to build a retirement community,
win-win situation to occur.
which would only have citizens 55 and over living in
She feels that this issue will be a functional conflict the town. This would eliminate the issue of having
due to the fact that the disagreement will bring a more young people come into town and burden the
positive end result to both parties. Positive results of school system.
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functional conflict include:
Example of Dysfunctional Conflict
Task conflict is often functional, but one of its danger is that it can escalate and become a
battle of wills. For example, as a Target corporation investor, William Ackman tried,
unsuccessfully, for many years to convince the retailers to change its business strategy to
improve performance and boost shareholder returns. Ackman sought to bring in new board
members with a proxy vote. He asked shareholders to elect candidates who would bring new
ideas to targets board, which he claimed was slow in making critical decisions. After a long
battle that cost Target millions of dollars in defending itself, the shareholder voted to keep the
current board members. Ackman is shown here meeting with the media after losing the
proxy battle in which his candidates receive less than 20% of the vote.

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03 The Managed Conflict View Of Conflict

This view recognises that conflict is inevitable in most organisations and it

focuses more on productive conflict resolution.

Workplace Conflicts are not productive: they take away time away from job tasks or
interacting with customers, and hurt feelings and anger often linger after conflicts
appear to be over.

It suggests we can minimise the negative effects of conflict by focusing on preparing

people for conflicts, developing resolution strategies and facilitating open discussions.

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The research pendulum has swung from eliminating conflict, to encouraging limited
levels of conflict, and now to finding constructive methods for resolving conflicts
productively so their disruptive influence can be minimised

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Creating functional Conflicts

If managers accept the interaction view toward conflict, what can they do to encourage
functional conflict in their organizations?

Creating functional conflict is a tough job, particularly in large corporations. A high proportion
of people who get to the top are conflict avoiders. They don’t like hearing negatives; they don’t
like saying or thinking negative things.

Such anti-conflict cultures may have been tolerable in the past but not in today’s fiercely
competitive global economy. Organizations that don’t encourage and support dissent may find
their survival threatened. Let’s look at some approaches organizations are using to encourage
their people to challenge the system and develop fresh ideas.

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Hewlett Packard rewards dissenters by recognizing go-against the grain types, or people who
stay with the ideas they believe in even when those ideas are rejected by management.

Herman Miller Inc., an office furniture manufacturer has a formal system in which employees
evaluate and criticize their bosses.

IBM also has a formal system that encourages dissension. Employees can question their boss
with impunity. If the disagreement can’t be resolved the system provides a third party for
counsel.

When the policy committee at Anheuser Busch considers a major move, such as getting into or
out of a business or making a major capital expenditure, it often assigns teams to make the case
for each side of the question. This process frequently results in decisions and alternatives that
hadn’t been considered previously.

The Walt Disney Company purposely encourages big, unruly, and disruptive meetings to create
friction and stimulate creative ideas.

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One common ingredient in organizations that successfully create functional conflict is that they
reward dissent and punish conflict avoiders. The real challenge for managers, however, is when
they hear news that they don’t want to hear. The news may make their blood boil or their hopes
collapse, but they can’t show it. They have to learn to take the bad news without flinching. No
tirades, no tight-lipped sarcasm, no eyes rolling upward, no gritting of teeth. Rather, managers
should ask calm, even tempered questions: Can you tell me more about what happened? What
do you think we ought to do? A sincere Thank you for bringing this to my attention will probably
reduce the likelihood that managers will be cut off from similar communications in the future.

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The Conflict Process

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 Stage I: Potential Opposition or
Incompatibility
● The first step in the conflict process is the appearance of
conditions that create opportunities for conflict to arise.
● These conditions need not lead directly to conflict, but
one of them is necessary if conflict is to surface.
● For simplicity’s sake, we group the conditions into
three general categories:
● Communication
● Structure
● Personal variables.

