|
Mholi Khumalo
Student (University), Zimbabwe
|
The Role of Conflicts in an Organisation
A conflict is not necessarily good or bad, but must be evaluated in terms of its individual and organisational functions and dysfunctions.
X
Sign up for free
Welcome to the Organization and Change forum of 12manage.
Here we exchange knowledge and experiences in the field of Organization and Change.
❗Sign up now to gain access to 12manage. Completely free.
X
Continue for free
Please sign up and login to continue reading.
Here we exchange knowledge and experiences in the field of Organization and Change.
❗Sign up now to gain access to 12manage. Completely free.
| |
|
|
| |
|
Ashaki Dore
Lecturer, Trinidad and Tobago
|
|
Conflict as a Catalyst for Change Conflict is a catalyst for change which brings issues to the fore and allows for the inclusion of multiple actors. Moreover, conflict allows us to go beyond resolution and management of conflict because not all conflict can be resolved; instead it leads us to conflict transformation, where the positive side of conflict is addressed.
|
| |
|
Leena Bissoonauth
Student (University), Mauritius
|
|
Advantages of Conflicts in Organisations Conflict is essential in rising to a challenge because it is through conflict that our existing beliefs, habits, rituals and routines are questioned, tested and evaluated.
Conflict is necessary to stimulate passion: and passionate people drive success in every organisation.
The stimulation of conflict initiates the search for new means and goals and clears the way for innovation
The successful solution of a conflict leads to greater effectiveness, to more trust and openness, to greater attraction of members towards each other, and to depersonalization of future conflicts.
|
| |
|
Christina Veasey
Teacher, United Kingdom
|
|
Positive Effects of Organizational Conflicts All this is really about not being a doormat or a victim! So to use some of the great words already provided...
Conflict is a catalyst for change, and can be essential in rising to any challenge. Importantly conflict stimulates passion and it is, without doubt, passionate people who drive success in every organisation.
Essentially conflict resolution can effectively defeat internal politics and destructive cultures. Hence in discussing our perceptions of behaviour, we share and expose existing beliefs, habits, rituals and routines which work for or against us as individuals. Hence they can be questioned, tested, evaluated and with goodwill be improved across groups.
Conflict equally provides opportunity and stimulation, initiating new means and goals by clearing the way for more innovative effectiveness, more openness and trust. Thus attracting participants towards each other and creating a framework for the potential depersonalisation of future conflicts!
|
| |
|
Ranjeet Menon
Project Manager, India
|
|
Understanding Difference of Opinion and Conflict When a difference of opinion is taken personally, the situation descends into what we call as a conflict. No two individuals are the same, so we are all entitled to have different opinions and taken in the right way, that is good because that is how we are able to come across different perspectives and find the best way forward.
But conflicts seldom give positive outcomes.
So we should nurture differences of opinion in a positive way and suppress our need to make them personal.
|
| |
|
Nassir Mozdic Jamal Dr.
Management Consultant, Kenya
|
|
The Role of Internal Politics in Maintaining Dynamism @Ranjeet Menon: Why would a seasoned manager who has a flair in human psychology be keen to end in internal politics? One should cherish convergence in divergent ideas. Good for innovations...
|
| |
|
Moussa
Student (University), Cameroon
|
|
The Impact of Conflicts on the Image of an Organization Conflicts within organizations can also lead to a bad reputation of this organization, specially for those dealing with external customers. It can be considered as an opportunity for the organization to improve, but only when handled early. Otherwise, like domino stones, it can lead to a big reputational impact.
|
| |
|
melvin cordez
Teacher, Philippines
|
|
Change = (Conflict + Consensus) * Coercion Conflict is the initiator of change in an organization. It is just how the Organization handles it. Don't worry, consensus will follow but it will be anchored to the most coercive element of the organization, not always the majority, but with the best justification.
|
| |
|
Ranjeet Menon
Project Manager, India
|
|
Conflicts not to Be Confused with Politics @Nassir Mozdic Jamal Dr.: Conflicts are not to be confused with politics:
- CONFLICTS are a consequence of any/all human interactions in any form of relationship. Because we are all unique in the way we think and have different opinions, conflicts will hence always exist. If differences of opinions are listened to and considered in a positive way, most conflicts can be avoided. Most conflicts happen when peoples' voices are not heard and they feel undervalued
- POLITICS has always been used as a divide and rule tool. It only increases conflicts, creates negativity and is detrimental to innovation and free thinking in every possible way.
