Conflict Essay

The bringing of people together in social interaction necessarily involves a set of interpersonal dynamics which sooner or later will lead to conflict. Conflict between people or groups often arises from competition for resources, power, and status. Family members compete for attention. Individuals compete for jobs and wealth. Nations compete for territory and prestige. Different interest groups compete for influence and the power to make rules. Often the competition is not for resources but for ideas, one person or group wants to have the ideas or behaviour of another group suppressed, punished, or declared illegal. When you consider what a diverse society we live in, with so many different backgrounds, perspectives and approaches to life, it is not surprising that conflict is established as part and parcel of our everyday life. This is because people will have competing interests and competing perspectives in relation to the same issues, and so we should not be surprised when tensions exist between individuals and groups. Conflict is concerned with difference. If we were all the same, then there would be little or no conflict. However, thankfully we are not all the same, and so part of the price that we pay for the richness of diversity is that conflicts will arise at certain times. Conflicts are inevitable in one’s organizational life and personal life. Conflict tends to have negative consequences for both the individual and the organization. Performance is adversely affected. Decisions made may not be appropriate. Occasionally, they might even be unrealistic or irrational. Thus, conflicts tend to impair one’s efficiency. Sometimes, conflict is also observed to give rise to certain maladjusted behaviours in individuals trying to cope with it. These include alcoholism, drug abuse, excessive smoking, under eating or overeating and extremely aggressive or submissive behaviour. Conflict has also certain physiological consequences in that, certain changes take place within the physiological system which are often ignored or unnoticed. Hence, it may be understood that conflict not only affects an individual’s performance, but also gives rise to psychosomatic disturbances, which undermine the health of the individual. It can also be argued that conflicts are not necessarily bad. The progress we have made so far in our civilization is due to the conflict between nature & man. Conflict releases energy at every level of human activity, energy that can produce positive, constructive results. Conflicts tend to have a motivational value; they drive or energize an individual to tackle a situation. To resolve a conflict one might explore different avenues or alternatives of action, which make him/her more knowledgeable. Conflicts also provide opportunities to test one’s own abilities. Conflict can occur at personal level, interpersonal level, group level. It can be latent or covert. Causes of Conflict 1. Conflicts arise when people are competing for the same resources, when they are not fairly distributed or when there are not enough to go round. 2. Conflicts arise when the people are unhappy with how they are governed. 3. Conflicts arise when people’s beliefs clash. Religious and political views are particularly sensitive, because people often depend on these for a sense of identity and belonging. Sometimes the conflict is caused by a religious/political group being attacked; sometimes it is because the group is eager to spread a particular belief and even enforce it on others. Some leaders may aggravate religious and political differences as part of their tactics for keeping or gaining power. 4. In the same way ethnic differences can cause conflict, or be made to cause it. Again, people’s ethnicity gives them a sense of identity and belonging, and it is threats to this sense which can cause violent responses, just as individuals may lash out with angry words or gestures when they feel threatened. Causes of conflict in the work place The cause of workplace conflict is often misunderstood and blamed on personalities and misbehaviour, but in reality much workplace conflict is systemic and endemic to the workplace environment. Ineffective organisational systems, unpredictable policies, incompatible goals, scarce resources, and poor communication can all contribute to conflict in the workplace. Workplace conflict causes loss of productivity, distractions, and employee dissatisfaction. However, management can produce positive results by paying attention to and addressing the true causes of conflict in their organisations. Managing conflict Managing a conflict contains specialized interaction that prevents a dispute from becoming a destructive battle. Managing a conflict attends to the personal issues so as to allow for a constructive relationship, even though the objective issues may not be resolvable. For example, the former Soviet Union and the United States managed their conflict during the Cold War by using a variety of mechanisms. The objective issues in the dispute were not resolved, and neither were the personal issues, which contained significant perceptual differences. However, both sides attended significantly to the relationship to keep the disagreement from turning into a destructive battle. Ways people deal with conflict There is no one best way to deal with conflict. It depends on the current situation. Here are the major ways that people use to deal with conflict. 1. Avoidance. Pretend it is not there or ignore it. Usually this approach tends to worsen the conflict over time. 2. Accommodation. Give in to others, sometimes to the extent that you compromise yourself. Usually this approach tends to worsen the conflict over time, and causes conflicts within yourself. 3.  Competition. Work to get your way, rather than clarifying and addressing the issue. 4. Compromising. Mutual give-and-take. 5. Collaboration. Focus on working together. This approach sometimes raises new mutual needs. Effects of conflict Conflicts have positive and negative effects. They can lead to change if they are well managed, they can be used as a learning experience and they can be used to open up opportunities. However, prolonged conflicts can erupt into violence and disrupt the activities of the organisation, they may also damage relationships permanently and they can also lead to the death of an organisation. Change Most of us live and think as if the world were static, or as if it should be. As individuals, as professionals, and as members or leaders of organizations, too often the way we act, plan, and react betrays the assumption that tomorrow will be much like today, that we’ll slide by all right if we just get a little better, a little smarter, at doing what we are already doing. Some people, and some organizations, fall apart in the face of change. They seem well organized until something changes in their environment. According to Robbins (1999), change is concerned with making things different. Things must be different because they change constantly. When an organizational system is disturbed by some internal or external force, change frequently occurs. Change as a process, is simply modification of the structure or process of a system. It may be good or bad, the concept is descriptive only. † It may be constructive, destructive, comfortable or uncomfortable. People and organizations seem to have a pattern over their lifetimes. People and organizations that thrive on change share some fundamental attributes. Change is fractal: its basic nature looks the same at different scales. So the attributes that make an organization powerfully adaptive also make a relationship flexible and fruitful, a community liveable, and an individual creative, adaptive, and secure in the midst of turbulence. It is not possible to change an organization without changing oneself. Changing oneself will change an organization. The two are inextricably linked. If people seriously intend to help their organization go through the massive changes, they must set out on a path of changing their own lives, of learning the skills of change and applying them first to themselves. Any change is, in part, physical. It can be understood in one’s head, but until it lives in their body, it won’t change their behaviour. If a person wishes to be different, that person must learn to move differently, to make different physical decisions. â€Å"Stick to your knitting,† turns out to be a useful thought for dealing with change. However, at the core of every truth is a fallacy, a route to a deeper truth. The fallacy at the core of â€Å"stick to your knitting† is the invitation not to change, to stay satisfied with the way we are. Many of us have a grudging acceptance of the need to change. The reality is that every change is a new skill, one that takes time and attention to learn. If I wait to change until I am forced to it, I will be too late. To wait until change is forced on me is to stay perpetually behind on the learning curve. Whenever a person is trying to change something in his life, they should always remember that change without getting rid of the beliefs that cause the current behaviour or feelings is almost impossible. Furthermore, change probably is difficult when one is onvinced that they either saw or felt the belief causing their current behaviour or feeling on numerous occasions earlier in life. When they realize they never saw their belief and they caused the feeling, not reality, their belief will just dissolve. Today change is the essential of survival and a way of carrying out business. Every business firm whether big or small has to change with time or it will perish. This change along with it brings insecurities and pain that forces human beings or individuals to come out of their comfort zones to zone of uncomfortable debate and this leads to resistance to change.