Conflict in Organizations

Learning Goals
• Define conflict and conflict behavior in
organizations
• Distinguish between functional and
dysfunctional conflict
• Understand different levels and types of
conflict in organizations
• Analyze conflict episodes and the linkages
among them
 Learning Goals (Cont.)
• Understand the role of latent conflict in an
episode and its sources in an organization
• Describe a conflict management model
• Use various techniques to reduce and
increase conflict
• Appreciate some international and ethical
issues in conflict management
 Chapter Overview
• Introduction
• Functional and Dysfunctional Conflict
• Levels and Types of Conflict in
Organizations
• Conflict Episodes
• Conflict Frames and Orientations
• Latent Conflict: The Sources of Conflict in
Organizations
 Chapter Overview (Cont.)
• Conflict Management
• Reducing Conflict
• Increasing Conflict
• International Aspects of Conflict in
Organizations
• Ethical Issues in Conflict in Organizations
 Introduction

Conflict: What does the word mean to you?

Conflict Conflicto

Conflit Conflito
 Introduction (Cont.)
• Definition
– Opposition
– Incompatible behavior
– Antagonistic interaction
– Block another party from reaching her or his
goals

Range of conflict behavior

Doubt or questioning Annihilation of opponent

 Introduction (Cont.)
• Key elements
– Interdependence with another party
– Perception of incompatible goals
• Conflict events
– Disagreements
– Debates
– Disputes
– Preventing someone from reaching valued
goals
 Introduction (Cont.)
• Conflict is not always bad for an
organization
• Do not need to reduce all conflict
• Conflict episodes: ebb and flow of conflict
• An inevitable part of organization life
• Needed for growth and survival
• Conflict management includes increasing
and decreasing conflict
• Major management responsibility
 Introduction (Cont.)
Brazilian Saying
(Ditado popular, Portuguese)

Toda unanimidade é burra.

(“It’s dumb if we all agree.”)

Special thanks to Gustavo Sette Rabello,

Graduate Student, The Robert O. Anderson Graduate School of Management, 1996
 Functional and
Dysfunctional Conflict
• Functional conflict: works toward the
goals of an organization or group
• Dysfunctional conflict: blocks an organi-
zation or group from reaching its goals
– Dysfunctionally high conflict: what you
typically think about conflict
– Dysfunctionally low conflict: an atypical view
– Levels vary among groups
 Functional and
Dysfunctional Conflict (Cont.)
• Functional conflict
– “Constructive Conflict”--Mary Parker Follett
(1925)
– Increases information and ideas
– Encourages innovative thinking
– Unshackles different points of view
– Reduces stagnation
 Functional and
Dysfunctional Conflict (Cont.)
• Dysfunctionally high conflict
– Tension, anxiety, stress
– Drives out low conflict tolerant people
– Reduced trust
– Poor decisions because of withheld or distorted
information
– Excessive management focus on the conflict
 Functional and
Dysfunctional Conflict (Cont.)
• Dysfunctionally low conflict
– Few new ideas
– Poor decisions from lack of innovation and
information
– Stagnation
– Business as usual
 Levels and Types
of Conflict
Level of conflict Type of conflict

Organization Within and between organizations

Group Within and between groups

Individual Within and between individuals

 Levels and Types
of Conflict (Cont.)
• Intraorganization conflict
– Conflict that occurs within an organization
– At interfaces of organization functions
– Can occur along the vertical and horizontal
dimensions of the organization
• Vertical conflict: between managers and
subordinates
• Horizontal conflict: between departments and work
groups
 Levels and Types
of Conflict (Cont.)
• Intragroup conflict
– Conflict among members of a group
– Early stages of group development
– Ways of doing tasks or reaching group's goals
• Intergroup conflict: between two or more
groups
 Levels and Types
of Conflict (Cont.)
• Interpersonal conflict
– Between two or more people
– Differences in views about what should be done
– Efforts to get more resources
– Differences in orientation to work and time in
different parts of an organization
 Levels and Types
of Conflict (Cont.)
• Intrapersonal conflict
– Occurs within an individual
• Threat to a person’s values
• Feeling of unfair treatment
• Multiple and contradictory sources of socialization
• Related to the Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (and
negative inequity
 Levels and Types
of Conflict (Cont.)
• Interorganization conflict
– Between two or more organizations
– Not competition
– Examples: suppliers and distributors,
especially with the close links now possible
Conflict Episodes
Simple conflict episode

Latent conflict

Manifest conflict

Conflict aftermath
 Conflict Episodes (Cont.)
• Latent conflict: antecedents of conflict
behavior that can start conflict episode
• Manifest conflict: observable conflict
behavior
• Conflict aftermath
– End of a conflict episode
– Often the starting point of a related episode
– Becomes the latent conflict for another episode
• Conflict reduction: lower the conflict
level
Conflict Episodes

Latent conflict

Manifest conflict

Conflict reduction

Conflict aftermath
 Conflict Episodes (Cont.)

