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MGT87500
Dr Daniel Zimmerman
Abstract
Conflict is a natural and inevitable occurrence in any organizational setting which makes it
unavoidable; hence the introduction of concepts like conflict management., conflict resolution
and negotiation. These concepts are supremely important on harnessing the benefits of healthy
conflicts; while also decimating conflicts that debilitate organizations. The review focuses on
types and dimensions of conflicts with various acceptable ways to handle them in an
organization, which in the end will enhance achievement of organizational goals, employee
effectiveness and strategy alignment across all cadre of employees. Unresolved Conflict with the
multidimensional cost is the bane of progress in any organization, whether it is sovereign, public
or private, and as such demands a thorough blend of study for complete grasp of the underlying
factors and conflict dynamics. The organization that will excel in productivity, profitability,
agility and sustainability must incorporate effective management of conflict, as a critical success
factor in its quest to achieve and surpass corporate objectives. This makes the development of
conflict competence, which is the ability to manage conflicts effectively; a key strategic
Impact of Conflict
According to Wall and Callister (1995) conflict can be defined as a process in which
one party or an individual perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by
another party or individual. In other words, Conflict, occurs, when a discrepancy of perspectives
is marked by tension, emotion and polarization, which could be real, imaginary or anticipated.
Survey shows that 20% of Fortune 500 senior executives’ time are spent in litigation-related
activities while in 1995 over 18 million cases were filled in the US with associated cost of 300
billion dollars (Levine, 1998). The number of cases in US as at 2018 has equally increased to
40million with cost estimated at 589 billion dollars which portrays an increase of 100% over
the last two decades; while associated cost increased by 96.3% within the same time interval. In
the same measure the population of lawyers in America indicates a total of 1,338,678 licensed,
active which is a 15.2% rise over the past decade (“Top court Filing Statistics”,2019).
Toffler (1995) proposed that no society changes without conflict; but with conflict, one should
have a clear understanding of what the solutions might be or, at least, some sort of resolution
because there are functional conflicts that can be beneficial to an organization if properly
stimulated as against dysfunctional conflicts that threaten organization. Runde and Flanagan
(2012) assert that when conflict is mismanaged, costs mount and some out-of-pocket costs like
absenteeism and lawsuits are relatively easy to see and compute. Others, like poor decision-
making, lost opportunities and diminished quality of working relationships, can prove more
costly, but they are more difficult to quantify. The term conflict can be viewed differently as war,
The contrast between functional conflict and dysfunctional conflict hinges on whether the
organization is served better or threatened by way of the conflict. Some conflicts support the
objectives of the organization and enhance performance hence the term functional, cooperative
or constructive forms of conflict. There are also the types of conflicts that impede organizational
performance sometimes with gross detrimental effect and these are termed dysfunctional or
destructive conflicts. They are undesirable and the manager should make calculated efforts to
obliterate them from the organization (Robbins,1978). The good understanding on antecedents of
conflict will enable managers become proactive through awareness and anticipation which
should be followed with actions to resolve it, if it becomes dysfunctional. Tjosvold (2010)
proposed three desired conflict outcomes for cooperative conflict model which are equitable and
Types of Conflict
There are three types of conflicts namely personality conflicts, intergroup conflicts and are
briefly analyzed below. Each of these types of conflicts show a different pattern of conflict
antecedent which is of utmost importance for good understanding, if leaders are to be proactive
Personality Conflict
conflict is inevitable in any organization because of different personality traits among employee.
Incivility that erodes healthy organizational values and ethics which leads to depletion of
resources. This Ultimately leads employees to decrease work effort, time on the job,
productivity, and performance. When vicious incivility is not decimated, job satisfaction and
organizational loyalty will fall, which will have negative ramifications on the organization like
Intergroup Conflict
This type of conflict that exist among work groups, teams, and departments is a profound
conflicts through excessive cohesiveness among the in-group members. This leads them to view
others outside their group with disdainful perception while ascribing moral, ideological and apt
superiority to themselves over others. It is worth mentioning that ethnocentrism is a variant of in-
According to the contact hypothesis, the more the members of different groups interact, the less
Cross-Cultural Conflict
Cross cultural conflicts emanate from cross cultural differences and differing assumptions
on management styles, values, and attitudes. The propensity for success when conducting
business across cultures, often hinges on avoiding and minimizing actual or perceived conflicts.
