TheTraditional vae w o Conflict

The traditional view

conllict
The ol conilict was consistent with
ignal
view
of
is
harmful hehavior that prevailed
ii ihe 1930s and 1940s. attitudes about group
dvsfunctional oulCoe
contict

t hat
all
Conflict was seen as a
p e s t be avoided.
Testuling
from poor
onenness and trust
Deiweei people, and
communication,
a lack ot

responsive to the eeas the failure of managers to be

and
discussed with the lerms aspirations of their employees. ConflicI was
volence,
While the idea that all conflictdestruction,
is bad and
and irationality.
offers a simple approach to should be avoicded certainly
disagreements, looking at the
researchers realized that behavior of people who create
table. We need merely study the causes some level of conflict was inev-
of conflict and
funçtions to immprove group and correct those mal-
organizational performance.
WThe Interactionist View of
interactionist
of conflict The
view The Conflict
interactionist view of conflict encourages
elief that
contlict is not only a a harmonious, peacetul, tranquil, and conflict
on the
grounds that
force in a group but also
cOsitive for a group
coming static, cooperative
apathetic, and unresponsive to needs group is prone to be-
absolute necessity
a7
o pertorm effectively. vation. The major contribution of this view is for change and inno
level of conflict can recognizing that minimal
help keep a group viable, self-critical, a

The interactionist view does and creative.

not
functional conflict Conflict that Rather, functional conflict propose that all conflicts are good.
norts supports the goals of the
the goals of the group and
pertormance, and is thus a constructive form of group, improves its
Improves its pertormance.
ders group conflict. Conflict that hin-
performance is destructive or
dysfunctional conflict. What dif-
dusfunctional conflict Conflict that erenuates unciOnal irom
dysfunctional conflict: To a large degree. this
hinders group performance. depends on the type of conflict and the locus of conflict.
Next we review each of these in turn.

Types and Loci of Conflict

2 Describe the three types of Types of Conflict

conflict and the two loci of
one means of understanding conflict is to identifv the hpe ot disagree-
conflict.
ment, or what the conflict is about. Is it a disagreement about goals ls it
about people who just rub one another the wrong wav: Or is it about the

best way get things

to done? each contlict is unique, researchers
Although
have classified conflicts into three categories: task. relationship. or process.
task conflict Conflict over content the
Task conflict relates to the content and goals of work.
Relation-
and goals of the work.
ship conflict focuses on interpersonal relationships. Process conflict is
that relatonship
demonstrate
about hOw the work gets done. Studies
Telationshipconflict Conflict
oninterpersonairetationships.basedconflicts, at least in work settings, almost alwas dvstiunctional."
Whv:
are
conflicts, setung
lt appears that the friction and interpersonal
hostilities inherent in
relt
and decrease ttt
Contiict overhow tionship conflicts increase personality clashes tasks.
Work gets done. of organizational Ot
derstanding, which hinders the completion the most psveho-
three types, relationship conflicts
also appear to be around
ne individuals." Because they
tend to revoNe
ogically exhausting to
 how relati0nship c0nllicts ca
Co-wokers' COme des
see
personalities, you can
can't expect to clhange our

tive. After all, we

andwe would generally
behave.
take oflense al crilicisms directeed at TSOnalitie
who we
opposed to how we
that relationship conllict is dvsfin.
While scholars agree
as to whether task and proce tioal, thee
is considerably less agreemenl that task conllict withimOnlics
research suggested
functional. Early psWa
pertormance, but a recen reve
sociated with higher group
found that task conflict
was essentially
unrclated to grou
Auhes
factors that could
create a relationshi nvance
However, there were 6
flict and performance.
whether the conflict inclluded ton
One such factor was

the organization. lask conflict amnon

emen
or occurred lower in among top mana
positively associated With their performae
ment teams was

conflict lower in the organization

was
negatively associated wi whereas
performance. This review
also found that it mattered whether.
of conflict were occurring at the same time. If ask and relatio othergroup
pes
Con
flict occurred together, task conflict was more likely negative, whe
task conflict occurred by itselt, it more likely was positive. Finall
that the strength of conflict is important-ifsome
scholars have argued task
conflict is very lo, people aren't really engaged or addressing the
portant issues. If task conflict 1s too high, however, infighting will quick
degenerate into personality conflict. According to this view, moderat
levels of task conflict are optimal. Supporting this argument, one studo
in China found that moderate levels of task contlict in the early develon
ment stage increased creativity in groups, but high levels decreased team
performance.'
Finally, the personalities of the teams appear t0 matter. A recent study
demonstrated that teams made up of individuals who are, on average, high
in openness and emotional stability are better able to turn task conflict
into increased group pertormance. The reason may be that open and

