Managing Conflict

Conflict is a disagreement that arises when two or more parties perceive a threat to their interests, needs, or concerns. Behaviors that escalate a conflict until the conflict seems to take on a life of its own generate dysfunctional conflict. Dysfunctional conflicts focus on emotions and differences between the two parties and can degenerate to the extent that the parties forget the substantive issues and focus on getting even, retaliating, or even hurting the other party. Not only can dysfunctional conflict negatively influence employee, work- group, and company performance, but it also can lead to employee depression, absenteeism, turnover, burnout, and negative emotional states. At the same time, though, conflict can also be positive. For example, have you ever ended a disagreement feeling better about something? When it is effectively managed, conflict can be healthy. Interpersonal conflict can lead to greater learning, flexibility, and creativity. Behaviors that are adaptive and responsive to the situation, person, and issues create constructive conflict. Constructive conflicts, also called functional conflicts, balance the interests of both parties to maximize mutual gains and the attainment of mutual goals. Constructive conflicts contain elements of creativity, adaptation, and a desire to discover a mutually acceptable outcome. Constructive conflict can lead to the identification of new alternatives and ideas. Constructive conflict is a natural, inevitable, and creative force, and can be beneficial to employees and their organizations. Understanding conflict is critical to managing conflict in organizations. Conflict escalation happens when one party involved in a conflict (an individual, small group, department, or entire organizations) first uses an aggressive tactic or begins using more aggressive tactics than the other party.) When constructive approaches to conflict resolution are unsuccessful and break down, the conflict escalates. The farther the conflict escalates, the more difficult it is to reverse and the more likely it is to become dysfunctional. As a manager, you can reduce conflict escalation by modeling de-escalation processes, and by setting and enforcing limits on conflict escalation.