Conflict Management in Organizations: Styles and Strategies

Introduction

Conflicts are natural. They are expected to arise in any interaction involving two or more individuals. No two people think, act, or react in the same manner. This variability creates the opportunity for conflict to arise in virtually any situation. Without conflict, life in organizations would become stagnant and the future of the organization would be jeopardized. Dissonance — or a need to find a better way of doing things — is often the seed that spurs a team toward higher levels of investigation and inquiry. The origin of conflict can often be traced to false perception (Burton, 1968). Within an organization, conflict can play an important role in giving workers and management alike a sense of direction and purpose, even in the presence of differing opinions.

The aim of this paper is to gain insight into the various conditions that can cause conflicts between individuals in organizations. The author's personal experience has been primarily in sales. As a manager, dealing with conflicts that arose within the team was a frequent responsibility, and being called upon to arbitrate or resolve those conflicts — with an expectation of fairness and balance — was common. Since then, the author has transitioned from a corporate setting to an academic one, teaching courses in engineering and also coaching the school's basketball team. In this new work environment, the main drivers of conflict are often very different from those encountered in sales, yet they are no less significant.

With this in mind, the author set out to understand the classifications of conflict and the means available to reduce its negative impact on the morale of those involved. As the basketball coach, situations frequently arise in which players want to do things their own way. Conflicts often emerge when a few team members refuse to relinquish control and expect the entire team to follow their thinking (Rahim, 2001). If not handled effectively, such conflict can result in team dysfunction — a fragmentation that defeats the team's core goal of winning games. Understanding the available options for handling these conflicts is therefore paramount.

Literature Review

Conflict is defined as "a disagreement regarding interests or ideas. Whether it is within oneself, between two people, or within an organization, it has a negative connotation" (Esquivel & Kleiner, 1997). Historically, conflicts in organizations have been considered unwanted and unattractive. Organizations encouraged conformity among their workers, and teams and groups increasingly viewed the person who created conflict as a troublemaker to be ostracized.

Not all conflicts are the same. Two distinct types have been identified: emotional conflict and cognitive conflict. Emotional conflict is personal, defensive, and resentful. Also known as "A-type conflict" or "affective conflict," it is rooted in anger, personal friction, personality clashes, ego, and tension. Cognitive conflict, by contrast, is largely depersonalized. Also known as "C-type conflict," it consists of argumentation about the merits of ideas, plans, and projects. At an interpersonal level, conflicts may originate from two sources: group identity, which arises when individuals have personalities and behavior patterns that do not synchronize well and are abrasive to one another; and group affiliation, where the conflict stems not from the individual's personality but from the group or team with which he or she identifies.

The type of conflict that emerges often determines how it ought to be managed. People generally hold a positive concept and image of themselves. Attitudes are value-laden statements — favorable or unfavorable — about objects, people, situations, or events, and they reflect how an individual feels about something. Conflicts frequently arise when the attitudes of two or more people do not mesh and individuals cannot move past those feelings. Emotional factors can become distorted and even overshadow an individual's reasoning, causing the situation to devolve into a win-lose competition. Disputing parties will be unwilling to compromise. When a conflict is resolved in a win-win manner, the negative aspects of the decision are minimized. In a no-win situation, however, every positive aspect of the alternative not chosen becomes apparent, while the negative aspects of the chosen solution only deepen the conflict.

Perceptions are generally a reactionary process. Individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment, and those perceptions can introduce a strong sense of how things "should" be. This subjective lens shapes how conflict is experienced and, consequently, how it is managed.

Conflicts in Teams

Conflicts in teams can generally be classified into three types: relationship conflicts, task conflicts, and process conflicts. Each type can have different impacts on teams within an organization (Van Slyke, 1999). Emotions and personal feelings can distort and overshadow a team's purpose or agenda, making task execution and completion difficult and potentially devolving the team into a highly dysfunctional environment.