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 1.1 Communication

● Differing word connotations, jargon, insufficient

exchange of information, and noise in the
communication channel are all barriers to
communication and potential antecedent conditions to
conflict.
● Research has further demonstrated a surprising finding:
the potential for conflict increases when either too little
or too much communication takes place.
● Apparently, an increase in communication is functional
up to a point, after which it is possible to over
communicate, with a resultant increase in the potential
for conflict.
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 1.2 Structure

● Size of the group

● Degree of specialization in the tasks
assigned to group members
● Jurisdictional clarity
● Member–goal compatibility
● Leadership styles
● Reward systems
● The degree of dependence between
groups.
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 1.3Personal Variables

● Personality does appear to play a role in the conflict

process: some people just tend to get into conflicts a lot.
● In particular, people high in the personality traits of
disagreeableness, neuroticism, or self-monitoring are
prone to tangle with other people more often, and to
react poorly when conflicts occur.
● Emotions can also cause conflict.
● An employee who shows up to work irate from her
hectic morning commute may carry that anger with her
to her 9:00 a.m. meeting. The problem? Her anger can
annoy her colleagues, which can result in a tension-filled
meeting.
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 Stage II: Cognition and Personalization

● First, Stage II is important because it’s where conflict

issues tend to be defined, where the parties decide what
the conflict is about.
● Our second point is that emotions play a major role in
shaping perceptions. Negative emotions allow us to
oversimplify issues, lose trust, and put negative
interpretations on the other party’s behavior.
● In contrast, positive feelings increase our tendency to
see potential relationships among the elements of a
problem, to take a broader view of the situation, and to
develop more innovative solutions.

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 Stage III: Intentions
● Intentions intervene between people’s perceptions and
emotions and their overt behavior.identify the primary
conflict handling intentions.
● Using two dimensions—
● Cooperativeness (the degree to which one party
attempts to satisfy the other party’s concerns)
● Assertiveness(the degree to which one party attempts
to satisfy his or her own concerns)
● we can identify five conflict-handling intentions:-
1. Competing
2. Collaborating
3. Avoiding
4. Accommodating
5. Compromising 25
 Stage IV: Behavior

● When most people think of conflict situations, they tend

to focus on Stage IV because this is where conflicts
become visible.
● The behavior stage includes the statements, actions,
and reactions made by the conflicting parties, usually as
overt attempts to implement their own intentions.
● As a result of miscalculations or unskilled enactments,
overt behaviors sometimes deviate from these original
intentions.

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 Stage V: Outcomes

The action–reaction interplay between the conflicting

parties results in consequences.
As our model demonstrates:
● These outcomes may be functional, if the conflict
improves the group’s performance,
● Dysfunctional, if it hinders performance.
● Managing Functional,if managers recognize that in
some situations conflict can be beneficial.

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 TYPES OF CONFLICTS :-

1. THE INDIVIDUAL LEVEL

● Role conflict
● Goal conflict

2. THE INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT

● Vertical conflict
● Horizontal conflict

3. THE GROUP LEVEL CONFLICT

● Intragroup conflict
● Intergroup conflict

4. THE ORGANISATIONAL LEVEL CONFLICT

● Interorganisational conflict

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1. THE INDIVIDUAL CONFLICT

● The analysis of conflict may start at the individual level itself.

● Since the organisation is composed of various individuals, many
conflicts develop at individual level.
● These may be analysed in two ways :- INTERINDIVIDUAL and
INTERPERSONAL
● Conflict at intrapersonal level occurs because a smooth progression of
the need-drive-goal cycle does not occur in reality.
● It may also take place within an individual itself.
● Thereby , an individual experiences two types of conflicts in himself :-
➢ Role conflict
➢ Goal conflict

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GOAL CONFLICT
● It occurs when two or more motives block each other.
● There can be three alternatives of it :-
(i) Approach-Approach Conflict
(ii) Approach-Avoidance Conflict
(iii) Avoidance-Avoidance-Conflict

ROLE CONFLICT
● An individual performs a number of roles.
● When expectations of a role are materially different or opposite from
the behaviour anticipated by the individual in that role, he tends to be in
role conflict because there is no way to meet one expectation without
rejecting the other.

