Conflict: Definition Peace and conflict research assume that conflicts are the expression of opposing interests that

that they are characteristic for modern societies that they are endemic in modern societies

A conflict exists when two people wish to carry out acts which are mutually inconsistent. They may both want to do the same thing, such as eat the same apple, or they may want to do different things where the different things are mutually incompatible, such as when they both want to stay together but one wants to go to the cinema and the other to stay at home. By learning to constructively resolve conflict, we can turn a potentially destructive situation into an opportunity for creativity and enhanced performance.

Sources of Conflict When people work together, conflict becomes a part of doing business--it's a normal occurrence in any workplace. Notably, managers spend a minimum of 25 percent of their time settling conflict in the workplace, according to the University of Colorado Faculty and Staff Assistance Program. Workplace conflict often stems from issues between employees within the company. Differing Values The workplace consists of individuals who all have their own perspective of the world. Some employees have strong beliefs, which they are not willing to compromise. These beliefs can conflict with coworkers, creating conflict. For example, if one individual strongly opposes workplace diversity, he may have trouble accepting other workers different from him. To avoid

conflict with these workers, he must try to accept or initiate more tolerance of those with differing values. Opposing Interests When an employee decides to pursue her own career goals, without regard for the organizational goals and its well-being, it results in strife among her coworkers. This occurs when the employee becomes so focused on achieving her own objectives, she disregards how it affects others within the company and the company itself. For instance, she may forget that she is a part of a team, in which the goal is to work together on a specific assignment. Consequently, she may work according to her own schedule and in the manner she sees fit, building resentment in her coworkers. Personality Conflicts No two people are exactly alike. Therefore, personality clashes in the workplace are unavoidable. One employee may have a reserved personality while another may be more outgoing and forward. Problems arise when the two do not understand or respect each others' inner nature. For instance, the more extroverted employee may feel slighted if the more introverted worker doesnt talk to him much. He may perceive it as a slight, rather than it simply being the employees personality. Furthermore, his approach to handling projects may be analytical while hers is intuitive. When the two do not understand and respect each others' approach, conflict occurs. Poor Communication Poor communication leads to misunderstanding and strife among employees. For instance, misunderstandings can occur if the manager asks one employee to relay important instructions to the other employees, but the employee fails to do so appropriately. Conveying wrong information can lead to projects being incorrectly done and to employees blaming each other for the end result.

Personal Problems If the employee has problems outside of the workplace, such as marital or parental issues, she may take them to work with her. Consequently, if she is short and withdrawn from her coworkers, and if they are ignorant about the cause of her behavior, they will assume that she has an issue with them. Therefore, if she is not willing to divulge her problems to her coworkers, she should leave them at home. There are many causes or reasons for conflict in any work setting. Some of the primary causes are: Poor Communication: different communication styles can lead to misunderstandings between employees or between employee and manager. Lack of communication drives conflict underground. Different Values: any workplace is made up of individuals who see the world differently. Conflict occurs when there is a lack of acceptance and understanding of these differences. Differing Interests: conflict occurs when individual workers fight for their personal goals, ignoring organizational goals and organizational well-being. Scarce Resources: too often, employees feel they have to compete for available resources in order to do their job. In a resource scarce environment, this causes conflicts despite awareness of how scarce resources may be. Personality Clashes: all work environments are made up of differing personalities. Unless colleagues understand and accept each others approach to work and problem-solving, conflict will occur.

Poor Performance: when one or more individuals within a work unit are not performing - not working up to potential and this is not addressed, conflict is inevitable. Resolving Workplace Conflict Using Dispute Resolution Addressing Conflict There are a number of ways that can be utilized to address workplace conflict: 1. Avoidance: hiding our head in the sand, hoping the conflict will go away. 2. Collaboration: working together to find a mutually beneficial solution. 3. Compromise: finding the middle ground whereby a little is given and little is gotten. 4. Competing: may the best person win. 5. Accommodation: surrendering our own needs and wishes to please the other person. 6. It is generally believed that either collaboration or compromise are the most productive forms of addressing conflict because there is not a winner or loser but rather a working together for the best possible solution.

