THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA

INSTITUTE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL
ADMINISTRATION AND POLICY STUDIES.
EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND
MANAGEMENT.

NAME: M’HANGO ELIZABETH, MWILOLA

COMP NO: 10105395

COURSE CODE: EAP 9012

ASSIGNMENT No: ONE (01)

LECTURER: DR. CHIMPINDI .F.M

DUE DATE: 30TH APRIL, 2019

______________________________________________

EMAIL ADDRESS: elizabethmhango80@gmail.com

MOBILE No: +260 966 727 236

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Human beings are referred to as social animals. This implies that, human beings do not exist in
isolation but engage in various interactions at different levels of life. According to the bible, God
created the first man (Adam) and saw that it was not good for him to be alone hence, he created
Eve. This shows that human beings were created to interact with each other. There are various
sectors or places at which human interaction can take place such as; places of work, schools,
families, religious centres and many other places that can collectively be called organizations.
An organization can be defined as a unit containing various individuals, such as an institution or
an association that has a specific purpose. However, due to different beliefs and interests,
conflict is inevitable between two or more people during an interaction. According to Baron,
(1990), conflict is defined as, “an interactive process manifested in incompatibility, disagreement
or dissonance within or between social entities.”

There are various forms of conflict that may arise in an organization as individuals interact with
each other. If left unattended, the climate of an organization may be unsuitable leading to deficits
in attaining the organizational goals. This calls for immediate intervention to provide long lasting
solutions to the concerns raised in a conflict. This essay therefore will discuss in detail the
different types of conflicts in an organization and will later suggest ways of resolving the
identified conflicts. A conclusion will thereafter be drawn to sum up the essay.

People in organizations come from different backgrounds and forms of life with different
perspectives of how things are viewed. Workplace or organizational conflict is mainly caused by
the authentic or observed disapproval of needs, values and interests between people working
together. This conflict can occur in individuals, between individual and between groups.

The first type of conflict is internalized or conflict within the individual. This occurs amongst
people existing in distinct functional areas or levels. It arises when people interacting have
different patterns of behavior as well as different interests. Another way in which internalized
conflict can arise is when people in an interaction react differently to certain value systems in a
particular situation. For example, two people having different opinions about dressing due to
different cultural beliefs such as an African woman and an American woman. The same
information can be interpreted differently causing a misunderstanding. Different thinking
patterns, castes, religion, nation and others may give rise to internalized conflict in a work place
as human behavior cannot be separated from the culture that surrounds it, (Argyris, 1957).

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Other than that, the organization might come up with various situations that would force people
to see things differently despite having their personal interest. This can be seen when certain
activities such as constant supervision and inspection which ends up in pinpointing
unconventionalities to employees resulting in conflicts within themselves, (Buston University,
2012).

The other type of conflict is interpersonal conflict which involves two or more individuals and is
the most recognized type of conflict. Competing for limited capital and manpower resources
among two managers may give rise to this type of conflict. Scarcity of needed resources that
cannot be shared can perpetuate this kind of conflict. Likewise, two deserving employees up for
promotion despite only one needed. Due to position restraints, this can result in a conflict among
two employees, (Fullan, 2001)

Disagreements over goals and objectives of an organization can also lead to interpersonal
conflict. For instance some of the board of directors of a school may want to distribute condoms
to high school pupils in order to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS as well as teenage pregnancies.
Others may find this proposal morally unpleasant thus, causing interpersonal conflict among the
members of the board. It is observed that interpersonal conflicts are often as a result of
personality clashes as people with widely different characteristics and attitudes are bound to have
views and aims that are inconsistent with the views and aims of others, (Rowland et. al, 2005).

Conflict between the individual and the group is yet another type of conflict in an organization.
All organizations have well established patterns of behavior and norms which every member
needs to adhere to. Conflict may arise when an individual disagrees with the group goals but
satisfy ones social needs. In a financial institution for example, tokens of appreciations are not to
be taken by any employee but due to a financial challenge that one of the employees could be
facing, they might satisfy their need causing conflict with higher authorities. Conflict between an
individual and the group may also arise when for instance, in an educational organization,
lectures decide to go on strike due to unpaid salaries and yet other lecturers do not follow suit
maybe because they love their work and cannot afford staying away (Wang, 2012).

