CHAPTER FIVE

CONFLICT AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

5.1. MEANING AND NATURE OF CONFLICT
Conflict is a process in which one party perceives that its interest are being opposed or
negatively affected by another party.
In organizations, a conflict exits whenever two or more parties are in disagreement. Conflict is
inherent in an organization system, and as the work force becomes more diverse, conflict can
increase.
Conflict is defined as an incompatibility of goals or values between two or more parties in a
relationship, combined with attempts to control each other and antagonistic feelings toward each
other (Fisher, 1990). The incompatibility or difference may exist in reality or may only be
perceived by the parties involved. Nonetheless, the opposing actions and the hostile emotions are
very real hallmarks of human conflict.
Conflict has the potential for either a great deal of destruction or much creativity and positive
social change (Kriesberg, 1998). Therefore, it is essential to understand the basic processes of
conflict so that we can work to maximize productive outcomes and minimize destructive ones.
Conflict occurs between people in all kinds of human relationships and in all social settings.
Because of the wide range of potential differences among people, the absence of conflict usually
signals the absence of meaningful interaction. Conflict by itself is neither good nor bad.
However, the manner in which conflict is handled determines whether it is constructive or
destructive (Deutsch & Coleman, 2000).
People often think of conflict as fighting and view it as disruptive. Conflict, however, can be
beneficial. A balance of conflict is essential to all organizations. Too little or too much conflict is
usually a sign of management’s unwillingness or inability to adapt to a diversified environment.
The question today is not whether conflict is good or bad rather, how to manage conflict to
benefit the organization. Therefore, it is essential to understand the basic processes of conflict so
that we can work to maximize productive outcomes and minimize destructive ones.
5.2. SOURCES OF CONFLICT IN ORGANIZATIONS
Some of the conditions that cause conflict in organizational setting are:

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A. Incompatible Goals: a common source of conflict is goal incompatibility. Goal
incompatibility occurs when personal or work goals seem to interfere with another person’s
or department’s goals.
B. Different Values And Beliefs: incompatibility in any of life, ideologies-the preferences,
principles and practices which people believe. Cultural diversity, and different backgrounds
and experiences makes indifferent to understand or accept the beliefs and values that other
people hold toward organizational decisions and events.
C. Power conflict occurs when each party wishes to maintain or maximize the amount of
influence that it exerts in the relationship and the social setting. It is impossible for one party
to be stronger without the other being weaker, at least in terms of direct influence over each
other. Thus, a power struggle ensues which usually ends in a victory and defeat, or in a
“stand-off” with a continuing state of tension. Power conflicts can occur between individuals,
between groups or between nations, whenever one or both parties choose to take a power
approach to the relationship. Power also enters into all conflict since the parties are
attempting to control each other.
D. Task Interdependence: conflict tends to increase with the level of task interdependence.
Task interdependence exists when team members must share common inputs to their
individual tasks, need to interact in the process of executing their work, or receive outcomes
(such as rewards) that are partly determined by the performance of others. The higher the
level of task interdependence, the greater the risk of conflict, because there is a greater
chance that each side will disrupt or interfere with the other side’s goals.
E. Unclear job boundaries: unclear line of responsibility within an organization can be a
source for conflict.
F. Scarce resources/economic conflict: scarce resources generate conflict because scarcity
motivates people to compete with others who also need those resources to achieve their
objectives.
G. Communication problem: conflicts often occur due to lack of opportunity, ability, or
motivation to communicate effectively. When two parties lack the opportunity to
communicate, they tend to use stereotypes to explain past behaviors and anticipate future
actions. Some people lack the necessary skills to communicate in a diplomatic, non

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 confrontational manner. When one party communicates its disagreement in an arrogant way,
opponents are more likely to heighten their side intends to be
5.3. CONFLICT OUTCOMES
Positive Outcomes of Conflict
 Increased motivation and creativity.
 Healthy interactions/involvement stimulated.
 Number of identified alternatives increased.
 Increased understanding of others.
 People forced to clarify ideas more effectively.
 Feelings aired out.
Negative Outcomes of Conflict
 Decreased productivity.
 Relevant information not being shared.
 Unpleasant emotional experiences.
 Environmental stress.
 Excessive consumption of time.
 Decision-making process disrupted.
 Poor work relationships.
 Misallocation of resources.
 Impaired organizational commitments.
5.4. LEVELS or Types OF CONFLICTS
It is possible to identify four types of conflict that might occur in organizations. Conflict can
occur on several levels in an organization. These are:
1st: Intrapersonal Conflict: conflict between an individual’s values, goals, and needs are
intrapersonal conflicts. Intrapersonal conflicts arise when acting in accordance with one value,
goal, or need makes it impossible to fulfill some other value, goal, or need.
Types of intrapersonal conflicts are:
- Approach-approach conflict: occurs when a person has to make a choice between two
equally attractive alternatives. For example, employed parents routinely experienced
approach-approach conflicts between their dual roles of parent and employee.

