Organizational conflict Essay

Conflict can arise when two or more people or individuals in an organisation have different interests and they pursue these interests intensely. It can also occur when people in a group have different opinions about something even though they both are working to attain the same goal; they just cannot agree on how to go about it. Therefore, conflict can be defined as a process that starts when one individual or group believes that another is negatively affecting their progress in something. Conflict is also an interactive process manifested in incompatibility, disagreement, dissonance between two social entities, e. g. individuals, groups or organisations. Causes of conflict in an organisation Some of the causes of conflict in an organisation include; 1. Poor communication – some individuals in organisations can be rude, or messages can be misinterpreted due to bad communication etiquette or poor communication. This therefore leads to conflict between individuals. 2. Scarce resources or time – when the resources are scarce, people tend to fight over the ones available, for instance, if there is only one photocopier in an organisation of about 20 people and most people want to make copies at the same time, then they will tend to argue over it, others might want to make copies before others maybe because of deadline issues. 3. Poor performance and its associated pressures – if an employee is performing poorly, the supervisors or those above him/her would be very harsh and pressurize them to complete tasks in time, or improve the quality. This can cause conflict between the two. The employee can even get fired for such. 4. Ambiguity in tasks or goals for a team and its members – some team leaders or supervisors, set goals that cannot be achieved or give out tasks to their juniors. This can cause hatred and conflict, causing them not to get along 5. Struggles for power and favour – employees in most organisations are always in a competition for power and favours from those in management. They always seek promotions from their current positions to higher positions in the organisation. Therefore, if two people are fighting for the same position, they get to be in conflict with one another. 6. Social Inequality – There are social classes in all organisations, those that are rich, the middle class and the poor. There can be discrimination with regard to the same whereby the rich oppress the poor, for instance the workers who serve tea or clean the washrooms in organisations can be discriminated upon by the managers who view themselves to be in a higher social class than them. 7. Differing Inter-organisational Values – People in an organisation have different values; for instance, one can be humble and full of integrity while another can be very aggressive, and rude. These values that people hold can cause conflict between individuals. Effects of conflict in an organisation Organizational conflict can have either positive or negative effect to the organisation, some of these effects include; 1. Change- Conflict accelerates change in an organization, especially in small businesses, where it is easy to formulate and implement new policies. Conflict prompts modification of policies and operation procedures in the organization. When the conflict is extreme, an organisation may conduct a complete overhaul of its leadership, bringing in new managers with ideas. 2. Decrease in Productivity – when an organization spends much of its time dealing with conflict, members tend to focus less on the project at hand and more on conflict. As a result, organizations can lose money, donors and access to essential resources. 3. Innovation – Conflict that results into healthy competition cultivates innovation and inventiveness amongst employees. In times of conflict, there is a high sense of necessity that results into the emergence of divergent viewpoints amongst employees. 4. Waste of Time and Resources – The business may lose precious time and resources at times of conflict. Instead of concentrating on meeting their objectives, employees waste time on divisive issues. Misuse of business materials and funds is quite rampant when conflicting parties engage in â€Å"warfare. † Wrangles, stress and emotional confrontations reduce the workers’ productivity, and eventually, the profitability of the business. 5. Violence – When conflict increases without mediation, intense situations may arise between organization members. It’s unfortunate, but organizational conflicts may cause violence among members, resulting in legal problems for members and possibly the organization. 6. Members Leave Organization -Organization members who are increasingly frustrated with the level of conflict within an organization may decide to end their membership. Strategies of managing conflict in an organisation There are five main approaches or strategies for managing conflict between individuals in an organisation; 1. Avoiding – this occurs when both parties realize that they are in conflict but act by withdrawing from it or postponing the conflict. It is a very passive approach and is best used as a stopgap measure to give oneself time to decide how best to resolve the underlying problem that is causing the conflict. 2. Accommodating – this occurs when one side resolves the conflict by giving in to the other side at the expense of at least one of his or her interests or needs. It is also a passive approach but it can be rational if the other party has too much power and is willing to use it. Accommodating might be useful if the relationship between the people in conflict is more important to them than the conflict itself, thus each side might be inclined to accommodate the other. 3. Compromising – this occurs when both sides gain or lose in order to resolve the conflict making each side both partially satisfied and partially dissatisfied. 4. Forcing – This occurs when one side decides to satisfy their own needs regardless of the impact on the other side. It is a very aggressive approach. 5. Collaborating – this is an attempt made by one or both parties to fully satisfy the needs of both parties. It assumes that both sides have legitimate goals and that creative thinking can transform conflict into an opportunity for both of them to achieve their goals.