CHAPTER-5

MANAGEMENT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT

5.1 Definition of Conflict

Conflict can be defined as a disagreement between two or more individuals or groups, with each
individual or group trying to gain acceptance of its view or objectives over others. Because
people differ in their attitudes, values and goals, conflict among them becomes unavoidable.
Accordingly, the management is concerned not so much with eliminating conflict, which would
be impossible, but to contain it and manage it for organizational and individual benefit.

The personal conflict is more emotional in nature and reflects feelings, anger, distrust, fear,
resentment, and clash in personality, antagonism, tension etc. The organizational conflict, on the
other hand, involves disagreements on such factors as allocation of resources, nature of goals and
objectives, organization policies and procedures, nature of assignments and distribution of
rewards. This conflict at its worst can lead to unnecessary stress, blockage and communication,
lack of cooperation, increased sense of district and suspicion and these results in lost friendships
and reduced organizational effectiveness.

The modern management view is not so negative about conflict. It believes that conflict can be
helpful and constructive if handled properly. As a matter of fact, moderate level of conflict is
helpful in such organizations as Reassert and Development firms, advertising agencies, public
policy groups etc. some of the positive consequences of conflict are:

i) Conflict may induce challenge to view, opinions, rules, policies, goals, plans etc.,
which would require critical analysis in order to justify these as they are or make
changes as required.
ii) Conflict between different organizations develops loyalty and cohesion within an
organization and a greater sense of group identity in order to compete with outsiders.
It helps in dedication and commitment to organizational goals.
iii) Conflict promotes competition and hence it results in increased efforts. Some
individuals are highly motivated by conflict and severe competition.
iv) Conflict with the status quo is a pre- requisite to change. Creative and innovative
people are always looking for grounds to challenge the status quo. These challenges
lead to search for alternatives to existing patterns, which leads to organizational
change and development.
v) Conflict, when expressed, can clear the air and reduce tension. Some disagreements if
unexpressed can lead to imaginative distortions of truth, sense of frustration and
tension, high mental exaggerations and biased opinions resulting in fear and distrust.
However, when it is expressed, it may show the cause of conflict to be minor,
resulting in cooperation and compromise.

5.2 Types of conflict

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There are five basic types of conflicts.
1. Interpersonal conflict. This conflict involves conflict between individuals and is probably
most common and most recognized conflict. This may involve conflict between two
managers who are competing for limited capital and manpower resources.
Another types of interpersonal conflict can related to disagreements over goals and objectives of
the organization. In addition to conflicts over the nature and substance of goals and objectives,
the conflicts can also arise over the means to reach those goals. These conflicts become
highlighted when they are based upon opinions rather than facts. Facts are generally indisputable
resulting in agreements. Opinions are highly personal and subjective and may provide for
criticism and disagreements.
These conflicts are often results of personality clashes. People with widely differing
characteristics and attitudes are bound to have views and aims that are inconsistent with the
views and aims of others.
2. Conflict between the individual and the group. As we have discussed before, all formal
groups as well as informal groups have established certain norms of behavior and operational
standards which all members are expected to adhere to. The individual may want to remain
within the group for social needs but may disagree with the group methods.
This conflict may also be between the manager and his subordinates as a group or between the
leader and the led. A manager may take disciplinary action against a member of the group
causing conflict which may result in reduced productivity. The conflict among the armed forces
is taken so seriously that the army must obey their commander, even if the command is wrong
and in conflict with what others believe in.
3. Inter – group conflict. An organization is an interlocking network of groups, departments,
sections or work teams. These conflicts are not so much personal in nature, as they are due to
factors inherent in the organizational structure. For example, there is active and continuous
conflict between the union and the management. One of the most common, unfortunate and
highlighted conflicts is between line and staff. The line managers may resent their
dependence on staff for information and recommendations. The staff may resent their
inability to implant directly their own decisions and recommendations. This interdependence
causes conflict. These conflicts which are caused by task interdependencies require that the
relationship between interdependent units be redefined wherever the values of these
interdependent factors change, otherwise these conflicts will become further pronounced.
Different functional groups with the organization may come into conflict with each other
because of their different specific objectives. There are some fundamental differences among
different units of the organization both in the structure and process and thus each unit
develops its own organizational subculture. These subcultures, according to Lawrence and
Lorsch, differ in terms of (a) goal orientation, which can be highly specific for production,
but highly fluid for Research and Development, (b) time orientation which is short fun for
sales and long run for research, (c) formality of structure which is highly informal in research
and highly formal in production, and (d) supervisory style which may be more democratic in
one area as compared to another.

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4. Inter – organizational conflict.
conflict. The conflict also occurs between organizations, which in
some way are dependent upon each other. This conflict may be between the buyer
organizations and supplier organizations about quantity and delivery times of raw materials
and other policy issues, between unions and organizations employing their members,
between government agencies that regulate certain organizations and the organizations that
are affected by it. These conflicts must be adequately resolved or managed properly for the
benefit of both types of organizations.
5. Some conflicts support the goals of the group and improve its performance; these are
functional, or constructive, forms of conflict. But there are conflicts that hinder group
performance; these are dysfunctional, or destructive, forms of conflict.

