CHAPTER EIGHT

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

Learning Objectives:
After studying this chapter, you will be able to
1) define the concept of conflict
2) elucidate dysfunctional and functional conflict
3) differentiate various types of interpersonal conflict techniques
4) understand the third person conflict management techniques

Activity
1. Suppose that you face some conflict with your colleagues, how do you resolve it?
2. How do you resolve workplace conflicts in your organization?
3. What bargaining strategies do you follow in buying commodities?

Introduction
Conflict is a part of life. People are being subjected to conflict both inside and outside
the organisation. Conflicts arise due to limitation of resources, competition and
difference in values, goals, attitudes, expectations etc. Whatever may be the cause, if
conflicts are not managed well, they may adversely affect the mental health of the
managers and also the health of the organisation.
An organisation consists of people with different backgrounds; as these
individuals differ in their opinions and attitudes, interaction among them often leads to
conflicts. Conflict, which can occur at individual, group or organisation levels,
discourages people from cooperating with each other. While some degree of conflict is
desirable in organisations so as to promote the spirit of competition among employees,
it jeopardizes the effective functioning of the organisation if it is allowed to persist for
a long time. Therefore it becomes essential to resolve conflicts quickly. Though there
are several methods available to resolve conflicts, the ideal way is through negotiation.
Thus, in order to be effective, it is important that the manager possesses adequate
negotiation skills.

8.1. Meaning of Conflict

Conflict may be defined as the disagreement between two or more individuals or

groups over an issue of mutual interest, Conflicts may arise between two parties when:
one party (an individual or a group) feels that the actions of the other party will either
affect its interests adversely or obstruct the achievement of its goals; the goals of both
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 the parties differ significantly or are interpreted differently; or the basic values and
philosophies of the two parties are different. Conflicts can range from small
disagreements to violent acts.

Conflict may be defined as a situation in which there is a breakdown in decision

making owing to irrational and incompatible stand taken by one or all related to
decision making. Thus conflict leads to disruption and incompatibility in the behaviour
of the people. Conflict is the function of opposite views held by the parties in dispute.
The conflict becomes worse when the people stick to their irrational stand. Managing
conflicts does not mean merely containing them. Conflict management involves
anticipation of conflict devising means by which destructional conflicts can be avoided
and when the conflict do occur overcoming them without creating problems for people
and the organisation.

8.2. Sources of Conflict

 Organisation change: Organisations undergo changes due to new technological
political and social developments that affect them or due to change in the
competitive forces. As people may hold different views about change and the
future direction of an organisation, conflict may arise.
 Personality clashes: Individuals’ personalities differ widely due to difference
in their levels of maturity, emotional stability and their behaviour. When they
do not recognize or appreciate these differences conflicts occur.
 Difference in value sets: Different people have different opinions, values and
beliefs. When people with contradicting values and beliefs interact with each
other conflict is likely to occur. These conflicts are often irrational and difficult
to be resolved.

 Threats to status: Most individuals associate their identity with their status in
society or the organisation. When an individual feels that another person’s acts
may harm or damage his image, which in turn may affect his status, conflict, is
likely to arise.
 Perceptual difference: People perceive different things, issues and their
environment differently. When they act as though their perception is the only
reality, without attempting to understand or another person’s view, conflict
arise.

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 8.3.Classification of conflicts
Conflicts in all organisations occur when people fail to arrive at a consensus regarding the
organisational goals or the means to achieve them. Organisational conflict can be classified as
follows:
Intra-personal Conflict:

According to most behavioural theories, people are motivated to achieve goals either
when meeting the goals results in the satisfaction of a need or when the incentives for
achieving the goal are attractive. However, this is not as simple as it seems. An
individual may have conflicting needs or he may have to overcome many barriers to
achieve his goals. Thus, the process of achieving goals is complicated one. In the
process of achieving his goals, an individual may experience stress and frustration and
may face internal conflict. This is referred to as interpersonal conflict.
Interpersonal Conflict:
People always try to maintain their image and respect. When someone threatens
their self- concept, they try to retaliate and this leads to interpersonal conflict. Different
individuals have different tolerance levels, and this depends on their personalities.
Individuals with low tolerance levels get into interpersonal conflicts frequently. Often,
interpersonal conflicts are the result of differences in perception and gaps in
communication.
Inter Group Conflict:
In an organisation, people from different departments compete for limited resources
such as funds, personal and support services. This competition often results in conflict.
Sometimes conflict occur when one group attempts to take the entire credit for the
successful complication of a task, to the completion of which another group may have
also made significant contributions. Perceived inequitable treatment in matters of
working conditions, rewards and status, in comparison to other groups can also lead to
inter group conflict.

