ORGANISATION

AL
BEHAVIOUR

CONFLICTS
WHAT IS CONFLICT
According to Stephen Robbins- “Conflict is a process in which
an effort is purposefully made by one person or unit to block another that
results in frustrating the attainment of the other’s goals or the furthering of
his or her interest”.
According to Chung and Megginson,” Conflict is the struggle
between incompatible and opposing needs, wishes, interests, ideas or people.
Conflict arises when individuals or groups encounter goals that both parties
cannot obtain satisfactorily”.
Conflict is a natural disagreement arising between two or more
persons or individuals due to their incompatible goals, believes, behaviour
which prevents them from their goal achievement. It is a process in which
one group or an individual perceives that their interests are being opposed or
are affecting the other parties negatively. At times conflicts leads to serious
problems in an organisation. But at the same time it can create positive
results also.
Conflict is a clash of interests, values, actions, views or directions.
Conflict refers to the existence of that clash. Conflict is an outcome of
organisational intricacies, interactions and disagreement. It can be settled by
identifying and neutralising the etiological factors. Once conflict is
concluded, it can provoke a positive a positive change in the organisation.
Confliction is the process of setting up, promoting, encouraging or
designing conflict. It is a wilful process and refers to the real effort to
generate and institute conflicts. Deconfliction is the annihilation of conflict;
it is the effort to eliminate the conflict.

ELEMENTS OF CONFLICT.
Organisational conflicts usually involve three elements, which have to
be appropriately matched through necessary organisational arrangements in
order to resolve the conflict.
• POWER: Are the capacities and means that people have at their
disposal to get the work done. Includes budgetary discretion, personal
influence, information, time, space, staff size and dependence on
others. If used efficiently power creates an atmosphere of co-
operation, but can generate conflicts when misused, withheld or
amassed.

• ORGANISATIONAL DEMANDS: are people’s expectations

regarding a person’s job performance. Usually such expectations are
high and making them rather unrealistic. When these expectations are
not fulfilled people feel disheartened, angry, letdown or cheated.
Consequently, conflict situations can arise.

• WORTH: refers to a person’s self-esteem. People want to prove their

worth in the organisation. Superiors control employees pay,
performance rating, performance appraisal etc. How much of these are
 received by a person reflects their worth. An individual may also feel
a loss of worth if some basic needs are not fulfilled.

Generally Conflicts arises from mismatches between power,

organisational demands and feeling of personal worth

STAGES OF CONFLICT

LATENT CONFLICT

PERCEIVED CONFLICT

FELT CONFLICT

MANIFEST CONFLICT

FUNCTIONAL DYFUNCTIONAL
CONFLICT CONFLICT

Stage 1 LATENT CONFLICT

 When two or more parties need each other to achieve desired objectives,
there is potential for conflicts. Other antecedents of conflict are inter
dependence, different goals and ambiguity of responsibility. They do not
automatically create conflict, when they exist they make it possible. Latent
conflict often arises when a change occurs. Conflict is likely to be caused by
a budget cutback, a change in personal goals or the assignment of a new
project to an already overloaded team.

STAGE 2 PERCEIVED CONFLICT

In this stage, the members become aware of the problem. Incompatibility of
the needs is perceived and tension begins as the parties begin to worry about
what will happen. But no party feels that it is being overtly threatened.

STAGE 3 FELT CONFLICT

At this stage the parties become emotionally involved and begin to focus on
differences of opinion and opposing interests – sharpening perceived
conflict. Internal tensions and frustrations begin to crystallise around
specific, defined issues and people begin to build an emotional commitment
to their positions.
STAGE 4 MANIFEST CONFLICTS
At this stage parties engage in actions that help achieve own objectives and
thwart those of others. Conflict behaviours vary from the subtle, indirect and
highly controlled forms of interference to direct, aggressive, violent and
uncontrolled struggle. At the organisational level strikes lockouts are the
results.
STAGE 5 CONFLICT OUTCOMES
As conflict proceeds through the stages, resolutions become more difficult.
The parties become more locked in their positions and are more convinced
that the conflict is a Win – Lose situation. It is usually easier to achieve Win
– Win outcomes when the conflict is recognised early before frustration and
negative feelings set in.
The conflict finally result in an outcome which maybe functional or when
handled well or dysfunctional when mishandled.