5.3 The causes of conflicts

The various types of conflict, as discussed above, have already been pointed out in the previous
discussion. Basically, the causes of conflict fall into some distinct categories.
These are:

1. Behavioral aspects of conflict. These conflicts arise out of human thoughts and feeling,
emotions and attitudes, values and perceptions etc. this conflict can arise by a simple
misunderstanding or an error in communication. This conflict can also arise due to
differing viewpoints about various issues. Another aspect of the conflict can be based on
emotions, feelings perceptions and values. These feelings may be the feelings of anger,
distrust, fear or simply dislike due to personality differences.

The value based conflicts arise due to different values which may be culturally based. For
example, manager may want to fire some workers to save costs while another manager
may have human sensitivity and support other methods of cutting costs. As another
example, a professor may value freedom of teaching methods and close supervision of his
techniques may cause conflicts.
2. Structural aspects of conflict. These conflicts arise due to issues related to the structural
design of the organization as a whole as well as its sub-units. Some of these issues
involve:

(a) Role ambiguity

A role is a set of activities associated with a certain position in the organization or in
the society. According to Kahn, if these work activities are will defined, then the
person who is carrying out these activities will not behave as others expect him to
because his role is not clearly defined. This will create conflict, specially between this
individual and those people who depend upon his activities. A hospital or a medical
clinic employing a number of physicians with overlapping specialties might cause
conflict due to role ambiguity. Such conflicts can be reduced by redefining and
clarifying roles and their interdependencies. In addition to role ambiguity, there may

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 be a role conflict. The role conflict occurs when two or more persons have different
and sometimes opposing expectations of a given individual.
(b) Design of work – flow
These are primarily inter group problems and conflicts which are the outcomes of
poorly designed work – flow structure and poorly planned coordination requirements,
specially where the tasks are interdependent. A poorly designed work – flow and
uncoordinated activities between the units would create conflict and problems.

5.4 Conflict Resolution

Except in very few situations in which the conflict may lead to competition and creativity so that
in those situations the conflict can be encouraged, in all other cases where conflict is destructive
in nature it should be resolved once it has developed, but all efforts should be made to prevent if
from developing.

(a) Goal structure. Goals should be clearly defined and the role and contribution of each unit
towards the organizational goal must be clearly identified.
(b) Reward system. The compensation system should be such that it does not create
individual competition and conflict within the unit.
(c) Trust and communication. The greater the trust among members of the unit the more
honest and open the communication among them would be. Individuals and units should
be encouraged to communicate openly with each other so that they can all understand
each other, understand each other’s problems and help each other when necessary.
(d) Coordination. Coordination is the next step to communication. Properly coordinated
activities reduce conflict. Wherever there are problems in coordination, a special liaison
office should be established to assist such coordination.

Positive consequences of conflict

 Leads to new ideas
 Stimulates creativity
 Motivates change
 Promotes organizational validity
 Helps individuals and groups establish identities
 Serves as a safety value to indicate problems
Negative consequences of conflict
# Divers energy from work
# Wastes resources
# Creates a negative climate
# Breaks down group cohesiveness
# Threatens psychological well-being
# Can increase hostility and aggressive behaviors

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5.5 Conflict Management Strategies
The five conflict-handling strategies identified by the theory are as follows:
 Forcing. Imposing one’s will on the other party.
 Problem solving. Trying to reach an agreement that satisfies both one’s own and the
other party’s aspirations as much as possible.
 Avoiding. Ignoring or minimizing the importance of the issues creating the conflict.
 Yielding. Accepting and incorporating the will of the other party.
 Compromising. Balancing concern for oneself with concern for the other party in order to
reach a solution.
Forcing
 ➔ In emergencies
 ➔ On important but unpopular issues
 ➔ On vital issues when you know you are right
 ➔ Against people who take advantage of noncompetitive behaviour
Problem solving
 ➔ If both sets of concerns are too important to be compromised
 ➔ To merge different perspectives
 ➔ To gain commitment through a consensus
 ➔ To mend a relationship
Avoiding
 ➔ When an issue is unimportant
 ➔ When your concerns won’t be met
 ➔ When potential disruption outweighs the benefits of
 resolution
 ➔ To let people cool down and regain perspective
Yielding
➔ When you find you are wrong
➔ To show your reasonableness
➔ When issues are more important to others than yourself
➔ To build social credits for later issues
➔ When harmony and stability are especially important
Compromising
➔ When goals are important but not worth more assertive approaches
➔ When opponents are committed to mutually exclusive goals
➔ To achieve temporary settlements to complex issues
➔ To arrive at expedient solutions under time pressure