NATURE OF CONFLICT - AoAWelcome - About Me自然冲突aoawelcome约我.pptVIP

* * * * * * * * * * * NATURE OF CONFLICT Syed Zulkifal MS (HR)- Bradford University –UK Visiting Faculty IMSciences What is Conflict? Narrow concept: March and Simon (1958, p. 112) consider conflict as a breakdown in the standard mechanisms of decision making, so that an individual or group experiences difficulty in selecting an alternative. Broad Concept: Pondy (1967) has argued that organizational conflict can best be understood as a dynamic process underlying organizational behaviour. Tedeschi et al. (1973) take a middle position, defining conflict as “an interactive state in which the behaviours or goals of one actor are to some degree incompatible with the behaviours or goals of some other actor or actors” (p. 232). Cont. Definitions overlap with respect to the following elements: 1. Conflict includes opposing interests between individuals or groups in a zero-sum situation; 2. Such opposed interests must be recognized for conflict to exist; 3. Conflict involves beliefs, by each side, that the other will thwart (or has already thwarted) its interests; 4. Conflict is a process; it develops out of existing relationships between individuals or groups and reflects their past interactions and the contexts in which these took place; and 5. Actions by one or both sides do, in fact, produce thwarting of others’ goals . Contd. Conflict is defined as an interactive process manifested in incompatibility, disagreement, or dissonance within or between social entities (i.e., individual, group, organization, etc.). Conflict occurs when one or (two) social entity/ies: 1. Is required to engage in an activity that is incongruent with his or her needs or interests; 2. Holds behavioural preferences, the satisfaction of which is incompatible with another person’s implementation of his or her preferences; Contd. 3. Wants some mutually desirable resource that is in short supply, such that the wants of everyone may not be satisfied fully; 4. Possesses attitudes, values, skills, and