Conflicts are inevitable and day to day issue in the organisation. most of the conflicts are good if they are handled well and debriefed there after.

1. CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
Anil Kumar Rai
Email: anilrai85@gmail.com
June 2015

2. OBJECTIVES OF THIS SESSION
After this session, you will be aware-
- What is conflict?
- Types of conflict
- Why it happens?
- Is it good or bad?
- How to manage in different situations of conflict?
And be a ready manager to be involved in avoidance and
management of workplace conflict situations.
Image Source: Google Images

3. WHAT IS CONFLICT?
a : competitive or opposing action of incompatibles
: antagonistic state or action (as of divergent ideas, interests, or
persons).
b : mental struggle resulting from incompatible or opposing
needs, drives, wishes, or external or internal demands.
Source: Mariam Webster Dictionary
A state of mind in which a person experiences a clash of
opposing feelings or needs.
Source: Oxford Dictionaries
CONFLICT= विरोध करना , मेल न खाना,
Source: Hinkhoj.com
Image Source: Google Images

4. WHY CONFLICT?
Organizational or workplace conflict is rooted from-
 poor communication,
 weak leadership,
 change in leadership,
 dissatisfaction with management style,
 seeking power.
Disagreement is a common reason for conflict. People disagree on
many things such as contrasting opinions on a certain subject matter
because we all have our own beliefs and principles.
Even emotional differences cause conflict.
Image Source: Google Images

5. WHY CONFLICT? - BELIEFS
 Superiority
o Individual Level Core belief – Person’s enduring conviction that
he/she is superior than other people.
o Group Level Worldview - Belief in the superiority of one group's cultural
heritage (history, values, language, traditions, arts and crafts, etc.)
over another's.
 Injustice
o Individual Level Core belief - The perceived mistreatment by specific
others or by the world at large.
o Group Level Worldview - Reflects the in-groups conviction that it has
significant and legitimate grievances against another group.
 Vulnerability
o Individual Level Core belief - A person's conviction that he or she is
perpetually living in harm's way.
o Group Level Worldview - A group's imagined worst case scenarios
take on the inexorable logic of inevitability.
Image Source: Google Images

6.  Distrust
o Individual Level Core belief - This core belief focuses on the presumed
hostility and malign intent of others.
o Group Level Worldview - Beliefs that the other is untrustworthy and
harbors malign intentions toward the in-group.
 Helplessness
o Individual Level Core belief - The conviction that even carefully
planned and executed actions will fail to produce desired outcomes.
o Group Level Worldview - A collective mindset of powerlessness and
dependency.
WHY CONFLICT? - BELIEFS
Image Source: Google Images

7. WHY CONFLICT? -OTHER FACTORS
 Poor Communication
Communicating ineffectively and/or jumping to conclusion.
 Limited Resources
Conflict between two individuals/ teams to use scarce/ limited resource.
 Leadership Style
Intimidating or inflexible leadership style may hurt others.
 Goal Incompatibility
Accomplishment of different but mutually conflicting goals by two individuals
 Behaviour Regulation
Individuals may perceive these regulations differently.
 Unresolved Prior Conflicts
Prior conflicts which remain unsettled over time create anxiety and stress.
Image Source: Google Images

8. TYPES OF CONFLICT?
Widely Described conflicts fall into following categories-
 Relational.
 Relationship conflict stems from interpersonal incompatibilities
 Task.
 task conflict is related to disagreements in viewpoints and opinion
about a particular task
 Process.
 Process conflict refers to disagreement over the group’s
approach to the task, its methods, and its group process
Image Source: Google Images

9. WHO SHOULD SOLVE CONFLICT?
Following possible options-
 Individuals/ Peers/ Groups in Conflict
 People involved in conflict should try and find solution.
 Project/ General Manager
 Project gets involved if the individuals are not able to reach the
amicable solution.
 Facilitator/ Arbitrator
 If the solution obtained earlier fails or no solution reached thru
intervention of PM/ GM, it should be referred to a senior facilitator.
Image Source: Google Images

10. THEORY OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
There are two theories of conflict management-
 Traditional Theory
It is based on the assumption that conflicts are bad, are caused by
trouble makers, and should be subdued.
 Contemporary Theory
They emerge as a natural result of change and can be beneficial to the
organization, if managed efficiently.
Current theory (Kirchoff and Adams, 1982) considers innovation as a
mechanism for bringing together various ideas and viewpoints into a new
and different fusion. An atmosphere of tension, and hence conflict, is thus
essential in any organization committed to developing or working with
new ideas.
Image Source: Google Images

