Conflict and Negotiations
Conflict in Organizations: Basic Considerations
- How do you recognize and resolve short- and long-term conflicts among group members and among groups?
By any standard of comparison, conflict in organizations represents an important topic for managers. Just how important it is can be seen in the results of a study of how managers spend their time. It was found that approximately 20 percent of top
and middle managers' time was spent dealing with some form of conflict. In another study, it was found that managerial skill in handling conflict was a major predictor of managerial success and effectiveness.
A good example of the magnitude
of the problems that conflict can cause in an organization is the case of General Concrete, Inc., of Coventry, Rhode Island. Operations at this concrete plant came to a halt for more than three weeks because the plant's one truck driver and sole member
of the Teamsters Union began picketing after he was laid off by the company. The company intended to use other drivers from another of their plants. In response to the picketing, not a single employee of General Concrete crossed the picket line, thereby
closing the plant and costing the company a considerable amount in lost production and profit. Could this problem have been handled better? We shall see.
In the sections that follow, several aspects of conflict in organizations are considered.
First, conflict is defined, and variations of conflict are considered by type and by level. Next, constructive and destructive aspects of conflict are discussed. A basic model of the conflict process is then examined, followed by a look at several
of the more prominent antecedents of conflict. Finally, effective and ineffective strategies for conflict resolution are contrasted. Throughout, emphasis is placed on problem identification and problem resolution.
There are many ways to determine
conflict as it relates to the workplace. For our purposes here, we will define conflict as the process by which individuals or groups react to other entities that have frustrated, or are about to frustrate, their plans, goals, beliefs,
or activities. In other words, conflict involves situations in which the expectations or actual goal-directed behaviors of one person or group are blocked - or about to be blocked - by another person or group. Hence, if a sales representative cannot
secure enough funds to mount what she considers to be an effective sales campaign, conflict can ensue. Similarly, if A gets promoted and B doesn't, conflict can emerge. Finally, if a company finds it necessary to lay off valued employees because of
difficult financial conditions, conflict can occur. Many such examples can be identified; in each, a situation emerges in which someone or some group cannot do what it wants to do (for whatever reason) and responds by experiencing an inner frustration.