Conflict is inevitable and can occur at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and societal levels. It involves a struggle between opposing forces due to differences in beliefs, values, goals, or needs for esteem, control, and affiliation. While conflict can have negative consequences like diverting energy, it can also have positive effects like stimulating creativity when managed constructively. Key aspects of conflict include the content and relationship dimensions, and types include procedural, substantive, and relational. Strategies for resolving conflict include separating the people from the problem, focusing on interests not positions, inventing mutual gain options, and using objective criteria. The goal is to stimulate functional conflict while resolving dysfunctional conflict.

1. Occupational Therapy and Group Conflict

2. Conflict
Conflict is a felt struggle between two or more interdependent
individuals over perceived incompatible differences in beliefs,
values, and goals, or over differences in desires for esteem,
control, and connectedness

3. Conflict Dimensions
Content Dimension
Objective & observable aspects
Relationship Dimension
perceptions of their connection to each other
Always intertwined
The relationship dimension implicitly suggests how the content
dimension should be interpreted because the content alone can be
interpreted in different ways.

4. Conflict
- Conflict is inevitable in groups and organizations
- Mutual agreement is possible in any conflict situation if people are
willing to negotiate in authentic ways
- Conflict can be uncomfortable, but is not necessarily unhealthy or
bad
- The question is, How can we manage conflict and produce positive
change?
- Communication plays a central role in handling conflict

5. Conflict
Intrapersonal
- Discord that occurs within an individual
- Involves dynamics of personality
Interpersonal
- Disputes that arise between individuals
Societal
- Clashes between societies and nations

6. Aspects of Conflict
Struggle
- Opposing forces coming together
Interdependence
- Leaders and followers need each other
- How much influence do I want? How much am I willing to accept?
Feelings
- Emotional arousal within both parties
- Array of emotions including angers, sadness, or disconnection
Differences
- Differences in beliefs, values, goals, or in desire for control, status,
and connectedness

7. Content Conflicts
- Center on differences in beliefs and values, or goals
- Belief conflicts occur when others’ viewpoints are incompatible
with our own
- Value conflicts occur when others’ values are incompatible with
our own
- Goal conflicts occur when individuals have different goals

8. Types of Goal Conflict
Procedural Conflict
- When individuals differ on how to reach a goal
Substantive Conflict
- When individuals differ on what the goal should be

9. Relational Conflicts
- Personality clashes
- Center on issues of esteem, control, or affiliation
Esteem is one of the major human needs:
- We desire to have an affect on our surroundings and to be seen as
worthy of respect
- When our esteem needs aren’t met, we experience relational
conflict
- At the same time, others want their own esteem needs satisfied
- If either party feels they are receiving insufficient validation, a
clash develops

10. Control issues are common in interpersonal conflict
- Each of us desires to have an impact on others
- Having control increases our feeling of potency and minimizes
feelings of helplessness
- When we see others hindering us or limiting our control, conflict
often results.
- Each of us seeks different levels of control
- Control needs may vary from one time to another

11. Affiliation is the need to feel included in our relationships, to be
liked and to receive affection
- If our needs for closeness are not satisfied in our relationships, we
experience feelings of conflict
- We each vary in our need for affiliation
- When others behave in ways that are incompatible with our own
desires for warmth and affection, feelings of conflict emerge
Relational issues are often bound to content issues during conflict

12. Principle 1: Separate the People From the Problem
- Conflict have a people factor and a problem factor that need to be
separated
- This is not easy, because they are entangled
- By separating them we are able to recognize the other’s uniqueness
and needs
- It enables us to be attentive to our relationships and work together
to mutually confront the problem

13. Principle 2: Focus on Interests, not Positions
- Positions represent our stand or perspective in a particular conflict
- Interests represent what is behind our positions
- Interests often relate to basic human concerns such as belonging,
recognition, control, economic well-being, etc
- Concentrating on interests helps opposing parties address the
“real” conflict

14. Principle 3: Invent Options for Mutual Gains
- Humans naturally see conflict as an either-or proposition; we
either win or lose
- This principle frames conflict as a win-win
- Parties need to brainstorm and search hard for creative solutions to
conflict
- Where do parties’ interests overlap?
- By beings sensitive to others’ interests we can make it easier for
them to be satisfied

15. Principle 4: Insist on Using Objective Criteria
- Objective criteria help parties view conflict with an unbiased lens.
- Objective criteria can take many forms
 Precedent
 Professional standards
 What a court would decide
 Moral standards
 Tradition
 Scientific judgment