8.4.The Role of Conflict:

The approach to the organisational conflict is very simple and optimistic. The
organisation conflict is based on the following assumptions. Chris Argyris says that
there is basic incongruence between the needs and characteristics of adult, mature
employees and the requirements of the modern formal organisations. The behavioural
approach has re-examined the concept and advocated the following assumptions
1. Conflict is inevitable.
2. Conflict is determined by the structure.
3. Conflict is integral to the nature of change.
4. A minimal level of conflict is optimal.
On the basis of these assumptions, the management of organisational conflict has taken
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 several approaches.

8.5. Conflict Management Techniques

1. Interpersonal Conflict Handling Techniques

The three main strategies to resolve interpersonal conflict are avoidance, diffusion and
confrontation.
voidance:
People may use several mechanisms to avoid conflict. There are several methods used
to avoid conflict. One way of avoiding conflict is ignoring the situation causing
conflict. Another way is run away from the situation. This may be either physically or
mentally. The third method is to accept all the demands of the parties. Avoidance
strategies do not help the people in leadership positions. Leaders who avoid conflict are
seen as incompetent and lack courage. Subordinates may create more conflicting
situations to weaken the leader. However, issue once avoided may surface again. When
the emotions are high, the conflict can be ignored. The issue can be slowly taken up
when the people involved in are in more congenial and harmonious mood. This
strategy reduces the self-confidence of the people involved in resolving the conflict.
Diffusion:
The decision may be delayed until the tempers cool down. Diffusion may
involve the focus on unnecessary issue to avoid the critical problem for some time.
This leaves the future uncertain and cause dissatisfaction to the people.
Confrontation:
Confrontation is facing conflict. Confrontation may involve negotiation and
using authority. Authority may be used to sort out the conflict. This may satisfy one
party and dissatisfy the other. Negotiation is another mechanism of collaboration which
can be used to resolve the conflict.
2. Negotiation

We can define negotiation as a process that occurs when two or more parties decide how
to allocate scarce resources. Although we commonly think of the outcomes of negotiation
in one-shot economic terms, like negotiating over the price of a car, every negotiation in
organizations also affects the relationship between the negotiators and the way the
negotiators feel about themselves. Depending on how much the parties are going to
interact with one another, sometimes maintaining the social relationship and behaving
ethically will be just as important as achieving an immediate outcome of bargaining. Note

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 that we use the terms negotiation and bargaining interchangeably. In this section, we
contrast two bargaining strategies, provide a model of the negotiation process, ascertain
the role of moods and personality traits on bargaining, review gender and cultural
differences in negotiation, and take a brief look at third-party negotiations.
Bargaining Strategies
There are two general approaches to negotiation— distributive bargaining and
integrative bargaining .

Distributive Bargaining You see a used car advertised for sale online. It appears to be
just what you’ve been looking to buy. You go out to see the car. It’s great, and you want
it. The owner tells you the asking price. You don’t want to pay that much. The two of you
then negotiate. The negotiating strategy you’re engaging in is called distributive
bargaining . Its identifying feature is that it operates under zero-sum conditions—that is,
any gain I make is at your expense and vice versa. Every dollar you can get the seller to
cut from the car’s price is a dollar you save, and every dollar more the seller can get from
you comes at your expense. So the essence of distributive bargaining is negotiating over
who gets what share of a fixed pie. By fixed pie , we mean a set amount of goods or
services to be divvied up. When the pie is fixed, or the parties believe it is, they tend to
bargain distributively.
Probably the most widely cited example of distributive bargaining is labor– management
negotiations over wages. Typically, labor’s representatives come to the bargaining table
determined to get as much money as possible from management. Because every cent
labor negotiates increases management’s costs, each party bargains aggressively and
treats the other as an opponent who must be defeated.

