Organizational conflict: an overview

 In the two articles reviewed, comprehensive analysis of conflicts in organizations is presented. Organizational conflict, as defined in the article, is a nonproductive disruption of normal activities in a company that is produced as a result of an individual’s or group’s inability to work together on a given project or set of projects (Reitz 1987). There are different causes of conflicts, but they can be grouped as: incompatible goals, mutually exclusive ideas, and incompatible emotions (Hellriegel and Slocum 1979, p. 399).

There are various types of organizational conflict, including: intrapersonal conflict, which is the conflict that individuals experience within themselves as a result of cognitive dissonance caused by inconsistent thoughts within the person; interpersonal conflict, which is a form of conflict between an employee and another employee due to differences in the way they handle activities; intragroup conflict, which is conflict between members of a given group, primarily due to incompatibility; and intragroup conflict, which is conflict between members of a given group, primarily due to incompat

1. Afzalur Rahim (2000) offered an explanation that, irrespective of the different kinds of conflicts, the outcome can be either positive or negative. In order to attain a positive outcome from conflicts, the company needs to be able to mitigate the negative or dysfunctional outcomes of the conflicts and make use of them to develop their highest potential.

Overall, the management of conflicts revolves around understanding the personality types of the individuals, departments, and organizations involved. Thus, it is necessary to look into the categories of personalities as popularized by Myers-Briggs. They are: Extraverted vs. Introverted – Extraverts are drawn to the external world of people and concepts, whereas introverts are drawn to the internal world of ideas and concepts.Thus, when they do not understand these differences, the outcome of their activities could become conflicting. Sensing/Intuitive people appear to rely more on sensory perceptions (sound, sight, tastes, touch, and smell) to absorb and process data into what they consider to be facts.On the other hand, intuitive individuals also gather information through their senses, but they manage and transform this information into feelings and ideas. Thinking/Feeling—those who think are those who assimilate information from their senses and make logical and analytical judgments about what this information means.the other hand, the feeling types tend to do this in a more subjective, emotional, gut-level manner. Judging/Perceiving – The judging types move quickly to make decisions about the data they receive because they like to order and plant things out, whereas the perceiving types take their time and wait for more data before making any decisions.Thus, the perceiving types are less organized than the judging types.

Considering these types of conflicts and the numerous factors that bring about organizational conflicts, it becomes necessary for companies to know how to handle these conflicts in order to create sustainable performance from their employees. There are keys to successful conflict resolution, which include: building and sustaining relationships; pursuit of a joint outcome; avoiding fear of failure; the management being aware of themselves and knowing the parties in conflict; maintaining an open line of communication with parties in conflict; and encouraging mutual interdependence. 

In conclusion, Rahim (2000) noted that it is impossible to eliminate all conflict from an organization as he believes that a moderate amount of conflict is beneficial to an organization and even necessary for maintaining effectiveness (due to the level of competitiveness it creates between the employees). In any case, what remains essential for both the functional and dysfunctional results of conflict is communication.

References

Hellriegel, Don, and John W. Slocum, Jr., 1979. Organizational behavior. 2nd ed. New York: West Publishing Co.

Rahim, M. A. (2000). Managing conflict in organizations Greenwood Press, Westport, CT.

Reitz, H. Joseph, 1987, "Behavior in organizations." 3rd ed. Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin, Inc.