5 Basic Types of Conflict Situations found in

an Organisation – Explained!
By Smriti Chand Management

Since conflict has both positive as well as negative connotations and consequences, it must be
looked into and managed for organizational benefit. Management must survey the situation to
decide whether to stimulate conflict or to resolve it. Thomas and Schmidt have reported that
managers spend up to twenty percent of their time in dealing with conflict situations.

Hence, it is very important that managers understand the type of conflict that they have to deal
with so that they can devise some standardized techniques in dealing with common
characteristics of conflicts in each type of category. There are five basic types of conflicts. These
are:

1. Conflict within the individual:

The conflict within the individual is usually value related, where role playing expected of the
individual does not conform with the values and beliefs held by the individual. For example, a
secretary may have to lie on instructions that her boss is not in the office to avoid an unwanted
visitor or an unwanted telephone call.

This may cause a conflict within the mind of the secretary who may have developed an ethic of
telling the truth. Similarly, many Indians who are vegetarians and come to America and find it
very hard to remain vegetarians may question the necessity of the vegetarian philosophy thus
causing a conflict in their minds.

In addition to these value conflicts, a person may be faced with a role conflict. For example, a
telephone operator may be advised and required to be polite to the customers by her supervisor,
who may also complain that she is spending too much time with her customers. This would
cause a role conflict in her mind.

Similarly a police officer may be invited to his brother’s wedding where he may find that some
guests are using drugs which are against the law. It may cause conflict in his mind as to which
role he should play – as of a brother or as of a police officer. Conflict within an individual can
also arise when a person has to choose between two equally desirable alternatives or between
two equally undesirable goals.
2. Interpersonal Conflict:

Interpersonal conflict involves conflict between two or more individuals and is probably the
most common and most recognized conflict. This may involve conflict between two managers
who are competing for limited capital and manpower resources.

This conflict can become further acute when the scarce resources cannot be shared and must be
obtained. Similarly, if there are two equally deserving professors and they are both up for
promotion, but only one of them can be promoted because of budget and positional constraints,
then this could result in interpersonal conflict between the two professors.

Another type of interpersonal conflict can relate to disagreements over goals and objectives of
the organization. For example, some members of a board of directors of a school may want to
offer courses in sex education while others may find this proposal morally offensive thus causing
interpersonal conflict among the members of the board.

Similarly a college or a university may have a policy of quality education so that only top quality
students are admitted while some members of the organizational board may propose “open
admission” policy where all high school graduates are to be considered for admission. Such a
situation can cause conflicts among the members of the governing board. In addition to conflicts
over the nature and substance of goals and objectives, the conflicts can also arise over the means
for achieving these goals and objectives.

For example, two marketing managers may argue as to which promotional methods would result
in higher sales. These conflicts become highlighted when they are based upon opinions rather
than facts. Facts are generally indisputable, resulting in agreements. Opinions are highly personal
and subjective and may provide for disagreements and criticism.

These interpersonal conflicts are often the results of personality clashes. People with widely
different characteristics and attitudes are bound to have views and aims that are inconsistent with
the views and aims of others.

3. Conflict between the individual and the group: Intragroup conflict:

As has been discussed before, all formal groups and informal groups have established certain
norms of behaviour and operational standards which all members are expected to adhere to. An
individual member may want to remain within the group for social needs but may disagree with
the group goals and the methods to achieve such goals.

For example, in some restaurants, all tips are shared equally by all waiters and waitresses. Some
particular waitress who may be overly polite and efficient may feel that she deserves more, thus
causing conflict between her and the group. Similarly, if a group is going on strike for some
reasons, some members of the group may not agree with these reasons or simply may not be
economically able to afford to go on strike, thus causing conflict with the group.
This conflict may also be between the manager and a group of subordinates or between the
leader and the followers. A manager may take a disciplinary action against a member of the
group causing conflict with the group and this may result in reduced productivity.