Intergroup conflict is also another type of conflict in an organization. An organization mainly

comprises of interconnecting systems of groups, departments, sections or work teams in which
employees are expected to carry out their duties. Intergroup conflicts are due to distinctive

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factors in the organization structure which makes them not so personal in nature. This can be
viewed by an unceasing conflict between the union and the management. Unreliable incentives
and contradictory performance criteria for different units in groups may give rise to these inter-
unit conflicts. For example, at private schools, teachers who take up extra hours of classes to
maximize excellent performance are entitled to an extra amount. However, due to certain
financial constraints, the school might fail to fulfill their obligation thereby leading to conflict
between the teachers and the school authorities, (Siira, 2007).

Furthermore, inter-organizational conflict is the other type of conflict that involves two
organizations which are dependent on each other. Conflict may arise between buyer
organizations about quantity, quality and delivery of raw materials and other underlying policy
issues. For example, the supplier supplying sub-standard material to an organization might cause
conflict as the quality of the product would be compromised, (Siira, 2012).

Having looked at the various types of conflict, the following are some of the ways in which
conflict can be resolved. The general conclusive reason behind any conflict is that individuals
choose to be assertive as opposed to cooperative. Assertive individuals always attempt to satisfy
their own needs and concerns in given situations that involve conflict whereas cooperative
individuals strive to satisfy other people’s concerns by neglecting theirs. Therefore, these two
sides have to be evaluated when resolving conflict (Burton, 1990).

Based on the two established premises, the first means by which conflict can be resolved is
known as accommodation. This way of resolving conflicts is mostly applicable in cases
involving groups or individuals who might be divided due to differences in views and opinions
in an organization. For the good and progression of that particular organization, one individual or
group having a different opinion might need to reorient their view and see how best they can
accommodate other people’s opinions. Accommodation assures both sides that their opinions
will be considered. In other words there is usually a balance struck to bring up a win-win result
(Jeong, 2008).

Conflicts that arise within the organization between individuals as established earlier are mainly
triggered by trivial or personal matters. However, no matter how trivial they are, they have the
capacity to impede the proper running of an organization. Therefore individuals who are caught
up in such matters need to learn the art of avoiding. Avoiding as a conflict resolution strategy is

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neither assertive nor cooperative. This implies that the people in the conflict simply decide to
ignore the conflict and shun from resolving it. An example is that of two female co-workers who
argue over which office should house the water dispenser. One of them might decide to be
neither assertive nor cooperative and just walk away from the scene in anger. With time, such a
conflict will cool off and the situation eventually normalizes. However this strategy only offers a
temporal fix to the conflict and sooner or later the conflict may be resuscitated (Mitchell et al,
1996).

The third strategy in resolving conflicts is collaboration. Collaboration is totally the opposite of
avoiding. From the aforementioned example, instead of one individual avoiding the issue at
hand, she might need to consider the most profitable way by discussing with the colleague and
cooperating while being assertive. The final solution should be one that satisfies both parties, that
is putting the water dispenser mid-way of both office rooms. This strategy can also be used in
much more complex matters where there might be a lot of misunderstanding for example
between two shareholders of a huge company. The two might need to explore the conflict and
come up with solutions which will benefit them both (Uwazie, 2000).

Compromising is also another way of resolving conflicts. Some forms of conflict such as
differences and failing to agree on goals are as a result of groups or individuals seeking to have
their way more than others. Compromising suggests that one should find some expedient and
mutually acceptable solution to benefit both parties involved in the conflict. Compromising is
also one of the quickest ways of resolving conflict. However this strategy in most cases leaves
the solutions inconclusive implying a temporal fix (Jeong, 2008).

Lastly competition as a conflict resolution strategy is assertive and not cooperative in nature. In
other words an individual pursues his own concerns at the expense of the others. In interpersonal
conflict in big organizations, the most powerful person in rank is most likely to have their way in
winning a conflict. However this way of resolving conflict usually breeds resentment (Burton,
1990).

In conclusion, as long as humans continue to exist, conflicts will always be part of them. In other
words the strategies and styles of resolving conflicts are not exhaustive. This is because there
will always be complex conflicts which will need more than just a strategy. However, as
discussed, the mentioned conflicts and methods of resolution are quite helpful in many set ups of

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conflicts. Amidst all forms of conflicts, when individuals apply compromise, competition,
avoiding, collaboration, and accommodation, conflict resolution will always be an easy matter to
handle in organizations.

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