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In political terms, conflict can refer to wars, revolutions or other struggles, which
may involve use of force. Without proper social arrangement or resolution, conflict
in social settings can result in stress or tension amongst stakeholders.
Conflict arises when two or more parties, with perceived incompatible goals seek
to undermine each others goal-seeking capability.
However, conflict can also occur in cooperative situations, in which two or more
individuals or parties have consistent goals, but the manner in which one party tries
to reach their goal can still undermine the other individual or party.
Features of Conflict:
Philosophy of Conflict:
The concept of conflict has evolved over a period of time from classical philosophy
of conflict to interactionist philosophy. There are three approaches on how
management views conflict.
These are:
1. Classical approach:
According to this approach, management views conflict as bad and destructive for
organisational performance. Conflict of opinion meant to result in anger and
resentment. This creates disorder in the organisation and effects its smooth
functioning.
Conflict was, thus, dysfunctional (negative) in nature. If there was conflict in the
organisational interest and individual interest, it gave importance to organisational
interest as individual interest is considered subordinate to organisational interest (as
advocated by Fayol). Conflict is thus, destructive as it cannot bind the management
and workers together.
This is also known as the behaviouralists approach to conflict. While the classical
approach views that organisations should not have conflict at all, the human relations
approach assumes that conflict is unavoidable. It is bound to happen because of
differences in opinion and perception amongst individuals.
3. Interactionist approach:
While the human relations approach accepts that conflict is inevitable and, therefore,
acceptable, the interactionist approach takes a broader view of conflict. It encourages
conflict in the organisation as conflict promotes diverse opinions and beliefs. This
promotes new ideas and easy adaptability to environmental changes.
Conflicts keep the group members lively in discussions and creative in idea
generation. Thus, conflict is promoted as it promotes organisational performance.
Causes of Conflict:
1. Differences in perception:
2. Excessive competition:
Organisational resources (men, material, money, space etc.) are scarce and each unit
wants maximum share of it. Competition amongst units for maximum share of
resources leads to conflict.
3. Differences in goals:
4. Interdependence of tasks:
When work is passed from one unit to the other, interdependence amongst units can
lead to conflict. Output of first unit becomes input of second unit. If first unit fails
to process its work on time, the second unit will have to wait and stay idle till it
receives the process. This can cause inter-group conflict.
5. Habit patterns:
Some people like to argue and debate. They enjoy conflict as a matter of habit. It
acts as a motivator for them to improve their performance.
6. Personal characteristics:
When group members differ in work attitudes, age, education, temperament and
status levels, the potential for inter-group conflict is high.
When authority and responsibility of individuals and groups is not properly defined,
people do not understand each others role. There is lack of consistency in work
activities and communication distortions take place. This becomes a source for inter-
group conflict.
Consequences of Conflict:
Conflict has both positive and negative consequences. Positive conflict is known as
functional conflict and negative conflict is known as dysfunctional conflict.
When group members face conflict, they think of all possible solutions to the
problem, evaluate the decisions and use their creative and innovative abilities to
arrive at the best decisions. Inter-group conflict, thus, improves the quality of
decisions and stimulates creativity and innovation. When people have conflicting
opinions, they deeply analyse facts of the case. Deep understanding of concepts
promotes new thinking, new ideas and, thus, fosters innovation.
3. Emergence of leaders:
Everybody does not think alike in conflicting situation. Group members bestow
power on those who can positively contribute to the problem situation to take
decisions. Increased power gives rise to leaders who act as the group captain. This
also reduces rivalry amongst members to become group leaders.
4. Response to change:
Conflict promotes change if people do not readily agree to each other. Differences
in opinions, values and perception introduce new ways of working which is different
from the traditional thinking. Conflicts challenge the existing state of affairs and
promote new ideas and reassessment of current group practices. Conflict signals
something wrong with the present system of working and promotes ability to assess
the present and desire for a better future. Conflict, thus, increases responsiveness of
group to change.
5. Increased productivity:
6. Releases strain:
If group members do not agree with pre-defined values and norms, conflicts give
them a ground for voicing their reservations. This releases strain that would
otherwise remain suppressed in their minds. In conflicting situations, people openly
express their thoughts and feelings, even if they are against the thought process of
other members of the organizations. This releases strain and provides mental
satisfaction to the members.
Conflict tends to divert the main issue of the objective of the organization. A struggle
between groups of employees shifts the objective from the main focus.
Delay decisions
Conflict arises in groups because of the scarcity of freedom, position, and resources.
People who value independence tend to resist the need for interdependence and, to
some extent, conformity within a group. It makes the group delayed during decision
making.
Create deadlocks
If your team deals with important issues and team members have strong views on
those issues, you can end up in a deadlock. When that happens, people dig into their
own preferred solutions, operating from a unilateral control mindset where everyone
believes that he or she understands the situation and is right, and that those who
disagree just dont understand the situation and are wrong. When all team members
are thinking and acting this way, it creates a vicious reinforcing cycle. The more
people try to prevail, the more people stand their ground, and the less likely it is that
the team will ultimately resolve anything.
During conflict, very much active members participate in negotiation, which Drive
unaggressive committee members to the sidelines making themselves non-
participatory members of that group.
The outward display of conflict occurs when the opposing parties plan and follow
through with acts to frustrate one another. In this scenario they avoid listening to
each other tries to focus on individual problems.
When individuals or groups develop conflicting ideas, they avoid interacting with
each other. This reduces communication amongst them leading to inter-group rivalry
and loss of productive ideas. As conflicts lead to disagreement and communication
breakdown, people do not agree with each other leading to splitting up of groups and
units. This diverts energy from organizational goals and leads to instability in the
organizational structure.
As conflict proceeds through the stages, resolution becomes more difficult. People
become more locked into their positions and more convinced that the conflict must
be a win or lose situation. That makes a situation of obstructing exploration of
more alternatives.
Discontentment can lead to resignation from jobs. If results are not in favour of
people who strongly oppose certain decisions, they do not wish to work in those
organizations and look for other job outlets. If these people are dynamic and creative
individuals, it is loss for the organization.
Cause defensiveness