Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION TO CONFLICT MANAGEMENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES + Understand the significance of conflict management. + Know different viewpoints about conflict. + Appreciate the nature of conflict and its components. + Identify two perspectives of conflict. + Describe four basic types of conflict. + Explain models of conflict. + Distinguish between functional and dysfunctional conflict. + Describe the relationship between conflict and performance. Conflicts are endemic to the human society. Our workplace is so often infected by grudges, rumours, grumbling, ‘unpleasant comments, gossips and politicking that it leads to an atmosphere of suspicion, mistrust and negativity, Sometimes the circumstances become $0 difficult that employees do not like to even see each other's face, leave aside work together. It spreads to the personal level leading to mixing up of professional and personal lives and annihilating the organizational harmony. Meanwhile, there are companies where employees love to work because they can express theie feelings to their colleagues and trust the organization and its leadership. In such places, mutual help takes top priority among employees, The bonding becomes so strong the employees fee! like a “family”. Such employees make a better team as they respect their organizations and take utmost interest in their tasks. Conflict arises due to a variety of factors. These may be individual differences in goals, expectations, values and proposed courses of action or suggestions about how best to handle a situation, When we add to these differences the unease arising out of a business’ future, conflict often increases {1 & 2]. Conflict is further aggrevated in today’s context due to changes in technology, global shifting of power,political unrest, financial uncertainties, operational procedures, personnel, clientele, produet line, financial climate and even philosophy and/or vision. These, along with many other factors, make conflict a reality. Conflict exists within an organization and is endemic irrespective of whether or not dealing with confit in its various forms. Many managers see it as something to be suppressed or avoided in all situations and at while others feel that as managers, their role is to maintain peace at all costs. However, recent view highlights conflict as an indieation that specific situation/issue/event needs their immediate attention (3). Just as a physical discomfort may be a symptom of a graver corporate is desirable, Managers spend a lot of time cost, ‘ness, cor conflict that has arisen in an organizational set-up requites to be solved. Its up to the management gurus to find ways of handling them without much loss of resources and/or manpower. In the past, management theorists used the term ‘conflict avoidance’ but today this phrase is increasingly being replaced with “contict management’. It recognizes that while conflict does have associated costs, if handled constructively, it can also bring with it great benefits [4]. For example, confrontation if understood in right perspective ean lead to change, change ean lead to adaptation, and, et may hint towards a potentially serious (or developing) situation in the organization that needs attention. Any kind of adaptation can lead to survival and even prosperity [5]. It fosters an understanding and appreciation of differences. This viewpoint highlights shift in the p the midst of unsettling events igm. Managers need to develop flexibility and new coping skills to function in a positive, productive way in 1.1 DIFFERENT SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT ON CONFLICT ‘The traditional view of confliet believes that conflict of all kinds is harmful and must be avoided. According to this school of erefore, thought, conflict serves no useful purpose because it distracts managers’ attention and diverts their energy and resources. T conflict should be avoided. It views conflict as 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 [6]. Since all conflicts are bad, efforts should be made to find out the causes of confliet and correct them in order to improve group and organizational performance. This view of conflict prevailed during 1930s and 1940s. ‘The human relations view of conflict believes that conflict is natural and isan inevitable outcome in any group [6]. It should be accepted as a reality. Sometimes, conflict leads to improvement in group performance and it can be a desirable state. Successful management of confliet does not mean total elimination of conflict rather it involves both sustaining a target level of conflict and. selecting a conflict-reduction strategy to handle conflict when it disrupts performance or interpersonal relations. This view dominated contfliet theory from the late 1940s through the mid-1970s,‘The interactionist view of conflict believes that conflict is not only a positive fore in a group but also it is absolutely necessary for a group to perform effectively [6] Tis based on the belief that a harmonious, peaceful, tranquil and cooperative group is prone to become static, apathetic and non-responsive to the need for change and innovation (7). In