BUS603: Managing People

Conflict resolution involves, in particular, the forms of behavior and mutual responses of individuals in a conflict situation. In The relationship between self-efficacy and conflict-handling styles in terms of relative authority positions of the two parties, authors emphasize a dispositional concept in conflict resolution, which is related to a certain form of solving the conflict. The conflict resolution form in terms of the dispositional concept is based on personality traits, power needs, affiliation, and so on.

It is also possible to examine conflicts and their solutions in terms of situational concepts. Rahim describes a contingent approach according to which the individual conflict resolution styles are applied on the basis of an assessment of their adequacy in a particular situation in which the conflict arose. Antonioni points out that not all individuals are able to always use the best style of solution within each conflicting situation.

When characterizing the basic concepts of ways of defining and resolving conflicts, it is essential to accept both points of view - disposition and situational. It is not possible to examine conflicts and ways of solving them in isolation from the situation in which the particular conflict arose and from the personality traits of the people who deal with these conflicts.

The correctness of such consideration is also supported by a number of researches in which attention has been paid within various contexts to analyses of the relationships among situational characteristics, personality traits, and behavior.

In the background of these projects, a more general methodological problem is often discussed to address the question of how behavioral predictions can be made on the basis of knowledge of stable, dispositional, trans-situational characteristics that affect behavior regardless of the particular situation, or how that particular situation or a type of situations (their perception) modify the given behavior.

Authors define conflicts within two dimensions - interest in self and own needs, and interest in others. Each style of behavior in a conflict situation is thus a functional level of utilization of these dimensions. These theories distinguish five main conflict resolution styles, which are: avoidance, rivalry, compromise, adaptation, and cooperation.

Conflicts occur in a variety of social contexts, not excluding the working life. Collins argues that the occurrence of conflicts in the work environment is inevitable, and therefore it is desirable to learn to address them and try to exploit their potential benefits. If the conflict is not properly resolved, losses occur in mutual relationships, trust, psyche, and often also in an organization as a whole. At the same time, however, it is necessary to point out that if managers are forced to spend much time on conflict resolution, they lack behind in other management activities.

Effective conflict resolution in an organization or business is currently considered a legitimate, inevitable, and positive predictor of effective organization management. It is crucial for business productivity. Conflict is an essential feature of organizational life. The organization is a place where there are disagreements in opinions and goals, and where conflicts among people but also among groups are seen as a common phenomenon, which cannot be avoided by any organization. Conflicts are reflected in the organizational structure, rules, procedures, and management. A key factor in working with organizational conflict is its impact on improving the organizational environment. However, the conflict must be functional; its solution must be the result of creative procedures. Only in this way can the conflict contribute to the achievement of organizational goals. On the other hand, if the conflict is uncontrollable, it can have dysfunctional consequences.

In the context of conflict issues in general and conflict resolution in managerial work, the issue of how effective conflict resolution can be is tackled in the forefront. The method of conflict resolution is essential for its further development in terms of the escalation or de-escalation of the conflict. However, this does not mean that there is no appreciation of the use of means to prevent conflicts.

Various theoretical and methodological concepts of conflict resolution methods are described in the literature. Even though these concepts correspond to certain theoretical and methodological bases, their common characteristic is in most cases to identify and specify individual attributes of the conflict resolution methods. In several publications, we can find the previously mentioned concept of Thomas and Kilmann. In conflict resolution, in addition to the previously mentioned methods, there are styles such as dominance, positive vs. negative style, passivity, integration, delegation, mediation, negotiation, understanding, forgiveness, etc.

Irrespective of conflict resolution methods, Owen recommends not to avoid conflicts, not take them personally, and take a neutral, emotion-free stance.

The ways of resolving conflicts can be discussed from different viewpoints. In several of our researches, we focused on the situational concept of conflict definition and ways of their resolution in the context of gender issues.

When characterizing the basic concepts of conflict resolution, it is clear as we have already mentioned that it is not possible to characterize, examine, and interpret this problem in isolation from the situation in which the particular conflict occurred and from the personality traits of the people who are actors of the conflict.

Conflict resolution is influenced by situational factors that have a strong impact on their character and quality. They also affect the attitudes and interests of conflict participants. The processing of a conflict strategy is dependent on a complex set of situational conditions. Changing these conditions also changes strategy selection. Callanan and Perri provide a broad overview of situational factors that can influence the choice of a conflict processing strategy.

Reference A typology of situational factors: Impact on salesperson decision-making about ethical issues, defines situational factors as a time and place of observation that do not result from personal knowledge (intra-individual) and stimulation knowledge (selection of alternatives) that have a demonstrable and systematic impact on the current behavior. These are the attributes of a decision, which affect the decision-making process and its results. Bercowitch and Jackson, in turn, speak of situational factors that affect the behavior and relate to all the social and physical conditions under which the process is proceeding. The situational approach emphasizes the elements of the situation that motivate people's behavior to resolve conflicts.

The situational approach represents a specific emphasis on the impact of the situation on the choice of behavior and intra-individual changes over time. Behavior in a particular situation is unique, even though one has an own way of responding to situations. Organizations should recognize that there may be a very large number of conflict-causing situations and should therefore create the right environment for a proper response to them, and the conflict itself would produce more positive results for the participating parties as well as for the organization itself.