11. CONCERN MATRIX
Image Source: Google Images

12. CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Conflict resolution is a way for two or more parties to find a
peaceful solution to a disagreement among them. The
disagreement may be personal, financial, political, or emotional.
There are five main strategies for dealing with conflicts, all of
which can be considered in terms of who wins and who loses. a
win-win situation is always going to be better for everyone.
1) Compete or Fight
This is the classic win/lose situation, where the strength and power
of one person wins the conflict. It has its place, but anyone using
it needs to be aware that it will create a loser and if that loser has
no outlet for expressing their concerns, then it will lead to bad
feeling.
Image Source: Google Images

13. CONFLICT RESOLUTION….CONTD
2) Collaboration
This is the ideal outcome: a win/win situation. However, it requires
input of time from those involved to work through the difficulties,
and find a way to solve the problem that is agreeable to all.
3) Compromise or Negotiation
This is likely to result in a better result than win/lose, but it’s not quite
win/win. Both parties give up something, in favour of an agreed
mid-point solution. It takes less time than collaboration, but is likely
to result in less commitment to the outcome.
4) Denial or Avoidance
This is where everyone pretends there is no problem. It’s helpful if
those in conflict need time to ‘cool down’ before any discussion or
if the conflict is unimportant, but cannot be used if the conflict
won’t just die down. It will create a lose/lose situation, since there
will still be bad feeling, but no clearing the air through discussion,
and results, in Transactional Analysis terms, in ‘I’m not OK, you’re
not OK’.
Image Source: Google Images

14. CONFLICT RESOLUTION….CONTD
5) Smoothing Over the Problem (Accomodation)
On the surface, harmony is maintained, but underneath, there is
still conflict. It’s similar to the situation above, except that one
person is probably OK with this smoothing, while the other remains
in conflict, creating a win/lose situation again. It can work where
preserving a relationship is more important than dealing with the
conflict right now, but is not useful if others feel the need to deal
with the situation.
Image Source: Google Images

15. EFFECTS OF CONFLICT?
The existence of conflict in an organization may have both positive
and negative results on the people involved and the general
situation. The outcome depends on how conflict was handled and
dealt with by the people involved.
Negative Impact –
 Creates stress among affected employees.
 Creates delays in decision making.
 May loose precious time & resources during conflict.
 In case of extreme disagreement , sub-optimization may result.
 Misuse of business materials and funds.
 Resources diverted from productive activities to conflict
management – double loss.
 Confrontation can bring down employee’s morale and
productivity hence profitability.
 Increase in the possibilities for violent conflict.Image Source: Google Images

16. EFFECTS OF CONFLICT?...CONTD
Positive Impact –
 Creates awareness about a potential problem.
 Offers renewal in relationships.
 Accelerates Change in the organisation.
 Conflicts create opportunities.
 Prompts modification/ improvisation of policies.
 Prompts modification of operational process.
 May result into Goal congruence and coherence in Operations.
 Cultivates innovation and inventiveness among employees.
 Helps develop new strategies of doing business.
 Managing/ resolving conflicts raises self esteem and confidence.
 Diffusion of more serious conflict.
 Relative ability or power of parties involved can be identified &
Measured.Image Source: Google Images

17. DEBRIEFING THE CONFLICT
Once the conflict is resolved, debriefing is very useful. The content
of such debriefing is as follows-
 What was the cause of the conflict?
 How was the conflict resolved?
 What did managers do well in handling the conflict?
 What could have they done better?
 What is Learning from this situation/ conflict.
Learning from each conflict situation could help the next
situation to resolved quickly.Image Source: Google Images

18. SUMMARY
 Conflicts are inevitable.
 Conflict is a dynamic process.
 Conflicts are part of the package (work / life).
 Conflicts can/ should be worked upon appropriately & quickly.
 Conflicts for Ideas, process, Task are good sign.
 Conflicts can be created by Managers/ management to find/
identify a better solution.
 Relational Conflicts are BAD.
Conflicts (in general) are Good.
संघर्ष अच्छा है
Conflicts are just 2% of the daily activities, don’t
let them look 98%.
Image Source: Google Images