“Mutiny on the Bounty” is a classic example of rebellion of the crew of the ship against their
leader, based upon the treatment that the crew received at the hands of their leader. The conflict
among the armed forces is taken so seriously that the army must obey their commander even if
the command is wrong and in conflict with what others believe in.

4. Intergroup conflict:

An organization is an interlocking network of groups, departments, sections or work teams. The

One of the most common conflict is between the line and the staff members of the organization.
The line managers may resent their dependence on staff for information and recommendations.
The staff may resent their inability to implement directly their own decisions and
recommendations. This interdependence causes intergroup conflict.

These inter-unit conflicts can also be caused by inconsistent rewards and differing performance
criteria for different units and groups. For example, sales people who depend upon their
commission as a reward for their efforts may promise their customers certain quantity of the
product and delivery times which the production department may find impossible to meet thus
causing conflict between the two units.

Different functional groups within the organization may come into conflict with each other
because of their different specific objectives. There are some fundamental differences among
different units of the organization both in the structure as well as operations and processes and
thus each unit develops its own organizational sub-structure. These sub-structures according to
Lawrence and Lorsch, differ in terms of (a) goal orientation which can be highly specific for
production but highly fluid for research and development, (b) time orientation which is short run
for sales and long run for research, (c) formality of structure which is highly informal for
research and highly formal in production and (d) supervisory style which may be more
democratic in one area as compared to another area.

A classic example of inter-unit conflict is between sales and production as described earlier. The
sales department is typically customer-oriented and wants to maintain high inventories for filling
orders as they are received which is a costly option as against the production department which is
strongly concerned about cost effectiveness requiring as little inventory of finished product at
hand as possible.

Similarly, intergroup conflict may arise between day shift workers and night shift workers who
might blame each other for anything that goes wrong from missing tools to maintenance
problems.
5. Inter-organizational conflict:

Conflict also occurs between organizations which are dependent upon each other in some way.
This conflict may be between buyer organizations and supplier organizations about quantity,
quality and delivery times of raw materials and other policy issues.

Such conflict could also be between unions and organizations employing their members,
between government agencies that regulate certain organizations and the organizations that are
affected by them.

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Sources of Conflict

• Different Goals and Time Horizons

– Different groups have differing goals and focus.

• Overlapping Authority
Two or more managers claim authority for the same activities which leads to conflict between the
managers and workers

• Task Interdependencies

– One member of a group or a group fails to finish a task that another member or group
depends on, causing the waiting worker or group to fall behind.

• Different Evaluation or Reward Systems

– A group is rewarded for achieving a goal, but another interdependent group is rewarded
for achieving a goal that conflicts with the first group.

• Scarce Resources

– Managers can come into conflict over the allocation of scare resources.

• Status Inconsistencies

– Some individuals and groups have a higher organizational status than others, leading to
conflict with lower status groups.

Conflict Management Strategies

• Functional Conflict Resolution

Handling conflict by compromise or collaboration between parties

• Compromise

– each party is concerned about their goal accomplishment and is willing to engage in
give-and-take exchange to reach a reasonable solution.

• Collaboration

– parties try to handle the conflict without making concessions by coming up with a new
way to resolve their differences that leaves them both better off.

• Accommodation

– one party simply gives in to the other party

• Avoidance

– two parties try to ignore the problem and do nothing to resolve the disagreement

• Competition
 – each party tries to maximize its own gain and has little interest in understanding the
other’s position

Strategies Focused on Individuals

• Increasing awareness of the sources of conflict

• Increasing diversity awareness and skills

• Practicing job rotation

• Using permanent transfers or dismissals when necessary

Strategies Focused on the Whole Organization

• Changing an organization’s structure or culture

• Altering the source of conflict

• Negotiation

• Parties to a conflict try to come up with a solution acceptable to themselves by

• Third-party negotiator

• an impartial individual with expertise in handling conflicts

• helps parties in conflict reach an acceptable solution