CONFLICT

 Conflict arises from difference of opinion between the group members while attaining the organizational goals. An organization is an interlocking network of groups, departments, sections or work teams. In organizations everywhere, conflict among groups of different interests is unavoidable. According to one survey, managers spend an estimated 20 percent of their time dealing with group conflicts. The success of an organization depends upon the harmonious relations among all independent groups. Managers may either directly resolve the conflicts or they may act as mediators between two or more employees. In either case, knowledge and understanding of conflict and the methods of resolving it are important.

Inter-group conflicts result from the ways in which organizations co-ordinate the work of different groups and distribute rewards among those groups

TYPES OF CONFLICT

The levels of group conflict are as follows:

• Personal   conflict: Are   the   conflicts   that   arise   among   employees, individuals because of their competitive roles.
• Group conflict: Are the conflicts arising within two or more groups due to difference in their attitudes and behavior.
• Infra-organizational conflict: Are the conflict arising between

levels of an organization, which are of two types. Vertical conflict arises between higher and lower level of management. Horizontal conflict arises among the employees at same level.

Following is the sequence in which a conflict can arise:

Latent conflict: Is a situation when the conditions for conflict arise.  For example, two groups competing for scarce resources.

Perceived conflict: Is a situation when both the groups realize that there exists conflict between them.

Felt conflict: Is a situation when members involved in the conflict feel tense or anxious.

Manifest conflict: Is a situation when both the group try to frustrate each other.

Conflict outcome: Is a situation or consequence arising after the conflict is eliminated.

REASONS FOR CONFLICT

There are many reasons for conflicts among groups and its members. Some of them are related to limited resources, communication problems, differences in interests and goals, different perceptions, attitudes and lack of clarity about responsibilities. The reasons for group conflicts are as follows:

• Communication problems: Groups often become very involved with their own areas of responsibility. They tend to develop their own unique vocabulary. Paying attention to an area of responsibility is a worthy Endeavour, but it can result in communication problems. The receiver of information should be considered when a group communicates an idea, a proposal, or a decision. Misinformed receivers often become irritated and then hostile.
• Incompatible goals: Inter-group conflict arises because of goal incompatibility. In other words, goal attainment by one group may reduce the level of goal attainment by other groups. This may be due to horizontal differentiation and task specialization. The conflict between production and marketing departments, line and staff departments, union and management are few examples of inter-group conflicts that arise because of in­compatibility of goals.
• Task interdependence: Task interdependence means to what extent a work, group relies on other organizational groups to complete its tasks. In simple words, it refers to the dependence of one group on another for resources or information. It can be said in genera] that as interdependence increases, the potential for conflict increases.

     According to J. Thompson, there are three types of interdependence among groups, which are as follows:

• Pooled interdependence: It arises when groups have little interaction with each other but are affected by each other's activities. For example, a branch in Delhi does not need to interact with a branch in Chennai. The only linkage between the two is that they share financial resources from a common pool and the success of each branch contributes to the success of the organization.
• Sequential task interdependence: It arises when one group is unable to commence its work until the work of other group gets completed. In sequential task interdependence, the output of one group becomes the input of another group. In such situations, the potential for conflict is greater. Life and staff groups often have conflicts resulting from this type of interdependence.
• Reciprocal interdependence: It arises between the groups, which depend on each other for their respective task such as production department and quality department. The production department provides the goods to the marketing department to sell and the marketing department prepares the orders and estimates on the basis of the volume produced by the production department. Inter-group conflict arises from reciprocal task interdependence over difference in performance expectations. Each group is dissatisfied will the quality or quantity of work received; from the other group.
• Task ambiguity: The lack of clarity over job responsibilities is called task ambiguity and it frequently leads to aggression between groups. Inter-group conflict also arises when it is not clear which group is responsible for certain activities. Task ambiguity often arises where the organization is growing quickly or the organization's environment is changing rapidly. A good example of task ambiguity is inter-group conflict arising in the recruitment of new employees. It may be the responsibility of either the personnel department or any of the functional departments such as marketing, finance. The confusion may also arise regarding who has the final authority to execute the final decisions.
• Resource sharing: The relation between two groups can be affected by the degree to which they make use of a common pool of resources and the degree to which this common pool of resources is adequate to meet the demands of both the groups. Thus, conflict of this nature; arises because of the differences between aggregate demand of a group and available resources to meet them. Each party of the conflict competes with each other to get a larger share. The conflict between management and the labor union-is the best example. Such conflicts take place in the quantum of wages, amenities, working conditions and other related matters.
• Difference in work orientation: The ways in which employees do their work and deal with others vary widely with the functional areas of an organization. First, functional groups differ in their time perspectives. For example, R&D scientists have a longer-range of goals than manufacturing groups. The range of work of manufacturing group is evaluated on how quickly it can manufacture high-quality products while the range of R&D scientists can be evaluated on the basis of product development and testing after a long period of time. Second, the goals of different functional groups vary to a large extent. The goals of manufacturing groups are more specific and clear-cut than the goals of R&D groups.