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 - Avoidance –avoidance conflict occurs when a person has to make a choice between two
equally unattractive alternatives. For example, chief executive officer may decide
between to decrease employees’ salary or to fire few employees to stay in the market.
- Approach-avoidance conflict occurs when a person has to make a choice among a set of
options that have good and bad outcomes. For example, many employees face this
conflict between the desire for career success and the desire for more personal time.
2nd Interpersonal Conflict: occurs when two people have incompatible needs, goals, or
approaches in their relationship. Interpersonal conflict is likely occurring when individuals are
competing for the same resources, such as promotions, work facilities, or work assignments.
Interpersonal conflict is also likely in groups that are heterogeneous. Heterogeneous could be
either diversity of the work force or people representing different functions (for example cross
functional team).
3rd Inter Group Conflicts: are conflicts between two or more groups in the same organization.
Intergroup conflict occurs when there are differences in values, goals, or needs between two or
more groups in the organization. Competition for scarce resources is a common source of
intergroup conflict.
Intergroup conflicts in organizations also often arise between line employees and staff
employees. Line and staff conflict is conflict arising from the role and perceptual differences
between the two groups.
Intergroup conflicts occur for four reasons:
- The groups are interdependent;
- The groups have different goals;
- The groups perceptions are different;
- The groups share the common resources; and
In general intergroup conflicts are common in organizations.
4th Inter-Organizational Conflicts: are conflicts between two or more organizations. An
example of inter-organizational conflict is corporate takeover attempt whereby one organization
tries to take control over another organization. Such conflict may also arise because of
competition and controlling resources among organizations.

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5.5. CONFLICT STIMULATION
The current view is that in certain circumstances there can be benefits in stimulating a degree of
conflict within an organization. Conflict is important especially if the conflict in the organization
is balanced.
The following are the some of the conflict techniques:
Stimulating competition: it is probably the least risky strategy to stimulate conflict.
Many organizations may have measures of this type in place. A fairly common one is the
use of incentives, such as awards, and bonuses for outstanding performance.
Communication: this is the more risky way of stimulating competition. The tactics here
is using ambiguous or threatening messages to increase conflict levels.
Changing organizational structure: this is another measure that contains pronounced
risks. The following changes can stimulate conflict in the organization: altering rules and
regulations, increasing interdependence, and making similar structural changes can
disrupt the status quo in the organization. A healthy degree of competition between
subunits can encourage innovation and improved performance.
Bringing in outside person: if someone with different background values and attitudes is
imported, that the person will be a source of inspiration to current employees and pull
them out of their contentment or complacency.
5.6. CONFLICT MANAGEMENTS STYLES /CONFLICT RESOLUTION/
Some people enter a conflict with a win-win orientation while others have a win-lose orientation.
Win-win orientation: is the belief that the parties will find a mutually beneficial solution
to their disagreement. Win-win orientation is a systematic attempt to maximize the goals
of both parties.
Win-lose orientation: they adopt the belief that conflicting parties are drawing from a
fixed pie, so the more one party receives, the less the other party will receive. Conflict
tends to escalate when the parties develop win-loss orientation because they rely on more
assertive influence tactics to gain advantage. A win-loss orientation may occasionally be
appropriate when the conflict really is over a fixed resource, but few organizational
conflicts are due to perfectly opposing interests with fixed resources.
Lose-lose orientation: both parties loss due to the conflict.

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Adopting a win-win or win-lose orientation influences our conflict management style, that is,
how we act toward the other person. Researchers have recognized five interpersonal styles of
approaching the other party in a conflict situation. The most recent variations of this model
appear in the graph below.
Figure 5.1 interpersonal conflict management styles

High
Forcing problem- solving
Assertiveness
(Motivation to satisfy ones
Own interests)

Compromising
Low
Low High

Avoiding Yielding

Cooperativeness (motivation to satisfy other party’s interests)

Each conflict resolution style can be placed in a two-directional grid reflecting the person’s
degree of concern for his or her own interests and concern for the other party’s interests. Problem
solving is the only style that represents a purely win-win orientation. The other four styles
represent variations of the win-lose approach. For effective conflict management, we should
learn to apply different conflict management styles to different situations.
Problem solving: problem solving tries to find a mutually beneficial solution for both
parties. Information sharing is an important feature of this style because both parties
collaborate to identify common ground and potential solutions that satisfy both (or all) of
them.
Avoiding: avoiding tries to smooth over or avoid conflict situations altogether. It
represents a low concern for both self and the other party; in other words, avoiders try to
suppress thinking about the conflict. For example, some employees will arrange their
work area or tasks to minimize interaction with certain co-workers.

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 Forcing: forcing tries to win the conflict at the other’s expense. This style, which has the
strongest win-lose orientation, relies on some of the “hard” influence tactics to get one’s
own way.
Yielding: yielding involves giving in completely to the other side’s wishes, or at least
cooperating with little or no attention to your own interests. This style involves making
unilateral concessions and unconditional promises, as well as offering help with no
expectation of reciprocal help.
Compromising: compromising involves looking for a position in which your losses are
offset by equally valued gains. It involves matching the other party’s concessions,
making conditional promises or threats, and actively searching for a middle ground
between the interests of the two parties.

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