ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT
Organizational Conflict
Organizational Conflict also known as workplace conflict, is described as the state
of disagreement or misunderstanding by individuals or groups within the
organization resulting from opposing needs, ideas, beliefs, values, or goals.
At the workplace, whenever, two or more persons interact, conflict occurs when
opinions with respect to any task or decision are in contradiction.
A common example of organizational conflict occurs when workers advocate for
higher pay and the business owner or management wants pay levels to remain
the same.
Factors Influencing Organizational Conflict
1. Unclear Responsibility: If there is lack of clarity, regarding who is responsible for
which section of a task or project, conflict takes place. And, to avoid this situation,
the roles and responsibility of the team members should be stated clearly and
also agreed upon by all.
2. Interpersonal Relationship: Conflicts at the workplace are often caused by
interpersonal issues between the members of the organization. Every member of
an organization possesses different personality, which plays a crucial role in
resolving conflict in an organization.
3. Scarcity of Resources: One of the main reasons for occurrence of conflict in an
organization is the inadequacy of resources like time, money, materials etc. due
to which members of the organization compete with each other, leading to
conflict between them.
4. Conflict of Interest: When there is a disorientation between the personal goals of
the individual and the goals of the organization, conflict of interest arises, as the
individual may fight for his personal goals, which hinders the overall success of
the project.
Types of Organizational Conflict
1. Intra-individual/Intra-personal Conflict
Conflict can be intra-personal, where an individual’s objective and vision differs
from his/her company’s overall vision.
Intrapersonal conflict occurs within an individual. The experience takes place in
the person’s mind. Hence, it is a type of conflict that is psychological involving the
individual’s thoughts, values, principles and emotions.
For example, a secretary may have to lie on instructions that her boss is not in the
office to avoid an unwanted visitor or an unwanted telephone call. This may cause
a conflict within the mind of the secretary who may have developed an ethic of
telling the truth.
In addition to these value conflicts, a person may be faced with a role conflict. For
example, a police officer may be invited to his brother’s wedding where he may
find that some guests are using drugs which are against the law. It may cause
conflict in his mind as to which role he should play – as of a brother or as of a
police officer.
2. Inter-personal conflict
Interpersonal conflict is the conflict between two individuals of the organization.
Basically, this occurs because of some differences in people. We have varied
personalities which usually lead to incompatible choices and opinions.
This may involve conflict between two managers who are competing for limited
capital and manpower resources.
If there are two equally deserving professors and they are both up for promotion,
but only one of them can be promoted because of budget and positional
constraints, then this could result in interpersonal conflict between the two
professors.
Another type of interpersonal conflict can relate to disagreements over goals and
objectives of the organization. A college or a university may have a policy of
quality education so that only top quality students are admitted while some
members of the organizational board may propose “open admission” policy
where all high school graduates are to be considered for admission. Such a
situation can cause conflicts among the members of the governing board.
In addition to conflicts over the nature and substance of goals and objectives, the
conflicts can also arise over the means for achieving these goals and objectives.
For example, two marketing managers may argue as to which promotional
methods would result in higher sales.
3. Intra-group Conflict
Intragroup conflict occurs among individuals within a team. These are conflicts
that typically involve more than one person within a group. The incompatibilities
and misunderstandings between team members lead to intragroup conflict. It
starts from interpersonal disagreements like team members have different
personalities which may lead to tension or differences in views and ideas.
For example, in some restaurants, all tips are shared equally by all waiters and
waitresses. Some particular waitress who may be overly polite and efficient may
feel that she deserves more, thus causing conflict between her and the group.
Similarly, if a group is going on strike for some reasons, some members of the
group may not agree with these reasons or simply may not be economically able
to afford to go on strike, thus causing conflict with the group.
4. Inter-group conflict
Intergroup conflict occurs when a misunderstanding arises among different teams
within an organization.
This is due to the varied sets of goals and interests of these different groups. In
addition, competition also contributes for intergroup conflict to arise. There are
other factors which fuel this type of conflict. Some of these factors may include a
rivalry in resources or the boundaries set by a group to others which establishes
their own identity as a team.
For example, sales people who depend upon their commission as a reward for
their efforts may promise their customers certain quantity of the product and
delivery times which the production department may find impossible to meet
thus causing conflict between the two units.
5. Inter-organizational Conflict
Inter-organizational conflict is the conflict that arises across different
organizations.
When different businesses are competing against one another, this is an example
of inter-organizational conflict.
