34 Organisational Conflicts-1

Prof.Mahabir Narwal

1. Learning Objectives:

Basic objectives of this module are:

To understand the concept & meaning of organizational conflicts To understand the characteristics and sources of conflict

To know the process of conflict

To know about conflict management

2. Introduction

The conflict in organization is very important as the adept handling of conflicts is very imperative for the sound functioning and growth of any organization. In every organization, there are different individuals and groups. Every individual has a different personality, opinions, views, values and perceptions on certain things. When the individuals have different opinions, views and values with each other, it is known as organizational conflict. It is important that organizational conflict does not necessarily mean fight or violence. In the field of organizational behavior and management, conflict is a very broad term. Organizational conflict comes into existence by the differences in needs, values and interests of different people. However, this difference may be actual or perceived. Organizational conflict is between people working together. In fact, the conflict can be between individuals as well as between two or more groups.

Meaning of Conflict

Conflict is defined as a clash between individuals arising out of a difference in thought process, attitude, understanding, interests, requirements and perceptions.

Definitions

Some definitions of conflict are given below:

According to S.P. Robbins, “Conflict has been defined as referring to all kinds of opposition or antagonistic interaction.”

According to Follett, “Conflict has been defined as the appearance of difference, difference of opinions and interests.”

According to Joseph Reetz, “In an organisation, conflict can be described as a break down or disruption in normal activities in such a way that the individuals concerned experience difficulty in working together.”

According to David L. Austin, “It 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.”

3. Characteristics of Conflict

The followings are the main features of conflict:

Conflict  is  inevitable:  Conflict  exists  everywhere.  Every  individual  has  different  opinion, perception and attitude and the differences lead to conflict. Although inevitable, conflict can be minimized, diverted or resolved. Conflict develops because we are dealing with people’s lives, jobs, children, pride, self-concept, ego and sense of mission. Conflict is inevitable and often good.

Conflict is a normal part of life: Every individual has unlimited needs and wants but they have limited resources to fulfill these needs. Thus, the shortage of resources increases the conflicts. The conflict is not a problem, but if it is not managed properly then it becomes a problem.

Perception: It must be perceived by the parties to it, otherwise it does not exist. In interpersonal interaction, perception is more important than reality. What we perceive and think affects our behavior, attitudes, and communication.

Opposition: In conflict one party must be perceiving or doing something the other party does not like or want. In other words, conflict arises where one party oppose the opinions or decisions of the other party.

Interdependence and interaction: There must be some kind of real or perceived interdependence. Without interdependence there can be no interaction. Conflict occurs only when some kind of interaction takes place.

Conflict is not unidimensional: Unidimensionality is another main feature of conflict. It comes into different ways in accordance with degree of seriousness and capacity. At times, it may improve even a difficult situation.

Resolution is a must: Conflict has positive and negative impact on organisation. Conflict must be resolved at right time otherwise it will be harmful for organisation

A large number of forms: Inter-group conflict, intra-personal conflict, intra-group conflict and,inter-personal conflict, etc. are some types of conflicts.

4. Causes/ sources of conflict

The followings are the major causes or sources of conflict:

Poor Communication: Poor communication is one of the major causes of the conflict. When the sender of information is unable to send right information or he sends partial information to receiver then this situation leads conflict. For example, if a manager is going on an extended vacation fails to communicate properly with his subordinates with regard to completion of any task. He will find these jobs only partially done with subordinates and they will blame each other for not completing the tasks. Accordingly, adequate, complete, and correctly understood communication is very important in order to complete of tasks, thus proper communication is helpful in reducing the chances of conflict.

