When most people hear that word conflict, they decide instantly if this is something they care to get involved in. Most people rather avoid conflict than get caught up in other people’s drama. Laura Stacks author of conflict in the workplace compares conflict to pain. She argues that pain and conflict has one thing in common; no one likes either. However, someone once said that pain was a gift, because pain is the indicator that God blessed us with so that, we will know when something is wrong and we may need medical attention. If pain is not all bad according to Stacks illustration conflict is not all bad either. According to Porter-O’Grady and Malloch, (2015) it is normal for conflict to occur within various relationships; people will just have to learn to deal with conflict sooner or later. This paper will address the issues surround workplace conflicts and their resolutions. What is Conflict? Conflict is defined in almost every definition as being a disagreement; be contradictory, at variance, or in opposition; clash; dictionary.com identifies this definition as the verb, now let us look at it as a noun. Again both these definitions are found at dictionary.com; a fight, battle, or struggle, especially a prolonged struggle; strife, controversy; quarrel, but this is not always true about conflict, …show more content…
People have many misconceptions about conflict in the workplace. Not all workplace conflicts are bad, some organization even implement changes just too slightly stir things up; as a result employees are more productive. Covey, (1992) mentions seven things that will destroy us; wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, religion without sacrifice, and politics without principle. We must stand for what is right and it is the leader’s obligation to manage in all seven of these arenas including workplace
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Show MoreLook up the word conflict in the dictionary and you will see several negative responses. Descriptions such as: to come into collision or disagreement; be at variance or in opposition; clash; to contend; do battle; controversy; quarrel; antagonism or opposition between interests or principles Random House (1975). With the negative reputation associated with this word, no wonder people tend to shy away when they start to enter into the area of conflict. D. Jordan (1996) suggests that there are two types of conflict: good, which is defined as cognitive conflict (C-type conflict) and, detrimental, defined as affective conflict (A-type conflict). The C-type conflict allows for creativity, to pull together a group of people with different opinions or ideas, to combine and brain storm all thoughts to develop the best solution for the problem. The A-type conflict is the negative form when you have animosity, hostility, un-resolveable differences, and egos to deal with. The list citing negative conflicts could go on forever. We will be investigating these types of conflicts, what managers can do to recognize conflict early, and what strategies they can use to resolve conflicts once they have advanced.
Conflict can be perceived in different ways of positively communicating about a topic or negatively, but one thing that can’t argued is that conflict occurs in everyday life and there’s no way of escaping it. One form of conflict that occurs frequently due to constant interaction is in the workplace. Many people see workplace conflicts as just disputes between coworkers, when there are many forms of personal conflicts between those coworkers and bosses such as
Conflict is known to be some means of disagreement, or some kind of disharmony rising within a group or between persons when the beliefs or actions of any one party is offensive to another party. Conflict can take place between two individuals, in small groups and work teams, or between two or more groups (Al-Hamdan, Shukri, and Anthony 2011)which may include violence or some kind of mental pressure on either parties involved in conflicts. Usually conflicts start with some kind of disagreement and gradually gets intense and leads way to Conflict resolution.
It has been estimated in a study by the American Management Association that managers spend between 20% to as much as 50% of their times dealing with conflict among their employees (American Sentinel, 2012). When workplace conflicts are left unresolved they can lead to dissatisfaction, depression and other problems such as aggression and violence (Whitworth 2008). The negative, sometimes hostile, environment created by unresolved conflict has been recognized to be a hazard not only to staff, but also to patient care (The Joint Commission 2008).
Before understanding how to deal with conflict, one must understand what conflict is. Conflict can be defined as, “any situation in which incompatible goals, cognitions, or emotions within or between individuals or groups lead to opposition or antagonistic interaction” (Learning Team Toolkit, 2004, pp 242-243). Does the idea of conflict always have to carry a negative connotation? The growth and development of society would be a great deal slower if people never challenged each other’s ideas. The Learning Team Toolkit discusses three different views of conflict: traditiona...
O’Rourke, J. & Collins, S. (2008). Managing Conflict and Workplace Relationships. New York: Cengage Learning.
Although there is a plethora of possible sources of conflict in any workplace, the ones in this case are rather explicit. These include personal differences, Informal deficiencies’, role incompatibility, environment stress, perceptions, and expectations. Personal differences could be related to personal values, physiognomies, family bonds or ties, and material belongings.