Conflict also occurs between organizations which are dependent upon each other
in some way. This conflict may be between buyer organizations and supplier
organizations about quantity, quality and delivery times of raw materials and
other policy issues.
Causes of Organizational Conflict
- Managerial Expectations: Every employee is expected to meet the targets,
imposed by his/her superior and when these expectations are misunderstood
or not fulfilled within the stipulated time, conflicts arises. - Communication Disruption: One of the major causes of conflict at the
workplace is disruption in the communication, i.e. if one employee requires
certain information from another, who does not respond properly, conflict
sparks in the organization. - Misunderstanding: Misunderstanding of information, can also alleviate dispute
in organization, in the sense that if one person misinterpret some information,
it can lead to series of conflicts. - Lack of accountability: If in a project, responsibilities are not clear and some
mistake has arisen, of which no member of the team wants to take
responsibility can also become a cause of conflict in the organization.
Stages of Conflict
There are five stages in a conflict.
1. Latent Stage: In the “Latent Stage,” the first stage in the five stages of
conflict, people may be in conflict without being aware that they are in
conflict. An example of this could be that a server at a restaurant may
have inputted an order incorrectly and the food being made for a table is
the wrong food. The manager and table do not know this yet and conflict
has not arisen yet.
2. Perceived Stage: The “Perceived Stage” is when the people involved in a
conflict become fully aware that there is a conflict, so the table has now
been made aware and complained to management. Management will
now go over to speak with the employee about it.
3. Felt Stage: During the “Felt Stage” stress and anxiety are felt by one or
more of the participants due to the conflict, the manager does not enjoy
causing conflict and the employee does not enjoy being under scrutiny.
4. Manifest: This will undoubtedly lead to the “Manifest Stage,” during which
the conflict can be observed. The Manifest Stage can take a number of
shapes including: e-mails, phone calls, phone messages, face-to-face
meetings, or any situation in which the conflict could be observed. When
the manager pulls the employee aside to speak with him or her, others
perceive the conflict and it has manifested.
5. Aftermath: The final stage is the “Aftermath Stage,” which takes place
when there is some outcome of the conflict, such as a resolution to, or
dissolution of, the problem. When the manager corrects the mistake with
the customer and takes appropriate steps to ensure the server is more
careful in the future.
Conflict resolution
Conflict resolution is a way for two or more parties to find a peaceful solution to a
disagreement among them.
From a conflict resolution perspective, conflicts can and must be resolved by
taking into account the needs of the people affected by the conflict.
In other words, for a solution to be lasting, it must meet the needs of all those
involved in the conflict.
A solution, in which one party’s needs are met at the expense of the needs of the
other party, is neither just nor likely to last for a long.
Resolving a conflict ends the dispute by satisfying the interests of both parties.
Conflict resolution requires great managerial skills. Our goal in conflict resolution
always should be to seek a resolution based on mutual gain. Realistically,
however, resolution is not always possible. When this is the case, we must
manage the conflict to ensure that the relationship is constructive and that open
communication is maintained.
Successful conflict resolution depends on the ability to regulate stress and
emotions.
During conflict, strong emotions appear which can hurt feelings. When a person
deals with a conflict in a healthy way, it increases the understanding among
people, builds trust and strengthens relationships
Conflict resolution is only a five-step process:
Step 1: Identify the source of the conflict. The more information we have about
the cause of the conflict, the more easily we can help to resolve it. To get the
information we need, use a series of questions to identify the cause, like, “How
did this incident begin?”
As a manager or supervisor, we need to give both parties the chance to share
their side of the story. It will give us a better understanding of the situation.
Step 2: Look beyond the incident. The source of the conflict might be a minor
problem that occurred months before, but the level of stress has grown to the
point where the two parties have begun attacking each other personally instead
of addressing the real problem. In the calm of our office, we can get them to look
beyond the triggering incident to see the real cause. Once again, probing
questions will help.
Step 3: Request solutions. After getting each party’s viewpoint on the conflict, the
next step is to get each to identify how the situation could be changed. Again,
question the parties to solicit their ideas: “How can you make things better
between you?”
Step 4: Identify solutions both disputants can support. We are listening for the
most acceptable course of action. Point out the merits of various ideas, not only
from each other’s perspective, but in terms of the benefits to the organization.
For instance, we might point to the need for greater cooperation and
collaboration to effectively address team issues and departmental problems.
Step 5: Agreement. The mediator needs to get the two parties to shake hands and
agree to one of the alternatives identified in Step 4. Some mediators go as far as
to write up a contract in which actions and time frames are specified.