Behavioral aspects of conflict: These conflicts arise due to the differences in the human thoughts and feelings, emotions and attitudes, values and perceptions and reflect some basic traits of a personality. Thus, some people’s values or perceptions of situations are particularly likely to generate conflict with others. This conflict may also be based on personal biases regarding such factors as religion, race or sex. The conflict can also arise due to differing viewpoints about various issues. For example, two managers may differ in their viewpoints regarding which strategic plan to implement. The value based conflicts arise due to different values that may be cultural based. For instance, one manager may want to retire some workers to save costs while another manager may have human sensitivity and support other methods of cutting costs.

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 the structurally related factors are:

(a)  Size of the organization: In large organization, there are more chances for existence of conflict and vice-versa. When the organization becomes larger, there is greater impersonal formality, less goals clarity, more supervisory levels and greater chance of information being diluted or distorted as it is passed along. All these factors create grounds for conflict.

(b)   Line-staff distinction: Another important source of conflict is the distinction between the line and staff units within the organization. Line units are involved in operations that are directly related to the core activities of the organization. For example, production department would be a line unit in a manufacturing organization and sales department would be considered line unit in a customer oriented service organization. Staff units are generally in an advisory capacity and support the line function. Examples of staff departments are legal department, public relations, personnel and research and development.

Lack of Information: Lack of information is next main cause of conflict. Sometimes, company email, newsletters and reports do not reach their destination. This lack of information also leads to conflict and it comes from a variety of culprits, such as not knowing how to use email properly or not knowing how to read a report correctly. Employees should be knowledgeable about how to understand and utilize the information they receive. Staff and company meetings are an ideal way to educate a group of employees at one time. Teach methods for organizing emails, reading company reports and checking personal mailboxes frequently. Learning these skills will help avoid conflict from lack of information in the organization.

Limited resources: Another basis for conflict in organizations is limited resources. Most of the organisations face problem of shortage of resources. In today’s competitive environment lack of resources creates problem for meeting the needs of customers. This incompatibility may lead conflict.

Goal incompatibilities: It is another reason for conflict in an organisation. People have different goals in the same organisation. Different goals give birth to conflict. For example, sometimes the goals of management and worker’s may be different. The objective of management can be to get the maximum work out of the workers and pay them less remuneration, while the worker’s objectives can be less work and more remuneration. So this situation certainly leads to conflict.

5.Process of conflict

Organizational conflict arises when the goals, interests or values of different individuals or groups are incompatible and those individuals or groups prevent one another’s attempts to achieve their objective. The conflict process can be seen as comprising five stages.

Stage 1: Latent conflict: The first step in the conflict process is the presence of conditions that create opportunities for conflict to develop. These cause or create opportunities for organizational conflict to rise such as poor communication, competition for scarce resources, divergence of goals and role conflict.

Stage 2: Perceived conflict: The second step in the conflict process is that conflict must be perceived by the parties to it. In other words, perceived conflict means awareness by one or more parties of the existence of conditions that create conflict. If no one is aware of a conflict, then it is generally agreed that no conflict exists. Because perceived conflict does not mean that it is personalized.For example, A may be aware that B and A are in serious disagreements but it may not make A tense and it may have no effect whatsoever on A’s affection towards B. It is the felt level, when individuals become emotionally involved that parties experience anxiety, tension or hostility.

Stage 3: Felt conflict: Felt conflict means parties to the conflict feel that they have some conflict among themselves and it is personalized. At this stage, the conflict is not only perceived but felt by the parties to conflict. Individuals become emotionally involved that parties experience anxiety, tension and frustration.

Stage 4: Manifest conflict: At this stage, conflict becomes visible. The behavior stage includes the statements, actions and reactions made by the conflicting parties. These conflicting behaviors are usually clear attempt to implement each party’s intentions.

Stage 5: Conflict aftermath: At this stage, attempts are made to resolve the conflict through conflict resolution mechanism. Depending on the nature of conflict resolution mechanism, either the conflict may be suppressed or resolved. If the conflict merely suppressed, the latent condition of conflict may be aggravated in more serious form. If the conflict is resolved amicably, cooperative behavior is established between the parties.