One of the acceptable means of reducing cross cultural organization is by hiring an international
consultant while a manger with good cultural intelligence will also reduce cases of cross-cultural
conflicts
MANAGING CONFLICT AND NEGOTIATION
6
Managing Conflicts
There are diversities of conflicts in organization and requisite skills with techniques are needed
to manage conflicts which are very paramount for mastery by managers against the challenges
triggered by conflicts. These requisite skills and techniques form the fulcrum of Conflict
management and Conflict resolution. Conflict management deals with reducing the negative
facets of conflict and enhancing the positive aspects of it while conflict resolution deals with
Functional conflict is also termed constructive conflict since its can be stimulated for the
benefits of the organization. There are two proven method for stimulating functional conflicts
which are devil’s advocacy and dialectic methods. Devil’s advocacy in today’s organizations
involves assigning someone the role of a critic while dialectic method calls for managers to
foster a structured debate of opposing view- points prior to making a decision. (Schwenk, 1984)
Conflict Triangles
According to Ruzich(1999) a conflict triangle “occurs when two people are having a
problem and, instead of addressing the problem directly with each other, one of them gets a third
person involved.”(p129). Employees tend to form political coalitions because there is power in
numbers in today’s organizations. The remedial option against conflict triangle is de-triangling
which involves the third-party channeling the disputants’ energy in a direct and positive manner
There are five different conflict-handling styles which are integrating, obliging,
dominating, avoiding, and compromising (Rahim ,2001). The aforementioned styles have both
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). This is a process in which a neutral third party
as mediator or arbitrator helps parties who are enmeshed in a dispute come to an agreement. The
techniques for ADR enumerated below in descending order of easiness in terms of complexity
and cost are facilitation, conciliation, peer review, ombudsman, mediation and arbitration. ADR
(Kreitner et al,2013)
Negotiation
interdependent parties with different preferences (Neale & Bazerman, 1992). Negotiation in
labor–management negotiations over wages, hours, and working conditions and negotiations
between supply chain specialists and vendors involving price, delivery schedules, and credit
terms. Self-managed work teams with overlapping task boundaries also need to rely on
negotiated agreements.
Types of Negotiation
There are two types of negotiation and they are distributive and integrative Negotiation.
A distributive negotiation usually occurs when one person gains at the expense of the other.
Integrative negotiation happens when both parties have something favorable or beneficial from
MANAGING CONFLICT AND NEGOTIATION
8
the agreement. Distributive negotiation involves traditional win–lose thinking while Integrative
and other unethical ploys will reduce trust and goodwill, both vital in win–win negotiation
Conclusion
Managing Conflict and negotiation can be deduced from this review as sine qua non for
organization makes the good grasp of the requisite skills/techniques analyzed in the review a key
indicator for successful managerial role in any organization. This in turn will boost employee
morale and enhance performance which will ultimately translate to improved organizational
efficiency. It behooves on all managers, leaders and executives to create structures and policies
that will take cognizance of the primacy of conflict competence in successful leadership.
MANAGING CONFLICT AND NEGOTIATION
9
References
Alper, S.; Tjosvold, D.; Law, K. S. (2000). Conflict management, efficacy, and performance in
6570.2000.tb00216.x.
Kreitner, R., & Kinicki, A. (2013). Organizational behavior, (10th ed). New York, NY:
Neale M. A.& Bazerman, M. H. (August,1992) Negotiating rationally: The power and impact of
Pettigrew, T.F.& Tropp, L. R. (May,2006) A Meta-analytic test of inter- group contact theory,
Rahim, M.A. (2001) Managing Conflict in Organizations (Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing
Group.
Robbins, S.P(Winter 1978) Conflict management and ‘Conflict resolution’ are not synonymous
Runde, C. E. & Flanagan T. A. (2012). Becoming a conflict competent leader: How You and
your organization can manage conflict effectively (2nd edition): San Francisco,
CA: Jossey-Bass
p 129.
MANAGING CONFLICT AND NEGOTIATION
10
596–616
Toffler A. (1995). Creating a new civilization: The politics of the third wave. Atlanta, GA:
Turner Publishing.
Wall, J.A. & Callister R. R. (1995), Conflict and Its management, Journal of Management, no
3, p 517.
BENEFITS OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND RESOLUTION
11
Effective conflict management and conflict resolution are of prime importance in boosting
employee morale and enhancement of effectiveness while also deepening employee loyalty.
Employees must give their hundred percent at work to ensure optimal productivity which will
not be feasible if the employees are constantly entangled in fighting and vicious criticism.
