Conflict

Due to the fact that the concept of conflict denotes a social phenomenon, it has multiple definitions linked to individual perspectives. Some generally accepted definitions in this regard are listed below.

• A disagreement or friction arising from differences in thoughts, ideas, and actions among individuals (Marquis and Huston, 2000),
• A social phenomenon resulting from differences in interests, goals, preferences, value judgments, and perceptions among individuals or groups, leading to negative behaviors such as unrest, discomfort, stress, hostility, and quarrels, where one party’s gain results in another’s loss,
• A situation arising from the failure of individuals or groups to cooperate, thereby causing disruptions in activities,
• An interaction process in which incompatibility, disagreement, or disharmony emerges among or within social entities.

There are two types of approaches to conflict: modern and traditional. These are presented in the table below.

^{Table on approaches to conflict.}

Causes of Conflict

The causes of conflict are examined from two perspectives: organizational and personal/individual. Organizational causes include:

• Limited time and financial resources,
• Goals that are not shared by all members,
• Ambiguity and lack of clarity in responsibilities within the organization,
• Lack of motivation and cohesion within teams, among others.

From the personal/individual perspective, causes of conflict include:

• Prejudiced attitudes of individuals,
• Lack of trust,
• Differences in skill levels among employees,
• Inadequate communication skills in interpersonal relationships,
• Perceptions of injustice and inequality, among others.

At a fundamental level, causes of conflict stem from individuals, emotions, thoughts, ideas, behaviors, and attitudes, while within team collaboration, they arise from cohesion, communication, dedicated work, and available resources.

Types of Conflict

Conflicts occurring in society, systems, and organizations are classified and analyzed in various ways. Types of conflict at the individual level are as follows:

• Interpersonal Conflict: Conflict between two individuals, arising from the degree of difference between them.

• Intrapersonal Conflict: These are internal struggles within individuals involving their thoughts, ideas, values, principles, and emotions. This type of conflict is also referred to as psychological conflict.

• Intragroup Conflict: Arises from disharmony, miscommunication, and perceived injustice among members of a team or organization.

• Intergroup Conflict: Occurs between different groups within an organization or system. It may arise between groups that are interdependent and share the same process, or between groups engaged in competition with each other.

Intragroup conflict types can be classified as follows:

• Relationship Conflict: Similar to interpersonal conflict, it involves disagreements among group members regarding personal thoughts, values, and emotional issues. Relationship conflicts are considered one of the most significant sources of time loss in organizations, as individuals strongly insist on expressing their views when they believe they are right. Additionally, relationship conflicts can hinder individuals’ dedicated work and sense of responsibility.

• Task Conflict: Arises from disagreements regarding the content of assigned tasks, allocation of resources, and decision-making processes. Task conflict has a positive aspect: it can lead to the emergence of new ideas and improved decision-making quality.

• Process Conflict: Occurs within teams regarding how tasks are assigned and managed. Negative outcomes associated with process conflict include decreased morale and motivation, reduced commitment to the work environment, lower personal performance, and diminished capacity for dedicated work, potentially hindering the organization’s ability to achieve its goals.

An alternative perspective categorizes conflicts as vertical and horizontal. Vertical conflict arises from hierarchical relationships between superiors and subordinates within an organization. Managers play a significant role in vertical conflicts, influencing both their emergence and management.

Horizontal conflict occurs among individuals at the same organizational level. Like other conflicts, when well-managed, it can enhance performance through healthy competition; when poorly managed, it can lead to negative outcomes.

Subject and Parties of Conflict

The subject of conflict is crucial in its resolution. Conflicts at the action or procedural level are easier to resolve, but when they escalate to the principle level, resolution becomes more difficult. In such cases, it may be beneficial for one party to make a concession to bring the conflict back from the principle level to the action or procedural level.

When examining conflict parties from a personal perspective, certain behavioral patterns linked to personality traits are observed:

• Individuals with passive, dependent, submissive, and obedient personality traits tend to avoid conflict with others.
• Individuals with positive attitudes toward others, the ability to think abstractly, openness to ideas, and tolerance for ambiguity are expected to be more inclined toward collaboration.
• Individuals with authoritarian, aggressive, defensive, prejudiced, ambitious, rule-bound, status-oriented, and low stress tolerance traits are expected to engage more frequently in conflict, avoid collaboration, and contribute to the rapid escalation of conflicts.

Understanding how personality traits influence outcomes is important, as predicting how individuals will behave in conflict situations can accelerate the resolution process.

Temporary Resolution Strategies

Various management models offer temporary solutions to conflicts in organizations. These are short-term approaches applied during conflict events.

Avoidance Strategy

Avoidance is defined as an individual or group distancing themselves from a situation they perceive as more harmful than other available options. For example, an employee who is unhappy in their job but cannot find comparable pay elsewhere may choose to remain, which constitutes avoidance.

From an organizational perspective, avoidance refers to managers ignoring conflicts between employees, assuming that employees will resolve their own issues over time. Decisions regarding the conflict are delayed. While this approach may sometimes help resolve conflict, it can also intensify it and lead to more negative outcomes.

Accommodation Strategy

The accommodation strategy involves behaviors aimed at pleasing the other party by disregarding differences. It can also be described as fully accepting the other party’s demands during conflict, often because the individual believes that asserting their own needs would escalate the conflict.

Compromise Strategy

Compromise is defined as a strategy in which conflicting parties reach a mutual solution through reciprocal concessions. It is a strategy with no clear winner or loser, and balancing personal and shared interests is essential. While less risky than accommodation and less likely to cause major problems afterward, compromise does not resolve the root cause of conflict and is therefore considered a temporary solution.

