Subject 1 : WORKPLACE CONFLICTS : Classification According to the Source of Conflicts (Part 1)

O. Introduction

This paper is an extract of my PHD Thesis in Leadership and Strategic Planing which was written during my studies at Atlantic International University (AIU) in 2018. I share it with the academic and workers communities to stimulate the research sentiment.

1. Notion of Workplace Conflict

1. 1.1. Notion of Workplace

The workplace is defined by Masters, M.E and Albright R.R (2002), as “the setting in which work is performed” P.14. It can be interpreted as a physical location at which people interact in the process of producing goods or services for an organizational purpose.

1. 1.2. Notion of Workplace

At workplace conflict tends to manifest in two broad categories: (1) it can be a conflict between individuals involving colleagues, employees and their managers. In this way, it may be that two workers simply don’t get on; or that an individual has a grievance against their supervisor or manager (2), it can be also between groups involving teams or large groups of employees and management. Conflict may take the form of rivalry between teams; or it may be apparent by the lack of trust and cooperation between large groups of employees and management.

The concept of conflict at workplace is a social phenomenon, where there is a disagreement between people working in an organization. Workplace conflict has been defined in several ways by many authors. Obi (2012) defined workplace conflict as an act of discontentment and contention which either the workers or employers of labor utilize to put excessive pressure against each other to get their demands. This view is consistent with Henry (2009); Ikeda, Veludo and Campomar (2005); Azamoza (2004) and Ajala and Oghenekohwo (2002) descriptions of workplace conflict as a dispute that occurs when interests, goals or values of different individuals or groups are incompatible with each other in organizations. On this premise, workplace conflict within the context of employment relationship can be regarded as an inevitable clash of interests and resulting disputes of varying intensity between and within any or all the active actors in organizations

Working in an organization means to be involved in a conflict, as people working together have various personalities and different views on life. Consequently, they can’t avoid conflicts in the workplace. According to Thomas (1999), the simplest way to reduce conflict is to eliminate relationship by leaving or refusing to interact with the other party. In many situations, however, this is not only impractical, but it may be impossible. So, managers must learn how to address and manage conflict both in organizational and workplace levels.

On the broad side, Pondy cited by Afzalur (2011) has argued that organizational conflict can best be understood as a dynamic process underlying organizational behavior. Tedeschi cited by Afzalur (2011) takes a middle position defining conflict as ―an interactive state in which the behaviors or goals of one actor are to some degree incompatible with the behaviors or goals of 6 some other actor or actors‖ (p 232). In this way, the actor is any social entity from the individual to the corporate body itself.

According to Kazimoto (2013), workplace conflict is described as the presence of discord that occurs when goals, interests or values of different individuals or groups are incompatible and frustrate each other’s’ attempt to achieve objectives in an organization. It is a communication process and an inevitable consequence of transactional relationship manifesting in disagreement and dissonance with and between individuals and groups in the work-environment. In this context, workplace conflict is a fact of life in any organization if people will compete for jobs, power, recognition and security (Adomie and Anie, 2005). Therefore, the task of management is not to suppress or resolve all conflicts, but to manage them to enhance and not to detract from organizational performance.

1. 1.3. Dimensions and Classification Workplace Conflicts

Conflict resolution is a daily occurrence at work that can either propel or disrupt the momentum for a leader, a team or the entire organization. The workplace can become a toxic environment when leaders allow conflict to fester rather than confront it head-on.  Managing conflict can be a tricky thing – especially when managers are not familiar with the larger ecosystem in which the individual or department creating the conflict operates, and how efforts to resolve conflict will reverberate throughout that ecosystem. The workplace is fueled with so many concurrent agendas that you never know which ones may be affected when you resolve conflict solely to benefit and advance your own.

1. 1. 1.3.1.Classification According to The Source of Conflic
   2. 1.3.1.1. Affective Conflict

According to Afzalur, R.M (2011:p 19) affective conflict occurs when two interacting social entities while trying to solve a problem together, become aware that their feelings and emotions regarding some or all issues to the conflict are incompatible. This category of conflict is labelled psychological conflict, relationship conflict, emotional conflict or interpersonal conflict. This kind of conflict has an impact on the work results and the individual responsiveness and resilience to conflict situations.

1. 1. 1. 1.3.1.2. Substantive Conflict

Afzalur R.M (2011, P. 19) précises that substantive conflict occurs when two or more organizational members disagree on their task or content issues. Jehn (1997) cited by Afzalur characterized this type of conflict as ―disagreements among group members’ ideas and opinions about the task being performed, such as disagreement regarding an organization’s current strategic position or determining the correct data to include in a report.(P. 19). This type of conflict is labelled task conflict, cognitive conflict and issues conflict. This implies that individuals or parties to the conflict have no disagreements related to individual conduct but different perceptions on the nature of tasks and approaches to performing assigned tasks to produce results. This type of conflict is more common in daily life of humans where work progress is subject to individual cooperation to effectively and efficiently produce results.

