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D.4 Sources of Conflicts in an Organisation
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| D.4 Sources of Conflicts in an Organisation According to Plunkett and Attner (1989), the sources of conflict include shared resources, differences in goals, difference in perceptions and values, disagreements in the role requirements, nature of work activities, individual approaches, and the stage of organizational development. Gray and Stark (1984) suggested that there are six sources of conflict. These are (1) Limited resources (2) Interdependent work activities (3) Differentiation of activities (4) Communication problems (5) Differences in perceptions and (6) The environment of the organization. According to these writers, conflict can also arise from a number of other sources, such as (1) Individual differences (some people enjoy conflict while others don't) (2) Unclear authority structures (people don't know how far their authority extends) (3) Differences in attitudes (4) Task symmetries (one group is more powerful than another and the weaker group tries to change the situation (5) Difference in time horizons (some departments have a long-run view and others have a short -run view. Conflicts in an organization may emanate from the following sources a) Competition for resources in a group. b) Differences in the status of people interacting with each other. c) Lack of information flow among employees. d) Differences in goals of individuals and departments. e) Poor leadership style of leaders. f) Differences in values or perceptions among people in the organization D.5 Outcomes of Conflicts The outcomes or effects of conflict depend on whether the conflict is constructive or destructive. Constructive conflicts are positive and not intended to hurt the relationship among members of a group. Possible effects of constructive conflict on an organization as follows a) It could stimulate creativity and new 1deas in the group. b) It brings latent problems to the fore and provides an outlet for bottled-up tensions to be released. c) It may improve the quality of decision-making. 308 Where conflict is destructive it may impact negatively on the organisation and lead to a) Discontent among group members. b) Poor flow of information among members. c) Weakness in the cohesion of the group. d) Difficulty in achieving the goals of the group. e) General mistrust among members of the group f) Dissolution of the group. Download 3.37 Mb. Share with your friends:
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