Sources of Conflict: Guidelines for a Healthy Organizational Environment

Abstract

"a serious disagreement or argument typically a protracted one" - conflict "lack of consensus or approval" - disagreement "An interactive process manifested in incompatibility, disagreement or dissonance within or between social entities."

With this bold statement, (Rahim, 2002) provides a broad definition of conflict between humans. Conflicts and controversies are part of our daily life. It might happen that we end up being passive actors in a discussion, or we might be the active root cause of someone's bad day. They are per definition social interactions so this makes them unavoidable as a person crosses someone else's life, or has to deal with his/her own values and believes, in extreme cases. Conflicts occur in every possible scenario; on organizational level, for example, one of the many different roles of Project Managers is to mediate conflicts that occur in teams and try to extract the best possible outcome out of them. Conflict Management is a key aspect in ensuring a healthy environment for company members and its stakeholders.

The scope of this article is to provide a deep analysis of conflicts in organizations. The main focus is put on their dimensions, with regard to their occurrence through time and space, their root causes and perspectives. The article will continue by presenting different available tools and activities (e.g. Thomas-Kilmann Instrument) that allow the management to control and extract a competitive advantage from conflicts. The key role played by Emotional Intelligence and, in particular, by Self Awareness will be highlighted and discussed, with specific regard to its ability to prevent disagreement between individuals to quickly escalate into dangerous conflicts for the company. The final objective is to create a set of actionable best practices to guide future leaders and practitioners into Conflict Management.

Definitions & Dimensions

Before moving to the sources of conflict on organizational level, an overview of the literature and the key definitions is required. The objective is to briefly define what a conflict and its measurable characteristics are through the scientific contribution of the past. Moreover, the basis for conflict management theory will be set by narrowing down the general knowledge to match the more restricted organizational environment.

Definitions

"An interactive process manifested in incompatibility, disagreement or dissonance within or between social entities". With this brief sentence, (Rahim, 2002) describes his interpretation of what a conflict is. By analyzing his words, it is possible to highlight that conflict is interaction between individuals or groups, namely social entities. These are complex structures made of values, ambitions, personalities, approaches etc.

Space & Time Dimensions

space dimension. Where they occur? not physical places but are they internal/external? do they afflict individuals or groups? When do they occur? Do they evolve? are they negative or positive? can they be managed? or they should be avoided?

Root Causes

State of the art Theories on the sources of conflict.

Annotated bibliography

Rahim, M.A. (2002), Toward a theory of managing organizational conflict, International Journal of Conflict Management, 13(3): 206-235.