CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

 

Introduction

Conflict is the most common social phenomenon.  Friction, conflicts and confrontation that happen among employees, departments and among organizations can threaten the development of enterprises.  Conflicts when wisely used can improve decision-making quality because of the different opinions brought into the process.  But if it is not handled carefully, it will create interpersonal tension and generate distress because conflict can easily get people emotionally involved.

Conflict is often seen as a fight, a struggle, or the clashing of opposed involves conflict issues.  Conflict is a process that begins when an individual or group perceive differences and opposition between oneself and another individual or group about interests, beliefs or values that matter to them.  Conflict may occur in three basic themes:

• if it is perceived as conflict by the actors involved
• there is a level of interdependence between the actors such that they have the ability to influence each other
• scarcity of resources (such as money, power, and prestige) may generate tensions among the actors

 

Types of conflicts

The three dimensions of conflicts:

• Task conflict (Deutsch (1980)
• cooperative versus competitive
• exists when there exist differing ideas and opinions about issues specific to duties under discussion
• associated with performance and satisfaction
• absence of task conflict can result in ineffective consensus or suboptimal decision-making
• potentials
• provoke intense and heated discussions
• crucial for deeper and deliberate information processing
• increased constructive criticism
• careful evaluation of alternatives
• possible outcome
• detrimental to consensus building
• causing antagonism and unhappiness
• undermines harmony, thus cultivating relationship conflict
• group members focus more on reducing threats or increasing power rather than focusing on completing the task, and thus neutralising the advantages of task conflict

• Relationship conflict (Amason (1996)
• cognitive versus affective conflicts
• disagreements based on personal and social issues that are not work related
• high levels this type of conflict lead to low personal satisfaction and increased distress
• negative effect on the quality of members’ relationships, which later will result in the intention to turnover

 

• Process conflict (Jehn and Chatman, 2000)
• involves disagreements about strategies and means to accomplish the specific tasks
• disagreements regarding
• who should do what
• debates about resources
• fights over how to schedule tasks efficiently
• associated with poor group morale, work quality and productivity
• often centred on irrelevant controversies about group members’ capabilities
• increases conflict intensity which drives heated interactions or avoidance

 

Task conflicts are found to have positive effects while relationship conflicts have negative effects on team performance.  Groups with task conflicts tend to make better decisions.  Task conflict refers to the opposing views of team members towards the task, including viewpoints, ideas, and thoughts.  Task conflict that is characterized by issue-related differences of opinion is beneficial as it ensures all possible solutions are explored and the ideas are battle-tested within the team.  Task conflict can trigger information sharing and encourage team members to consider multiple perspectives when seeking solutions to problems.

Task conflict is not without drawbacks.  Even when focused on task related issues, conflict can be an emotional experience.  Task conflict had a more negative association with team performance when task and relationship conflict were strongly correlated.  The possible explanations why task conflict consistently results in relationship conflict are:

• misinterpretation
• inappropriate behaviour

Whether task conflict can stir deeper discussions or trigger detrimental relationship conflict depends is fully dependent on the composition of team members.  Team members with a high learning orientation will view different perspectives and criticism as helpful diagnostic information for improving abilities and performance.

 

In contrast, relationship conflict, which is characterized by disagreements over personalized or individually oriented matters, is generally detrimental.  It usually corrodes trust, hinders communication, and slows the acceptance of ideas which in the end leads to isolation and politicization among group members.  Anxiety, affiliation, and hatred resulting from relationship conflicts affect the performance of team members.

It is also believed that relationship conflict will interfere with team collaboration, decreasing team cohesiveness and negatively affecting team performance.  Relationship conflicts tend to divert the teammates’ attention to each other rather than focusing on the group’s task-related problems.  The impact of relationship conflict to be resoundingly negative and has a number of undesirable outcomes at both the group and individual levels.

 

Levels of conflict

Conflict consists of perception of barriers.  There are four main levels of conflict in the context of human behaviour and relationships, that is:

• Intergroup conflicts between groups of individuals
• Intragroup or intra-organizational conflicts
• Interpersonal conflict
• Intrapersonal conflict

Interpersonal conflict includes an individual’s perceptions of incompatibilities, differences in views and interpersonal incompatibility.  This level of conflict has a negative effect upon relationships.

Interpersonal conflict at work generally refers to disagreements among individuals.  It has great impact on staff relationships at work.  It can also lead to compromised job satisfaction, reduced motivation, and lack of engagement; and eventually will lower employees’ performance.  Relationship conflict almost always is accompanied by interpersonal tension.  Interpersonal conflict at work is one of the most prominent work-related sources of stress for employees.  Individuals may draw on a number of behaviours, or conflict management styles, in response to the interpersonal conflict they encounter at work.  Respond to conflict issues usually depends on the individuals concern for their own outcomes and for the opposing party's outcomes.

 

Emotions and conflict

The role of emotion in situations of conflict is fundamental.  Emotions is influenced by social, culture and norms.  Positive mood will lead to a more cooperative and less competitive behaviour resulting in improved cooperation among the group members.  Positive emotional experiences in the work team would facilitate an open discussion of differences.  According to some research done, adverse emotional experiences may hinder open communication among group members about disparities and disagreements.  This will in turn mitigate problem solving, motivating the use of either confrontational, active, contentious patterns or no confrontational modes, such as avoidance.

