This document provides an overview of a chapter that discusses conflict in organizations. It defines conflict and distinguishes between functional and dysfunctional conflict. It describes different levels and types of conflict that can occur within and between individuals, groups, and organizations. It also outlines a conflict management model and discusses techniques for both reducing and increasing conflict depending on whether it is functionally or dysfunctionally low/high. The chapter also addresses international and ethical aspects of conflict management.

1. Chapter 11
Conflict in Organizations

2. Learning Goals
• Define conflict and conflict behavior in
organizations
• Distinguish between functional and
dysfunctional conflict
• Understand different levels and types of
conflict in organizations
• Analyze conflict episodes and the linkages
among them

3. Learning Goals (Cont.)
• Understand the role of latent conflict in an
episode and its sources in an organization
• Describe a conflict management model
• Use various techniques to reduce and
increase conflict
• Appreciate some international and ethical
issues in conflict management

4. Chapter Overview
• Introduction
• Functional and Dysfunctional Conflict
• Levels and Types of Conflict in
Organizations
• Conflict Episodes
• Conflict Frames and Orientations
• Latent Conflict: The Sources of Conflict in
Organizations

5. Chapter Overview (Cont.)
• Conflict Management
• Reducing Conflict
• Increasing Conflict
• International Aspects of Conflict in
Organizations
• Ethical Issues in Conflict in Organizations

6. Introduction
Conflict Conflicto
Conflit Conflito
Conflict: What does the word mean to you?

7. Introduction (Cont.)
• Definition
– Opposition
– Incompatible behavior
– Antagonistic interaction
– Block another party from reaching her or his
goals
Range of conflict behavior
Doubt or questioning Annihilation of opponent

8. Introduction (Cont.)
• Key elements
– Interdependence with another party
– Perception of incompatible goals
• Conflict events
– Disagreements
– Debates
– Disputes
– Preventing someone from reaching valued
goals

9. Introduction (Cont.)
• Conflict is not always bad for an
organization
• Do not need to reduce all conflict
• Conflict episodes: ebb and flow of conflict
• An inevitable part of organization life
• Needed for growth and survival
• Conflict management includes increasing
and decreasing conflict
• Major management responsibility

10. Introduction (Cont.)
Toda unanimidade é burra.
(“It’s dumb if we all agree.”)
Special thanks to Gustavo Sette Rabello,
Graduate Student, The Robert O. Anderson Graduate School of Management, 1996
Brazilian Saying
(Ditado popular, Portuguese)

11. Functional and
Dysfunctional Conflict
• Functional conflict: works toward the
goals of an organization or group
• Dysfunctional conflict: blocks an organi-
zation or group from reaching its goals
– Dysfunctionally high conflict: what you
typically think about conflict
– Dysfunctionally low conflict: an atypical view
– Levels vary among groups

12. Functional and
Dysfunctional Conflict (Cont.)
• Functional conflict
– “Constructive Conflict”--Mary Parker Follett
(1925)
– Increases information and ideas
– Encourages innovative thinking
– Unshackles different points of view
– Reduces stagnation

13. Functional and
Dysfunctional Conflict (Cont.)
• Dysfunctionally high conflict
– Tension, anxiety, stress
– Drives out low conflict tolerant people
– Reduced trust
– Poor decisions because of withheld or distorted
information
– Excessive management focus on the conflict

14. Functional and
Dysfunctional Conflict (Cont.)
• Dysfunctionally low conflict
– Few new ideas
– Poor decisions from lack of innovation and
information
– Stagnation
– Business as usual

15. Levels and Types
of Conflict
Individual
Group
Organization
Type of conflictLevel of conflict
Within and between organizations
Within and between groups
Within and between individuals

16. Levels and Types
of Conflict (Cont.)
• Intraorganization conflict
– Conflict that occurs within an organization
– At interfaces of organization functions
– Can occur along the vertical and horizontal
dimensions of the organization
• Vertical conflict: between managers and
subordinates
• Horizontal conflict: between departments and work
groups

17. Levels and Types
of Conflict (Cont.)
• Intragroup conflict
– Conflict among members of a group
– Early stages of group development
– Ways of doing tasks or reaching group's goals
• Intergroup conflict: between two or more
groups

18. Levels and Types
of Conflict (Cont.)
• Interpersonal conflict
– Between two or more people
– Differences in views about what should be done
– Efforts to get more resources
– Differences in orientation to work and time in
different parts of an organization

19. Levels and Types
of Conflict (Cont.)
• Intrapersonal conflict
– Occurs within an individual
• Threat to a person’s values
• Feeling of unfair treatment
• Multiple and contradictory sources of socialization
• Related to the Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
(Chapter 5) and negative inequity (Chapter 8)

20. Levels and Types
of Conflict (Cont.)
• Interorganization conflict
– Between two or more organizations
– Not competition
– Examples: suppliers and distributors,
especially with the close links now possible