Interestingly, neither conflicts nor politics are good for innovations, only differences of opinion are, because that is when people compete with one another to prove what they believe is right and put in their best efforts to succeed.
|
| |
|
Francois Laenen
Manager, Syria
|
|
Move Forward with Conflicts Conflicts act like a brake in development. If a team works with visions, they must avoid conflicts and if they occur, they must settle them with team spirit.
It must be clear that it may not be a personal conflict.
It is helpful to ask good questions and also explain your points of view well. Formulate them from the perspective rather than from the value. Listening is the best tool to change any conflict into a collaboration, only open minds will show the real leadership and willingness to move as winners.
|
| |
|
Mohammad Hamdan
Russian Federation
|
|
Pondy's Model of Organizational Conflict Organizational conflict is the conflict that occurs between the goals of two different groups while working within the organization, so the behaviors of any group toward its goal obstructs and thwarts the goals of the other. Although the word conflict within the organization has a negative impact when hearing it, good conflict management leads to improving the effectiveness of the organization. So the conflict within an organization is considered as a double-edged sword, either it leads to constructive and valuable changes in the interest of the organization, or it leads to devastating consequences. From here comes the importance of knowing the stages of the conflict developing, so that the managers can draw an effective strategic plan for managing it in a manner that reflects positively on the organization.
One of the most important models describing the chain of conflict evolution within an organization is Pondy's conflict episode model. What are the stages of this model?
Stages of Pondy's conflict model.
According to Pondy, organizational conflict develops through five basic stages: (figure 1).
- LATENT CONFLICT:
At this stage, there is no direct conflict, but there is a possibility of conflict due to a set of latent factors, the most important of which are:
- Competition for scarce resources: Competition among participants within an organization over available resources is the basis for conflict when their demands exceed available resources.
- Independence: The desire for independence and autonomy form the basis of conflict between participants when one of them tries to control the others.
- Subunit objectives variation: When two or more parties within the organization must cooperate with each other, and they cannot achieve consensus among themselves, conflict arises as a result of the difference in set aspirations and goals, besides how to achieve them.
- PERCEIVED CONFLICT:
This stage includes a cognitive orientation in the context of the evolution of the conflict. Here, the participants realize the conflict situation itself. At this stage, the conflict is in one of two forms:
- The conflict exists without the conditions of the latent conflict: In this case, the conflict is a result of the parties'misunderstanding of each other's true position, which can be resolved through improving communication between them.
- The conflict is the result of an latent conflict: In this case, the parties are not aware of the conflict's existence, i.e. the latent conflict fails to reach their level of awareness. That poses a strong threat to the organization's activity, because it is linked to the central value of the participants' personality.A situation like this is managed by following the mechanism of suppression, or the mechanism of concentration of attention.
- FELT CONFLICT:
In this stage, the parties feel the conflict, which differs from the awareness of the conflict in the previous stage. Because this means that the conflict is influencing the emotion of the parties, which is reflected through the expression of anger and tension, and the conflict takes a personal character among the participants. As a result, cooperation among the participants decreases, and what began as a small problem escalates into a massive conflict.
- MANIFEST CONFLICT:
Here the conflict takes a form of a conflictual behavior. It materializes through physical and verbal violence, something that is strictly prohibited by the rules within the organization.Therefore, and in order for the participants to avoid the negative effects of such behavior on them personally, the features of the conflict appear at this stage through certain tactics such as indifference, strict adherence to the rules that govern the organization.And to be a conflictual behavior, one participant should be engaged knowingly to frustrate or block other's goals; and such behavior must be perceived by both disputants as conflicted.
- CONFLICT AFTERMATH:
This stage expresses the effects that result from the conflict. Each of the previous episodes constitutes one of the chain of conflict between the participants in the organization.If it is resolved early in a way that satisfies all parties, this will be a basis for cooperation relations between the participants in the future, and will allow the conflict in its latent stage to be discovered and dealt with before its development.But if the conflict is suppressed without resolving it, this will be the basis for conflicts exploding in a more dangerous way for the organization.This legacy from the conflict circle is called "conflict aftermath".
According to the Pondy's model, it is not necessary for every conflict to pass through all the phases described, but the evolution of the conflict can be avoided through its stages by controlling it in advance.
⇨ Please share any additional information about conflict stages within an organization that you have. Thank you.
References:
Louis R. Pondy (1967), "Organizational Conflict: Concepts and Models", Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Sep., 1967), pp. 296-320.
Hu Hao (2000), "Understand Conflict Development Process", MSc Minor Thesis, Wageningen University, p. 60.
|
|
Log in
Comments by date▼