Interpersonal Behavior (conflict)

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 Topics to be covered

Meaning of conflict
Nature of conflict
Levels of conflicts
Sources of conflicts
Effects of conflicts in organizational life
Conflict outcome
Resolving and managing conflict
Strategies of Resolution

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 Meaning and nature of conflict
Conflict is any situation in which two or
more parties feel themselves in opposition. It is
an interpersonal process that arises from
disagreements. Conflict is inherent to social life.
In organizations conflict is inevitable, and
sometimes the amount of conflict is substantial.
One survey reported that managers spend an
estimated 20 percent of their time dealing with
conflict.
Generally, conflicts are thought to be
destructive or harmful. But not all conflicts are
destructive. It may also be constructive
(especially inter group conflict). Therefore,
manager must know when to stimulated conflict
and when to resolve it.
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 Levels of conflict
Conflict may arise within an individual,
between individuals, or across the
organization (between groups). So there
are three levels of conflict. They are:

Intrapersonal conflict: Although most

role conflict occurs when an employee’s
supervisor or peers send conflicting
expectations to him or her, it is possible
for intrapersonal role conflict to emerge
from within an individual’s, as a result of
competing roles taken.

Interpersonal conflict: Interpersonal

conflict is a conflict which occurred by two
people within a group, department and an
organization.
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Inter group conflict: Inter group is
the conflict that is occurred between
two groups, or two different
departments within an organization,
and also within different organization.
Intragroup Conflict: occurs within a
group or team.
Inter organizational Conflict: occurs
across organizations. Managers in one
firm may feel another is not behaving
ethically.
Therefore, managers must know when
to stimulate conflict and when to
resolve.
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 Sources of conflicts
Interpersonal conflict arises from a variety of sources. These are:

Organizational change: People hold differing views over the

direction to go, the routes to take and their likely success, the
resources to be used, and the probable outcomes. With the pace of
technology, political, and social change increasing and marketplace
hurtling toward a global economy, organizational change will be ever
present.
Personality clashes: Not everyone thinks, feels, looks, or act
alike. So there are some possible to conflict between two or more
person. That’s why the personality conflict can be the most important
sources of conflict.
Different sets of value: People also hold the different beliefs and
adhere to different value system. Their philosophy may diverge, or
their ethical values may lead them in different directions. So there
has a chance to conflict.
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Threats to status: The social rank of a person in a group
is very important to many individuals. So various social
rank in our society drive force as a person struggles to
maintain a desired image.

Contrasting perceptions: People’s perception and

expectation are different. It is very simple that all people’s
perception will not be same, so that it is easy to conflict
between two persons.

Lack of trust: Trust takes time to build. But it cannot be

destroyed in an instant. When someone has a real or
perceived reason not to trust to another, the potential for
conflict rises.
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 Effects of conflicts
Effects of conflict may be in both direction either in constructive and in
destructive. Although conflict is often seen by participants as destructive but
it is not always true. There are some effects. These are:

Positive effects
Negative effects

Positive effects of conflicts

People are stimulated to search for improved approaches that lead to

better results.
It makes them to move creative and experimental with new ideas.
Ones hidden problems are brought to surface and try to make a
solution.
Ones the conflict is result, the individuals may be more committed to
the outcome through their involvement.
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Negative effects of conflict

At the personal level, cooperation

and teamwork may be deteriorated.
Distrust may be grown among
people.
Some people may feel defeated
while the self image of others will
decline.
The motivation level of some
employees will be reduced.

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 Individual A’s outcome Conflict outcome

3 4

Win Win-Lose Win-Win

1 2
Lose-Lose Lose-Win
Lose

Lose Individual B’s outcome Win

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In a “Loss-loss” situation conflict deteriorates both the
parties, both of them are in a worse situation, and then they
were before.

“Loss-win” is a situation in which one party/ person (A) is

defeated, while other person (B) is victorious.

“Win-loss” is a situation in which one person (A) is

victorious, while the other person (B) is defeated.

“Win-win” is a situation in which both parties perceive that

they are now in a better position than they were before the
conflict began.
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 Resolving and managing conflict
Functional Conflict Resolution: handle conflict by compromise
or collaboration between parties.
Compromise: each party concerned about their goal
accomplishment and is willing to engage in give and
take to reach a reasonable solution.
Collaboration: parties try to handle conflict without
making concessions by coming up with a new way to
resolve differences.

Managers also need to address individual sources of conflict.

Increase awareness of the source of conflict Can conflict

source can be found and corrected?
Increase diversity awareness and skills. Older workers may
resent younger workers, or experience cultural differences.
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Practice Job Rotation & Temporary assignments .Provides a good
view of what others face.
Use permanent transfers & dismissal if needed. Avoids problem
interaction.
Change organization’s structure .Conflict can signal the need to
adjust the structure.
Alter the source of conflict: If due to overlapping authority,
managers fix the problem to change the source.
Negotiation: use when parties have equal power. Parties try and find
a common ground by considering various alternatives.
Distributive negotiation: parties see there is a fixed resource base.
For them to gain, the other must lose.
Integrative negotiation: parties can increase total resources by
coming up with a new solution. Information sharing, trust are common
here.

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 Resolution of strategies
There are four possible resolutions of strategies, they are:

Avoiding (Lose-lose): Both parties have the physical and

mental withdrawal from the conflict will lead to the “lose-lose”
outcome.
Smoothing (Lose-win): One person accommodates the other
person’s interest. This situation will lead to “lose-wine”.
Forcing (Win-lose): This strategy relies on dominance to
achieve personal goal at the expense of other party’s interest.
Confronting (Win-win): there both parties face the conflict
directly and work it through a mutually satisfactory solution. The
result is the “win-win”.

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