21. Conflict Episodes
Latent conflict
Conflict aftermath
Manifest conflict
Simple conflict episode

22. Conflict Episodes (Cont.)
• Latent conflict: antecedents of conflict
behavior that can start conflict episode
• Manifest conflict: observable conflict
behavior
• Conflict aftermath
– End of a conflict episode
– Often the starting point of a related episode
– Becomes the latent conflict for another episode
• Conflict reduction: lower the conflict
level

23. Conflict Episodes
Latent conflict
Conflict aftermath
Manifest conflict
Conflict reduction

24. Conflict Episodes (Cont.)
The antecedents of
conflict
Example: scarce
resources
Latent conflict
Manifest conflict
Conflict aftermath

25. Conflict Episodes (Cont.)
• Some latent conflict in the lives of college
students
– Parking spaces
– Library copying machines
– Computer laboratory
– Books in the bookstore
– School and other parts of your life
– University policies

26. Conflict Episodes (Cont.)
Observable conflict
behavior
Example:
disagreement,
discussion
Latent conflict
Manifest conflict
Conflict aftermath

27. Manifest conflict
Conflict Episodes (Cont.)
Latent conflict
Conflict aftermath
Residue of a
conflict episode
Example:
compromise in
allocating scarce
resources leaves both
parties with less than
they wanted

28. Conflict Episodes
Latent conflict
Manifest conflict
Conflict aftermath
Perceived conflict Felt conflict
Conflict reductionText book Figure 11.1

29. Conflict Episodes (Cont.)
• Perceived conflict
– Become aware that one is in conflict with
another party
– Can block out some conflict
– Can perceive conflict when no latent conditions
exist
– Example: misunderstanding another person’s
position on an issue

30. Conflict Episodes (Cont.)
• Felt conflict
– Emotional part of conflict
– Personalizing the conflict
– Oral and physical hostility
– Hard to manage episodes with high felt conflict
– What people likely recall about conflict

31. Relationships Among
Conflict Episodes
• Episodes link through the connection of
conflict aftermath to latent conflict
• Effective conflict management: break the
connection
• Discover the latent conflicts and remove
them

32. Relationships Among
Conflict Episodes (Cont.)
Latent conflict Manifest conflict Conflict aftermath
Latent conflict Manifest conflict Conflict aftermath
Latent conflict Manifest conflict Conflict aftermath
Conflict reduction

33. Conflict Frames
and Orientations
• Conflict frames
– Perceptual sets that people bring to conflict
episodes
– Perceptual filters
• Remove some information from an episode
• Emphasize other information in an episode

34. Conflict Frames
and Orientations (Cont.)
Relationship-Task
Emotional-Intellectual
Cooperate-Win
Conflict
frame

35. Conflict Frames
and Orientations (Cont.)
• Conflict frame dimensions
– Relationship-Task
• Relationship: focuses on interpersonal relationships
• Task: focuses on material aspects of an episode
– Emotional-Intellectual
• Emotional: focuses on feelings in the conflict
episode (felt conflict)
• Intellectual: focuses on observed behavior
(manifest conflict)

36. Conflict Frames
and Orientations (Cont.)
• Conflict frame dimensions (cont.)
– Cooperate-Win
• Cooperate: emphasizes the role of all parties to the
conflict
• Win: wants to maximize personal gain

37. Conflict Frames
and Orientations (Cont.)
• Conflict frames
– Limited research results
• End an episode with a relationship or intellectual
frame: feel good about relationship with other party
• Cooperation-focused people end with more positive
results than those focused on winning

38. Conflict Frames
and Orientations (Cont.)
• Conflict orientations
– Dominance: wants to win; conflict is a battle
– Collaborative: wants to find a solution that
satisfies everyone
– Compromise: splits the differences
– Avoidance: backs away
– Accommodative: focuses on desires of other
party

39. Conflict Frames
and Orientations (Cont.)
• Can change during conflict episode
– How firmly the person holds orientation
– Importance of the issues to the person
– Perception of opponent's power
• Collaborative orientation: more positive
long-term benefits than the others

40. Conflict Frames
and Orientations (Cont.)
Avoidance
Accommodative
Dominance
CompromiseCollaborative
Conflict aftermath
High residueNo residue
Conflict orientation and the conflict aftermath

41. Conflict Frames
and Orientations (Cont.)
• Combinations of conflict orientations in a
group
– Dominance, avoidance
– Dominance, dominance
– Avoidance, avoidance
– Dominance, collaborative, compromise
– Collaborative, compromise, avoidance
– Collaborative, compromise, avoidance,
dominance, accommodative

42. Latent Conflict: The Sources of
Conflict in Organizations
• Antecedents to conflict episodes
• Many natural conditions of organizations
act as latent conflicts
• Lurk in the background; trigger conflict
when right conditions occur
• Does not always lead to manifest conflict
• Give us clues about how to reduce
dysfunctionally high conflict

43. Latent Conflict: The Sources of
Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
• Some representative latent conflict
– Scarce resources: money, equipment,
facilities
– Organizational differentiation: different
orientations in different parts of organization
– Rules, procedures, policies: behavioral guides
that can cause clashes
– Cohesive groups: value and orientation
differences among groups

44. Latent Conflict: The Sources of
Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
• Some representative latent conflict (cont.)
– Interdependence: forces interaction
– Communication barriers: shift work and
jargon
– Ambiguous jurisdictions: areas of authority
not clearly defined
– Reward systems: reward different behavior in
different parts of the organization
Sales on commission; manufacturing rewarded
for meeting schedules. Communication differences.