emotionally stable teams can put task contlict in perspective and focus on
how the variance in ideas can help solve the problem, rather than letting
Vice President
it degenerate into relationship conflicts. Aparna Ballakur,
that when a team member
of Human Resources at Yahoo! India, narrated
of noisiness of people around
complained of his inability to work because
called all the concerned
him she decided to address the issue head on. She
member. The
people and told them about the difficulty faced by the team
team discussed the issue and was able to amicably settle the matter. Durin
the discussion afew other issues also came up which were obviously arece
the well-being of the team members."
ing What about process conflict? Researchers found that process conne
revolve around delegation and roles. Conflicts over delegation ofteu mem

volve around shirking, and conflicts over roles can leave some group
bers feeling marginalized. Thus, process conflicts often become iug hig
conflicts. ltS a m
personalized and quickly devolve into relationship
of course, that arguing about how to do something takes time avay
from

and

actually doing it. We've all been part of groups in which the arg
debates about roles and responsibilities seem to go nowhere.
 Loci of Confhct
Another way to
understand conflict is to
that urs flict occurs. Here, too, there consider its locus, or where the con-
Conflict are three
aset
basic types.
betweem people. Intragroup conflict occurs Dyadic conflict 1s COnnC
wo

Conthct that
tergroup contlict is contlict between within a group or team. u -
literature on task,groups teams.
or
oun COniicL or team Nearly all the
within
a group
siders iniragroup conflict relationship, and process conflict COU
Conflict (within the group). That makes
contlict
alergIOup
Co
between groups and teams often exist sense given
only to perform a particular task. However, hatit
g r o u p s or teams
doesn t necessarily tell us about the other loci of
search has found that for conflict. For
task conflict to influence example,
re-
within the team, it is intragroup
which important that the pertormance
have a supportive climate
mistakes aren't penalized and everyteams
team
in
back. But is this member "[has] the other s
concept useful for
group conflict for the understanding the effects of inter
team to organization? Think
adapt and improve, perhaps a certainabout, say, an IPL team. For a
good tor team amount of task conflict is
one
performance,
another. But would we careespecially when the team members support
members from another team? whether members from one team supported
with one another so that Probably not. In fact, if groups are competing
only one team can
almost inevitable. When is that "win," interteam conflict seems
One study that did focus on helpful, and when is it a concern?
tween an individual's intergroup conflict found an interplay be-
position within a group and the
way that individual
managed conilict between groups. Group members who were
peripheral in their own groups were better at resolving conflicts relatively
their group and another one. But between
this happened only when those
eral members were still accountable
to their
periph-
core of vour work group." Thus, being at the
group does not necessarily make you the best to
manage conflict with other person
groups.
Another intriguing question abóut loci is whether
conflicts interact or
buffer one another. Assume, for
example, that Smita and Shakti are on the
same team. What
happens if they don't get along interpersonally (dyadic
conflict) and their team also has high personality conflict? What happens
to their team if two other team members, Vineeta and Harsh, do get along
well: It's also possible to ask this question at the
intragroup and intergroup
level. Intense intergroup conflict can be quite stressful to group members
and might well affect the way they interact. One study found, for example,
that high levels of conflict between teams caused individuals to focus on
complying with norms within their teams.
Thus, understanding functional and dysfurnctional conflict requires
not only that we identify the type of conflict; we also need to know where it
Occurs. lt's possible that while the concepts of task, relationship, and pro
cess conflict are useful in understanding intragroup or even dyadic con-
effects of intergroup conflict.
flict, they are less useful in explaining the
In sum, the traditional view that all
conflict should be eliminated is
that conflict can stimulate active dis
short-sighted. The interactionist view emotions is incom-
cussion without spilling over into negative, disruptive
in terms of type and locus helps us realize
plete. Thinking about conflict and when it does occur,
that it is probably inevitable in most organizations,
to make it as productive as possible.
we can attempt
Exhibit 14-4 Conflict Management Techniques
esolution Techniques
Conflict-Resoli
Face-to-face meeting of the conflicting parties for the
purpose of
Problem so/ving
and resolving it
through open discussion. identifying the problem
ble

Superordinate goals Creating a shared goal that cannot be attained without the
conflicting parties. cooperation of each of the
When conflict is caused by the scarcity of a resource (for
a

opportunities, office space), expansion of the resource can example,

Espansion o f
resources
money, promotion,
create a win-win
solution.
Withdrawal from or suppression of the conflict.
Avodance

Playing down differences vwhile emphasizing common interests between the

Smoothin
Each party to the conflict
conflicting parties.
Compromise
givessomething
up of value.
Authoritative command Managerment uses its formal authority to resolve the conflict and then communicates its
desires to the parties involved.

tA/tering the human variablee Using behavioral change techniques such as human relations training to alter attitudes and
behaviors that cause conflict.
Altering the stuuctural Changing the formal organization structure and the interaction patterns of conflicting parties
variables through job redesign, transfers, creation of coordinating positions, and the like