6. Functional and Dysfunctional Aspects of Conflict

There are two aspects of conflicts i.e. functional and dysfunctional. If conflict is good then it functional and if it is bad then it is dysfunctional. Let us discuss the functional and dysfunctional aspects of conflicts in detail:

(i) Functional Conflict

According to Interactionist Approach- competition among the individuals, creativity and self-evaluation-these are the reasons for a company’s growth because minimum level of conflict play a positive role in the group. Better outcomes, increase in group performance and solving problems more efficiently will be the results of optimum conflict. It is functional aspects of conflicts. Functional aspects of conflicts are as follow:

High quality decisions: Conflict improves the quality of decision in the organizations. When conflict takes place in any organization, parties to the conflict give suggestions and share their views on the basis of their experience, knowledge and information in order to end the conflict. As a result of this the quality of decisions will definitely improve.

Release of tension: Conflict is helpful in releasing the tension of people. Some people usually do not express their feelings and ideas openly and this leads the stress level of people. In conflict people express their feelings, ideas and internal anger openly. This helps in reducing the tension of persons and they start behaving in a normal way.

Awareness: Conflict is helpful in creating awareness about problems, who is involved and how to solve the problem. With the help of this, management can take necessary steps to remove problems.

Stimulating change: In today’s world it is necessary for a firm to adapt the change according to environment and also it is important for a firm. In this changing environment, customer’s needs are also changing and if the firm or organization will not change then it cannot survive in the competitive world. Conflict encourages change among the people. When people face conflict, they change their mind-set and are ready to change themselves to meet requirements of the new situation.

Group cohesiveness: Conflicts promote the group cohesiveness in organizations. When a particular group comes in conflict with some opposite group, to compete with the outsiders it develop strength and loyalty between the group members. They forget their mutual differences and this increases the degree of cohesiveness among members. In this way, cohesiveness among members play important role in attaining the objectives of organizations.

Identification of weaknesses: When conflicts arise, management can identify the weak points of the organization. When management comes to know about the weak points, then management can take necessary actions to rectify the weaknesses.

Knowledge of capacity to face challenges: Conflicts create challenge before the people. When a person comes out successfully from conflict, it is an indication of the fact that he is capable of facing any challenge. In this way, only a conflict makes it clear about the capacity of individuals to face challenges.

Enhancement in creativity: Conflict encourages creativity in the organization. When there are conflicts, people starts thinking in their own way. Everybody wants to be victorious. Victory can come only through new ideas. In this way, conflicts compel people to think and in turn, increase their creativity.

(ii) Dysfunctional conflicts

According to the traditional view, any conflict in an organization is bad, negative and harmful. Although conflicts are of different types, but the traditional view only seen conflict as dysfunctional and destructive. It is dysfunctional aspects of conflicts.

Dysfunctional aspects of conflicts are as follow:

High employee turnover: Conflict in organisation may increase the employee’s turnover. If the conflict is not managed by the organization, then it may be the reason for many people to leave the organization. Due to this, the organization may loss key people and in the long run, the organization may suffer.

Violating the main goal: Employees in the organisation give preference to their individual objectives rather than organisational’s goals in conflicting situation. To win the conflict they waste their energy and time. They try to achieve their personal goal. As a result of this organisations are unable to achieve its main goal.

Lowering organisation efficiency: Conflict may reduce the efficiency of employees which result in weaken the organization. Frequent conflicts may slow down communication and divert employees from organizational goals to individual goals. Employees get disappointed in conflicting situation. In this situation organization cannot achieve its objectives.

Dissatisfaction: If there is conflict in the organization, it will be the reason for the dissatisfaction and the party who loose will wait for his turn. When the losing party will get a chance or opportunity they will fix their score with party who won last time.

Climate of distrust: When there is a conflict in the organization, the climate of organization used to be suspicious and distrust. Member in the organization do not trust each other. It is another negative point of conflict. In the organisastion, conflict is the reason to eliminate the group cohesiveness. If there is conflict, people will not interact with each other and they will carry feelings of anger or negative feelings.