          The greater the differences in goal and time between two groups, the more likely it is that conflict will arise between them while co-ordinating their work efforts. These differences between groups result in frustration, misinterpretation of the behaviors and activities of other groups.

o   Conflicting reward systems: Sometimes the ways in which reward systems in organizations arc designed create a situation in which one group can only. accomplish its goal at the expense of other groups. For example, staff departments may be rewarded for cutting costs and personnel while line departments are rewarded for increasing the amount of products sold or services provided. To increase the amount of products sold, the line group may have to depend even more heavily on staff groups such as advertising. However the staff groups are being rewarded for cutting costs and personnel provided the types of services asked for by line groups can prevent them from meeting their own goals. Conflicting reward systems inevitably result in poor inter-group relations.

o   Different perceptions and attitudes: The attitudes, values and perceptions of members of various groups towards each other can be a cause and a consequence of the nature of their relationship. If the group relations begin with the attitudes of distrust, competitiveness, secrecy and closed communications, there is a possibility of conflicts, disagreements in their views and among themselves. This can affect the success of a group to accomplish their work in an effective manner.

DYNAMICS OF INTER-GROUP CONFLICT

The following points are covered in the dynamics of an inter-group conflict:

• Changes within each group: When there is inter-group conflict in an organization, systematic changes take place in the perceptions, attitudes and behaviors of the participants. They are as follows:
• The group demands more loyalty from individual members while facing an external threat. In the face of an external threat, past differences and difficulties between group members are forgotten and group cohesiveness increases.
• In an inter-group conflict, it is important for a group to respond quickly and in a unified manner to the activities of other groups. In an inter-group conflict, the organization and structure of the work group becomes more rigid.   It   leads to more coordination of activities, allocution of responsibilities to different group members.
• Changes in relation between groups: The nature of the relationships between groups also changes markedly during inter-group conflicts. Union-Management relationships during contract negotiations are one of the examples of the group dynamics. It becomes difficult for each group to see the positive behavior and attitude of the other group. Each party undervalues the interests of the other group. The changes that occur arc as follows:
• There are distortions of perception about one's own group and about the other group.
• The interaction and communication between groups' decreases.
• There is a shift among the groups from a problem-solving motive to a win-lose motive.
• There is increased ill feeling towards the rival group.

GROUP STRATEGIES TO GAIN POWER

There are several strategies that various groups use to gain power in an inter-group conflict situation. Some of these strategies allow co-operation and sharing between groups while other strategies are more competitive and increase the power of one group at the expense of others.

