The Nature of Conflicts - Coursework Example

? Conflicts Corporate Edition [Pick the Conflict Conflicts are an inevitable part of life. Conflicts have certain characteristics which can be analyzed. A conflict is not necessarily a discrepancy between countries; it can be a disagreement between two peoplewith a difference in point of view. In fact there are five types of conflicts; relationship conflicts, data conflicts, conflict of interest and structural and value conflicts. Where people interact on a daily basis there is bound to be a difference in opinion or the way they see various situations. Relationship conflicts arise between two or more people. It can be between intimate relations or people from due to miscommunication, negative behavior and emotions and stereotype reasons. Larry Alan Nadig who is a family therapist, marriage and clinical psychologist there is no relationship that does not face conflicts. He also says that conflict in a relationship is not necessarily a bad thing. It can teach self-awareness; a person learns about his shortcomings such as communication problems and behavioral and relationship issues. It is often said that conflicts can also make relationships stronger. In a workplace however conflict is more of a negative thing which is why employers try their best to avoid such situations (Boles et al, 2001) According to recent findings conflict at work can also have a positive side (Tjosvold, 1991; Amason and Schweiger, 1994; Jehn, 1994, 1995; Van de Vliert and De Dreu, 1994; Pelled, 1996) for example task-related management team conflict which improves growth and overall performance in the organization (Eisenhardt and Schoonhoven, 1990). Data conflicts are raised due to misinformation, insufficiency of information that is required for making the right decision. Sometimes relevance of data is different for different people and so is the way it is collected and communicated. If the data possessed by two different parties is different there is a conflict of data between them. Interest conflicts come into play when two people have different interests because their needs differ from each other. These disputes might be related to issues of money, trust and resources (Thompson, 1993). Conflicts of interest (COI) are basically circumstances forming a risk that a professional decision can be effected by a secondary interest. These conflictscan also be called a conflict of duties. There are five types of conflicts of interest; self-dealing, outside employment, family interests, gifts from friends who are in the same business as them and pump and dump in which stock brokers inflate prices of a security by spreading rumors about it according to his own interest. Structural conflicts occur due to geographic factors or time constraints. These may also happen because of inadequate physical resources or organizational changes. These types of conflicts have structural solutions if they are mediated in the right way. They are not in the control of the individuals and are caused mainly by external factors therefore solving these conflicts can require the help of external agents meaning anantagonist; a person who are not directly involved in the quarrel. This is the structural conflict theory; the people who have nothing to do with how the conflict started have to help resolve it. There are two types of structural conflicts; symmetrical and complementary schizogenesis. The first kind is one where a lot of negative thoughts and feelings lead to a structural breakdown between the two groups at odds. This leads to an eventual arms race. The second type is the opposite of this situation. Instead of being both parties being hostile the response is more submissive. Surprising as it may seem this scenario tends to escalate a conflict and is more of a compromise rather than being the solution to the problem. The fifth type of conflict is a conflict of values which occurs when individuals form a different group of beliefs or values are in opposition. The clash happens when one person tries to force his belief on the other person. This interference in other person’s privacy can be very stressful for the other person and leads to a conflict. Value conflicts arise when a person deviates from the social norms that the other person cherishes or forces it upon him or her. The problem in resolving a value conflict is that it is not only the matter on which the people disagree but even the method on how to solve that disagreement. These disputes are often very difficult to resolve because it is seldom that a person changes his values and even if it does it does not happen easily. Value conflicts often result in company and its employees. When main beliefs of a person clash with the business practices of a company, there is a severe emotional reaction. Here you need to decide whether you will submit to those practices and let your beliefs be stepped upon or you will take an action against those. You need to act smartly and make the decision you believe is important to you. While defining conflict my primary focus was on the word relationship and problems. The reason is pretty obvious. Both these things are inter-related and when a relationship whether it is personal, work based or any other kind, faces a problem of some sort the result is a conflict. All five types of conflicts are related to each other based on this fact. Conflicts can be resolved by finding a logical and fair solution to a problem. When faced with a conflict you have two choices; either you do something to resolve the problem or you can choose to ignore it. There are various styles of solving conflicts such as avoidance conflict style, yielding conflict style, competitive conflict style, cooperation conflict style, conciliation conflict style. Different people have their own theories on how to resolve conflicts quickly and peacefully. Although it may seem obvious that a solution to a conflict is very important but some people opt to ignore the situation and go along with the problem. The truth is that this not a healthy attitude and can have a detrimental effect on a person’s health and longevity so always find a solution for your conflicts no matter how difficult it may seem. REFERENCES Amason, A. C., & Schweiger, D. M. (1994). Resolving the paradox of conflict, strategic decision making, and organizational performance. International Journal of Conflict Management. Boles, J. S., Howard, W. G., & Donofrio, H. H. (2001). An investigation into the inter-relationships of work-family conflict, family-work conflict and work satisfaction. Journal of Managerial Issues, 376-390. Eisenhardt, K. M., & Schoonhoven, C. B. (1990). Organizational growth: Linking founding team, strategy, environment, and growth among US semiconductor ventures, 1978-1988. Administrative science quarterly, 504-529. Jehn, K. A. (1997). A qualitative analysis of conflict types and dimensions in organizational groups. Administrative science quarterly, 530-557. Pelled, L. H. (1996). Demographic diversity, conflict, and work group outcomes: An intervening process theory. Organization Science, 7(6), 615-631. Thompson, D. F. (1993). Understanding financial conflicts of interest. New England Journal of Medicine, 329(8), 573-576 Tjosvold, D. (1991). The conflict-positive organization: Stimulate diversity and create unity. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. Van de Vliert, E., & De Dreu, C. K. (1994). Optimizing performance by conflict stimulation. International Journal of Conflict Management, 5(3), 211-222. Read More