3. Third-Party Negotiations
To this point, we’ve discussed bargaining in terms of direct negotiations.
Occasionally, however, individuals or group representatives reach a stalemate and are
unable to resolve their differences through direct negotiations. In such cases, they may
turn to a third party to help them find a solution. There are three basic third-party roles:
mediator, arbitrator, and conciliator.
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 A mediator is a neutral third party who facilitates a negotiated solution by using
reasoning and persuasion, suggesting alternatives, and the like Mediators are widely used
in labor–management negotiations and in civil court disputes. Their overall effectiveness
is fairly impressive. The settlement rate is approximately 60 percent, with negotiator
satisfaction at about 75 percent. But the situation is the key to whether mediation will
succeed; the conflicting parties must be motivated to bargain and resolve their conflict. In
addition, conflict intensity can’t be too high; mediation is most effective under moderate
levels of conflict. Finally, perceptions of the mediator are important; to be effective, the
mediator must be perceived as neutral and non-coercive.

An arbitrator is a third party with the authority to dictate an agreement. Arbitration can
be voluntary (requested by the parties) or compulsory (forced on the parties by law or
contract). The big plus of arbitration over mediation is that it always results in a
settlement. Whether there is a negative side depends on how heavy-handed the arbitrator
appears. If one party is left feeling overwhelmingly defeated, that party is certain to be
dissatisfied and the conflict may resurface at a later time.

A conciliator is a trusted third party who provides an informal communication link

between the negotiator and the opponent. Comparing conciliation to mediation in terms
of effectiveness has proven difficult because the two overlap a great deal. In practice,
conciliators typically act as more than mere communication conduits. They also engage
in fact-finding, interpret messages, and persuade disputants to develop agreements.

Check your Progress

Fill in the blanks
1. _________is the difference between two individuals over an issue of mutual
interest.
2. Conflict which arise within oneself is called as___________conflicts
3. Conflict between one person and another is called as______
conflicts.

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 4. When parties are cooled by delaying a decision, it is called as
___________________

Summary and Implications for Managers

While many people assume conflict lowers group and organizational performance, this assumption is
frequently incorrect. Conflict can be either constructive or destructive to the functioning of a group or
unit. The levels of conflict can be either too high or too low to be constructive. Either extreme hinders
performance. An optimal level is one that prevents stagnation, stimulates creativity, allows tensions to
be released, and initiates
the seeds of change without being disruptive or preventing coordination of activities.
What advice can we give managers faced with excessive conflict and the need to reduce it? Don’t
assume one conflict-handling strategy will always be best! Select a strategy appropriate for the
situation. Here are some guidelines:

 Use competition when quick decisive action is needed (in emergencies), when issues
are important, when unpopular actions need to be implemented (in cost cutting,
enforcement of unpopular rules, discipline), when the issue is vital to the
organization’s welfare and you know you’re right, and when others are taking
advantage of noncompetitive behavior.
 Use collaboration to find an integrative solution when both sets of concerns are too
important to be compromised, when your objective is to learn, when you want to
merge insights from people with different perspectives or gain commitment by
incorporating concerns into a consensus, and when you need to work through feelings
that have interfered with a relationship.
 Use avoidance when an issue is trivial or symptomatic of other issues, when more
important issues are pressing, when you perceive no chance of satisfying your
concerns, when potential disruption outweighs the benefits of resolution, when people
need to cool down and regain perspective, when gathering information supersedes
immediate decision, and when others can resolve the conflict more effectively.
 Use accommodation when you find you’re wrong, when you need to learn or show
reasonableness, when you should allow a better position to be heard, when issues are

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 more important to others than to yourself, when you want to satisfy others and
maintain cooperation, when you can build social credits for later issues, when you are
outmatched and losing (to minimize loss), when harmony and stability are especially
important, and when employees can develop by learning from mistakes.
 Use compromise when goals are important but not worth the effort of potential
disruption of more assertive approaches, when opponents with equal power are
committed to mutually exclusive goals, when you seek temporary settlements to
complex issues, when you need expedient solutions under time pressure, and as a
backup when collaboration or competition is unsuccessful.
 Distributive bargaining can resolve disputes, but it often reduces the satisfaction of
one or more negotiators because it is confrontational and focused on the short term.
Integrative bargaining, in contrast, tends to provide outcomes that satisfy all parties
and build lasting relationships.
 Make sure you set aggressive negotiating goals and try to find creative ways to
achieve the objectives of both parties, especially when you value the long-term
relationship with the other party. That doesn’t mean sacrificing your self-interest;
rather, it means trying to find creative solutions that give both parties what they really
want.
E

Review Questions
1. What is conflict?
2. What are the differences among the traditional, interactions, and managed-conflict views
of conflict?
3. List and explain conflict management techniques.
4. What are the steps of the conflict process?
5. What is negotiation?
6. What are the differences between distributive and
7. Integrative bargaining?

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