CHAPTER 5

Conflict and Conflict Management

5.1. Meaning and Nature of Conflict
Conflict can be defined (Thomas K.A.) as the “process that begins when one party perceives that
another party has negatively affected something that the first party cares about.” Conflict must be
perceived by either of the parties. Stiff opposition due to incompatibility of organizational goals
characterizes it. Conflict can also be caused due to difference about interpretation of facts or
issues involved. Conflict takes an ugly turn and takes a form of violence due to disagreement
based on behavioural expectations. It could be covert or overt and can be seen when one
observes violent acts of individual in organizations.
Austin et al. defines conflict as “a disagreement between two or more individuals or groups, with
each individual or group trying to gain acceptance of its views or objective over others.”
Conflict can be considered as expression of hostility, negative attitude, aggression and gross
misunderstanding. It is caused due to varying interest of individual or groups.
Every organization has its objective. It is further broken down as departmental objectives, group
goals and lastly individual goals. When individual interacts with another individual there is
perceptual and communication problems that causes misunderstanding and leads to individual
conflict situation. It is also true of groups. Group conflicts indicate the way of inter-group
behaviour in an organization. Inter-group conflict occurs due to group competition and group
cohesiveness. This leads to a feeling of ‘we’ and ‘they’. “We are always right and they are
always wrong”. Hence a beginning of conflict. Aims and objectives of various organizations
differ drastically that give rise to greater competition hence a high level of conflict. Conflict can
arise between employer and employees, management and workers, one department and another,
stakeholders, shareholders, producer and customers and between various trade unions that are
often politically motivated.

Conflict is a process in which an effort is purposely made by ‘A’ to offset the efforts of ‘B’ by
some form of blocking that will result in frustrating ‘B’ in attaining his or her goals or furthering
his or her interests.
. Conflict has described in four ways to indicate.
1. Antecedent conditions of conflicting behaviour, such as scarcity of resources.
2. Affective states of individuals involved such as stress, tension, hostility, anxiety etc.
3. Cognitive state of individuals, which is their perception or awareness on conflicting
situations.
1
 4. Conflicting behaviour, ranging from passive resistance to overt aggression.
Functional and Dysfunctional Conflict
Functional conflict alternatively called constructive conflict, results in positive benefits to
individuals, the group, or the organization. On the positive side, conflict can bring important
problems to the surface so that they can be addressed. So, conflict that supports the individual
and group goals, which leads to higher performance is called functional conflict.
It can cause decisions to be considered carefully and perhaps reconsidered to ensure that the right
path of action is being followed. It can increase the amount of information used for decision
making. And it can offer opportunities for creativity that can improve individual, team, or
organizational performance. Indeed, an effective manager is able to stimulate constructive
conflict in situations in which satisfaction with the status quo inhibits needed change and
development.
There are some positive points of functional conflict. They are
1. Conflict develops cohesiveness within the group members. A group goal therefore
becomes a priority. Individual goals are then relegated to secondary position.
2. Conflict leads to innovation and creativity, as there is competing sprit among various
groups.
3. Conflict provides challenging work environment and enhances opportunities for self-
development of group that leads to formation of group norms.
4. Enhance work culture leads to upgradation of various systems within the organization
and therefore growth is achieved.
Dysfunctional conflict, or destructive conflict, works to the individual’s, groups, or
organization’s disadvantage. It diverts energies, hurts group cohesion, promotes interpersonal
hostilities, and overall creates a negative environment for workers. This type of conflict occurs,
for example, when two employees are unable to work together because of interpersonal
differences (a destructive emotional conflict) or when the members of a committee (work unit)
fail to act because they cannot agree on group goals (a destructive substantive conflict).
Destructive conflicts of these types can decrease work productivity and job satisfaction and
contribute to absenteeism and job turnover. Managers must be alert to destructive conflicts and
be quick to take action to prevent or eliminate them or at least minimize their disadvantages. A
conflict that hinders individual or group performance is called dysfunctional conflict.