45. Conflict Management Model
• Maintain conflict at functional levels
– Not complete elimination
– Reducing to functional levels
– Increasing dysfunctionally low conflict
– Choose desired level of conflict based on
perceived conflict requirements
– Varies in different parts of an organization
– Manager’s tolerance for conflict plays a role

46. Conflict Management Model
(Cont.)
Perceived conflict requirements
Desired conflict level
Organizational
culture
Fast-changing
environment
Product or
service

47. Conflict Management Model
(Cont.)
Normal
Increase
conflict
Decrease
conflict
Dysfunctionally
low conflict
Dysfunctionally
high conflict
Text book Figure 11.2

48. Conflict Management Model
(Cont.)
• Symptoms of dysfunctionally high conflict
– Low trust
– Information distortion
– Tension/antagonism
– Stress
– Sabotage of organization’s product or service

49. Conflict Management Model
(Cont.)
• Symptoms of dysfunctionally low conflict
– Deny differences
– Repress controversial information
– Prohibit disagreements
– Avoid interactions
– Walk away from conflict episode

50. Reducing Conflict
• Overview
– Lose-lose methods: parties to the conflict
episode do not get what they want
– Win-lose methods: one party a clear winner;
other party a clear loser
– Win-win methods: each party to the conflict
episode gets what he or she wants

51. Reducing Conflict (cont.)
• Lose-lose methods
– Avoidance
• Withdraw, stay away
• Does not permanently reduce conflict
– Compromise
• Bargain, negotiate
• Each loses something valued
– Smoothing: find similarities

52. Reducing Conflict (Cont.)
• Win-lose methods
– Dominance
• Overwhelm other party
• Overwhelms an avoidance orientation
– Authoritative command: decision by person
in authority
– Majority rule: voting

53. Reducing Conflict (Cont.)
• Win-win methods
– Problem solving: find root causes
– Integration: meet interests and desires of all
parties
– Superordinate goal: desired by all but not
reachable alone

54. Reducing Conflict (Cont.)
• Summary
– Lose-lose methods: compromise
– Win-lose methods: dominance
– Win-win methods: problem solving

55. Increasing Conflict
• Increase conflict when it is dysfunctionally
low
– Heterogeneous groups: members have
different backgrounds
– Devil’s advocate: offers alternative views
– Organizational culture: values and norms
that embrace conflict and debate

56. Conflict Insights
• Possible positive effects of conflict
• Latent conflict
• Conflict aftermath
• Conflict episodes
• Links between episodes
• Latent conflict and methods of reduction

57. International Aspects of
Conflict in Organizations
• Cultures that emphasize individualism and
competition
– Positively value conflict
– English-speaking countries, the Netherlands,
Italy, Belgium
• Cultures that emphasize collaboration,
cooperation, conformity
– Negatively value conflict
– Many Asian and Latin American countries;
Portugal, Greece, Turkey

58. International Aspects of
Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
• No direct research evidence
• Cultural differences imply different
functional conflict levels

59. International Aspects of
Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
• Cross-cultural research has dealt with
intergroup processes
• Collaborative and cooperative cultures
expect little conflict during intergroup
interactions
• Favor suppression of conflict with little
discussion about people's feelings
• Felt conflict likely part of some conflict
episodes but hidden from public view

60. International Aspects of
Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
• Managers from an individualistic country
operating in a less individualistic country
– Acceptable to express feelings during a conflict
episode
– Suppression of feelings could baffle them
– Increasing conflict can confuse local people
– Almost immediate dysfunctional results

61. Ethical Issues in
Conflict in Organizations
• Tolerance for conflict
– Manager with a high tolerance for conflict;
keeps conflict levels too high for subordinates
– Should such managers reveal their intentions
about desired conflict levels?
– Full disclosure: subordinates could leave the
group if conflict levels became dysfunctionally
stressful
– Ethical question applies equally to newly hired
employees

62. Ethical Issues in
Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
• Deliberately increasing conflict is an effort
to guide behavior in a desired direction
– Subtle methods of increasing conflict (forming
heterogeneous groups) connote manipulation
– Full disclosure: manager states his intention to
use conflict to generate ideas and innovation
– If people are free to join a group or not, the
ethical issue likely subsides

63. Ethical Issues in
Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
• Experiencing intrapersonal conflict
– Requests to act against one's moral values
– Observing behavior that one considers
unethical
• Reduce intrapersonal conflict
– Report unethical acts
– Transfer to another part of the organization
– Quit

64. Ethical Issues in
Conflict in Organizations (Cont.)
• Different cultures place different values on
conflict
– Optimal conflict levels vary among countries
– Lower levels conflict in collectivistic countries
than individualistic countries
Should managers honor such values even if their home
country values support higher levels of conflict?