Latent conflict

The antecedents of
conflict
Manifest conflict

Example: scarce
resources
Conflict aftermath
 Conflict Episodes (Cont.)

Latent conflict
Observable conflict
behavior
Manifest conflict

Example:
disagreement,
Conflict aftermath discussion
 Conflict Episodes (Cont.)

Latent conflict Residue of a

conflict episode

Example:
Manifest conflict compromise in
allocating scarce
resources leaves both
Conflict aftermath parties with less than
they wanted
 Conflict Episodes
Latent conflict

Perceived conflict Felt conflict

Manifest conflict

Conflict reduction

Conflict aftermath
 Conflict Episodes (Cont.)
• Perceived conflict
– Become aware that one is in conflict with
another party
– Can block out some conflict
– Can perceive conflict when no latent conditions
exist
– Example: misunderstanding another person’s
position on an issue
 Conflict Episodes (Cont.)
• Felt conflict
– Emotional part of conflict
– Personalizing the conflict
– Oral and physical hostility
– Hard to manage episodes with high felt conflict
– What people likely recall about conflict
 Relationships Among
Conflict Episodes
• Episodes link through the connection of
conflict aftermath to latent conflict
• Effective conflict management: break the
connection
• Discover the latent conflicts and remove
them
 Relationships Among
Conflict Episodes (Cont.)
Conflict reduction

Latent conflict Manifest conflict Conflict aftermath

Latent conflict Manifest conflict Conflict aftermath

Latent conflict Manifest conflict Conflict aftermath

 Conflict Frames
and Orientations
• Conflict frames
– Perceptual sets that people bring to conflict
episodes
– Perceptual filters
• Remove some information from an episode
• Emphasize other information in an episode
 Conflict Frames
and Orientations (Cont.)

Conflict
Relationship-Task Cooperate-Win
frame

Emotional-Intellectual
 Conflict Frames
and Orientations (Cont.)
• Conflict frame dimensions
– Relationship-Task
• Relationship: focuses on interpersonal relationships
• Task: focuses on material aspects of an episode
– Emotional-Intellectual
• Emotional: focuses on feelings in the conflict
episode (felt conflict)
• Intellectual: focuses on observed behavior (manifest
conflict)
 Conflict Frames
and Orientations (Cont.)
• Conflict frame dimensions (cont.)
– Cooperate-Win
• Cooperate: emphasizes the role of all parties to the
conflict
• Win: wants to maximize personal gain
 Conflict Frames
and Orientations (Cont.)
• Conflict frames
– Limited research results
• End an episode with a relationship or intellectual
frame: feel good about relationship with other party
• Cooperation-focused people end with more positive
results than those focused on winning
 Conflict Frames
and Orientations (Cont.)
• Conflict orientations
– Dominance: wants to win; conflict is a battle
– Collaborative: wants to find a solution that
satisfies everyone
– Compromise: splits the differences
– Avoidance: backs away
– Accommodative: focuses on desires of other
party
 Conflict Frames
and Orientations (Cont.)
• Can change during conflict episode
– How firmly the person holds orientation
– Importance of the issues to the person
– Perception of opponent's power
• Collaborative orientation: more positive
long-term benefits than the others
 Conflict Frames
and Orientations (Cont.)
Conflict orientation and the conflict aftermath
Avoidance
Collaborative Compromise Accommodative
Dominance

No residue High residue

Conflict aftermath
 Conflict Frames
and Orientations (Cont.)
• Combinations of conflict orientations in a
group
– Dominance, avoidance
– Dominance, dominance
– Avoidance, avoidance
– Dominance, collaborative, compromise
– Collaborative, compromise, avoidance
– Collaborative, compromise, avoidance,
dominance, accommodative
 Latent Conflict: The Sources of
Conflict in Organizations
• Antecedents to conflict episodes
• Many natural conditions of organizations
act as latent conflicts
• Lurk in the background; trigger conflict
when right conditions occur
• Does not always lead to manifest conflict
• Give us clues about how to reduce
dysfunctionally high conflict
Latent Conflict: The Sources of
Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
• Some representative latent conflict
– Scarce resources: money, equipment,
facilities
– Organizational differentiation: different
orientations in different parts of organization
– Rules, procedures, policies: behavioral guides
that can cause clashes
– Cohesive groups: value and orientation
differences among groups
Latent Conflict: The Sources of
Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
• Some representative latent conflict (cont.)
– Interdependence: forces interaction
– Communication barriers: shift work and
jargon
– Ambiguous jurisdictions: areas of authority
not clearly defined
– Reward systems: reward different behavior in
different parts of the organization