• Contracting: It refers to the negotiation or an agreement between two groups. Each group makes some compromises so that there can be some predictability and stability in their relationships. pot example, contracting occurs between labor and management at the time collective bargaining.
• Co-opting: It occurs when a group gives some of its leadership positions to members of other groups or includes them in its policy-making committees. For example, representatives from financial institutions are included in the Board of Directors of a Company to participate in decision-making activities.
• Forming association: In forming an association, two or more groups co­operate or combine their resources in order to increase their power over other groups. Members of groups co-operate with each other in order to compete more effectively with members of other groups.
• Influencing decision criteria: Groups can also sometimes exert power lo change criteria for decision-making that are selected as the basic for resource distribution.
• Controlling Information: Gaining access to sensitive information and then limiting other group's access lo it increases the power of" the information-' rich group and other subunits.
• Pressure tactics: These are applied to force other to use the most competitive strategy a group can use to gain power. For instance, a union might threaten to strike to pressurize management.

Management reaction to disruptive inter-group conflict can take many different forms. But management usually tries to minimize the conflict indirectly and if this fails, become directly involved.

Methods to Solve Inter-group Conflict Indirectly

The various methods to solve inter-group conflicts indirectly are as follows:

• Avoidance: It is an indirect method often used by the managers. It includes avoidance of direct approaches on the part of managers to solve among groups. But avoidance does not always minimize the problem. Matters can get worse if nothing is done and the groups can become more aggressive and unfriendly.
• Encouragement: This is another indirect method to solve the group conflicts. It includes encouragement on the part of managers to the groups so that they will be able to meet and discuss their differences. By doing so, they can find out a solution without the involvement of management.
• Bargaining: This is the indirect method, in which the groups agree as to what each of them will get and give others regarding their work. This makes the accomplishment of the assigned task much easier. For example, one group may agree to give the other, a quick turn around time on the repairs of needed equipment only if the Second group agrees to bring complaints about the quality of repairs to it before going to management. Bargaining between two groups is successful if both groups are comfortable with the agreement between them.
• Persuasion: This is the indirect method, in which the groups find the areas of common interests among themselves. The groups try to find out those interests levels where they have the same say. Afterwards', the groups try to show how important it is to each of them in attaining organizational goals. But persuasion is possible only if there are no clashes between the groups and its members

Methods to Solve Inter-Group Conflict

The various methods to solve inter-group conflicts directly are as follows:

• Ignoring the conflict: This is a direct method used by (he managers to solve inter-group conflicts. Ignoring the conflict is characterized by the absence of behavior wherein the members of the groups avoids dealing with the dysfunctional aspects of the conflict. In this, a, group simply refuses to attack the other group. But the disadvantage of this method is that it ignores the causes of conflicts and as a result, the conflict situation frequently continues or gets worse over time.
• Domination by the management:  This method of solving inter-group conflicts emphasizes on improving the inter-group relations. To improve the inter-group relations, greater integration or collaboration among groups is needed. Management can use domination to minimize the conflicts by exercising its authority and power over the groups and their members.
• Removing the key figures in the conflict: This is another direct method to solve the inter-group conflicts. If a conflict arises because of personality differences between two individuals, removing them is a possible solution. It includes the removal of the key figures in the conflict. The key figures that are to be removed may be leaders of the groups and removing them could lead to greater conflict. It is also difficult to pinpoint accurately the individuals who are the root-cause of conflicts.
• Problem solving:  Management can also establish a task force with representatives from groups in conflict to work on problems. The task force develops the ideas 'and procedures for improving group interaction and thereby attempt to solve the conflicts arising between the groups.
• Appealing to super-ordinate goals. The final method to minimize the conflicts is to find super-ordinate goals. These are goals desired by two or more groups that can only be accomplished through the cooperation of the groups. When conflicting groups have to cooperate to accomplish a goal, conflict can be minimized. For example, a wide profit-sharing plan of a company may encourage groups to work together. If the profits of a company are distributed among employees at the end of the year, the conflicts among groups can reduce. The super ordinate goals are as follows: The assignment and co-ordination of work among groups should be clarified so that the daily disputes over minor issues can be avoided.
• Managers should monitor reward systems to eliminate any win-lose conflicts among groups.
• The use of co-operative approaches among groups in organizations often leads to more positive results than does the use of competitive approaches.
• Managers can establish rules and standard procedures to regulate conflict in more constructive and effective ways.