2.Nature of Conflict

8/3/2019 2.Nature of Conflict

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NATURE OF CONFLICT



What is Conflict?

• Narrow concept: March and Simon (1958) consider conflict as a

breakdown in the standard mechanisms of decision making, sothat an individual or group experiences difficulty in selecting an

alternative.

• Broad Concept: Pondy (1967) has argued that organizational

conflict can best be understood as a dynamic process underlyingorganizational behaviour.

• Tedeschi et al. (1973) take a middle position, defining conflict as

“an interactive state in which the behaviours or goals of one actor

are to some degree incompatible with the behaviours or goals of

some other actor or actors”.



What is Conflict? Cont’d

• Definitions overlap with respect to the following elements:

1. Conflict includes opposing interests between individuals or groups in a zero-sum situation;

2. Opposed interests must be recognized for conflict to exist;

3. Conflict involves beliefs, by each side, that the other will thwart (or has already thwarted) its interests;

4. Conflict is a process ; it develops out of existing relationshipsbetween individuals or groups and reflects their pastinteractions and the contexts in which these took place; and

5. Actions by one or both sides do, in fact, produce thwarting of others’ goals .



What is Conflict? Cont’d

• Conflict is defined as an interactive process manifested inincompatibility, disagreement, or dissonance within or between social entities (i.e., individual, group, organization,etc.).

• Conflict occurs when one or (two) social entity/ies:

1. Is required to engage in an activity that is incongruentwith his or her needs or interests;

2. Holds behavioural preferences, the satisfaction of whichis incompatible with another person’s implementationof his or her preferences;



What is Conflict? Cont’d.

3. Wants some mutually desirable resource that is inshort supply, such that the wants of everyone may notbe satisfied fully;

4. Possesses attitudes, values, skills, and goals that aresalient in directing one’s behaviour but that areperceived to be exclusive of the attitudes, values, skills,and goals held by the other(s);

5. Has partially exclusive behavioural preferencesregarding joint actions;

6. Is interdependent in the performance of functions oractivities.



CONFLICT AND COMPETITION

• Conflict is considered as a situation of competition in which the

parties are aware of the incompatibility of potential futurepositions and in which the party wishes to occupy a position that is

incompatible with the wishes of the other,

•

conflict occurs when the parties become aware of theincompati bility and wish to interfere with the attainment of each

other’s goal attainments.

• Conflicts may be placed along a continuum of cooperative tocompetitive,

• three ideal points along this cooperative –competitive continuum

to facilitate the categorization of conflicts:



Contd.

• Purely cooperative conflicts (technically, “positive-sum games” or

“conflicts of coordination”),

• Purely competitive conflicts are technically termed “zero-sum

games” or “negative-sum games”,

• most conflicts are characterized by both cooperative and

competitive aspects (i.e., they are “nonzero-sum games” or

“mixed-motive” conflicts).



CLASSIFICATION OF CONFLICT

• Conflict may be classified on the basis of its sources.

• It may also be classified on the basis of organizational levels(individual, group, etc.),

Sources of Conflict

• Conflict may originate from a number of sources, such as tasks,

values, goals, and so on,

1. Affective/Psychological /Relationship/Emotional

• when two interacting social entities, become aware that their

feelings and emotions regarding some or all the issues areincompatible,

• “a condition in which group members have interpersonal clashes

characterized by anger, frustration, and other negative feelings”



Contd.

2. Substantive/Task/Cognitive/Issue Conflict

• when two or more organizational members disagree on their task

or content issues

• “disagreements among group members’ ideas and opinions about

the task being performed, such as – disagreement regarding an organization’s current strategic

position or determining the correct data to include in a report”

3. Conflict of Interest

• “an inconsistency between two parties in their preferences for theallocation of a scarce resource.”

• The contention of managers A and B for the same vice president’s

job exemplifies a conflict of interest.



Contd.

4. Conflict of Values/Ideological Conflict

• when two social entities differ in their values or ideologies on

certain issues,

•For example ideological disagreement between two groups overthe issue of ‘’abortion’’.

5. Goal Conflict

• when a preferred outcome or an end-state of two social entities is

inconsistent.

• For example the understanding of managers A and B that only one

of their preferred job design programs can be implemented for

their division.



Contd.6. Realistic versus Non-realistic Conflict •

Realistic Conflict refers to incompatibilities that have rationalcontent (i.e., tasks, goals, values, and means and ends).

• Realistic conflict is associated with “mostly rational or goal-oriented” disagreement,

• Non-realistic conflict occurs as a result of a party’s need for

releasing tension and expressing hostility, ignorance, or error.

