Why conflicts happen

See our Wiki on Ethical Leadership for more information about dealing with situations like this. Rules and policies are not always communicated across an organisation effectively. This can lead to a poor understanding of them and confusion amongst team members. It is important to ensure policies, and particularly their changes, are communicated effectively throughout the organisation to avoid conflict like this from occurring.

There are various techniques for the next step, which is how to deal with conflict, which are discussed in our Wiki Conflict Management. This tool is useful as a first step to dealing with conflict, as before you can resolve it, it is important to know exactly what is driving it. Bell, A. Six ways to resolve workplace conflicts. July, Hart, B. Conflict in the workplace. Behavioural Consultants, P. Personal Effectiveness.

Search wikis Search terms. Causes of Conflict Identify common causes. Printer-friendly version. Conflict can also emerge from jurisdictional ambiguities —situations where it is unclear exactly where responsibility for something lies. For example, many organizations use an employee selection procedure in which applicants are evaluated both by the personnel department and by the department in which the applicant would actually work.

Because both departments are involved in the hiring process, what happens when one department wants to hire an individual, but the other department does not? Communication Problems. Suffice it to say that the various communication problems or ambiguities in the communication process can facilitate conflict. When one person misunderstands a message or when information is withheld, the person often responds with frustration and anger. Dependence on Common Resource Pool.

Another previously discussed factor that contributes to conflict is dependence on common resource pools. Whenever several departments must compete for scarce resources, conflict is almost inevitable. When resources are limited, a zero-sum game exists in which someone wins and, invariably, someone loses. Lack of Common Performance Standards. Differences in performance criteria and reward systems provide more potential for organizational conflict.

This often occurs because of a lack of common performance standards among differing groups within the same organization. For example, production personnel are often rewarded for their efficiency, and this efficiency is facilitated by the long-term production of a few products.

Sales departments, on the other hand, are rewarded for their short-term response to market changes—often at the expense of long-term production efficiency. In such situations, conflict arises as each unit attempts to meet its own performance criteria. Individual Differences. Finally, a variety of individual differences , such as personal abilities, traits, and skills, can influence in no small way the nature of interpersonal relations.

Individual dominance, aggressiveness, authoritarianism, and tolerance for ambiguity all seem to influence how an individual deals with potential conflict. Indeed, such characteristics may determine whether or not conflict is created at all. Having examined specific factors that are known to facilitate conflict, we can ask how conflict comes about in organizations.

The most commonly accepted model of the conflict process was developed by Kenneth Thomas. This model, shown in Figure , consists of four stages: 1 frustration, 2 conceptualization, 3 behavior, and 4 outcome. Stage 1: Frustration. As we have seen, conflict situations originate when an individual or group feels frustration in the pursuit of important goals.

This frustration may be caused by a wide variety of factors, including disagreement over performance goals, failure to get a promotion or pay raise, a fight over scarce economic resources, new rules or policies, and so forth. In fact, conflict can be traced to frustration over almost anything a group or individual cares about. Stage 2: Conceptualization.

In stage 2, the conceptualization stage of the model, parties to the conflict attempt to understand the nature of the problem, what they themselves want as a resolution, what they think their opponents want as a resolution, and various strategies they feel each side may employ in resolving the conflict. This stage is really the problem-solving and strategy phase. For instance, when management and union negotiate a labor contract, both sides attempt to decide what is most important and what can be bargained away in exchange for these priority needs.

The parties may well benefit from mediation since the forum will help neutralize the power imbalance. Regardless of the cause of conflict, an experienced mediator can help parties shift their focus from fighting to resolution.

Since they are necessarily unbiased, neutrals create an environment where parties can trust the process and work toward a solution. Concept of mediation. Man and woman sitting at desk, discussing problem, finding solution. Partners negotiation process with impartial arbitration. Vector illustration in flat cartoon style. Conflict of interest. Resolving conflict situations.