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Introduction
Conflict is part of life. In all of the structured social groups, human beings
faced and present differences. The globalization gave prominence to the mix of
different cultures, values, beliefs, religions, age and gender of employees in the
business organisations and the importance to learn how to deal with these differences
and also, the importance of manager the conflicts that are most of the time provoked
by the individual and personal differences of people in a work environment. In this
paper, it is going to be approached and discussed the concepts of conflicts, the
differences between dysfunctional and functional conflicts, what it can bring to the
business organization, benefits of conflicts and management in relation to
organizational behavior.
According to Kehoe (2013), conflicts are social processes that involve two or
more person or party. It is part of the organisational behavior. According to
Buchanan and Huczynski (1991), some of the sources of conflict, in relation to
business organisations are; The employment relationship, Resource allocation, Role
ambiguity, Interdependence, and Differentiation.
Definition of conflict
Conflict is a process in which one party perceives that its interests are being
opposed or negatively affected by another party.
(Kreitner and Kinicki, 2010, p373)
There are four types of conflicts that can be recognized in the contemporary
time. They are the interpersonal conflict, inter-group conflict, employee conflict and
inter-organisational conflict.
Some of the factors that create a general perception about conflicts and
influence the responses of people in a conflicting situation are life experiences,
knowledge, gender, sexuality, culture, race and ethnicity. In relation to life
experiences, people tend to analyse and judge conflicting situations and its
consequences based on previous experiences and because of that, the improvement on
problem-solved results is quite low. Knowledge provides people responding at
conflicts situations with more confidence and reliability that they can deal with the
dilemma. That may interfere with a creation and consideration of alternative
solutions. Gender and sexuality can make the individual respond to the conflict
situation based on socialisation patterns. Culture, race, and ethnicity tend to make the
individual respond to conflict situations based on their personal beliefs. That can
induce to intolerance.
Management perception of conflicts in an organisation
Kehoe (2013) stated that are four different perspectives on conflicts in relation
to managerial view. They are the Unitarist perspective, Pluralist perspective,
Interactionist perspective and Radical perspective. The unitarist perspective affirms
that conflicts are unnatural phenomena, the management needs to be the source of
authority and the organization needs to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the
workforce. The pluralist perspective affirms that conflicts are natural, that allow an
open style of management and it involves a high level of participation by employees.
The interactionist perspective view conflicts as inevitable and as a necessary force
and as consequence it creates a dynamic environment. The radical perspective is
based on the Marxist theory and it affirms that conflicts are a result of capitalism.
Conclusion
Conflicts are an aspect of the organisational behavior that results from
different perceptions of two or more individuals. That can result in discomfort,
confrontation, and hostility among the workforce, that also create an uncomfortable
work environment. In the other hand, conflicts are not necessarily negatives.
Functional conflicts are extremely important to the growth of the business
organization. There are different factors that can influence in a creation of a conflict
between individuals, groups, and organisations in a business. Some of those are
personal differences, disagreement in relation to resource allocation, unfamiliarity
with roles and duties, interdependence and differentiation.
There are five styles of conflict handling and also, different types of conflicts.
In regards to business organisations, managers must be aware of which type of
conflict they are confronting and handling it in the early stage to avoid further
unnecessary problems, the waste of time and human resources. Conflict management
helps the business organisation creating new developments and appropriate solutions
for new threats and opportunities.
Recerences:
Buchanan, David A., and Andrzej A. Huczynski. Organizational Behaviour. 7th ed.
Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, 2010. Print.
Freund, Lena, and Lena Freund. "What Is Dysfunctional Conflict? | Ehow". eHow.
Web. 3 Apr. 2017.
Kehoe, Michele. Make That Grade. Organisational Behaviour. 2nd ed. Dublin: Gill
& Macmillan, 2013. Print.
Kreitner, Robert, and Angelo Kinicki. Organizational Behavior. 9th ed. New York:
McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2010. Print.
Reis, Rick. "1113 Diagnosing The Type And Nature Of Conflict In Organizations".
Cgi.stanford.edu. Web. 3 Apr. 2017.
Sloboda, Rick. "When Creative Conflict Is A Good Thing". Six Revisions. N.p., 2010.
Web. 3 Apr. 2017.