Smoothing Strategy

Smoothing involves emphasizing the need for long-term cooperation and the benefits it brings, while downplaying the significance and urgency of the situation. Through this behavior, managers encourage conflicting parties to focus on unity and solidarity rather than highlighting their differences.

Power Use Strategy

This strategy involves managers using their positional authority to resolve conflicts. The manager implements a strategy without considering either party’s interests, and it is accepted and applied by the parties. However, frequent use of this method can reduce employee morale and motivation.

Permanent Resolution Strategies

Management models that provide permanent solutions to conflict aim to address root causes rather than merely suppressing problems temporarily.

Problem-Solving Approach

This is the opposite of avoidance, involving efforts to constructively resolve conflict between parties. It is defined as the manager bringing parties together to jointly identify the causes of disagreement and then collaboratively finding a solution. When management decides to gather necessary information from within the organization, it must create an environment that supports this process. This requires granting flexible authority within the organizational structure, establishing the necessary infrastructure for innovation, and implementing a multidirectional communication and information system that enables free exchange of ideas.

Increasing Resources Approach

This approach is achieved by introducing new resources within the organization. If conflict arises from material or immaterial constraints, management can resolve it by increasing available resources.

Changing Structural Variables Approach

This method is based on altering and restructuring the organization’s structure to eliminate conflict. Changes occur through modifications in employees’ job descriptions. As a result, improved interactions and mutual understanding among employees can lead to positive outcomes.

Changing Conflict Parties Approach

This approach involves removing individuals involved in conflict from the organization, either fully or partially, or relocating them to different processes within the organization. For example, if two managers on the same project clash, one may be reassigned to a different project, illustrating this approach.

Behavior Modification Approach

The primary method for changing individual behavior in conflict involves educational efforts aimed at influencing behavior and beliefs. Individuals causing conflict are placed under managerial supervision for training, and their development is monitored. Subsequently, their responses and attitudes toward similar future situations are evaluated to identify resolution paths. This approach aims to intellectually develop individuals, end the conflict, and raise awareness about appropriate future conduct. Relevant training examples include:

• Sensitivity Training: An educational program designed to analyze individuals’ emotions and behaviors to improve interpersonal relationships. Organizational members gather in a free and open environment under the guidance of a professional behavioral scientist to discuss their interaction processes. As a result, they learn each other’s perspectives and explain the reasons behind their own behaviors.

• Stress Management Training: Stress creates negative atmospheres both within individuals and within their teams. Stress management training is highly valuable as it teaches individuals how to manage stress effectively.

• Interaction Analysis: Used to examine individuals’ communication patterns and identify related problems. Subsequently, potential solutions can be explored.

Goal Setting Approach

In this approach, existing active goals are replaced by new, shared goals. Sometimes destructive conflicts in organizations stem from employees viewing events solely through their own perspectives and focusing exclusively on their own departments or areas. To address this, a common and overarching goal must be established to guide employees.

CONSEQUENCES OF CONFLICT

Consequences of Conflict on Individuals

Positive consequences of conflict on individuals include:

• Individuals may experience increased self-confidence through sharing their ideas and generating solutions during conflict.
• Through exposure to behaviors during conflict and the training used to resolve it, individuals embark on a path of self-improvement, primarily psychological or mental development. Enhancements in empathy, respect for freedom of thought, and similar qualities positively impact organizational processes.
• Improved empathy enables individuals to better understand each other and become less self-centered.
• When individuals experience conflict, they often engage in intellectual exchanges with peers or experts on different topics, leading to academic development.

Negative consequences include:

• Conflicts experienced by individuals often lead to chronic stress accumulation, which can negatively affect both individuals and the organization. If stress management is inadequate, it can also harm individuals’ health.
• Individuals experiencing stress due to conflict may begin to adopt unhealthy lifestyles and feel worse about themselves. In particular, anxiety and depression felt at the end of the day are direct negative outcomes of conflict.
• Due to their natural thoughts, ideas, attitudes, and preferences, individuals may exhibit hostile behaviors toward each other over time, such as anger, resentment, disrespect, and verbal disputes, depending on the duration of the conflict.

Consequences of Conflict on Organizations

• Cognitive conflicts play a significant role in helping team members access new ideas, thoughts, and information, thereby enhancing organizational creativity and innovation capacity.
• When individuals comply with decisions and work toward them, organizational members’ job satisfaction increases, leading to a more successful work environment.
• Another positive organizational effect of conflict is reducing or preventing groupthink. For example, a team member with a different perspective may avoid voicing their opinion due to social pressure, leading to reduced team performance.
• External threats to the organization can motivate employees to improve their team’s performance, directly enhancing team effectiveness.
• Positive customer attitudes and increased customer satisfaction are possible when conflicts are resolved constructively, particularly when conflicts arise from customer expectations.
• Conflict can affect the distribution of responsibilities within teams. Clearly defining individuals’ roles and tasks within the team can prevent the emergence of conflict.
• Individuals affected by conflict may negatively impact their team’s performance. A decline in job satisfaction among individuals is common. Similarly, interpersonal problems between individuals within the organization can lead to reduced loyalty and commitment.
• Individuals’ sense of peace in their work environment is proportional to their trust in the environment and others. A loss of trust reduces motivation and performance.

As shown in the graph above, an increase in the level of conflict initially has a positive effect on organizational performance. However, once it exceeds the optimal level, it leads to a significant decline in performance.