Conflicts in the organization: types, causes, resolution methods

An integral part of active and productive work in an organization is conflicts. This phenomenon should not be taken purely negative. The main thing is the leader’s ability to manage conflict situations and draw the right conclusions to prevent them in the future.

Conflict Classification

Before proceeding with the resolution of a controversial situation, it is necessary to highlight its typology. So, the main types of conflicts in the organization are shown in the table:

Objective causes of conflict

The causes of conflicts in the organization, as a rule, directly relate to the production process. In this case, we are talking about objective factors.

Subjective causes of conflict

When the causes of conflicts in the organization are not directly related to the production process, but are personal in nature, we are talking about subjective factors. Here are the main ones:

• rough treatment;
• arrogant attitude;
• imposing opinions;
• breach of obligations;
• intolerance of criticism;
• flattery and ingratiation before management;
• indiscriminate criticism;
• unfair distribution of social benefits;
• silence of essential information;
• personal animosity;
• conflict of interest;
• incompatibility of temperaments;
• and so on.

Conflict Development Stages

A conflict in an organization goes through several stages of development. This is what it is all about:

1. The hidden stage. A contradictory situation arises, as a result of which interested persons form certain views of the opposite direction on it.
2. Stage of tension. Opponents begin to express their position or show dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs. As a result, a contradiction arises.
3. Stage of antagonism. Opponents move to an open confrontation.
4. Stage of extinction. After the peak point, the confrontation begins to weaken.
5. Stage of exhaustion. The conflict resolves or loses its significance.

Conflict Management Strategies

Conflict management in an organization is one of the main functions of an effective leader. It can be implemented in accordance with one of three strategies:

• Regulatory (moral) legal strategy implies an appeal to the laws and standards of behavior adopted in society or in a given specific organization. Moreover, the success of the application will depend on how much employees accept, support and comply with these standards. Otherwise, the leader may resort to imposing laws and regulations on the conflicting parties.
• A realistic strategy is based on the perception of the conflict in the organization as an inevitable phenomenon associated with the desire of individuals to dominate and possess a large number of resources. In this regard, it is reasonable to rely on a truce and a temporary fading of the confrontation.
• An idealistic strategy for resolving conflicts in an organization is aimed at finding new values ​​to replace the former, which have become a source of confrontation. As a result, all warring parties win.

Conflict management process

Conflict management in an organization is a complex process that includes the following steps:

• Conquest of authority. The leader must inspire confidence and respect among all parties to the conflict. Thus, it will be much easier to resolve conflicts in the organization, because the warring parties will receive an authoritative consultant who will set a constructive direction for cooperation. It is important that participants feel the need to get out of a controversial situation.
• Determining the structure of interpersonal contacts. The manager must have a clear understanding of the formal and informal relationships between the participants in the confrontation. Having established direct contact with leaders, he will be able through them to set the direction for resolving conflicts in the organization.
• Maintaining balance between the warring parties. It is necessary to establish symmetry in the situation of the parties to the conflict so that they are on an equal footing. This will provide a way to a constructive way out of the situation.
• Maintaining an optimal degree of conflict intensity. If the intensity is high, the confrontation will get out of control. At the same time, the extinction of the conflict leads to a loss of interest of the parties. Moderate tension maintains an interest in finding a compromise that will suit everyone and benefit the organization.
• Discussion of the conflict. When the passions subsided, it is necessary to organize a dialogue between the participants in the confrontation in order to deeply analyze the situation, find out the reasons and possible ways out of it.
• Definition of compromise solutions. The task of the manager is to develop a detailed procedure with the definition of the tasks and roles of the participants in the confrontation, as well as the results that will suit everyone. It is important to organize the negotiation process so that there are no new reasons for conflict.
• Monitoring the entire process of resolving a controversial situation.

The main methods of resolving conflicts in the organization

Conflicts are an inevitable problem of any labor collective. In this case, it is important that the leader has an idea of ​​the ways out of this situation. To do this, he needs to adopt common methods. Conflicts in the organization are resolved as follows:

• Avoidance (evasion). This method implies that the manager prefers not to notice conflict situations and not to intervene in them.
• Compulsion. The actions of the leader are aimed at suppressing the conflict through his authority and methods of administrative influence on subordinates.
• Smoothing. The main goal of the leader is to restore normal relations and a favorable atmosphere in the team. Moreover, insufficient attention is paid to the very subject of the conflict .
• Compromise. The leader seeks to bring the conflicting parties to a point that will equally suit everyone.
• Solution. The head gets to the bottom of the conflict, tries to eliminate the causes and prevent the occurrence of similar situations in the future.

