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Organizational Conflict

Understanding and Managing Conflict

conflict management Graphics courtesy of PM Study CircleOpens in new window

Organizations and people have goals and hence conflict is inevitable, and leaders have to implement strategies to manage them and negotiateOpens in new window where required. In addition, because there are power differencesOpens in new window in organizations, organizational members attempt to influenceOpens in new window others. While doing this, many employees, for example, will try to influence others at work because it is best for the organization, while others will attempt to gain influence through unfair and selfish means. This is called politicsOpens in new window.

This literature series highlights the importance of understanding and managing conflict; discusses the methods for handling it, including how to stimulate positive, or functional, conflict. We identify types and sources of conflictOpens in new window, and describe major conflict resolution approachesOpens in new window.

What Is Conflict?

Conflict occurs when opposing parties have interests or goals that appear to be incompatible.

Organizational conflict is the discord that arises when the goals, interests, or values of different individuals or groups are incompatible and those individuals or groups block or thwart one another’s attempts to achieve objectives.

Conflict is an inevitable part of organizational life and an inevitable fact of leadership because the goals of different stakeholders are often incompatible.

Organizational conflict can also exist between groupsOpens in new window, or teamsOpens in new window, or departments, and divisions that compete for resources or even between leaders who may be competing for promotion to the next level in the organizational hierarchy.

Not surprisingly, the current business environment, for example, continues to evolve at a rapid pace, which intensifies the existence of conflict throughout various parts of any organization. Factors often cited for why finely tuned conflicts resolution skills are essential for today’s leaders include the following:

  1. Increased pressure on organizations to change and adapt quickly to maintain competitive advantage;
  2. Increased diversity due to global business expansion, which may cause more conflict;
  3. Intense use of technology and flexible working arrangements that have reduced face-to-face communications among leaders, employees, and business colleagues, which may increase the opportunity for misunderstanding and communication gaps; and
  4. Increased conflict among members of self-managed teams, who are now making decisions previously the responsibility of other leaders in the organization.

All of these factors, among others, require greater conflict resolution and negotiation skills at all levels of the organization. It is important for leaders to develop the skills necessary to manage conflict effectively. Over the years researchers have found that

  1. first-line supervisors and mid-level leaders can spend more than 25% of their time dealing with conflict;
  2. resolving conflict is an important factor in leadership effectiveness;
  1. some leaders spend 40% to 90% of their time dealing with conflicts in one form or another; and
  2. CFOs spend 15% of their time resolving staff conflicts.

In fact, successfully resolving conflict is an increasingly important skills as leadership and management practice moves further away from authoritarian approaches to leadership practice and toward cooperative approaches emphasizing rational persuasion, collaboration, compromise, and solutions of mutual gain.

The level of conflict present in an organization also has important implications for organizational performance.

It is important for leaders to understand that conflict is a force that needs to be managed rather than eliminated. Leaders should never try to eliminate all conflict, but rather, should try to keep conflict at a moderate and functional level to promote change efforts that benefit the organization.

Additionally, leaders should strive to keep conflict focused on substantive, task-based issues and minimize conflict based on personal disagreements and animosities. To manage conflict, leaders must understand the types and sources of conflictOpens in new window and be familiar with strategiesOpens in new window that can be effective in dealing with it.

Functional and Dysfunctional Conflict

Conflict has traditionally been viewed as an inherently negative aspect of any groupOpens in new window, teamOpens in new window, or organizationOpens in new window. Not only does this represent the way most people today view conflict (that is, most people have a strong value of minimizing or avoiding conflict) but it was the prevailing view of researchers during the 1930s and 1940s. However, more recently those studying group effectiveness have concluded that some level of conflict may help bolster innovation and performance.

Conflict that enhances group productivity is viewed as useful and conflict that hinders group performance is viewed as counterproductive. So, conflict can be functional and dysfunctional.

ConflictOpens in new window can be functional, in that it can improve an individual’s or group’s performance, or dysfunctional even destructive, with negative effects on the people or organizations involved. In these situations, people often feel comfortable disagreeing and presenting opposing views which typically brings about a greater awareness of problems, enhance the search for solutions, and motivate employees to change and adapt when advisable.

Each of these element is lacking or even worse in cases of dysfunctional conflict, which threatens an organization’s interests by creating distorted perceptions, negative stereotyping, poor communication, decreased productivity, and can even result in sabotage.

Conflict can be viewed as a bell curve. A moderate level of healthy can enhance achievement. Too much or too little conflict, on the other hand, can lead to negative and even destructive behaviors, especially if unreasonably pressures and tensions are present.

One responsibility of a leader is to decide how much functional conflict is needed to create, enhance, and sustain the productivity of employees and to make sure it does not degenerate into dysfunctional conflict.

Research that examined the perceived positive and negative effects of conflict and the conditions under which those effects were likely to result identified seven negative effects of conflict and three positive effects. On the negative side, conflict

  • interferes with communication,
  • leads to or intensifies grudges and feuds,
  • interferes with cooperation and coordination,
  • diverts energies from major tasks or goals,
  • leads groups to stereotype each other,
  • leads to an increase in politics (i.e., individual efforts to acquire power to advance their own efforts), and
  • reduces the organization’s capacity to compete in the marketplace.

On the positive side, conflict

  • brings important problems out into the open;
  • encourages innovation, change, and consideration of new approaches and ideas; and
  • increases loyalty and performance within each of the groups in conflict.
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