1. 1. 1. 1.3.1.3. Conflict of Interest

According to Afzalur R.M (2011, P. 21), this type of conflict occurs when each party sharing the same understanding of the situation, prefers a different and somewhat incompatible solution to a problem involving either a distribution of scarce resources between them or a decision to share the task of solving it. Common practice in the Public Service Sector points to where senior staff directs juniors but remain behind to observe how the young staff struggle with performance to meet targets and produce results. When such targets become untenable, the senior staff returns to the juniors for the blame.

1. 1. 1. 1.3.1.4. Conflict of Values

According to Afzalur R.M (2011, P. 21), this conflict occurs when two social entities differ in their values or ideologies on certain issues or aspects. This is also called ideological conflict. This conflict may affect employees work relationships when their ideological beliefs collide with institutional work requirements. Such situation occurs in some counties where law requires public servants to swear prior to assuming their responsibilities. As consequences, such situation may happen to employees whose spiritual beliefs do not permit them to take oath.

1. 1. 1. 1.3.1.5. Goals Conflict

According to Afzalur R.M (2011, P. 22), this conflict occurs when a preferred outcome or an end-state of two social entities becomes incompatible. When one party perceives its interests to fall victim of denigration by the other party, victimization perception arises and then conflict occurs. One can say that in a workplace the uniting factor in the employee employer relationship is salary on service delivery agreement. When either party feels that its interests are being threatened or undermined, suspicion and mistrust crops up where the perceived victim feels intentionally despised by the non-victimized party. In such suspicious relationships only, cooperation in search for solution can save the parties from escalating the conflict.

1. 1. 1. 1.3.1.6. Realistic Versus Non-Realistic Conflict

According to Afzalur R.M (2011, P. 22), this is referred to incompatibilities that have a rational content (i.e tasks, goals, values, and means and ends). Non-realistic conflict occurs because of a party’s need for releasing tension and expressing hostility, ignorance or error. This type is like intrinsic and extrinsic conflicts. In the context work place however, research will focus on realistic conflicts to determine the actual causes and their impact on the parties and their interests. In this perspective research will be able to provide proactive recommendations for solving conflicts at workplace.

1. 1. 1. 1.3.1.7. Retributive Conflict

According to Afzalur R.M (2011, P. 21), retributive conflict is characterized by a situation where the conflicting entities feel the need for drawn- out conflict to punish the opponent. In this aspect, each party determines its gains, in part, by incurring the cost of pursuing the punitive ways to the other party. This theory suggests that parties to the conflict may opt for all possible options leading to harming the other party morally, economically, and physically to mention a few. In the context of the workplace, the employee—employer conflict may result in prolonged court battles draining either party’s coffers in pursuit of punitive measures to implicitly tell the other party of the adversary’s powers to pursue the incompatible goal.

1. 1. 1. 1.3.1.8. Misattributed Conflict

According to Afzalur R.M (2011, P. 22), this is related to the incorrect assignment or attribution of causes (behaviors, parties, or issues) to conflicts. The parties misattribute conflict causes to wrong factors, elements, parties, name them. The point here is that conflict occurs where either party lacks the truth required by the assumed victim to de-escalate conflict and cooperate in finding a durable solution.

1. 1. 1. 1.3.1.9. Displaced Conflict

According to Afzalur R.M (2011, P. 21),this type of conflict occurs when the conflicting parties either direct their frustrations or hostilities to other parties that are not involved in the conflict or argue over secondary factors and not major issues or real causes of conflict.

2. ABOUT MORE SUBJECTS FROM THE AUTHOR

Remarks : If you want to cite this article, write : GIRUKWAYO P., “The impact of effective leadership of workplace conflicts, PHD Thesis, AIU, 2018”. Then you will add the link.

Note  (other similar extracts of the thesis):

You will see the Part 1  at :

http://www.humanitaire-leadership-management-conflit.com/2018/10/subject-1-workplace-conflict-classification-according-to-the-source-of-conflict-part-1.html

You will see the 2^nd  part at :

http://www.humanitaire-leadership-management-conflit.com/2018/10/subject-workplace-conflict-classification-based-on-level-of-analysis-and-relationship-part-2.html

And you will see the 3^rd part at :

http://www.humanitaire-leadership-management-conflit.com/2018/10/subject-workplace-conflict-classification-based-on-tasks-the-impact-and-visibility-of-conflicts-part-3.html

Second subject on factors of conflicts (Part 1) at :

http://www.humanitaire-leadership-management-conflit.com/2018/10/subject-2-workplace-conflict-factors-and-causes-of-workplace-conflicts-part-1.html

Second subject on factors of conflicts (Part 2) at :

http://www.humanitaire-leadership-management-conflit.com/2018/10/subject-2-workplace-conflict-effects-of-conflicts-at-workplace-part-2.html

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