situations that call for ereativity and when discussion of alternatives are needed (as when resisting a tendency towards groupthink), the stimulation of conflict is one of the solutions to handle the situation, Managers can purposely create conflict to keep the group viable, self-critical and ereative 1.2 UNDERSTANDING CONFLICT According to Oxford English Dictionary, conflict refers to a series of disagreement or argument; incompatibility between opinions, principles, ee. For example, “he had a dispute with his brother", “the irreconcilable differences between politcal partes like “the familiar conflict between Congress and the BJP". Use of words lke dispute, disagreement, incompatibility and dijference of opinion ‘holps us to understand that there is confit. ‘A conflict exists when two people wish to carry out acts that are mutually inconsistent, They may both want to do the same thing, ssuch as eat the same mango, or they may want todo different things where the different things are mutually incompatible, such as when ‘they both want to stay together but while one wants to go to the cinema hall, the other wants to go to the library. The definition of confit can be extended from individuals to groups (states or nations), and more than two parties can be involved in the conflict. The principles remain the same (8). Conflict is an overt expression of tensions between the goals or concerns of one party and those of another. ‘The core conflict lis in the opposing interests ofthe involved parties. It isa state of disharmony between incompatible persons, ideas ‘or interests, It is the perception in the mind of an individual or group that the other person or group is hindering the first party from achieving his/theie goal. Conflict ean arise because of the combination of interdependence or interaction ot incompatibility of the goals ean be understood as a state of open, often prolonged, fighting a battle or war. ILis a psychic struggle, often unconscious, resulting from the opposition or simultaneous functioning of mutually exclusive impulses, desires or tendencies. Conflicts are complex processes. There are three factors that influence conflict, They are altitudes, behaviours and structure, Bach factor influences and is influenced by the others. Attitudes include the parties’ perceptions and misperceptions of each other and of themselves. These can be positive or negative. Behaviours can include cooperation or coercion, gestures signifying coneiliation oF hostility, Violent conflict behaviour is characterized by threats, coercion and destructive attacks. Structures refer to the organizational mechanisms, processes and groups that influence recognition and identity needs. Conflict is « dynamic process in which structure, attitudes and behaviours are constantly changing and influencing one another. It ‘emerges as parties’ interests come into conflict or the relationship they are in becomes offensive.«3 COMPONENTS OF CONFLICT Conflict has been defined in many ways. Analysis of the definitions emphasizes three aspects of conflict, namely, disagreement, interference and negative emotion [9-14]. It corresponds to three components of conflict—eognitive, behavioural and affective Confit can be equated with the presence of disagreement (15) Its the most frequently occuring issue in a workplae scenario. Disagreement exists when parties think tht a divergence of values, needs interests, opinions, gals or objectives exists It corresponds to the eognitive aspect ofthe confit. Secondly, conflict highlights behavioural aspects, such as debate, arguments, competition, political manoeuvring, backstabbing, aggression, hostility and destruction. While such behaviours may be typical of conf, they do not always imply the existence of confit. 12s only when the hchavious of one party interfere with or oppose other party's altainment ofits own interests, objectives or goals, conic is said to exist, Confit is perceived as interference. Iti". a process in which one party perceives that ts interests are being apposed or negatively affected by another party” [4] Finally, while a number of affeetive states have been associated with conflict, overwhelmingly, it has been negative emotions such 1s fear, jealousy, anger, anxiety and frustration that have been used to characterize conflict. Presence of any one ofthe three properties (pure disagreement, pure interference or pure negative emotion) isnot sufficient to label a situation as conflictual. For example, pare disagreement occurs when there are opinion differences concerning goals, tasks or activities, It may not be aecompanied by any interference or negative emotion (asin the ease of pure disagreement. Just because people disagree does not mean that they are in confit. ‘time, these disagreements are not very relevant or important to an individual; sometimes these differences are easly resolvable and hold the potential for win-win solutions, In that case, the situation cannot be labelled as conflict. An example of pure interference would be a situation where the behaviour or action of one individual tentionally prevents another from attaining his or her goals, perhaps by sheer coincidence. Such involuntary, accidental acts of