Humiliation is among the strongest emotions in humans.  Humiliation involves three roles, namely the humiliator, the victim, and the witness.  It is considered a public emotion where the humiliating experience takes place in front of or is known by others.  Humiliation also involves the feeling of shame, anger, and a combination of self-blame and other-blame.  Shame is the feeling focused on the self, while anger is focused on the other.  Under some circumstances, humiliation may escalate conflict.

 

Mood and conflict

People’s feelings or moods play an important role in the judgment they make, their perceptions, behaviours, and attitudes.  People’s cognitive processes, attitudes, and behaviours are influenced by their moods.  Moods are less permanent and less intense than emotions.  They tend to have longer duration than emotions.  Some research has suggested that moods can last for several days or even weeks.  Both positive and negative moods influence how people react to and process information.

Research on mood theory also suggests that a person can experience both positive mood and negative mood at different time periods, or even simultaneously.  Relationship type of conflict can be influenced by a number of individual level factors.

 

Conflict management

Conflict management involves individual behavioural reactions in response to perceived interpersonal disagreements.  Different ways of handling conflict are categorized broadly by whether the individuals involved have more concerns for themselves or for others.  The two dimensions of handling conflicts are known as cooperativeness when individuals’ concerns for others are higher; and assertiveness when the concerns for self are higher.

The worst conflicts could be avoided by proper training of members to hold similar perceptions and goals.  Conflict had to be taken into consideration for any model of social behaviour, even if only as a ripple on an otherwise calm pond.  Things were never as simple or as good as they seemed.  Conflict is caused by human failings such as selfishness, jealousy, empire building, failures of communication and limitations on cognitive capacities.

Conflict management approach also plays an important role in diminishing the relationship between task conflict and relationship conflict.  Avoiding approach is not a proper conflict management approach.  Though it aims at diminishing conflict and achieving harmony, negative sentiment cannot be resolved.  There also may be an unrecognized implication of complexity in each conflict episode and it could be unique, composed of different proportions of each of the affective, cognitive and process conflict types.

 

Conclusion

Conflicts can be managed in a variety of ways.  Problem-solving and compromising, are generally the most effective conflict management styles in resolving conflictual social interactions.  Conflict handling skills are, thus, very important for maintaining almost all human relationship, in either personal or working life.

References:

Aitor Aritzeta, Sabino Ayestaran, Stephen Swailes, (2005), "Team role preference and conflict management styles", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 16 Iss: 2 pp. 157 - 182

Carlos Montes, Dámaso Rodríguez, Gonzalo Serrano, (2012), "Affective choice of conflict management styles", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 23 Iss: 1 pp. 6 - 18

Carsten K.W. De Dreu, Dirk van Dierendonck, Maria T.M. Dijkstra, (2004), "conflict at work and individual well-being", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 15 Iss: 1 pp. 6 – 26

Greg A. Chung-Yan, Christin Moeller, (2010), "The psychosocial costs of conflict management styles", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 21 Iss: 4 pp. 382 – 399

Helena Syna Desivilya, Dana Yagil, (2005), "The role of emotions in conflict management: the case teams", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 16 Iss: 1 pp. 55 – 69

James Speakman, Lynette Ryals, (2010), "A re-evaluation of conflict theory for the management of multiple, simultaneous conflict episodes", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 21 Iss: 2 pp. 186 - 201

Jia-Chi Huang, (2010),"Unbundling task conflict and relationship conflict: The moderating role of team goal orientation and conflict management", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 21 Iss: 3 pp. 334 - 355

Jun Liu, Pingping Fu, Songbo Liu, (2009), "Conflicts in top management teams and team/firm outcomes: The moderating effects of conflict-handling approaches", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 20 Iss: 3 pp. 228 – 250

Kiran M. Ismail, Orlando C. Richard, Edward C. Taylor, (2012), "Relationship conflict in supervisor-subordinate dyads: a subordinate perspective", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 23 Iss: 2 pp. 192 -218

Louis R. Pondy, (1989), "Reflections on Organizational Conflict", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 2 Iss: 2 pp. 94 - 98

Mingkai J. Chen, Oluremi B. Ayoko, (2012), "Conflict and trust: the mediating effects of emotional arousal and self-conscious emotions", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 23 Iss: 1 pp. 19 - 56

Peter T. Coleman, Jennifer S. Goldman, Katharina Kugler, (2009), "Emotional intractability: gender, anger, aggression and rumination in conflict", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 20 Iss: 2 pp. 113 – 131

Simon T. Tidd, Heather H. McIntyre, Raymond A. Friedman, (2004),"The importance of role ambiguity and trust in conflict perception: unpacking the task conflict to relationship conflict linkage", International Journal Management, Vol. 15 Iss: 4 pp. 364 - 380

Xiao-Hong Chen, Ke Zhao, Xiang Liu, Desheng Dash Wu, (2012), "Improving employees' job satisfaction and innovation performance using conflict management", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 23 Iss: 2 pp. 151 - 172