Conflict Management

1.

What do organisations use conflict management for?

For any organisation to be effective and efficient in achieving its goals, the people in the organisation need to have a shared vision of what they are striving to achieve, as well as clear objectives for each team / department and individual. You also need ways of recognising and resolving conflict amongst people, so that conflict does not become so serious that co-operation is impossible. All members of any organisation need to have ways of keeping conflict to a minimum - and of solving problems caused by conflict, before conflict becomes a major obstacle to your work. This could happen to any organisation, whether it is an NGO, a CBO, a political party, a business or a government.

Conflict management is the process of planning to avoid conflict where possible and organising to resolve conflict where it does happen, as rapidly and smoothly as possible.

2.

Important things to know about "conflict" and "conflict management":

The differences between "competition" and "conflict"

"Competition" usually brings out the best in people, as they strive to be top in their field, whether in sport, community affairs, politics or work. In fact, fair and friendly competition often leads to new sporting achievements, scientific inventions or outstanding effort in solving a community problem. When competition becomes unfriendly or bitter, though, conflict can begin - and this can bring out the worst in people.

Common causes of conflict

Causes or sources of organisational conflict can be many and varied. The most common causes are the following:

* scarcity of resources (finance, equipment, facilities, etc)

* different attitudes, values or perceptions

* disagreements about needs, goals, priorities and interests

* poor communication

* poor or inadequate organisational structure

* lack of teamwork

* lack of clarity in roles and responsibilities

Conflict between individual

People have differing styles of communication, ambitions, political or religious views and different cultural backgrounds. In our diverse society, the possibility of these differences leading to conflict between individuals is always there, and we must be alert to preventing and resolving situations where conflict arises.

Conflict between groups of people

Whenever people form groups, they tend to emphasise the things that make their group "better than" or "different from" other groups. This happens in the fields of sport, culture, religion and the workplace and can sometimes change from healthy competition to destructive conflict.

Conflict within a group of people

Even within one organisation or team, conflict can arise from the individual differences or ambitions mentioned earlier; or from rivalry between sub-groups or factions. All leaders and members of the organisation need to be alert to group dynamics that can spill over into conflict.

3.

How to identify signs and stages of conflict

"Disputes of right" and "disputes of interest"

Especially in the workplace, two main types of disputes have been noted (although these two types may also happen in other situations). These are:

* "disputes of right", where people or groups are entitled by law, by contract, by previous agreement or by established practice to certain rights. Disputes of right will focus on conflict issues such as employment contracts, legally enforceable matters or unilateral changes in accepted or customary practices. A dispute of rights is, therefore, usually settled by legal decision or arbitration and not by negotiation.

* "disputes of interest", where the conflict may be a matter of opinion, such as where a person or group is entitled to some resources or privileges (such as access to property, better working conditions, etc). Because there is no established law or right, a dispute of interest will usually be solved through collective bargaining or negotiation.

Stages of conflict

The handling of conflict requires awareness of its various developmental stages. If leaders in the situation can identify the conflict issue and how far it has developed, they can sometimes solve it before it becomes much more serious. Typical stages include:

* where potential for conflict exists - in other words where people recognise that lack of resources, diversity of language or culture may possible result in conflict if people are not sensitive to the diversity.

* latent conflict where a competitive situation could easily spill over into conflict - e.g. at a political rally or in the workplace where there are obvious differences between groups of people.

* open conflict - which can be triggered by an incident and suddenly become real conflict.

* aftermath conflict - the situation where a particular problem may have been resolved but the potential for conflict still exists. In fact the potential may be even greater than before, if one person or group perceives itself as being involved in a win-loose situation.

Signs of conflict between individuals

In the organisation leaders and members should be alert to signs of conflict between colleagues, so that they can be proactive in reducing or resolving the conflict by getting to the root of the issue. Typical signs may include:

* colleagues not speaking to each other or ignoring each other

* contradicting and bad-mouthing one another

* deliberately undermining or not co-operating with each other, to the downfall