terference would not generally be seen of labelled as conflict, Finally, organizations are replete with instances of pure negative emotions. Often, individuals dislike or hate others without necessarily disagreeing or interfering with them. Their negative emotions ‘could stem from others’ personal or physical attributes, their choice of friends and associates, or from their past behaviours. Again, just ‘because one employee dislikes another as an individual, it does not mean that he or she would always be in conflict with that person, especially when their work related views and opinions are quite similar. Intuitively, the above examples provide instances of pure agreement, pure interference behaviour and pure negative emotion that would not generally be labelled as conflict. However, itis important to note that such situations may not be the norm in organizational life. More often than not, disagreement, interference and negative emotion are likely to oceur together. Past conilits could spill over leading to greater disagreement, interference and negative emotion in the present situation, In addition, current instances of pure disagreement, pure interference and pure emotion, may foster confliet inthe future, Confit can be defined from a multiple perspective, Conflict does not exclusively refer to its antecedent conditions or individual awareness of it, or certain affective states, or its overt manifestations oF its residues of feeling but to all of these taken together [10]. This view corresponds to the sub-area labelled "D.I. NE’ in Figute 1.1, Most reviews of the conflict domain suggest that conflict should be defined using multiple themes or properties, Interpersonal confit is defined as a dynamie process that occurs between interdependent parties as they experience negative emational reaetions to perceived disagreements and interference with the attainment of their goals {16}. According to this definition, interpersonal conflict exists only when all its three components (i. disagreement, interference and negative emotion) are present in a situation. Cases of pure disagreement, pure interference, pure ‘emotion or eases combining only two of these components, are not considered tobe instances of interpersonal conflict. They have been, explained in Figure 1.16},D Disagreement I Interference NE Negative Emotion Figure 1.1 Conflict: disagreement, interference and negative onship. ‘To summarize, an episode of conflict can be understood by analyzing the needs, perceptions, power, values, feelings and emotions and behaviours of the people who are party tothe conflict 1.4 PERSPECTIVES OF CONFLICT sof conflict, namely, cognitive and interactional perspective. Researches have revealed that there are two persps Cognitive Perspective of Conflict ‘This perspective of conflict emphasizes on how and what people think or on what goes on intellectually ina given situation Individuals interpretation and perception of situation depends on his belief, schemata, atitudes, values, perceptions and attributions. "This school of thought defines a given situation as the knowledge structure or schema people hold. It describes situations as firm, stable entities ot activites with fixed labels. Actors determine the situation by what they perceive. Perceptions of the situation then inluence behaviout and strategie choices made by actors. Cognitive theory of confit is based on certain assumptions: (3) It assumes that individuals are fundamentally goal-oriented whose capacities to use information to accomplish personal and social objectives drive their existence; (i) People are unique; they interpret and produce messages in unique ways. Therefore, the personal characteristics of communieators playa central role in understanding conflict. Researchers, while analyzing the cause of conflict, should take into account individual variations in message production and interpretation. Psychological mechanisms suchas encoding, decoding planning, strategizing, remembering and imagining are the building blocks of the cognitive perspective. This perspective tries to answer certain questions: How do il groups differ in their approach to confit? What traits best predict communi confer? How do perceptions influence communication in confit? What perceptions escalate or mitigate conilet? (17) individuals Interactional Perspective of Conflict ‘This school of thought focuses on the issue that how one behaves in a given situation determines the way other individual/party will react, The way an individual reacts, accordingly the situation is perceived. For example, if the boss talks sternly with the subordinates while giving instruction, the subordinates will react accordingly. The actions or behaviours are a series of interconnected events, Interpretation is done through the pattern of those interlocked events, Actors through their behaviours negotiate situations, It regards situations as largely emergent. A situation is seen as far more fluid than fixed. People create the situations they perceive, what they perceive is also influenced by what they do, It depends on how the conversation continues to unfold between individuals or groups and that behaviour defines the situation. Situation will be differently defined when other behaviours are introduced [17]. Consistent with this position, the interactional perspective also embraces the idea of mutual influence. Communication is not so much a product that is produced, as it isa process that is enacted. As an ongoing process, any given behaviour is influenced more by preceding behaviours than by personality or situational constraints. Three questions dominate the interactional perspective: ‘© What rules or structures do people use to make interpretations and construct social meanings in conflict situations?