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2. THE INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT
● In an organisational setting, there may be several forms of
interpersonal conflicts, such as, hierarchical conflict between
various levels of management, functional conflict, and so on.
● These may be interpreted in two forms :
1) Vertical
2) horizontal

VERTICAL CONFLICT
Vertical relationship, that is mostly in the form of superior-subordinate
relationship, results into these conflicts which usually arise because
superior attempts to control the behaviour of his subordinates , and
subordinates resist such control.

HORIZONTAL CONFLICT
It is among the person at interpersonal level is among the persons at the
same hierarchical level. These arises due to nature of person and
situational variable.
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3. GROUP LEVEL CONFLICT

● Conflicts may occur at group level,

● A group constitute two or more person who
interact in such a way that each person
influences and its influenced my others.
● There two types :
1.Intragroup
2.Intergroup

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 Intragroup conflict

● Intragroup conflict refers to conflict between two or

more members of the same group or team.

Intergroup conflict

● Intergroup conflict refers to disagreements that exist between

two or more groups and their respective members.

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4. ORGANISATIONAL LEVEL CONFLICT
● In an organisational situation, conflict may arise in a number of different
modes. Such conflicts may be within the organisation itself or between
various organisation.
● These conflicts may be in various forms.

INTERORGANISATIONAL CONFLICT

● Interorganisational interaction results in conflicts among different

organisation but its not necessary that such interaction may result in
conflicts.
● Total conflict is an Inter Organisational relationship in which there is very
little actual interaction, except by force.
● It may include:
1) Conflicts between organisation pursuing similar objectives
2) Conflicts between government agencies and organisation
3) Conflicts between head office and manufacturing units

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Strategies for Managing Conflict

Although a certain amount of organisational conflict may be seen as inevitable, there are a
number of ways in which management can attempt to avoid the harmful effects of conflict. The
strategies adopted will vary according to the nature and sources of conflict

● Clarification of goals and objectives. The clarification and continual refinement of goals
and objectives, role definitions and performance standards will help to avoid
misunderstandings and conflict. Focusing attention on superordinate goals, that are
shared by the parties in conflict, may help to defuse hostility and lead to more
cooperative behaviour.
● Resource distribution. Although it may not always be possible for managers to increase
their allocated share of resources, they may be able to use imagination and initiative to
help overcome conflict situations – for example, making a special case to higher
management; greater flexibility to transfer funds between budget headings; delaying
staff appointments in one area to provide more money for another area.
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● Human resource management policies and procedures. Careful and detailed attention
to just and equitable HRM policies and procedures may help to reduce areas of conflict.
Examples are: job analysis, recruitment and selection, job evaluation; systems of reward
and punishment; appeals, grievance and disciplinary procedures; arbitration and
mediation; recognition of trade unions and their officials.
● Non-monetary rewards. Where financial resources are limited, it may be possible to pay
greater attention to non-monetary rewards. Examples are: job design; more interesting,
challenging or responsible work; increased delegation or empowerment; flexible working
hours; attendance at courses or conferences; unofficial perks or more relaxed working
conditions.
● Development of interpersonal/group process skills. This may help to encourage a better
understanding of one’s own behaviour, the other person’s point of view, communication
processes and problem-solving. It may also encourage people to work through conflict
situations in a constructive manner.

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● Group activities. Attention to the composition of groups and to factors which affect
group cohesiveness may reduce dysfunctional conflict. Overlapping group membership
with a ‘linking-pin’ process, and the careful selection of project teams or task forces for
problems affecting more than one group, may also be beneficial.
● Leadership and management. A more participative and supportive style of leadership
and managerial behaviour is likely to assist in conflict management – for example,
showing an attitude of respect and trust; encouraging personal self- development;
creating a work environment in which staff can work cooperatively together. A
participative approach to leadership and management may also help to create greater
employee commitment.
● Organisational processes. Conflict situations may be reduced by attention to such
features as: the nature of the authority structure; work organisation; patterns of
communication and sharing of information; democratic functioning of the organisation;
unnecessary adherence to bureaucratic procedures, and official rules and regulations.
● Socio-technical approach. Viewing the organisation as a socio-technical system, in which
psychological and social factors are developed in keeping with structural and technical
requirements, will help in reducing dysfunctional conflict.
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