16. Conflict Positive consequences
Leads to new ideas
Stimulates creativity
Motivates change
Promotes vitality
Helps individuals and group establish identity
Serves as a safety valve to indicate problems

17. Conflict Negative consequences
Diverts energy from work
Threatens psychological wellbeing
Wastes resources
Creates negative climate
Breaks down group cohesion
Increase hostility & aggressive behaviors

18. Not all Conflict is BAD
Stimulate functional conflict
Where healthy or constructive disagreement occurs
• Better awareness of self
• Worked through to gain sense of accomplishment
• Release of tension and improvement in morale

19. Not all Conflict is BAD
Prevent or resolve dysfunctional conflict
Unhealthy and destructive disagreement occurs
Losses to both parties exceed potential gain
Often emotional or behavioral
Focus is diverted from work to person
It is how conflict is managed that is important

20. Key Questions
1. Are parties approaching conflict from hostile or emotional
standpoint?
2. Is the outcome likely to be negative for the team?
3. Do the potential losses of the parties exceed any potential gains?
4. Is energy being diverted from the goal accomplishment?
If majority of answers are ‘yes’ conflict probably dysfunctional.

21. The goal is therefore…
To stimulate functional conflict
To resolve dysfunctional conflict
- Functional conflict should be encouraged if group or team is
exhibiting groupthink.

22. Causes of conflict in the workplace
- When people experience conflict at work they tend to blame it on
other people’s personality flaws or other factors beyond their
control.
- Need to understand the cause of conflict before you can go about
resolving it.
- Structural contributions
- Unstructured contributions

23. Structural Factors (that contribute to conflict)
- Unclear, inefficient policies, procedures, organizational practices
or ingrained workplaces practices that repeatedly cause workplace
dispute e.g.
- Overlapping job descriptions
- Organizations that fail to punish racism, sexism, bullying
- Rewards for individual achievement that results in too much
competition between team members e.g. stealing clients
- Failure to reward desired behaviors
- Incentives such as “use or loose” sick leave
- Unclear or unrealistically high performance goals

24. Unstructured Factors (that contribute to conflict)
- Occurs usually 1 time and can’t be predicted or avoided
- Need to address the individual problem not change policies of the
whole organization e.g.
- Person who is always turning up late
- Employee who does not treat co-workers appropriately even after
training/coaching
- 2 team members who can’t get along but work well with others
- Options: retraining, discipline, termination

25. Avoiding
Taking no action & disregarding
Low assertion and cooperation
Sometimes appropriate
Overuse of this style results in
negative evaluations from others and
doesn’t contribute to productive outcome

26. Accommodating
Cooperative but unassertive
Appropriate when
you are wrong or
when you want to let the other party have his or her way or
when the relationship is important
Over-reliance may lead to
loss of respect for you or
you may become frustrated as your needs are never met

27. Competing
Very assertive and uncooperative
Satisfaction of own interests at other party’s expense
Appropriate when emergency and you are right
Overuse may result in putting others offside or having a team
that is not prepared to disagree with you

28. Compromising
Intermediate between assertiveness and cooperativeness
Each party gives something up
An effective backup style when efforts to collaborate fail
Compromise is not an optimal solution
Solutions reached may be temporary and often do nothing to
improve relationship between parties

29. Collaborating
Win-Win
High on assertiveness and cooperativeness
Open and thorough discussion
Solution satisfactory to both parties
Works when both parties need to be committed to final solution
Requires openness, trust and sharing of information
Improved relationships and effective performance long term

30. Fisher and Ury’s Communicating about Conflict
1. Separate person from the problem
Work side by side, attacking the problem, not the people
Allows relationship to remain intact
2. Focus on interests, not positions
Focusing on interests expands conflict negotiation options.
Understanding what is underpinning the position.
What does each person need or want from this?
3. Invent new options for mutual gain
Brainstorm ideas, evaluate these, look for compatibility Inventing
new option to satisfy both parties
4. Insist on using objective criteria
Scientific findings
Professional standards
Legal precedent

31. Inter Group Conflict
Positive effects in each group
Increase cohesiveness
Increase focus on tasks
Increased loyalty
Negative consequences
In group/ Out group (them and us)
Prejudice, aggression, territoriality
Decreased communication with other group
More competitive and less cooperative
One group gains and the other loses

32. Strategies that Work
Superordinate goal
Problem Solving
Expanding resources
Changing team members
Change structure
Alter attitudes and behaviors
Confront and negotiate
Encourage insight and understanding

33. Strategies that Work
Superordinate goal
Problem Solving
Expanding resources
Changing team members
Change structure
Alter attitudes and behaviours
Confront and negotiate
Encourage insight and understanding