© What interactional patterns exist in con © How do people use messages to accomplish multiple goals in conflicts? In general, theories either attempt to predict or describe relationships. Therefore, these theories are often labelled as either predictive or descriptive. Predictive theories answer the ‘why’ behind relationships. For example, a predictive theory might attempt to explain the connection between verbally aggressive remarks and conflict escalation. Descriptive theories, on the other hand, uncover ‘how’ people do what they do. Although they sometimes have predictive utility, their main focus isto address changes in behaviour over, time. Descriptive theories explain the interaction process. It attempts to uncover how people engage in verbally aggressive behaviour or escalation. What form do the remarks commonly take? What social rules apparent guide such interactions? How does one escalation tactic affect another tactie? These are common questions answered in such deseriptive inquity, Cognitive perspectives generally attempt to predict conflict outcomes whereas theories working from the interactional perspective attempt to deseribe interaction processes. 1.5 TYPES OF CONFLICT Fout different types of contlct are described in the following text. Goal Conflict Conflict arises when an individual selects o is assigned goals that are incompatible with each other. Goal incompatibility refers to the extent to which an individual's or group's goals are at odds with one other. For example, a student may set goals of earning Rs. 500 a week and achieving an 8-grade point average (on a 10 point system) while being enrolled full-time during the coming semester. A month into the semester, the student may realize that there aren't enough hours in the week to achieve both the goals. The student may then face inmer conflict hecause ofthe difficulty in achieving grade point average that he had targeted (i.e. eight) and the money he wanted to fear. Here, the two goals are—earning Rs. 500 and achieving eight grade point. They are incompatible goals, taking into consideration of time factor for an average student. Several types of goal conflict have been identified. It ean occur when an externally imposed goal conflicts with one’s personal goal; when people are asked to achieve multiple outcomes (e.g. meeting a quantity quota while not making any mistakes) while performing a single task; oF when there isa trade-off between several types of tasks or outcomes when multiple goals or tasks exist (e-. devoting time tosell product A and product B ina limited period of time.) These situations may give rise to confit. Affective Conflict It ean be explained as the incompatible feelings and emotions within the individual or between individuals. Interpersonal conflicts as ‘vel antagonism between groupe are examples of affective confi. Itcan be understood as emotional, soil an personal confit. Most affective conf is focused on personalized anger or resentment, usualy directed at apeciic individuals rather than specific‘ideas. It comes from the perception that one is being attacked or criticized. It provokes hostility, distrust, eynicism and apathy among/within individual/team members thereby obstructing open communication and integration. The causes of affective conflict may ‘be: equity (faimess), dissatisfaction of social needs (such as needs for inclusion, control and affection), emotional states and perceptions. ‘This form of conflict ean be visible or hidden and serves to consume valuable energy or block the ability of the individual/group to conduct its work. Low performing teams are often crippled by affective conflict. It lowers individual team effectiveness. Its effeets can be seen in poor decision quality, lower productivity and less creativity. Cognitive Conflict Itoccurs when ideas and thoughts within an individual or between individuals are incompatible [18]. The effeets of cognitive conflict are mainly positive, like better decision quality, higher productivity and more creativity. Successful teams use a variety of techniques that help them keep ideas separated from people. A hallmark of high performing teams is their ability to critically consider and evaluat ideas. Procedural Conflict Procedural conflict exists when group members disagree about the procedures to be followed in accomplishing the group goal. Union- ‘management negotiations often involve procedural conflicts before the negotiations actually begin. The parties may have procedural conflicts over who will be involved in the negotiations, where will they take place, and when will sessions be held (and how long will they last). After negotiations have been concluded, different interpretations about how a grievanee system is to operate provides another example of procedural conflict [18]. To handle such a confliet, new procedures can be formulated, a new agenda can be suggested or the group goal can be modified. Procedural conflie ean be productive.1.6 MODELS OF CONFLICT Models of conflict help us to understand the processes and factors involved in conflict episode. Researches on conflict highlight two rmodels—the process model and the structural model [19]. 