2
Dysfunctional nature of conflict can be identified in the following circumstances:
1. When conflict does not lead to solution.
2. When basic goals of the organization are neglected.
3. People should be treated with due respect. If it is violated and a climate of distrust and
suspicion is created people feel defeated and demeaned which develops antagonism and
leads to conflict.
4. Conflict may lead to absenteeism and subsequently to increased turnover if not controlled
in time.
5. Dual Management style may create hatred and lead to dysfunctional conflict.
6. Disagreement with management may be considered as disloyalty, if this environment
prevails, an opportunity for creativity would be lost and employees would lose interest in
their job.

5.2. Cause/sources of conflict

The very nature of organizations as hierarchical systems provides a basis for conflict as
individuals and teams work within the authority structure. The process of dealing successfully
with conflict begins with recognition of several types of conflict situations. Vertical conflict
occurs between hierarchical levels and commonly involves supervisor–subordinate and group
leader–group member disagreements over resources, goals, deadlines, or performance results.
Horizontal conflict occurs between persons or groups working at the same hierarchical level.
These disputes commonly involve goal incompatibilities, resource scarcities, or purely
interpersonal factors. And, line–staff conflict involves disagreements between line and staff
personnel over who has authority and control over decisions on matters such as budgets,
technology, and human resource practices. Also common to work situations are role ambiguity
conflicts that occur when the communication of task expectations is unclear or upsetting in some
way, such as a team member receiving different expectations from different sources. This often
involves unclear communication of work expectations, excessive expectations in the form of job
overloads, insufficient expectations in the form of job under loads, and incompatibilities among
expectations from different sources. Conflict is likely when individuals or teams are placed in
ambiguous situations where it is difficult for them to understand just who is responsible for what,
and why.
Task and workflow interdependencies are breeding grounds for conflicts. Disputes and open
disagreements may erupt among people and teams that are required to cooperate to meet
challenging goals. When interdependence is high—that is, when a person or group must rely on

3
or ask for contributions from one or more others to achieve its goals—conflicts often occur. You
will notice this, for example, in a fast-food restaurant, when the people serving the food have to
wait too long for it to be delivered from the cooks. Conflict also escalates with structural
differentiation where different teams and work units pursue different goals with different time
horizons. Conflict also develops out of domain ambiguities when individuals or teams lack
adequate task direction or goals and misunderstand such things as customer jurisdiction or scope
of authority.
Actual or perceived resource scarcity can foster destructive competition. When resources are
scarce, working relationships are likely to suffer. This is especially true in organizations that are
experiencing downsizing or financial difficulties. As cutbacks occur, various individuals or
teams try to position themselves to gain or retain maximum shares of the shrinking resource
pool. They are also likely to resist resource redistribution or to employ countermeasures to
defend their resources from redistribution to others.
Also, power or value asymmetries in work relationships can create conflict. They exist when
interdependent people or groups differ substantially from one another in status and influence or
in values. Conflict resulting from asymmetry is prone to occur, for example, when a low-power
person needs the help of a high-power person who does not respond, when people who hold
dramatically different values are forced to work together on a task, or when a high-status person
is required to interact with and perhaps be dependent on someone of lower status.
Generally, the following are the major sources of conflict
o Scarcity of Resources o Knowledge of self and others
o Conflicting attitude o Poorly defined goals
o Ambiguous jurisdiction o Divergent personal values
o Communication barriers o Lack of cooperation/trust
o Unresolved prior conflicts
o Unclear roles/lack of job
description

5.3. Conflict Outcomes

Conflict has many outcomes. Among these, the following are the major outcomes.
• Stress
• Absenteeism
• Staff turnover

4
 • Demotivation
• Decreased productivity and job satisfaction.
• Low morale
• Violence

5.4 Analysis of Conflict Situation

Managers can analyse a conflict situation by identifying the following:
1. Conflicting parties: The conflict may arise between individuals, groups, or departments.
2. Source of conflict: The conflict may arise from factors such as differences in value sets,
perception differences, scarcity of resources, workflow relationship, etc. Analysing this
requires trying to view each situation through the eyes of the parties involved.
3. Level of conflict: The situation may be at a stage where the manager must deal with it
immediately. Or the conflict may be at a moderate level of intensity. If the goals of the
workgroup are threatened or sabotage is occurring, the manager must take action
immediately. If individuals or groups are simply in disagreement, a less immediate response is
required.

