This document provides an overview of conflicts in organizations. It defines conflict and related terms like mediation and negotiation. It discusses the different types of conflict, including intra-personal, inter-personal, intra-group, inter-group, national, and international conflicts. The document also examines the common sources of conflicts, such as conflicts over resources, psychological needs, values, and inadequate information. It concludes that while conflict is inevitable, the approaches used to manage conflicts determine the intensity.

1. RESOLVING CONFLICTS IN
ORGANIZATIONS
Mr. Mtinda, F. S
Tanzania Public Service College
OCT 2017

2. Learning outcomes;
At the end of the topic every learner should be aware with the
following aspects;
• Conceptual Definition and Historical Background of Conflict and
other related terms
• Types of Conflict
• Causes/source of Conflict
• Organizational conflicts
• Conflict cycle/stage/steps
• (Positive and negative) Functional and dysfunctional
impacts/outcomes of conflicts
• Conflict handling/resolution techniques/measures/styles/ways/forms
• Conflict resolution cycle/process
• Challenges in conflict resolutions in organizations
• Importance of conflict resolution in organizations

3. Concepts and background of the
term conflict
• The term “conflict” is derived from the Latin word
confligere, meaning to “strike together.”
• According to Webster Dictionary, Vol. 1, 1971,
conflict means: to strike, to fight, struggle or
battle, clash, contention, confrontation, a
controversy or quarrel, active opposition, strife
or incompatibility, to meet in opposition or
hostility, to contend, to be contrary or to be at
variance

4. Conflict refers to contradiction
arising from differences in
interests, ideas, ideologies,
orientations, beliefs, perceptions
and tendencies.
•Action Aid (1994) and Hoivik and
Meijer (1994) see conflict as
“incompatible behavior between
parties whose interests appear to
be, incompatible or clashing.”

5. • Conflict is a normal, natural and
inevitable phenomenon in any
interactive situation of human life,
contradictions exists at all levels of
the society, personal, groups,
institution, national and international.
• Conflict is not necessarily negative in
itself. It is often a by – product of
social change and may lead to
constructive transformation

6. Without conflict we cannot have change. Conflict
is inevitable and it keeps occurring in every
individual life, either at home, work, social
outings or even when we sleep in our bedroom
without interacting with anyone.

7. Other terms related to conflict
• Peace
Peace is not the absence of conflict – but the
ability to manage conflict constructively, as an
important opportunity for change and increased
understanding.
Peace is a commitment not to harm, but also to
nurture, all individuals.

8. Mediation
Mediation is a flexible and highly
varied process that includes any
situation in which a person gets
involved in a conflict between two or
more other people to help them
resolve it, but has no power to make
anyone do anything in particular.

9. The mediator is primarily a
"process person," helping the
parties
i. Define the agenda,
ii. Identify and reframe the issues,
iii. Communicate more effectively,
iv.Find areas of common ground,
v. Negotiate fairly, and hopefully,
vi.Reach an agreement

10. Negotiation
• In simplest terms, negotiation is a
discussion between two or more
disputants who are trying to work out a
solution to their problem.
• This process can occur at a personal
level, as well as at a corporate or
international (diplomatic) level.
• Negotiations typically take place because
the parties wish to resolve a problem or
dispute between them.

11. • Dispute Settlement and Conflict
Resolution
• Resolution means going beyond
negotiating interests to meet all sides'
basic needs, while simultaneously
finding a way to respect their
underlying values and identities.
• The main difference is that resolution
requires identifying the causal factors
behind the conflict, and finding ways
to deal with them.

12. • On the other hand, settlement is
simply aimed at ending a dispute as
quickly and politely as possible.
• This means that it is possible to settle
a dispute that exists within the
context of a larger conflict, without
resolving the overall conflict.
• This occurs when a dispute is settled,
but the underlying causes of the
conflict are not addressed.