1.6.1 Process Model ‘The process model views confit between two oF more partes in terms ofthe internal dynamics of conflict episodes. Conflict process follows ive stages occurring sequentially ne after the other, They are as follows: 1, Frustration This emotion arises when one party perceives the other party a interfering withthe satisfaction of his own needs, wants, objectives, ete. There are three factors precipitating the condition for conflict inthe frustration stage. They are @) Communication (poor communication arises from semantic difficulties, misunderstandings and ‘noise’ in the communication channels (i) Structure: This includes variables like size, degree of specialization inthe task assigned to group members, jurisdictional clarity, member-goal compatibility leadership styles, reward systems and the degree of dependence between group influence conflict conditions, (ii) Personal variables: These include individual value systems and the personality charaeterisies that account for individual's idiosynerasies and differences [20] 2. Conceptuatization This stage focuses on the way each party understands and perceives the situation. The parties involved define the conflict situation and the salient alternatives available which, in turn, affect the behaviour ofthe other party. |B. Behaviour Here one can observe the actions that result from the perception of conflict that influences the behaviour ofeach party, These influences affect the results in three areas: the orientation in handling conflicts, the strategic objectives which match ‘with orientation, and the tactical hehaviour to achieve the objectives set 4. Interaction The interaction between the two parties either escalates or de-escalates the conflict. 5. Outcome When conflict ceases, we see the results that range from agreement to long-term hostility ‘The process model is generally supported in ‘one stage [20,21 & 22] ature; however, the last two stages, interaction and outcome, ean be combined into 1.6.2 Structural Model “The structural model identifies the parameters that shape the conflict episode. There are four such parameters described below [19]. 1. Behavioural predispesition Ths includes one party's motives, abilities and personality.2. Social pressure The pressure arising from cultural values, organizational work group norms, interest, ad so on. 3+ Incentive structure The objective realty which gives rise to conflict viz., conflict of interests in competitive issues and common problems, 4. Rules and procedures This parameter includes the decision-making machinery, ie. decision rules, negotiation, and arbitration procedures, which constrain and shape the behaviour of those coniliting parties ‘To summarize, the above models suggest that conflict can be defined as an interpersonal dynamic which is shaped by the internal and external environments of the parties involved and this dynamic is manifested in a process which affects group performance either functionally or dysfunctionally [23] 1.7 FUNCTIONAL AND DYSFUNCTIONAL CONFLICTS 1.7.1 Functional Conflict Conflict in organizations can be a positive force. Functional conflict is understood as the creation or resolution of conflict that often. leads to constructive problem solving, improving the quality of decisions, stimulating involvement in the discussion and building group cohesion. It can be introduced in the form of dissenting opinion to counter groupthink. This will result in clarification of important problems and defining and sharpening of the issues as wel. It will also provide more diagnostic information that can generate cues for better organization and management to prevent occurrence of similar problems in future. Evidently, this process helps the individuals to develop understanding, skills and intellect needed to avoid organizational collapse. f course, introduction of conflict motivates individual to perform better and work harder. It satisfies certain psychological needs like dominance, aggression, esteem and ego, thereby providing an opportunity for constructive use and release of aggressive urges. In some eases, it facilitates an understanding ofthe problem, people and interrelationship that exist within them. Within a group, conflict may define, mai ain and strengthen group boundaries, contributing to the group's distinctiveness and. increasing group solidarity and cohesion, Many atime, it leads to alliances with other groups, creating bonds between loosely structured. groups or bringing together diferent individuals and groups in a community to fight a common threat, 1.7.2 Dysfunctional Conflict Dysfunctional conflict can be understood as an undesirable experience that is avoided [24]. It has serious negative effects. It ereates difficulties in communication between individuals, breaks personal and professional relationships and reduces effectiveness by causing, tension, anxiety and stress, Intense confliets over a prolonged period affect individuals emotionally and physically and this gives rise to psychosomatic disorders and in some cases a total breakdown of rules, undermining morale or self-concept of human existence. The ‘various types of responses to conflit are shown in Figure 1.2.Responses to Conflict ————_ AVOIDANCE DIFFUSION DISAGREEMENT Hide | [ignore] [Postpone] [Wait] [ Violently Nonviolently Physical | [Psychological Verbal] [intimidation Discuss | |Hear other person’s| | Agree to | | Collaborate feelings point of view disagree FIGURE 1.2 Vi 18 consequences of conflict. bers to voice their complaints leading to internal tension and disruption, It may Conflict within a group ean allow dissatisfied among groups. Member's attention gets diverted from the goals of the group to increase bitterness, alienation and divisiveness wit oeuson the conte, In an organizational set-up, it is observed that conflict may lead to work sabotage, ower employee morale and decline in the market share of produet/services and consequent loss of productivity. Besides, lack of trust and withholding of information lead to ‘communication gap and reduction of job performance incase the parties in conflict are interdependent in completing their jobs. Conflict, based on competition among the co-workers becomes harmful when the goal of the organization is higher product quality. Deep and lasting conflicts that are not addressed may even trigger violence among employees or between employees and others [25]. ‘The dynamics of conflict can be understood through an experiment conducted by Boulding. He studied the impact of introduction of contfict in a group. In the experiment, managers were formed into two groups to solve a complex problem. They were told that theirperformance would be judged by a panel of experts, based on the quantity and quality of the solutions generated. The groups were identical in size and composition, except that one ofthe two groups included a ‘confederate’ or ‘mole’. Before the experiment began, the researcher instructed the confederate to play the role of ‘devils advocate’. His role was to challenge the group's conclusions, forcing others to examine critically their assumptions and the logic of their arguments. At the end of the problem-solving period, the recommendations made by both the groups were compared. The group with the devil's advoeate had performed significantly better in the tasks. It had generated more alteraatives and the group's proposals were judged as superior. After a short break, the groups were reassembled and told that they would be performing a similar task during the next session. However, before they began diseussing the next problem, they were given permission to eliminate one group member. Inthe group containing the confederate, he or she vas asked to leave. The fact thatthe high-performance group expelled its unique competitive advantage because that member made others fel ‘unconformable demonstrates a widely shared reaction to confit: “T know it has positive outcomes for the performance ofthe organization as a whole, but I don't like how it makes me feel personally’ 261 “The decision to remove a member ofan organization for being a trouble maker’ oecurs in real organizations. You must have heard about the Roger Smith and Perot funetional conflict that emerged in 1984. Ross Perot, an outspoken self-made billionaire, sold Electronie Data Systems (EDS) to General Motors (GM) for $2.5 billion and immediately beeame GM's largest stockholder and member of the board. GM needed EDS's expertise to co-ordinate its massive information system. Roger Smith, GM's chairman also hoped that Perot’s fiery spirit would reinvigorate GM's bureaucracy. Almost immediately, Perot became a severe critic of GM's policy and practice. He noted that it took longer for GM to produce a ea than it took the counteyto win the Second World War. He was especially critical of the company’s bureaucracy, claiming that it fostered conformity at the expense of getting results, By December 1986, Roger Smith had apparently had enough of Perot's“reinvigoration’, Regardless of whether his eitcisms were true or functional, the giant automaker paid nearly twice the market value of his stock (8750 million) to silence him and arrange his resignation from the board [26) Another dysfunctional confliet that ean affect organizational set-up is manoeuvring of the opponents in the Tight of weak functional performance Conflict has both positive and negative impact on the performance ofthe organization. It is neither good nor bad; rather it can be used asa tool. As hammer can be used to build a house as well s to destroy things, confit can also be used to bulk as well as to break relationships. Conflict may sometimes be desirable and at other times be destructive. It is important to be confronted rather than to be ignored. Although some conflicts can be avoided and reduced, others have to be resolved and properly managed. A balanced atitude to