TYPES OF CONFLICT

In the workplace, conflict is inevitable, usually occurring when one party perceives that their interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party. Conflict can produce either a positive or negative outcome. By being able to identify potential conflict before it arises and knowing how to effectively manage it, you will be able to help your staff increase the chances of turning conflict into a positive outcome.

There are two types of conflict, functional and dysfunctional. Functional conflicts Functional conflicts are constructive, support company's goals, and improve performance. your

It generally involves people who are genuinely interested in solving a problem and are willing to listen to one another. Stimulating functional conflict is a great way to improve your team's performance and generate new ideas. It involves getting your team to either defend or criticize ideas based on relevant facts rather than on the basis of personal preference or political interests. There are two widely accepted techniques for doing this: devil's advocacy and the dialectic method. Devil's advocacy This method involves assigning a team member the role of a critic. This person should always question and critique any ideas that your team may have, usually resulting in critical thinking and reality testing. However, it is recommended that this role gets rotated amongst your team to avoid any particular person from developing a strictly negative reputation.

Dialectic method This approach involves facilitating a structured debate of opposing views prior to making a decision. By hearing the pros and cons of all the different your team will have greater success in making decisions. However, it should be noted that a major drawback method is that the emphasis to win a debate often the issue at hand. ideas, sound of this clouds

Dysfunctional conflicts Dysfunctional conflicts on the other hand, consist of disputes and disagreements that hinder your company's performance. This generally involves people who are unwilling to work together to solve a problem and is often personal. When dysfunctional conflicts arise in the workplace, there are various methods for dealing with it, including: integrating, obliging, dominating, avoiding, and compromising. 1. Integrating This method is also known as problem solving and generally involves encouraging opposing parties to deal with an issue and cooperatively identify the problem, generate alternative solutions and select the most appropriate solution. Misunderstandings and similar disputes can often be resolved using this method. 2. Obliging This occurs when a person neglects their own concern in order to satisfy the concern of the opposing party. A characteristic of this conflict management style includes

playing down commonalities. 3. Dominating

differences

while

emphasizing

on

Also referred to as forcing, people that adopt this approach often have an "I win, you lose" mentality. Dominating relies on formal authority to force compliance and is generally appropriate when unpopular but necessary solutions are implemented. 4. Avoiding This involves either passive withdrawal from the problem or active suppression of the issue. It is generally appropriate for trivial issues or when the negative effects of confrontation outweigh the benefits of resolving the conflict. 5. Compromising This is a give-and-take approach for resolving dysfunctional conflicts and is particularly useful when the parties involved possess equal power. The following are some examples of situations that can produce either functional or dysfunctional conflict: Incompatible personalities Overlapping or unclear job boundaries Competition for limited resources Inadequate communication Interdependent tasks Unreasonable rules Unreasonable deadlines or extreme time pressure Collective decision making (the greater the number of people participating in a decision, the greater the potential for conflict) Decision making by consensus Unresolved or suppressed conflicts

As a leader or manager, you should be continually aware of staff interactions within the workplace. As such, you should carefully observe and react appropriately to these early warning signs as they have the potential to lead to major conflict, reduce morale, motivation and cause business inefficiency. 5 STAGES OF CONFLICT PROCESS The conflict process can be seen as comprising five stages (1) potential opposition or incompatibility (2) Cognition and personalization (3) intentions (4) Behavior (5) Outcome.

Stage 1: Potential opposition or incompatibility: The first step in the conflict process is the presence on conditions that create opportunities fo rconflict to rise. These causes or sources of conflict have been condenses into three general categories (1)Communications

(2) Structure (3) Personal Variables. (1)Communications: Different words connotations, jargon insufficient exchange of information and noise in communication channel are all antecedent conditions toconflict. Too much communication as well as too little communication can rely foundation for conflict. (2)Structure: The term structure is used, in this context to include variables such as size, degree of specialization in the tasks assigned to group members, jurisdictional clarity, members/ goal compatibility, leadership styles, reward systems and the degree of dependence between groups. The size and specialization act as forces to stimulate conflict. The larger the group and the more specialized its activities, the greater the likelihood of conflict. Tenure and conflict have been found to be inversely related. The potential for conflicts tends to be greatest when group members are younger and when turnover is high. The greater the ambiguity in defining where responsibility for action lies, the greater the potential forconflict to emerge. Such Jurisdictional ambiguity increases inter group fighting for control or resources and territory. (3)Personal Variables: Certain personality types- for example individuals who are highly authoritarian and dogmatic- lead to potential conflict. Another reason for conflictis difference in value systems.