5.5. Stages of Conflict

Pondy developed a conflict process model, which is useful to understand how a conflict starts.
He has delineated five steps that he calls as ‘conflict episode’. These are latent conflict,
perceived conflict, felt conflict, manifest conflict, and conflict resolution and conflict aftermath.
The process is adopted and explained Figure 5.1 below.

1. Latent Conflict
It is a first stage of conflict when conflict-promoting situations appear on the scene between
individuals and groups. In this stage potential conflict inducing forces exist. For example,
demand for various resources by departments when some may get and be satisfied and others
may not get and be dissatisfied. Hence there may exist a situation between two groups. At this
stage the seed of dissatisfaction has been sown. Often, latent conflict is initiated by a change-for
example, a decrease in resources or the establishment of new objectives.
2. Perceived Conflict
When one party frustrates the design of the other party, people perceive that a conflictual
condition exist. For example, sales manager may need additional budget for promotional
activities which financial manager may not release. The sales manager may attribute lack of
finance as potential cause for fall in sales. Thus, a conflict between the two may brew. At this
5
stage the conflict does not surface. Taking action at this stage can prevent the conflict moving to
later stages.
3. Felt Conflict
At this stage, the conflict is actually felt and recognized. As stated earlier, the funds are not
released by the finance manager and the problem is being surfaced and there is a likelihood of
confrontation. In felt conflict stage, employees are not only aware of the conflict, but have an
emotional reaction to it. One or more parties to conflict feel tense, angry, or anxious as a result of
such earlier disagreements or misunderstandings.
4. Manifest Conflict
In this stage, there is not only recognition or acknowledgement of conflict but also manifestation
of conflict by covert or overt behaviour. It is a stage of open dispute. Both parties devise their
strategies to face each other. Manifest conflict is observable behaviour designed to frustrate
another’s attempt to pursue his or her goals. It is the most overt form of conflict. Both open
aggression and withdrawal of support illustrate manifest conflict. This behaviour is destructive,
so conflict must be resolved quickly at this stage.
5. Conflict Aftermath
The conflict episode ends with its aftermath, after the conflict has been managed and the
resulting energy heightened, resolved, or suppressed. If the conflict is resolved, the parties may
experience a new reality, as they adjust their perceptions. Unresolved conflict, which exists
everywhere, simply sows the seeds for manifest conflict later. Once the conflict is resolved
between the two parties, there is always a party, which is looser because the resolution is the
outcome of win – lose or the compromise strategy, a stage is set for subsequent conflict episodes.
A party, which feels defeated, may start preparations and be on the look- out for the assault to
take the revenge. The process continues and is a normal part of organizational life.

