1. Organizational Behavior
Presentation on
Conflicts
By : Shilpi Panchal
MBA IInd Semester
Oriental College of Management

2. What is Conflict..?
 Conflict is a state of opposition between persons or groups or
organizations.
 It is a disagreement between people that may be the result of
different:
 Ideas
 Perspectives
 Priorities
 Preferences
 Beliefs
 Values
 Goals
 Organizational structures

3. Definitions of Conflict
• According to Wood Et Al:
– “Conflict occurs when disagreement exist in a social
situation over issues of substance or whenever emotional
antagonisms create frictions between individuals or
groups.”
• According to Litterer:
– “Conflict is a type of behavior which occurs when two or
more parties are in opposition or in battle as a result of
perceived relative deprivation from the activities of or
interaction with another person or group.”

4. Perspectives of Conflict
Human
Relations View
Interactionist
view

5. Conflict Perspectives (contd.)
 The Traditional Perspective:
• The belief that all conflict is harmful and must be
avoided.
• This approach assumes that all conflicts hamper
performance.
• Conflicts occur due to poor communication, lack of
openness and trust between people, and the failure of
managers to be open to their employees.

6. Conflict Perspectives (contd.)
 The Human Relations Perspective:
• The belief that conflicts occur naturally in all
groups and organizations.
• It is natural and cannot be avoided, hence it
should be accepted.
• It cannot be removed and there are even times
when conflict may benefit a group’s performance.

7. Conflict Perspectives (contd.)
 The Inter-actionist Perspective:
• The belief that conflict is not only a positive force in a
group but that it is also an absolute necessity for a
group to perform effectively.
• This approach encourages conflict because it believes
that a peaceful and cooperative group may become
constant and may not respond to the need for
change and innovation.

8. Levels of Conflict
Individual
Group
Organizational

10.  Individual level:
 Inter-personal conflict:
 Between two or more people.
 Differences in views about what should be done.
 Efforts to get more resources.
 Differences in orientation to work and time in different
parts of an organization.
 Intra-personal conflict:
 Occurs within an individual.
 Threat to a person’s values.
 Feeling of unfair treatment.

11.  Group Level:
 Inter-group conflict:
 Between two or more groups
 Intra-group conflict:
 Conflict among members of a group
 Early stages of group development
 Ways of doing tasks or reaching group's goals

12.  Organizational level:
 Inter-organization conflict:
 Between two or more organization
 Examples: suppliers and distributors, especially with the
close links
 Intra-organization conflict:
 Conflict that occurs within an organization
 Can occur along the vertical and horizontal dimensions of
the organization:
• Vertical conflict: between managers and subordinates
• Horizontal conflict: between departments and work
groups

13. The Conflict Process

14. The Conflict Process (contd.)
I. Potential opposition or incompatibility:
 This stage indicates the presence of conditions that create
opportunities for conflict to arise. They need not lead directly
to conflict, but any of these conditions is necessary or present
if conflict is to the surface.

15.  Causes of Conflicts:
o Communication
o Structure
o Personal variables-
• Misunderstanding
• Personality clashes
• Competition for resources
• Lack of cooperation
• Differences over methods or style
• Low performance
• Value or goal differences

16. II. Cognition and Personalization:
 If conditions cited in Stage I negatively affect something that
one party cares about, then the potential for opposition or
incompatibility becomes actualized in this stage.

17. III. Intentions:
 Interventions intervene between people’s perceptions and
emotions and their overt behavior. These intensions are
decisions to act in a given way.
 Dimensions of Conflict-Handling Intentions:

18. IV. Behavior:
 This is where conflicts becomes visible.
 Conflict behavior usually overt attempts to implement each
party’s intention.
 It includes statements, actions and reactions made by the
conflicting parties.
 Conflict –Intensity Continuum:

19. V. Outcomes:
 The action–reaction interplay among the conflicting parties
results in consequences. It may results as an improvement
(functional) or may be hindrance (dysfunctional) to the
groups performance.
Functional
Outcomes
Dysfunctional
Outcomes

20. The Effect of Conflict on Organization
Performance

21. Conflict Management
• Conflict management is defined as “the opportunity to
improve situations and strengthen relationships”.
• The central purpose of this conflict and their willingness to
work together constructively now and in the future.
• Ideally, ideas and information begin to flow between the
parties and collaborative solutions emerge.

22. Steps of Conflict Resolution