Value differences are the best explanations of diverse issues such as prejudice disagreements over ones contribution to the group and rewards one deserves. Stage 2: Cognition and personalization: conflict must be perceived by the parties to it whether or not conflict exists is a perception issue. If no one is aware of a conflict, then it is generally agreed that no conflict exists. Because conflict is perceives does not mean that is personalized. For e.g. A may be aware that B and A are in serious disagreements but it may not make A tense or nations and it may have no effect whatsoever on As affection towards B It is the felt level , when individuals become emotionally involved that parties experience anxiety , tension or hostility. Stage2 is the place in the process where the parties decide what the conflict is about and emotions plays a major role in shaping perception. Stage 3: Intentions: Intentions are decisions to act in a given way intentions intervene between peoples perception and emotions and their overt behavior. Using two dimensions cooperativeness (the degree to which one party attempts to satisfy the other partys concerns)and assertiveness (the degree to which one party attempts to satisfy his or her own concerns)- five conflict handling intentions can be identified. 1) Competing: when one person seeks to satisfy his or her own interests regardless of the impact on the other parties to the conflict, he is competing. 2) Collaborating: A situation in which the parties to a conflict each desire to satisfy fully the concerns of all the parties. In collaborating, the intention o the parties are to

solve the problem by clarifying differences rather than by accommodating various points of view. 3) Avoiding: a person may recognize that a conflict exists and want to withdraw from it or suppress it. Avoiding included trying to just ignore a conflict and avoiding others with whom you disagree. 4) Accommodating: The willingness of one partying a conflict top lace the opponents interest above his or her own. 5) Compromising: A situation in which each party to a conflict is wiling to give up something. Intentions provide general guidelines for parties in a conflict situation. They define each partys purpose. Yet people intention is not fixed. During the course of conflict, they might change because of reconceptualization or because of an emotional reaction to the behavior of other party. Stage 4: Behavior: This is a stage where conflict becomes visible. The behavior stage includes the statements, actions and reactions made by the conflicting parties. These conflict behaviors are usually overt attempt to implement each partys intentions. Stage 5 Outcomes: The action reaction interplay between the conflicting parties result in consequences. These outcomes may be functional in that the conflict results in an improvement in the groups performance, or dysfunctional in that it hinders group performance. Conflict is constructive when it o improves the quality of decisions o simulates creativity and innovations o encourages interest and curiosity members

among

group

o provides the medium through which problems can be aired and tensions released and o fosters an environment of self evaluation and change. Conflict is dysfunctional when o uncontrolled opposition breeds discontent, which acts to dissolve common ties and eventually leads to the destruction of the group. o Among the more undesirable consequences are a retarding of communication, reductions in group cohesiveness and subordination of group goals to the primacy of infighting between members.

DYNAMICS OF INTER-GROUP CONFLICT The following points are covered in the dynamics of an intergroup conflict:

Changes within each group: When there is inter-group conflict in an organization, systematic changes take place in the perceptions,attitudes and behaviors of the participants. They are as follows: The group demands more loyalty from individual members while facing an external threat. In the face of an external threat, past differences and difficulties between group members are forgotten and group cohesiveness increases. In an inter-group conflict, it is important for a group to respond quickly and in a unified manner to the activities of other groups. In an inter-group conflict, the organization and structure of the work group becomes more rigid. It leads to more coordination of activities, allocution of responsibilities to different group members. Changes in relation between groups: The nature of the relationships between groups also changes markedly during inter-group conflicts. Union-Management relationships during contract negotiations are one of the examples of the group dynamics. It becomes difficult for each group to see the positive behavior and attitude of the other group. Each party undervalues the interests of the other group. The changes that occur are as follows: There are distortions of perception about ones own group and about the other group. The interaction and communication between groups decreases. There is a shift among the groups from a problem-solving motive to a win-lose motive. There is increased ill feeling towards the rival group.