FUNCTIONAL CONFLICTS
Conflict which result in the improvement of groups performance. They
do not support the goals of the group but still does not affect the basic
functioning of the organisation.
DYFUNCTIONAL CONFLICT
Conflicts which decreases and obstructs the group’s performance are
called dysfunctional or destructive forms of conflicts.

TYPES OF CONFLICTS
 INTRA-PERSONAL CONFLICT:

Intra – who we are as individuals, existing or occurring

within the individual mind... it’s how we think... a person talking to
himself, the message one think.
Intra conflict is conflict within an individual. It arises from
frustration, numerous roles which demands equal attention but is not
 always possible to devote, goals having both negative and positive
aspects, cognitive dissonances and neurotic tendencies.
 FRUSTRATION – occurs when a motivated drive is blocked before a
person reaches a desired goal. An individual driven by an inner state
of deficiency engages himself or herself in some action to fulfil the
deficiency. But the attempts to reach the goals are checked by barriers
like external factors like floods, power failures, breakdown of
transportation and internal factors barriers like personal limitations
and disabilities deformities, lack of skill, or low intelligence. Internal
barriers normally last longer than external barriers. Frustrations
normally triggers defence mechanism in the person. Defence
mechanisms refer to unconscious processes that protect an individual
from anxiety. They protect him or her from external threats or against
internal anxiety arousing impulses from distorting reality in some
way. Defence mechanism do not alter the objective conditions of
danger, they simply change the way the person perceives it. They all
involve an element of self deception. There are four types:

I. Aggression – attack the barriers, physically or symbolically.

II. Withdrawal – backing away from the barriers.

III. Fixation – continuation of efforts to break the barriers.

IV. Compromise – search for new goals. Conflicts occur in all the
defence mechanism situation.
 COGNITIVE DISSONANCE - occurs when individuals
recognise inconsisties in their own thoughts and/ or behaviour. Such
inconsistencies are stressful and uncomfortable leading to intra
personal conflict. Employees seek to remove inconsistencies by
changing thoughts and/ or behaviour or obtaining more information
about the issue that is causing the dissonance. Till it is removed,
remains a source of conflict.

 NEUROTIC TENDENCIES - these are irrational personality

mechanisms that an individual uses that create inner conflict. In
return, inner conflict often results in the behaviour that lead to conflict
with other people. One example is the excessive use of tight
organisational control (budgeting, monitoring system) by neurotic
managers because they distrust people. Their excessive distrust and
need to control triggers conflict with others, especially subordinates
who come to feel micromanaged and distrust. A common reaction to
leaders with neurotic tendencies is either open or hidden aggression or
hostility. Subordinates often try to settle the score and protect
themselves from further abuse. These actions give the manager an
even stronger sense of employee’s worthlessness. The manager’s
hostility and attempts to control and punish become more vigorous.
 • INTER PERSONAL CONFLICT:

Inter means between, two or more individuals. Inter personal

conflict arises mainly because of difference in perception,
temperaments, personalities, values, systems, socio- cultural factors
and role ambiguities.
• INTRA GROUP CONFLICT: It refers to disputes among some
or small or all of a group’s members which often affect the group’s
performance. Family run business is prone to this type of conflict.
These conflicts typically become more intense when an owner-
founder approaches retirement, actually retires or die. The way the
two sons of late Dirubai Ambani fought for ownership and control of
Reliance Industries is a typical example.

• INTER GROUP CONFLICT: It is also called Organisational

conflict refers to the conflict between groups, departments or sections
in an organisation. Conflict between groups is frequent and highly
visible.

EFFECTS OF CONFLICTS.
POSITIVE EFFECTS:
1. Increase involvement
2. Increase cohesion
3. Increase innovation and creativity
4. Personal growth and change
 5. Clarification of key issues
6. Organisational vibrancy
7. Individual and group identities

NEGATIVE EFFECTS:
1. Unresolved anger
2. Personality clashes
3. Less self esteem
4. Inefficiency
5. Diversion of energy from work
6. Psychological well being threatened
7. Wastage of resources
8. Negative climate
9. Group cohesion disrupted

CONDITIONS LEADING TO CONFLICT IN AN

ORGANISATION

According to Kirchhoff and Adams there are four distinct conflict conditions
i.e. – high stress environment ambiguous roles and responsibility, multiple
boss situations and prevalence of advanced technology.
According to Filley, there are nine conditions they are
 i. Ambiguous jurisdiction: which occurs when two individuals who
have responsibilities which are interdependent but whose work
boundaries and role definitions are not clearly specified.