Sales on commission; manufacturing rewarded

for meeting schedules. Communication differences.
 Conflict Management Model
• Maintain conflict at functional levels
– Not complete elimination
– Reducing to functional levels
– Increasing dysfunctionally low conflict
– Choose desired level of conflict based on
perceived conflict requirements
– Varies in different parts of an organization
– Manager’s tolerance for conflict plays a role
 Conflict Management Model
(Cont.)
Organizational Product or Fast-changing
culture service environment

Perceived conflict requirements

Desired conflict level

 Conflict Management Model
(Cont.)
Dysfunctionally Normal Dysfunctionally
low conflict high conflict

Increase Decrease
conflict conflict
 Conflict Management Model
(Cont.)
• Symptoms of dysfunctionally high conflict
– Low trust
– Information distortion
– Tension/antagonism
– Stress
– Sabotage of organization’s product or service
 Conflict Management Model
(Cont.)
• Symptoms of dysfunctionally low conflict
– Deny differences
– Repress controversial information
– Prohibit disagreements
– Avoid interactions
– Walk away from conflict episode
 Reducing Conflict
• Overview
– Lose-lose methods: parties to the conflict
episode do not get what they want
– Win-lose methods: one party a clear winner;
other party a clear loser
– Win-win methods: each party to the conflict
episode gets what he or she wants
 Reducing Conflict (cont.)
• Lose-lose methods
– Avoidance
• Withdraw, stay away
• Does not permanently reduce conflict
– Compromise
• Bargain, negotiate
• Each loses something valued
– Smoothing: find similarities
 Reducing Conflict (Cont.)
• Win-lose methods
– Dominance
• Overwhelm other party
• Overwhelms an avoidance orientation
– Authoritative command: decision by person
in authority
– Majority rule: voting
 Reducing Conflict (Cont.)
• Win-win methods
– Problem solving: find root causes
– Integration: meet interests and desires of all
parties
– Superordinate goal: desired by all but not
reachable alone
 Reducing Conflict (Cont.)
• Summary
– Lose-lose methods: compromise
– Win-lose methods: dominance
– Win-win methods: problem solving
 Increasing Conflict
• Increase conflict when it is dysfunctionally
low
– Heterogeneous groups: members have
different backgrounds
– Devil’s advocate: offers alternative views
– Organizational culture: values and norms
that embrace conflict and debate
 Conflict Insights
• Possible positive effects of conflict
• Latent conflict
• Conflict aftermath
• Conflict episodes
• Links between episodes
• Latent conflict and methods of reduction
 International Aspects of
Conflict in Organizations
• Cultures that emphasize individualism and
competition
– Positively value conflict
– English-speaking countries, the Netherlands,
Italy, Belgium
• Cultures that emphasize collaboration,
cooperation, conformity
– Negatively value conflict
– Many Asian and Latin American countries;
Portugal, Greece, Turkey
 International Aspects of
Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)

• Cultural differences imply different

functional conflict levels
 International Aspects of
Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
• Cross-cultural research has dealt with
intergroup processes
• Collaborative and cooperative cultures
expect little conflict during intergroup
interactions
• Favor suppression of conflict with little
discussion about people's feelings
• Felt conflict likely part of some conflict
episodes but hidden from public view
 International Aspects of
Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
• Managers from an individualistic country
operating in a less individualistic country
– Acceptable to express feelings during a conflict
episode
– Suppression of feelings could baffle them
– Increasing conflict can confuse local people
– Almost immediate dysfunctional results
 Ethical Issues in
Conflict in Organizations
• Tolerance for conflict
– Manager with a high tolerance for conflict;
keeps conflict levels too high for subordinates
– Should such managers reveal their intentions
about desired conflict levels?
– Full disclosure: subordinates could leave the
group if conflict levels became dysfunctionally
stressful
– Ethical question applies equally to newly hired
employees
 Ethical Issues in
Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
• Deliberately increasing conflict is an effort
to guide behavior in a desired direction
– Subtle methods of increasing conflict (forming
heterogeneous groups) connote manipulation
– Full disclosure: manager states his intention to
use conflict to generate ideas and innovation
– If people are free to join a group or not, the
ethical issue likely subsides
 Ethical Issues in
Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
• Experiencing intrapersonal conflict
– Requests to act against one's moral values
– Observing behavior that one considers
unethical
• Reduce intrapersonal conflict
– Report unethical acts
– Transfer to another part of the organization
– Quit
 Ethical Issues in
Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
• Different cultures place different values on
conflict
– Optimal conflict levels vary among countries
– Lower levels conflict in collectivistic countries
than individualistic countries

Should managers honor such values even if their home

country values support higher levels of conflict?