conflict isto be sensitive to the consequences of conflict, ranging from negative outcomes (loss of skilled employees, sabotage, low quality of work, stress and even violence) to postive outcomes (creative, alternative, inereased motivation and commitment, high quality of work and personal satisfaction) This attitude recognizes that conflict occurs in an organization whenever interests collide Sometimes, employees will think differently, want to act diferently and seek to pursue different goals. When these differences divide interdependent individuals, they need to be managed constructively [27] 1.8 CONFLICT AND PERFORMANCE Figure 1.3 explains the relationship between conflict and performance. As conflict intensity increases, 80 does the level of performance. ‘This, however, has a limit. After a certain point, inerement in conflict intensity badly alfects performance. The graph can be divided into three zones on the basis of level of confliet— Zone 1 (low level of conflict), Zone 2 (optimum level of conflict) and Zone 3 (high level of conflict). They are characterized as low motivational, effective, and psychosomatic zones respectively (28).Zone 1 Zone 2 Zone 3 Low level conflict Optimum level —_ High level conflict conflict High Optimium Performance Boredom fatigue dissatisfaction Exhaustion illness low self esteem Creative problem solving progress Low Low Conflict High FIGURE 1.3 Conflict vs. performance, Low Level of Conflict (Zone 1) ‘When the conflict level is low, the behaviour of the employees is observed to be apathetic, stagnant and non-responsive. It ean be described as dysfunctional conflict. An extremely low level of conflict can result in complacency and poor performance due to lack of ‘novation. Itmay be due to low motivation, Ifa group isin the low motivational zone then there is the necessity of stimulating conflict in order to help the individual/group move towards the effective zone. Constructive conflict may be fostered by dealing with any or all of these variables: task, work environment, interpersonal relations, changes in organizational structure and design, formal or informal communication, super ordinate goals, attitudes and needs of the employees. While doing 0, it should be taken into account that the employees fel the conflict,‘generated asa challenge Optimal Level of Conflict (Zone 2) ‘Optimal conflict level is the level where the conflict is characterized as functional. The behaviour ofthe employee is observed to be viable, selFeritical and innovative. It is the effective zone leading to high productivity outeome, Proper care should be taken to ensure thatthe leve of intensity does not eruss the upper limit ofthe effective zone, “The upper limit of the effective zone varies from person to person, It depends on the tolerance level of an individual and it {determined by job compatibility, job experience, attitudinal framework (negative/ positive attitude towards work, people and problems); personality make-up (characterized by high emotionality/calmness, guilt complex/less guilt prone, submissive/adventurous, low risk- ‘aking/high-risk-taking, conservatism radicalexperi-menting/ dogmatism, external/internal locus of contol, pessimism optimism and suspicious/trustworthy nature) [28]. High Level of Conflict (Zone 3) IF the level of conc is allowed to lapse into extremely high intensity zone, the utility value of conflict becomes dysfunctional. 1t is expressed in terms of disruptive, chaotic and uncooperative behaviour. It canbe deserbed asthe psychosomatic zone. The performance ‘ofthe employee inthis zone i badly affected and onee an employee reaches this stage it is extremely dificult retrieve im back to the cffcctive zone entifyng optimal level of confit for a specific situation requires a good understanding ofthe individuals involved and the nature of their assignments. A manager needs a degree of ereatvity to determine strategies and tacties for reducing o, if mevessary, inereasing the level of conflict. Furthermore, simply inereasing eonfliet when it appears necessary is notin itself sufficient. For eonilet to foster creativity, it must be channelled and directed. Maintaining confit at an optimal point i a difficult managerial challenge (28) 1.9 Relationship between conflict and performance in team A series of experiments have been conducted to examine the relationship between the levels of different types of conflict and team. performance, both in terms ofthe task and individual attitudes (29 & go). It was observed thatthe types of conflict determine the nature ‘of relationship with performance. Types of conflict can he relationship/ affective conflict (interpersonal), task/eognitive conflict (confit ‘over what to-do; ie. ends), and process/procedural conflict (confit over how to doit; ie. means). 