7. Institutionalized versus Non-institutionalized Conflict • Institutionalized conflict is characterized by situations in which

actors follow: – explicit rules,

– display predictable behaviour, and

– their relationship has continuity,

– For example line –staff conflict or labour –managementnegotiations.



Contd.• Most racial conflict is non-institutionalized where the three conditions are

nonexistent.

8. Retributive Conflict • This conflict is characterized by a situation where the conflicting entities feel

the need for a drawn-out conflict to punish the opponent,

• Each party determines its gains, in part, by incurring costs to the otherparty.

9. Misattributed Conflict

• This relates to the incorrect assignment of causes (behaviours, parties, orissues) to conflict,

• For example, an employee may wrongly attribute to his or her supervisor acut in the employee’s department budget, which may have been done byhigher-level managers over the protest of the supervisor.

10. Displaced Conflict • This type of conflict occurs when the conflicting parties either direct their

frustrations or hostilities to social entities who are not involved in conflict orargue over secondary, not major, issues



Levels of Analysis

• Organizational conflict may be classified as intra-

organizational or inter-organizational,

•

Intra-organizational conflict may be classified as – intrapersonal,

– interpersonal,

– intra-group, and

– Inter-group.



Contd.

1. Intrapersonal Conflict

• Also known as intra-individual or intra-psychic conflict.• This type of conflict when an organizational member is required to

perform certain tasks and roles that do not match his or her

expertise, interests, goals, and values.

2. Interpersonal Conflict

• Also known as dyadic conflict.

•

It refers to conflict between two or more organizational membersof the same or different hierarchical levels or units.

• superior –subordinate conflict relate to this type of conflict.



Cont.

3. Intra-group/intra-departmental Conflict

• Refers to conflict among members of a group or between two ormore subgroups within a group in connection with its goals, tasks,

procedures, etc.

4. Intergroup/interdepartmental Conflict

• It refers to conflict between two or more units or groups within an

organization.

–

Conflicts between line and staff, – production and marketing, and

– headquarters and field staffs



Contd.

• Integrating Style/ problem solving

• Obliging Style/ accommodating

•

Dominating Style/ competing• Avoiding Style/ suppression

• Compromising Style



Styles of handling interpersonal conflict

• Integrating Styles/Problem solving

– High concern for self and others

– Exchange of information and examination of differences

– Two distinctive elements: Confrontation and problem solving

• Obliging style/Accommodating

– Low concern for self and high concern for others

– Play down differences and emphasizing commonalities

– Conflict obsorber




• Dominating Style/Competing

– High concern for self and low concern for others

– Win-lose orientation

• Avoiding style/Suppression

– Low concern for self and others

– Withdrawal, buck-passing, sidestepping

– Refuse to acknowledge in public that there is a conflict




• Compromising Style

– Intermediate concern for self and others

– Make mutually acceptable decision

– Gives up more than a dominating party but less than an obliging

party

– Addresses an issue more directly than an avoiding party but does

not explore it in as much depth as an integrating party



STYLES OF HANDLING INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT

Model of Two Styles• Deutsch (1949) first suggested the simple cooperative–

competitive model,

• Knudson, Sommers, and Golding (1980), suggested engagement – avoidance model,

Model of Three Styles • Putnam and Wilson (1982) suggested that there are three styles of

handling interpersonal conflict: – non-confrontation (obliging),

– solution-orientation (integrating), and

– control (dominating).

• Billingham and Sack (1987) (reasoning, verbal aggression, andviolence) and

• Rands, Levinger, and Mellinger (1981) (attack, avoid, and

compromise).



Contd.

Model of Four Styles

• Based on the two dimensional model that consists of – concern for self (high or low) and

– concern for others (high or low).

• Pruitt (1983) suggested that there are four styles of handling

conflict: – yielding,

– problem solving,

– inaction, and

– contending.

• According to Pruitt (1983) and Pruitt and Carnevale (1993)problem-solving style is the best for managing conflict effectively.



Contd.

Model of Five Styles

• First conceptualized in 1926 by Mary P. Follett (1940),

• She conceptualized three primary ways of handling organizational

conflict—

–domination,

– compromise, and

– integration

• secondary ways of handling conflict, such as

– avoidance and

– suppression.

i i l d l f h l f



A Two-Dimensional Model of the Styles of

Handling Interpersonal Conflict.



Integrative and Distributive

Dimensions

2.Nature of Conflict

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