High tension: Conflict may cause high level of tension among individuals and groups. It is necessary for management to resolve conflict. If management fails to resolve conflict at right time, then conflict may result in anxiety, frustration and hostility among employees. Conflict in organisation badly affects the performance of individuals. Further, it reduces the overall performance of oraganisation.

7. Conflict management

There are two approaches: preventive measures and curative measures to manage conflict.

Preventive measures. Where dysfunctional aspects of conflicts do not happen, management tries to build that type of environment, which prevent the conflict. Some measures which are required to manage the organisational conflicts.

Coordination. If the activities of the organisation are coordinated properly, it will reduce the conflict. A special liaison office should be established in the organisation to deal with the problems if there are any problems regarding coordination.

Trust and communication. Honest communication exists if there is trust between the members. For the open communication individual and groups should be encouraged.

Establish common goals. Reasons for the conflicts are differences between goals. There should be common goal for the group on which all group members agree.

Reduction in interdependence. Mainly intergroup conflicts arise due to interdependence in the organisation. Less conflict will be there between the organisational groups if the interdependence will be less.

Use of superior authority. The conflict is referred to the superior authority if the conflict is not resolved by the two organisational group or members. The superior authority resolves the conflict by giving a decision. And the decision will be accepted because of decision of high rank authority.

f. Reduction in shared resources. There are scared resources in the organisation, this cause group conflicts. Reduction in sharing is suggested by the management of conflict. We can reduce conflicts in the organisation by increasing the resources but we know that the resources are scares so every time they cannot be increased. Uses of the resources in best way are the alternative solution.

Curative measures. It is related with resolution of conflicts and dysfunctional of the conflicts in the organization when they occur.For example, if A and B are two parties and have conflict between them, they will be more concern about themselves. If the concern for the others is very high they are cooperative and if the concern is low they tends to uncooperative. This could be explaining with following points:

Compromise. In this A seems with compromising nature and party A follow “give and take” attitude, if the A has medium level concern.

Avoidance. If A is avoiding conflicts or not able to face problems, in this situation party A is not concerned neither about himself nor for the party B. B can take advantage by adopting the problems if party A avoid the problems.

c.Competing. A create the situation of conflict if party A has very low concern about other party and high concern about himself. Then the conflict competition will solve after winning or losing the situation.

d.Accommodating. A party would be very cooperative if party A has high concern about party B and if party A has not concern about party B then party A would be not that much cooperative.

e. Collaboration. Party A would be in a collaborative mode if it has concern for himself and for other party. It gives benefits to both the parties and solves the existing problem.

All five modes have their advantage and disadvantage and are suitable for the situation of different nature.

8. Summary

When the individuals have different opinions, views and values with each other, it is known as organizational conflict. The conflict in organization is very important as the adept handling of conflicts is very imperative for the sound functioning and growth of any organization. Conflict in organisation may increase the employee’s turnover. Conflict encourages creativity in the organization. When there are conflicts, people starts thinking in their own way. Preventive measures can be used which will not allow the conflict to happen. Anyhow if conflict happened curative measures can be taken.

References:-

• Organisational Behaviour by K Ashwathappa, published by Himalaya Publishing House.
• Organisational Behaviour by Shashi K Gupta and Rosy Joshi, published by Kalyani Publishers.
• Management Concepts and Organisational Behaviour by N.K.Sahni, published by Kalyani Publishers.
• Organizational  Behaviour-an  evidence  based  approach  by  Fred  Luthans,  published  by McGraw Hill Education, 12th Edition.
• Organisational behaviour-foundation, realities and challenges by Debra L. Nelson and James Campbell Quick, Published by South-Western Cengage Learning, 5th Edition.
• http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/business/conflict-management-characteristics-types-stages-causes-and-other-details/5431/
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