Latent Conflict
Conflict Aftermath

Perceived Felt Manifest Conflict

Conflict Conflict Conflict Resolution

Fig 5.1 Pondy’s Conflict episode Process

6
 5.6. Conflict Resolution
The various strategies for minimizing and resolving conflicts can be classified into five
categories:
1. Avoidance
This strategy involves a general disregard for the causes of the conflict and the person might
diplomatically sidestep a conflicting issue, postpone addressing it till later, or withdraw
physically or psychologically from a threatening situation. Avoiding mode is used when the
individual is both unassertive and uncooperative – that is, the person has a very low concern for
his own and his opponent’s needs. It gives lose- lose solution for the parties. The individual
follows the following three methods.
i. Non-attention: The manager totally avoids or ignores the dysfunctional situation. Individuals
tend to “look the other way” or disregard hostile action in hopes that the situation will resolve
itself in time.
ii. Physical separation: It involves moving conflicting groups physically apart from each other.
The rationale is that if the groups cannot interact, conflict will diminish.
iii. Limited interaction: Groups are allowed to interact only on formal situations.
Avoidance style can be very beneficial under the following conditions:
▪ When the issue involved in the conflict is trivial,
▪ When more pressing issues are to be handled by the individual with a limited time frame.
▪ When one’s power is very low and there is no chance of satisfying one’s concern
▪ When more information is needed to make a good decision
▪ When someone else can resolve the conflict more effectively
▪ When you require time to regain more strength and look into different perspective
2. Accommodation:
Accommodation is a negotiation style where one party is willing to oblige or adapt to meet the
needs of the other party. One party accommodates loses and the other party wins.
Accommodation is useful for negotiation on minor matters. The negotiation parties may not
look for creative, new solutions. Accommodation might take the form of selfless generosity, or
obeying another’s order rather unwillingly or giving in to another person’s point of view. In all
these cases, the individual neglects his or her own concern to satisfy the concerns of the other
party. There is an element of self-sacrifice.
Accommodating is useful in the following situations:
Where the individual realizes that he or she is wrong
By yielding, the person indicates to the other conflicting person that he is reasonable
7
 When an issue is much more important to the other person than to the individual
By being accommodating, the person maintains good will and a cooperative relationship and
also build social credits so that the other person gives in when a later issue becomes
important to this individual.
When preserving harmony and avoiding disruption are especially more important
3. Competition:
Competition occurs when one party negotiates to maximize its results at the expense of the other
party’s needs. Competition leads to one party gaining the advantage over the other. One party
wins while the other party loses. Although it is quick and can be used as counter against another
person, this option usually produces a win-lose result.
Competing is a power oriented mode of resolving tensions and one uses whatever power one has
or can muster such skills, knowledge, abilities, rank being well-connected etc to win.
Competing is useful in the following situations:
When the resources are limited and the system has to be pruned
When quick and decisive action has to be taken during emergencies
When one has to take unpopular decision such as enforcing discipline, unpopular rules, cost
cutting measures
When issues are vital to the survival of the company where one is aware of the right
solutions.
4. Compromising:
Compromise is the settlement of differences through concessions of one or both parties.
In compromising, the party tries to find some expedient, mutually acceptable solutions with
partially satisfies both parties, though neither is fully satisfied. A compromising stance addresses
the issue without avoiding it, but does not explore the alternative in a way that would be
completely satisfying to both parties as in the case of collaboration. It gives lose-lose solution.
Compromising involves “splitting the difference”, exchanging concessions and seeking quick
middle-ground solutions.
Compromising is a useful mode in the following situations:
o When the goals pursued are important, but not so important that it is worth potential
disruptions by taking very assertive or unyielding positions.
o When two parties with equal power are strongly committed to mutually exclusive goals such
as in labor-management bargaining situations
o When interim solutions are required till a more thorough and permanent solutions to the
problem can be found.

8
 o When solutions have to be arrived at under extreme time pressures
o When both collaboration and competition fail to work effectively in resolving conflicts.
5. Collaboration:
Collaboration occurs when people cooperate to produce a solution satisfactory to both that
means it seeks a win-win solution for the parties. Collaborating involves an attempt to work
with the other person to find solutions that would be satisfying to both parties. Here, the
underlying concerns of both parties are explored in depth, the disagreements examine in detail
and resolutions arrived at by combining the insights of both the parties. A creative solution
usually emerges because of the joint efforts of both the parties who are keen on both gaining
from the situation without hurting the other.
Collaboration is useful in the following situations:
When two goals of the two parties are both too important to be compromised
When the commitment of both parties is essential for important projects to succeed
When the objectives of the parties are i) to learn ii) to merge insights that different people
bring to a problem because of their backgrounds, training, discipline or orientations iii) to
work through hard feelings which are interfering with a desired interpersonal relationship
Thus, in collaborating, the intention of the parties is to solve the problem by clarifying
differences rather than by accommodating various points of view.
The above conflict resolutions are shown with the following mode which has been developed
using Concern for self and concern for others. Parties involved may adopt any of the following
solutions, which are explained in Figure 5.2.

(Assertive High

Behavior) Competing
Collaborating

Concern for
Compromising
Self

Avoidance Accommodating

(Unassertive Low

Behavior)

Concern for
Low High
9 others
(Un-cooperative Behavior) (cooperative Behavior)