Sources of conflict

Abstract

Conflict is inevitable in organizations. If organizational conflicts are not managed well, it may lead to decreasing team performance and have a negative effect on the outcome [kilde!]. Conflict management can be defined as the practice of identifying and handling conflicts. One of the best practices for effective conflict management is to address conflict early to prevent it from escalating, hence it is essential to be able to recognize and understand the different sources of conflict. A project manager must understand how and when a conflict should be encouraged, while others should be resolved quickly [kilde!].

This article aims to explain several aspects of organizational conflict in the early stage to provide a better understanding of how to avoid and handle conflict. Different literature is applied to give a broad perspective on the source of conflict. This article focuses on the primary sources of organizational conflict and hereby how an organizational conflict may evolve.

Characteristics of conflict

There is a lot of literature on conflict, and it is perceived differently from the scholar in various fields such as sociology, economics, anthropology, etc. hence, there is no universally accepted definition [kilde!]. Although Rahim (2001) conclude that the various definitions overlap with the following elements:

• Conflicting interests between individuals and/or groups,
• The conflicting interests must be recognized of a conflict to exist,
• Conflict is a process; it arises from existing relationships between individuals or groups, reflecting on their past interactions and the contexts in which these took place.
• Actions from one or both sides result in the goals of others being obstructed .

Conflict is an interactive process that originates from incompatibility and disagreement dissonance within or between social entities, e.g., individual, group, organization, etc. [kilde 6] This is supported by Roloff's (1987) definition, which explains the occurrence of as an organizational conflict by: “members engage in activities that are incompatible with those of colleagues within their network, members of other collectivizes, or unaffiliated individuals who utilize the services or products of the organization” [kilde 6]

The literature disagrees on whether an organizational conflict is detrimental or beneficial for an organization. There is a primary view of conflict as a negative process in organizations . However, more literature has begun to perceive conflict functional for the organization. A moderate amount of conflict managed constructively can contribute to attaining and maintaining the desired level of organizational effectiveness [(Rahim & Bonoma, 1979].

The impact of conflict on a team's performance depends on the specific type of conflict experienced within the team and organization [intragroup]. The table below lists some examples of dysfunctional and functional outcomes from conflict an organization may encounter.

Table 1: Examples of dysfunctional and functional outcomes from conflict:

Dysfunctional outcomes:	Functional outcomes:
Detriment the team and individual effectiveness	Enhance the team and individual performance
Decrease communication between individuals and groups	Increasing creativity and stimulating innovation
Deteriorate the project’s outcome	Improve decision making

Type of conflicts

This article divides conflict based on its organizational level since all types of conflict does not function similarly. It is to distinguish between the types of conflict to understand the different sources of conflict.

Organizational conflict can occur in and between individuals and within and between groups. The different types of intraorganizational conflicts are divided into the organizational levels; intrapersonal, interpersonal, intragroup and intergroup.

Figure 1: Figure text: Inspiration taken from Rahim and Bonoma (1979).

Intrapersonal: This type of conflict is experienced within an individual when the performance of a task is inconsistent with the person’s expertise, interest, goals, and values [the book]. The conflict arises when incompatible demands are required of an organizational member to their job or position - this is also called role conflict.

Interpersonal: This type of conflict arises due to fundamental differences between two or more organizational members who are required to interact to perform a task.

Intragroup: This type of conflict is experienced among the members of a group or its subgroup, where the members conflict regarding the task, goals, interest, procedures etc. [kilde!]

There are two main types of intragroup conflicts: Relationship conflict is experienced when the group members struggle with interpersonal relationships regardless of the task. Task conflict refers to a disagreement among the group members about the best practices for performing the task.

Intergroup: Intergroup conflict is common in an organization [kilde 1]. This type of conflict arises when there are disagreements or differences between two or more groups or departments within an organization - production, marketing, headquarters are some examples of departments.

Source of conflicts

An organization should not be considered as a closed system. External factors and conditions may contribute to the conflicts experienced within the organization. However, this article will only focus on the sources that originate in an organizational setting. Multiple authors of different studies/fields have researched conflict, which has led to identifying many sources of conflicts. The most relevant sources of organizational conflict will be provided in this section. The sources of conflicts that are examined in this article are based on the type of conflicts:

Intrapersonal conflict:

General, in order for a conflict to arise, the level of intensity must exceed to ensure the individual experience or become aware of a potential conflict. There are differences in the level of intensity among individuals, which means some individuals may experience a conflict sooner than others under similar situations [missing source]. The sources of intrapersonal conflict are mainly situationally imposed. In this section, two of the primary sources of intrapersonal conflict will be intrapersonal conflict:

Misassignment and goal congruence: Misassignment and goal difference: An intrapersonal conflict may occur if an organizational member is misassigned to do a task that the person is not competent to accomplish. The member may feel undesirable frustration if the person does not possess the appropriate expertise and aptitude to do the job. Furthermore, the organization's goals must be consistent with the organizational member's goals and expectations to motivate and optimize the member [kilde 1].

Inappropriate demand on capacity: An organizational member may experience an intrapersonal conflict if it is impossible for the person to properly fulfil all the demands of the member’s position even by working at the maximum capacity. In addition, if the member’s expectation of their role is not met, the person can find the job demotivated, initiating an intrapersonal conflict [kilde 1].

Interpersonal conflict:

There exist many sources of interpersonal conflict. The most significant are further elaborated in the following sections.

Personality characteristics: Personality clashes may occur due to disagreements of fundamental differences in goals, values, etc. People perceive things differently, making it difficult to understand one who is the opposite [missing source]. If people are experience inconsistencies with their integrity, it can be almost impossible to reach a compromise which often leads to a conflict.

Lack of trust: Mistrust among the organizational members often contributes to a dysfunctional organisational environment. The organizational members work toward a collective organizational goal, which makes their tasks dependent on each other. The interdependence among the members makes it necessary to build trust within the organisation to prevent conflicts.

Ineffective communication: Unintentional communication problems and misunderstandings may initiate a conflict. People often fail to communicate about complex matters, especially in emotional situations. Projects are managed through communication, which makes it a key factor for projects to succeed. Conflict often escalates because people assume they have communicated accurately when this is not the case.

Different interests and incompatible goals: It is almost inevitable that a grouping of the organisation creates divisions that have different goals and time horizons [Contemporary]. If the goals are incompatible it can contribute to conflict, especially when it compromises with individuals’ interests and goals.

Intragroup conflict:

Application

Understand the source of conflict to solve and prevent it from happening (escalating)

Utilizing conflict management in practice

Limitations

A lot of theories on reasons for conflicts to occur (only elaborated few aspects)

Different kinds of projects (in complexity, etc.) and organizational factors (organizational structure)

Annotated bibliography

Further reading

More aspects to explore