13. Types of Conflict
Although, there are several types of conflicts, but
in this context, they can be categorized into six
namely

14. Intra-Personal Conflict:
• This type of conflict occurs within an individual.
• It takes place in the person’s mind. Hence, it is a
type of conflict that is psychological involving the
individual’s thoughts, values, principles and
emotions.
• It can be quite difficult to handle if you find it
hard to translate your inner struggles.
• It leads to restlessness and uneasiness, or can
even cause depression. Examples of such are
use of time, choice of partner, moral questions,
goals and aspirations.

15. Inter-Personal Conflict:
• This refers to conflict between two or
more individuals over an issue. This
occurs typically due to how people
are different from one another in term
of personalities which usually results
to contrary choices and opinions.

16. Intra-Group Conflict:
•This refers to conflict between
individuals within a group.
•The incompatibilities and
misunderstandings among these
individuals lead to an intra-group
conflict.
•It is arises from interpersonal
disagreement

17. Inter-Group Conflict:
• This refers to conflict between groups such as
club, class versus class, family versus family.
• It takes place when a misunderstanding arises
among different teams within an organization.
• For instance, the sales department of an
organization can come in conflict with the
customer support department. This is due to the
varied sets of goals and interests of these
different groups.

18. National Conflict:
This refers to conflicts within a
nation, involving different
groups within the nation. This
could be interethnic, inter-
religious, or competition for
resources

19. International Conflict
This refers to conflicts between
nations. This could be for
ideological reasons, territorial
claims, and political
competition.

20. source of Conflict
•Conflicts over resources
•Conflicts over psychological
needs
•Conflicts involving values
• Conflicts over inadequate
information

21. 1. Conflicts over resources
• This conflict occurs when two or more
people are competing for inadequate
(or perceived to be inadequate)
resources over a period of time.
• May occur when the available
resources are not evenly and fairly
distributed. Thus, the deprived would
always struggle to improve their lot.

22. • This view agrees with the Marxian theory
of conflict, which posits that the more the
rate of unequal distribution of scarce
resources in the society, the greater is the
basic conflict of interest between its
dominant and subordinate parts.
• Resources that cause conflict include;
landed properties, money, vehicles, and
company ownership/shares among others

23. 2. Conflicts over psychological needs
• Conflicts over psychological needs of
groups and individuals are conflicts
which cannot be seen but affect the
psyche of the individual and group
self-actualization, need for individual
and group respect, attempt to project
one’s group to be better than the
others.

24. • With particular reference to Maslow’s
theory, he points out that when an
individual psychological need is
achieved or satisfied, such an
individual becomes dominated by a
drive for the other unsatisfied needs
through a process he calls
“Fulfillment Progression”. Example
includes structural factor, politics,
personality clash, and ethnicity.

25. 3. Conflicts involving values
• Contradicting value systems such as religious
beliefs, ideological positions, and general
worldview is another factor responsible for social
conflict among the interacting parties.
• Conflict involving values are the most difficult to
understand and resolve because most times
people could die for what they believe in. It
includes some of our beliefs, our values and
thought patterns, attitudes, non-verbal
communication and perception

26. • Examples of values burdened conflicts include
the Cold War, terrorism (suicide bombing),
religious conflicts such as September 30, 2005
Cartoon crisis over a Danish newspaper,
Jyllands Posten, published cartoons caricaturing
Prophet Mohammad.

27. 4. Conflicts over inadequate information
• The other factors causing conflict in any society
is “manipulation of information”. The
fundamental role of information in societal
conflict shall be emphasizing as they can either
be destructive or constructive.
• Especially in a widespread conflict situation, the
role of information becomes more crucial,
difficult and dangerous. When the information
system in a society is tampered with (bad used),
there is bound to be conflict

28. •This can be either by feeding
people with lies or giving the right
information.
•Central to the availability and
quality of public information is the
media (print, audio and audio-
visual).
•Example the Rwanda Massacre
1994, resulted from distortion of
information

29. CONCLUSION
• In the light of the above discussion on
the concept of conflict, we can
deduce that conflict is inevitable in
human life, but the degree or intensity
of conflicts is determined by the
attitude or mode of approaches
adopted by the parties involved.

30. Marked the End of
Presentation