Conflict management and resolution play paramount role at workplaces to prevent conflicts and
for the employees to focus on their work for superb effectiveness. Some surveys have shown that
managers spend 20% to 40% of their time resolving conflicts which inhibits action and impedes
innovation. The proposes strategies and techniques when structured into the organization policies
and corporate ethics ultimately decimated the percentage time the managers in the organization
spend in managing conflicts. This in turn increased the conflict competences of the managers
which means developing and using their cognitive, emotional and behavioral skills to enhance
the productive outcomes of conflict while deescalating destructive conflicts. executives for
effective management. The highlighted strategies and techniques were all pivoted on the
Strategic Initiatives
These initiatives were meant to enhance conflict competencies among managers and
leaders in the organization when implemented which in turn boosted employee effectiveness and
productivity. This required strategic investment, cultural agility, strategic alignment and
dedication on the side the executive management and any ad hoc department in order to see the
positive impact. They are enumerated below for recommendation and subsequent implementation.
1 The organization should ensure vicious cycles of incivility are avoided, or broken early,
with an organizational culture that places a high value on respect for co-workers. This
BENEFITS OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND RESOLUTION
12
requires managers and leaders to act as caring and courteous role models. A positive
3 Managers should discourage in group thinking and excessive cohesiveness which are
4 Human resources management should encourage the contact hypothesis which states
that the more the members of different groups interact, the less intergroup conflict they
will experience.
5 Leaders should Conduct team building to reduce intragroup conflict and prepare
compassion, sympathy)
Dispute Resolution (ADR), while discouraging conflict triangles which has to do with
conflict.
BENEFITS OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND RESOLUTION
13
11 The organization should constantly train business facing staff on negotiation and
work place.
These factors enabled the organization to achieve the objectives of employee effectiveness
Human Resources Alignment. Strategies cannot be effective unless the people who have
to carry it out are motivated and trained to do so. Motivation and training are, of course, the natural
domain of HR, which typically carries out annual performance reviews and personal goal setting
strategy should lie with executive management, managers and Human Resources department. It is
also imperative that an Ad hoc team be created to effectively manage and monitor the
about strategy and expectations is vital if employees are to contribute to the strategy. This
communication should be a top to bottom approach at all cadres so that all employees will be on
Knowledge Sharing and Management. This entails sharing of knowledge arising from
the implementation of this strategy for positive feedback and amendment where needed.
BENEFITS OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND RESOLUTION
14
Planning and Budgeting. The budgets prepared by the finance department, should reflect
those established in the strategic planning process and should incorporate funding and personnel
resources for cross-functional activities which will reduce intra group conflicts
Organizational Alignment. The company can execute strategy well only if it aligns the
strategies of its business units, support functions, and external partners with its broad enterprise
strategy. A key component of alignment is translating an organization's core values into behaviors
and decisions on the part of every member of the organization and this translation takes effort and
continuous reinforcement. Alignment creates focus and coordination across even the most
The benefits of the strategies and techniques when implemented improved employee
employee retention
aggression, workplace violence, sexual harassment and the risk of individual and
4 The loyalty and commitment among employees increased, which in turn reduces
employee turnover and correlates positively with brand equity of the organization.
BENEFITS OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND RESOLUTION
15
5 Work pressure, Stress and tensions was greatly reduced in the workplace and in turn
lowered the occurrence of health issues related to work pressure, stress and emotional
tensions with the cost associated with the health treatment by the organization
References
Alper, S.; Tjosvold, D.; Law, K. S. (2000). Conflict management, efficacy, and performance in
6570.2000.tb00216.x.
Kreitner, R., & Kinicki, A. (2013). Organizational behavior, (10th ed). New York, NY:
Neale M. A.& Bazerman, M. H. (August,1992) Negotiating rationally: The power and impact of
Pettigrew, T.F.& Tropp, L. R. (May,2006) A Meta-analytic test of inter- group contact theory,
Rahim, M.A. (2001) Managing Conflict in Organizations (Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing
Group.
Robbins, S.P(Winter 1978) Conflict management and ‘Conflict resolution’ are not synonymous
Runde, C. E. & Flanagan T. A. (2012). Becoming a conflict competent leader: How You and
your organization can manage conflict effectively (2nd edition): San Francisco,
CA: Jossey-Bass.
p 129.
BENEFITS OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND RESOLUTION
17
596–616
Toffler A. (1995). Creating a new civilization: The politics of the third wave. Atlanta, GA:
Turner Publishing.
Wall, J.A. & Callister R. R. (1995), Conflict and Its management, Journal of Management, no
3, p 517.