ii. Goal incompatibility and

iii. Conflict of interest – refers to accomplishment of different but

mutually conflicting goals by two individuals working together in an
organisation. Obstruction in accomplishing goals, lack of clarity on
how to do a job may initiate conflicts. Barriers to goal
accomplishment arise when goal attainment by an individual or group
is seen as preventing another party achieving their goal.

iv. Communication barriers- difficulties in communicating can cause

misunderstanding, which then can create conflicts.

v. Dependence on one party- by another group or individual.

vi. Differentiation in organisation- where within an organisation sub-

units are made responsible for different, specialised tasks. This creates
separation and introduces differentiation. Conflict situation can rise
when actions of the sub-unit are not properly coordinated and
integrated.

vii. Association of the parties and specialisation- when individuals

specialised in different areas work in a group, they may disagree
amongst themselves because they have different goals methodologies,
views owing to their various backgrounds, training and experiences
viii. Behaviour regulations- organisations have to have firm regulations
for individual behaviour to ensure protection and safety. Individuals
may perceive these regulations differently, which can cause conflicts
and negatively affect output.

ix. Unresolved prior conflict- which remains unsettled overtime

creates anxiety and stress, which can further function, is to avoid
potential and harmful results of conflicts by regulating and directing it
to areas beneficial for the organisation.

RESPONSE TO A CONFLICT SITUATION

People may appreciate the same situation in different ways and so respond
differently. It is therefore necessary to understand the response styles of the
different people involved so as to manage conflicts properly.
According to Turner and Weed, response can be classified as follows:
• Addressers: people who are willing to take initiatives and risk to
resolve conflicts by getting their opponents to agree with them on
some issues. Two types:

 First steppers; who believe that some trust has to be

established to settle conflicts. They make an offer of affability,
agreeableness or sympathy with the other persons view in
exchange for a similar response.
  Confronters: think that things are so bad that they have
nothing to lose by confrontation. They might be confronting
because they have the authority and a safe position, which
reduces their vulnerability to any loss.

• Concealers: take no risk and so say nothing. They conceal their

views and feelings. Three kinds:

 Feeling swallowers- swallow their feelings. They smile even

if the situation is causing them pain and distress. They behave
thus because they consider the approval of other people
important and feel that it would be dangerous to affront them by
revealing their true feelings.

 Subject changers- find the real issue too difficult to handle.

They change the topic by finding something on which there can
be some agreement with the conflicting party. This response
style usually does not solve the problem. Instead, it can create
problems for the people who use this and for the organisation in
which people are working.

 Avoiders- they often go out of their way to avoid conflicts.

• Attackers: cannot keep their feeling to themselves. They are angry

for one or another reason, even though it may not be anyone’s fault.
They express their feelings by attacking whatever they can even
though that may not be the cause of the distress. Two types:
  Up front attackers- angry people who openly attack. Actually
they make work more pleasant for the person who is the target.

 Behind- the- back attackers- are difficult to handle because

the target person is not sure of the source of any criticism, not
even always sure that there is any criticism.

DEALING WITH CONFLICTS

Conflicts are inescapable in any organisation. However conflicts can be used
as motivators for a healthy change. In today’s environment several factors
create competition. They maybe different departmental objectives,
individual objectives, competition for use of resources or differing
viewpoints. They have to be integrated and exploited efficiently to achieve
organisational objectives.
A manager should be able to see emerging conflicts and take
appropriate pre emptive action. The manager should understand the causes
creating conflict, the outcome of the conflict and various methods by which
conflicts can be managed in an organisation. With this understanding the
manager should evolve an approach for resolving conflict before their
disruptive repercussions have an impact on productivity and creativity.
Therefore a manager should posses special skills to react to conflict
situations and should create an open climate for communication between
conflicting parties.
WAYS TO RESOLVE CONFLICT
According to DeBono, when two groups or individuals face a conflict
situation they react in four ways.
• FIGHT – which is not a beneficial, sound or gratifying approach to
dealing with a conflict situation, as it involves tactics strategies,
offensive and defensive positions, losing and winning grounds and
exposure of weak points. Fighting as a way of resolving a conflict can
only be useful in courtroom situations, where winning and losing
becomes a by-product of the judicial process

• NEGOTIATE – towards a settlement with the other party. It takes

place within the prevailing situation and do not involve problem
solving or designing. Third party roles are very important in bringing
the conflicting parties together on some common grounds for
negotiations.

