Conflict Management: Intergroup Conflicts and Intra-Group Conflicts

Discussion

According to Rahim (2011), organisation conflict is a disagreement between groups or individuals within the organisation. These conflicts are influenced by various factors such as resource allocation, the overall direction of the organisation, division of responsibilities, and struggle for power among other factors. Thomas (2007) argues that in organisations, conflicts are seemingly unavoidable and it is necessary for the management to recognise the source of conflict, evaluate its destructive potential as well as its constructive potential, learn how to manage the conflict and implement appropriate conflict resolution strategies.

Eunson (2007) claims conflicts have both positive and negative impacts. Positive impacts of conflicts include; acceleration of positive change, increase productivity and spurring creativity while negative impacts include unhealthy competition and decreased productivity.

Group conflicts can be sub-dived into two sub-categories; intra-group conflict and inter-group conflicts.

Intra-Group Conflict

According to Eunson (2007), Intra-group conflicts refer to internal wrangles that exist within a group or a team. Minimal intra-group conflicts are healthy for the organisation but if unchecked could be detrimental. For example, an honest conflict between the group members on available alternatives could improve decision making, but misconceptions could generate negative feeling among the group members thus degrading productivity. In the argument of Wall and Callister (2005) intra-group conflicts in organisations are caused by scarcity of resources, position and power among other factors.

Wall and Callister (2005) further argues that intra-group have positive impacts such as improved decision making, increased productivity, reduction in resources wastage, innovation, goal congruence, increased motivation and improved performance. However, it is important to ensure proper management of group conflicts within the organisation. Failure to effectively manage conflicts could have negative impacts on the organisation like wastage of resources and time, sub-optimization, reduced productivity and reduced performance due to stress

Therefore, Intra-group conflicts should be encouraged to improve the performance and productivity of the group. As such, managers should encourage and create an atmosphere that promotes healthy intra-group conflicts.

Inter-Group Conflicts

Inter-group conflicts refer to the confrontations or disagreement between two teams or groups within an organisation (Collins & O'Rourke, 2009). According to Collins and O'Rourke (2009), intra-group conflicts usually occur in two forms; horizontal strain and vertical strain. Horizontal strain involves conflicts between functions, for example, purchasing versus legal, production versus sales and engineering versus research and development. On the other hand, vertical strain involves conflicts between hierarchical levels in an organisation, for example, middle management versus supervisors and management versus union. These conflicts are caused by factors like incompatible goals and objectives, diversity, poor communication and unequal reward structure.

These conflicts should be discouraged because they negatively affect performance and productivity.

Conflict Management Approaches

According to Wall and Callister (2005) it is essential to understand the impacts of conflicts within the organisation and to adequately manage conflicts with negative end up. According to Burton (2010), the following are the major conflict management approaches;

First, Avoiding- it involves avoiding the confronting problem or communicating about the problem with the hope that the problem cedes. Second, accommodating- this approach emphasises on cooperation rather than assertiveness, it often occurs when the other party does not consider the alternative option as a major threat. Third, collaborating- it involves conflicting parties working together to resolve the conflict, and both parties have a win-win attitude. Four, confrontation- it involves a party placing their desires above those of all other parties involved in the conflict. However, if not properly handled, it could evolve into a more hostile situation. Five, compromise- it largely involves bargaining as a means of resolving conflicts. Parties to the conflict indentify some of their interests that they would be willing to compromise on to bring about a resolution. Compromise result in interim solutions in a situation where full resolution can not be achieved immediately.

In this case, the conflict is between members of the management team. Collaborating would be the perfect conflict management approach because it would create an opportunity for the members of the management team working together to resolve issues and all the parties would end-up being winners. Collaborating is the best resolution approach because it provides a lasting solution because all the parties to the conflict are satisfied with the outcome.

Conclusion

In organisations, conflicts will always be present. Organisation conflicts could have both positive as well as negative impacts. It is the duty of the management to evaluate the conflicts and understand their impacts and implement appropriate strategies to address conflicts which could negatively impact on the organisation. Though there are various conflict management approaches, collaborating is one of the best conflict resolution style because it ensures a win-win situation for all parties and often results in a long-term solution.

References

Burton, J. W. (2010). Conflict: Resolution and provention (Vol. 2010). Macmillan.

Collins, S. D., & O'Rourke, J. S. (2009). Managing conflict and workplace relationships. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Eunson, B. (2007). Conflict management. Milton, Australia: John Wiley & Sons.

Ivancevich, J. M., Matteson, M. T., & Konopaske, R. (2006). Organizational behavior and management. Bpi/Irwin.

Rahim, M. A. (2011). Managing conflict in organizations. New Brunswick [NJ: Transaction

Thomas, K. W. (2007). Conflict and conflict management: Reflections and update. Journal of organizational behavior, 13(3), 265-274.

Wall, J. A., & Callister, R. R. (2005). Conflict and its management. Journal of management, 21(3), 515-558.