Consequences of conflicts

It would be wrong to perceive the conflict in the organization exclusively as a negative phenomenon. Confrontation can have both positive and negative consequences. They are given in the table.

Organization Conflict Prevention

It is always easier to prevent a problem than to deal with its consequences later. Therefore, each effective leader should pay due attention to the prevention of confrontations between employees. To prevent social conflicts in organizations as follows:

• Continuous monitoring of relationships between employees in order to timely identify pre-conflict situations.
• Creation of the most favorable and equal conditions for employees to fulfill their duties.
• Fair distribution of material resources in compliance with the principle of transparency and publicity.
• Elimination of socio-psychological tension by competent placement of personnel in posts and units.
• Setting integration goals, which act as a consolidating factor between equal employees, as well as between subordinates and managers.
• Creation and approval of a mechanism for resolving pre-conflict situations in various fields of activity, as well as reporting it to all employees of the enterprise.
• Attracting potential instigators of conflict to controlled joint activities.
• The development of employees' feelings of empathy, as well as the desire to help each other.
• Exclusion of any discrimination of employees.
• Development of a long-term organization strategy, designed for at least a decade, which should cooperate with employees.
• Formation of a mechanism through which employees can take the initiative and implement innovative ideas.
• The maximum simplification of the organizational structure to get rid of complex hierarchical structures.
• Regular team spirit development activities.

Difficulties of prevention

Prevention of conflicts of interest in an organization is a complex and not always productive activity. And all because in the process of implementing preventive measures, the manager will certainly encounter a number of difficulties. Here are some of them that deserve the closest attention:

• The irresistible desire of the individual for independence. Freedom-loving individuals negatively perceive any restrictions and attempts to regulate interpersonal relationships.
• The existence of generally accepted moral norms of interpersonal communication. If preventive measures are contrary to them, employees will be opposed to them.
• Contradiction to legal norms. If preventive measures conflict with regulatory acts, they can be negatively perceived by the team.

Example No. 1

Conflicting situations and confrontation between employees can take place in any area of ​​social activity. For example, it is worth highlighting conflicts in educational organizations. Imagine the situation that at the beginning of the school year, the distribution of academic load is made, which affects the amount of wages. Naturally, the greatest number of hours is received by an experienced teacher with a long record of work and a degree. Naturally, this state of affairs causes discontent among the young initiative specialist.

To avoid tension in the team and prevent hostility, the director of the educational institution may decide to redistribute the academic load in the next semester. At the same time, an experienced specialist should act as a mentor for his novice colleague.

Example No. 2

To understand the occurrence and resolution of conflict situations in practice, it is worth considering an example of a conflict in an international organization. The head of the unit revealed a shortage of funds and hastened to blame the sales manager for this. But with a thorough check, it turned out that the head of the department made a mistake in the preparation of the reporting documentation. Naturally, the manager, from whom the fine had already been deducted, was indignant, and other ordinary employees supported him.

In this situation, the leader acted wisely. He showed employees that the organization has an equal attitude towards everyone regardless of their position in the managerial hierarchy. As a result, the size of the fine was compensated to the injured manager and an additional amount was paid in compensation for moral damage. The miscalculated division head was reprimanded and fined.

Example No. 3

The next example of a conflict in an organization concerns a car parts manufacturing company. A batch of finished products was transferred from the production workshop to the warehouse. The warehouse manager formally reacted to the acceptance procedure, and later it turned out that some parts have mechanical damage. Naturally, he presented a claim to the production department that it was the result of a defect or unfair transportation. In turn, the production manager wrote off the presence of the defect for improper storage.

The supervisor first ordered an examination of the deformed parts to determine the nature of the damage. An inspection of production and storage facilities for compliance with the requirements of the standards was also appointed. Measures were also taken to establish operational communication between units, and explanatory work was conducted on the rules for the transfer and acceptance of finished products.

Example No. 4

The manager of a branch of a cosmetics cosmetics chain store instructs the seller to be more attentive with customers and provide them with full consultation. A few days later, the boss makes a remark to his subordinate that the latter spends too much time on customers and does not at all arrange the goods. Confused seller asks for clarification from the network director.

The head conducts a conversation with the head of the branch. As a result, it turns out that the seller is a relative of a person who previously had a serious conflict with the manager. The network director decides to transfer the manager to work in another branch, where a vacancy for a similar position has appeared. Thus, the effect of the conflict on the operation of the store was eliminated.