Conflicts are inevitable in one's organizational life and personal life. Probably,
executive starts his work-day with a conflict and ends day with another conflict. He is fortunate if he does not carry a conflict home, but more often, he does, to chagrin of his spouse, his children and himself.I. Potential Antagonism The first stage is presence of antecedent conditions that create opportunities for conflict to arise.
II. Cognition & personalization The antecedent conditions must be perceived as threatening if conflict is to develop. The situation may be ignored if it is seen as minimally threatening. III. Conflictive & Conflict
III. Management Behavior Manifest behavior is action resulting from perceived &/or felt conflict. At this stage, a conscious attempt is made by one party to block goal achievement of other party. Such behavior may range from subtle, indirect & highly controlled forms of interference to more open forms of aggressive behavior like strikes, riots & war.
IV. Aftermath The interplay between different forms of overt conflict behavior & conflict handling strategies of stimulation or resolution influence consequences. These consequences (in terms of performance of group , level of satisfaction & quality of relationship in involved parties, change of parties, change of structure & policies , etc. )In turn influence antecedent conditions & probability of future conflict. Sometimes, aftermath sows seeds of yet another conflict episode in which case entire process is repeated.
IMPACT OF CONFLICTS
As we know conflict may occur between two individuals, as in case of superior vs. subordinate, between two HODs, etc. Groups may be drawn into conflict with each other on basis of performance, importance to a particular group and in general union- management rivalries. Conflict can also occur within an individual as in situations of dilemma of choice, vividly characterized by phrases such as ‘between devil and deep blue sea’ or ‘caught on horns of a dilemma’. For example, a personnel manager may be quite undecided about how to deal with conflict (with workers, union) that is likely to result in work stoppage &loss in productivity.
While analyzing impact of conflicts in any organization we will deal separately two types of conflicts i.e. interpersonal conflicts and inter-group conflicts. First we will discuss interpersonal conflicts.
The general assumption is that conflict tends to have negative consequences for both individual and organization. For example, imagine yourself in an intense conflict situation. Examine your state of mind. You are tense, uneasy, extremely anxious & probably unable to concentrate on your work. Naturally in such situations, your 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 behaviors in individuals trying to cope with it. These include alcoholism, drug abuse, excessive smoking, under eating or overeating and extremely aggressive or submissive behavior.
Apart from above psychological & behavioral consequences, conflict has also certain physiological consequences (more so under intense conflict situations) in that, certain changes take place within physiological system which are often ignored or unnoticed. Some of changes that occur within system are:
- More adrenalin & nor adrenalin are shot into blood & continue state of arousal & excitation;
- Speed-up of heart beat & increase in blood pressure;
- More of hydrochloric acid is secreted into stomach.
Hence, it may be understood that conflict not only affects an individual’s performance, but also gives rise to psychosomatic disturbances, which undermine health of individual.
