What is organizational conflict? Why does it occur?
Organizational conflict is when parties in the workplace have misunderstandings or disagreements. Conflict can occur when two or more parties have incompatible goals, attitudes, emotions, or behaviors lead to disagreement or opposition for two or more parties (Nelson & Quick, 2013). Examples of factors influencing organizational conflict include unclear responsibility, interpersonal relationships, scarcity of resources, and conflict of interest (Business Jargon, 2019). Causes of organizational conflict include managerial expectations, communication disruptions, misunderstandings, and lack of accountability (Business Jargon, 2019).
What are some methods of conflict resolution?
In any organization, it is inevitable that conflict will occur. The way that conflict is handled is of the utmost importance to try to prevent the situation from escalating. Conflict can either be functional, which is more of a healthy and constructive disagreement, or the conflict can be dysfunctional which is unhealthy and destructive. There are five conflict resolution styles. The first style is to avoid the conflict. This is where one of the parties completely withdraws from the conflict but in my opinion, this method would not do anything to address the issue. The second style is to give in. Giving in requires one of the parties to accommodate the other party and seems like it is more of a peace keeping move. The third style is to stand your ground. This method could be considered inconsiderate by the other party and very combative. The fourth style is compromising. Both parties look for common ground and then negotiate towards a resolution. The fifth style is collaborating. Collaboration requires a great deal of consideration on both partys part. One of the main goals of collaborating is to listen to the other party and develop a better level of understanding then creatively solve the conflict together (University of Notre Dame).
Give an example of a workplace conflict and describe what can be done to resolve it.
An example of a workplace conflict would be if two employees were tasked to work as a team to put together a product presentation for a potential customer. Both employees have strong abrasive personalities and they both try to take over the project to the point where they have gotten confrontational. A way to solve this issue would be to have a supervisor step in and very clearly detail what expectations they have of each employee. For instance, one employee could be tasked with putting together the financial information while the other employee could put together a PowerPoint presentation.
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