1.9.1 Relationship between _Relationship/AffectiveConflict and Performance Relationship/alfeetive conflict focuses on interpersonal differences. It is a perception of incompatibility that other members are preventing the accomplishment of a goal. It is manifested by tension, argument and withdrawal [gi]. The effeets ofthis conflict include behaviours like distraction in the members’ attention, reduction in their ability to think clearly and encouragement of perceptions of hostile intentions in other's actions. It generally has a negative effect on team performance, as the team members spend their time and. ‘energy focusing on each other rather than on the task and therefore the information processing ability is limited. Accusatory attributions for other members’ behaviour are encouraged [32]. Not surprisingly, relationship conflict negatively affects individual satisfaction and commitment to the team, These consequences are magnified in those teams where members must work closely together to achieve their goals. 1.9.2 Relationship between Process/Procedural Conflict and Performance Procedural conflict exists when team members disagree about the procedures to be followed in accomplishing the team goal. As the intensity of conflict increases, the performance of the team is adversely affected, 1.9.3 Relationship between Task/Cognitive Conflict and Performance It is the disagreement over the best way to achieve a group goal. Task conflict has generally been found to have a positive effect on task performance, provided that the level of conflict is appropriate to the complexity and uncertainty of the team's work. For example, a strategic management team may need high levels of disagreement to facilitate the critical evaluation of decisions; conversely a production team following routine procedures may find that even a relatively low level of disagreement interferes with their work. At the same time, task conflict can cause unease among individuals and weaken their commitment towards the team. This effect is mitigated by the extent to which team members believe that they need to work closely together and disagree aver task issues in order to get the job done. In routine tasks, as the level of conflict increases, the performance of the team decreases. In the case of non-routine tasks, ‘moderate task conflict is linked to positive group performance [32]. It encourages a better cognitive understanding of the issue being discussed and so better quality decisions are made. Team members have the opportunity to express theit own perspective or “voice” their opinions, creating an affective acceptance of group decisions [32]. Methods for inducing cognitive conflict ean be done by forcing, ‘members to question assumptions and confront minority opinions [31] Extremely high task conflict can lead to member dissatisfaction and low commitment to the team. Researches have shown that task conflict was effective where decisions were made quickly but not when the decisions were decided on slowly. It was also observed that group members were frustrated when one dissenting member was allowed to substantially delay group decisions [33]. SUMMARY Conflict is a part of organizational life. Through effective conflict management, negative effects may be minimized and its positive effects maximized. There are three different viewpoints on conflict, They are—conflict is preventable, conflict is inevitable and conflict is healthy. A Manager’s viewpoint determines how he/she reacts to conflict. Conflict can be understood in terms of disagreement, interference and negative emotion taken together that corresponds to three dimensions of confliet—cognitive, behavioural and affective. Confliet can be viewed from two different perspectives, which are cognitive and interactional. Cognitive perspective of conflict emphasizes on how and what people think oF on what goes on intellectually in a given situation, Interactional perspective focuses on the issue that how one behaves in a given situation determines the way other individual/party will react. Depending on the way an individual reacts, the situation is also perceived accordingly. ‘There are four basic types of conflict, namely, goal, affective, cognitive and procedural confliets which emphasize on incompatibility of goals, feelings, thoughts and procedures to be followed in aecomplishing the group goal respectively. “There are two different models of conflict, They are process model and structural model. Process model emphasizes that eontliet is not a static condition rather itis a dynamic process, The structural model identifies parameters that shape the conflict episode. They are behavioural disposition, incentive structure and rules and procedures Conflict has both positive and negative impact on the performance of the organization. It creates difficulties in communication between individuals, breaks personal and professional relationships and reduces effectiveness by causing tension, anxiety and stress,Among its positive impact, many a times, creation or resolution of conflict leads to constructive problem solving, improving the quality of decisions, stimulating involvement in the discussion and building group cohesion, Questions - Crtieally diseus the paradigm shift in understanding and handling confit at workplace. - Conflict is a tol in the hand ofthe manager.” Justify the statement. . Define conflict on the basis of cognitive, affective and behavioural components. |. What are the diferent types of conf (Explain with examples. Conflict episode can be explained by process and structure model. 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