• PROBLEM SOLVE – which involves identifying and removing

the cause of the conflict so as to make the situation normal again.
However this may not be easy. It is also possible that the situation
may not become normal even after removing the identified cause,
because of its influence on the situation.

• DESIGN- which is an attempt towards creativity in making the

conflict situation normal. It considers conflict as situations rather than
problem. Designing is not confined to what is already there, but
attempts to reach what might be created given a proper understanding
of the views and situations of the conflicting parties. The proposed
ideas should be appropriate and acceptable to the parties in conflict. A
third party participates actively in the design process rather than being
just an umpire to resolve the conflict situation with concern for
 personal goals as well as relationships. In the process of compromise,
there are gains and losses for each conflicting parties.

• AVOIDANCE – is based on the beliefs that conflict is evil, and

unwanted. It should be delayed or ignored. Avoidance strategy has
low cooperation and low confrontation. It is useful when conflicts are
insignificant or when the other party is unyielding because of rigid
attitudes. By avoiding direct confrontation, parties in conflict get time
to cool down.

• ACCOMMODATION – involves high cooperation and low

confrontation. It plays down differences and stress commonalities.
Accommodating can be a good strategy when one party accepts that it
is wrong and a lot to lose and little to gain. Consequently they are
willing to accommodate the wishes of the other party.

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

Tossi, Rizzo, and Carral suggested four ways of managing conflicts namely
• STYLE – conflict handling behaviour styles such as competition,
collaboration, compromise, avoidance and accommodation may be
suitably encouraged, depending upon the situation.

• IMPROVING ORGANISATIONAL PRACTICES – after

identifying the reason for the conflict situation, suitable organisational
practice can be used to resolve conflicts, including:

 Establishing super ordinate goals

  Reducing vagueness

 Minimising authority and domain related disputes

 Improving policy, procedure and rules

 Re-apportioning existing resources or adding new

 Altering communications

 Movement of personnel and

 Changing reward system

• SPECIAL ROLES AND STRUCTURE- a manager has to:

 Initiate structural changes needed, including re-location or

merging of specialised units

 Shoulder liaison functions and

 Act as an integrator to resolve conflicts

A person with problem solving skills and respected by the

conflicting parties can be designated to de-fuse conflicts.
• CONFRONTATION TECHNIQUES – it aims at finding
mutually acceptable and enduring solutions through collaboration and
compromise. It is done with the hope that conflicting parties are ready
to face each other amicably and entails intercessions, bargaining,
negotiation, mediation, attribution and application of the integrative
decision method, which is collaborative style based on the premise
that there is a solution which can be accepted by both parties. It
 involves the process of defining the problem, searching for
alternatives and their evaluation and deciding by consensus.

RECENT INCIDENT OF CONFLICT IN THE

BUSINESS WORLD:

L.K.CHAUDHARY,CEO GRAZIANO TRANSMISSIONI,

On September 22 2008 about 200 ex-employees of the Italian auto

parts company Graziano Transmissioni, went berserk, they barged into the
company premises, and clubbed CEO Lalit Kishore Chaudhury to death. The
incident happened in Noida, a capital suburb, in broad daylight.

Graziano fired some of its rampaging workers the conflict was to

employee the fired workers on a new contract which the company did not
wanted too.A dispute over these terms led to the company requesting the
courts to keep the ex-employees away from the company gates. But on 22nd
September 2008 the ex-employees entered the company premises and started
damaging the companies property when L.K.Chaudhary came out to talk and
take control over the ex-employees they instead of hearing to him started
beating him with rods and one the employee bludgeoned his head with a
hammer.He died on the spot but this incident not only shocked the Graziano
transmissioni but also the business world.

A recent study by Stanford school of business suggests that perceptions of

unequal and unfair treatment can have powerful and pernicious effects for
organization. Those feelings of injustice and unfairness can prompt
employee turnovers or slowdown in work, the study found. Seems that the
Stanford study limited itself to the civilized world.

Oscar Fernandes - India’s minister for Labor relations, was

inaugurating the third Indo-EU seminar on 22nd September 2008 on
Employment Relations and Resolution of Conflicts, only a few minutes
away from the Noida murder scene. And thus the minister demagogued -
“….the relationship between the employer and the employee is based on
mutual adjustment of interests and goals-of course involving economic,
social, psychological and political factors….”!

Thus this tragic incident could have been avoided had the
management been a little more foresighted; police had acted on time
and the sacked workers been a little more patient. But now the lesson
have been learnt at a very high cost.