To begin, it’s in our nature and being, to face conflicts in our lives. We have all faced challenges at least once in our lifetime; this is what makes us human. There are many varieties of conflicts such as an inner-conflict, conflict between oneself and nature, God and oneself, man versus man, and social conflict. The book [“Constructive Conflicts”] by Louis Kriesberg and Bruce Dayton, defines: “Social conflicts occur when two or more persons or groups manifest the belief that they have incompatible objectives” [pg. 1-25]. In this paper, I will analyze strategies for solving a social conflict (Man vs. Workforce). This conflict takes place at Nordstrom Rack; at which, I started working three months ago. Myself and many other employees are conflicted about the way the store manager treats the employees. The conflict discussed is the presumption of my managers lack affiliation and appreciation towards the employees, in our role of purpose
Many people enjoy working or participating in a group or team, but when a group of people work together chances are that conflicts will occur. Hazleton describes conflict as the discrepancy between what is the perceived reality and what is seen as ideal (2007). “We enter into conflicts reluctantly, cautiously, angrily, nervously, confidently- and emerge from them battered, exhausted, sad, satisfied, triumphant. And still many of us underestimate or overlook the merits of conflict- the opportunity conflict offers every time it occurs” (Schilling, nd.). Conflict does not have to lead to a hostile environment or to broken relationships. Conflict if resolved effectively can lead to a positive experience for everyone involved. First, there must be an understanding of the reasons why conflicts occur. The conflict must be approached with an open mind. Using specific strategies can lead to a successful resolution for all parties involved. The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument states “there are five general approaches to dealing with conflict. The five approaches are avoidance, accommodation, competition, compromise, and collaboration. Conflict resolution is situational and no one approach provides the best or right approach for all circumstances” (Thomas, 2000).
Conflict as defined by Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary is a competitive or opposing action of incompatibles: antagonistic state or action (as of divergent ideas, interest, or persons), Mental struggle resulting from incompatible or opposing needs, drives, wishes, or external or internal demands. Simply put conflict is the disagreement and disharmony that occurs in groups when differences are expressed regarding ideas, methods, and/ or members (Engleberg, Wynn, and Schuttler, 2003). Conflict among teams or groups develops in many ways. In developing an effective team, members will generally experience the five stages of evolution: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning. The storming and norming stages deal with the process of conflict (storming) and resolution (norming). During the storming stage, exact conflict has not yet been identified and therefore chaos, disorganization, and disputes are apparent. The Norming stage is where conflict is identified and dealt with and resolutio...
workplace include greater total resources, greater knowledge band and a greater source of ideas. However, these advantages can also bring on conflict within teams and the entire workplace. Varney (1989) reported that conflict remained the number one problem within a large company. This was after several attempts were made to train management in conflict resolutions and procedures. However, the conflict remained. The conflict possibly remains because the managers and leaders did not pay attention to the seriousness of the issue. In order to maintain an effective team, leaders and team members must know and be proactive in the conflict resolution techniques and procedures.
Conflict exists in every organization as a result of incompatible needs, goals, and objectives of two people while aligning to the overall business requirements. Though disagreement is linked with negative impact, the approach has healthy considerations (Leung, 2008). For instance, some conflicts create an avenue for the exchange of ideas and creativity to meet the set organizational purposes. However, damaging disagreement in organizations results in employee dissatisfaction, turnover, and poor services and reduced productivity. The paper establishes different types of interpersonal conflict and key resolution strategies used to address the problem. Human resource managers need to have the capacity to identify different levels of conflicts and the best methods to negate them.
In the workplace, disagreement or arguments may arise due to several reasons. This can further result into a state of antagonism or opposition, resentment, avoidance, verbal assaults, and inability to work together. Such may arise due to personality clashes, differences in style, differences in leadership, interdependence conflicts and differences in the background or gender. With reference to the conflict between Norm and Norma, disagreement arose due to differences in styles. This is because Norma was after quick result from the initiated project while Norm believed he could work from home and still meet the expected standard. However, Norma expected full commitment from all the staff under her. For good working relations, conflicts should always be resolved and hence improve good working relationship among the employees both the juniors and seniors. Professionally, conflicts can be solved via two models; circle of conflict and triangle of satisfaction (Susan Holton, 1998).
According to Roloff (1987), workplace conflict can be defined as “conflict that occurs when members engage in activities that are incompatible with those of colleagues within their network, members of other collectivities, or unaffiliated individuals who utilize the products or services of the organization” (p. 496). Similarly, a more recent definition by Miller and King identify conflict as basically “a disagreement between two or more individuals or groups over compatible goals” which may “involve the interference or disruption by one person or group of persons, or in some way or ways which make another action less likely to be effective.”
(Asawo, 2011). Conflict can occur in any setting and as leaders in organizations guide and