Conflict Management in Organizations

This assignment delves into the crucial topic of conflict management within organizations. It examines various conflict management strategies, exploring how they influence organizational effectiveness and employee well-being. The analysis covers leadership styles, generational differences, emotional intelligence, and the role of effective communication in mitigating workplace conflicts. Furthermore, it highlights the impact of conflict on job satisfaction and overall organizational performance.

Managing conflict within a Team
Management: Unit 10User

Management 1
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
1. Understand the principles of conflict management..................................................................2
1.1. Evaluate the suitability of different methods of conflict management in different
situations......................................................................................................................................2
1.2 Describe the personal skills needed to deal with conflict between other people..............4
1.3 Analyze the potential consequences of unresolved conflict within a team...........................5
1.4 Explain the role of external arbitration and conciliation in conflict resolution.....................5
2 Be able to reduce the potential for conflict within a team........................................................5
2.1 Communicate to team members their roles, responsibilities, objectives and expected
standards of behavior...................................................................................................................5
2.2 Explain to team members the constraints under which other colleagues work.....................6
2.3 Review systems, processes, situations and structures that are likely to give rise to conflict
in line with organisational procedures.........................................................................................6
2.4 Take action to minimize the potential for conflict within the limits of their own authority. 7
2.5 Explain how team members' personalities and cultural backgrounds may give rise to
conflict.........................................................................................................................................8
3 Be able to deal with conflict within a team..................................................................................8
3.1 Assess the seriousness of conflict and its potential impact...................................................8
3.2 Treat everyone involved with impartiality and sensitivity....................................................9
3.3 Decide a course of action that offers optimum benefits........................................................9
3.4 Explain the importance of engaging team members’ support for the agreed actions............9
3.5 Communicate the actions to be taken to those who may be affected by it............................9
3.6 Adhere to organisational policies and procedures, legal and ethical requirements when
dealing with conflict within a team...........................................................................................10

Management 2
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................12

Management 3
Introduction
The situation of conflicts is one of the most usual and common at the organisational workplace.
As every member of the organisation has a different thinking process, it is common to have
chaos among people. This is a dilemma which every manager has to face in every day
operations. The more efficiently a manager overcomes these conflicts; the better will be the
management skills. The capability of recognizing the issue and solving it with high level of
judicious, honesty and effectiveness is considered as conflict management. The approach of
conflict management can be defined as discovering and handling the conflicts in a more wise and
efficient manner. Conflict is the component of every business, but it is necessary to have
knowledge regarding to the resolution of these conflicts1. In present time, everyone at the
organisation wants to attain best outcomes and to be at the first position people start pulling
down each others. This results in disputes between different employees of the organisation. The
response of any manager towards an organisational argument shows the ability, efficiency and
effectiveness of the employee to resolve those conflicts2. The paper will present a various
methods of conflict management which are useful in diverse situations of conflict at the
organizational workplace, the individual skills require for managing conflict, potential
consequences of the conflict remained unresolved and role of external arbitration in the
resolution of conflict. The report will also highlight the role of communication, team work,
review systems and cultural backgrounds in the organisational conflicts and conflict management
as well as present actions for minimizing the conflicts in the organisations.
1. Understand the principles of conflict management
1.1. Evaluate the suitability of different methods of conflict management in
different situations
Following are the various methods of conflict management such as collaborating,
competing, avoiding, compromising and accommodating.
1 ACAS. Help & advice for employers and employees, [website], 2017, http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?
articleid=1461 (accessed 29 October 2017).
2 OB, Ayoko, AM. Konrad. Leaders’ transformational, conflict, and emotion management behaviors in culturally
diverse workgroups. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal. 2012 Nov 2;31(8):694-724.

Management 4
The collaborating approach can be understand as joining up of managers to reach at the
destination goal in their own manner. The most unique way to resolve the problem is the
collaboration of managers where there is an association among the managers to reach at
the destination goal in their own manner is known as collaborating3. The collaboration
approach brings different ideas of different managers at the same time and this helps in
getting the best possible method to deal with any problem4. Another is compromising
approach means losing something because of getting the permanent solution of any
conflict or issue. When both employee as well as manager are not able to get for what
they are working for then they try to find some short term resolution so that they can
divert their mind and pay attention towards the main goals of the organisation. The third
approach is avoiding which can be explained as that an issue is one way which a
manager might attempt to resolve conflict. This type of conflict style does not help the
other staff members to reach their goals and does not help the manager who is avoiding
the issue5. However, this works well when the issue is small in nature or when the
manager has less chances of resolution or winning. The fourth method conflict
management is accommodating where the conflicts among the teams or the individuals
are resolved by offering the opponent party what they want. To have organisational
peace or in case of some outside force, one of the party remains calm and resolves the
conflict by agreeing upon the conditions of the other party. The last method of conflict
management is competing which is considered as a win-lose approach. For the
achievement of the goals and objectives, the managers’ responses in an assertive manner
without having cooperation of other individuals and thus it may lead to have attainment
of goals at the expense of the happiness of other people. This approach is basically used
when there are emergencies in the organisation and fats decisions had to me made6.
3 D, Kaitelidou, A, Kontogianni, P, Galanis, O, Siskou, A, Mallidou, A, Pavlakis, P, Kostagiolas, M, Theodorou, L,
Liaropoulos. Conflict management and job satisfaction in paediatric hospitals in Greece. Journal of nursing
management. 2012 May 1;20(4):571-8.
4 RH, Deyoe, TL, Fox. Identifying strategies to minimize workplace conflict due to generational differences. Journal
of Behavioral Studies in Business. 2012 Sep 1;5:1.
5 P, Kazimoto. Analysis of conflict management and leadership for organizational change. International journal of
research in social sciences. 2013 Sep;3(1):2307-27.
6 A, Kinicki, R, Kreitner. Organizational behavior: Key concepts, skills & best practices. McGraw-Hill Irwin; 2012.

Management 5
1.2 Describe the personal skills needed to deal with conflict between other
people
Workplace or organisational conflicts are the result of the opposition of interests, values and
needs among the organisational individuals while working together. There are various forms
of conflicts that take place in the organisations7. The inevitable disturbance and opposition
of perspectives among the power and informal authority results in negative impacts upon the
team members in terms of organisational conflict. There are various reasons of disputes and
conflicts in the organisations and mainly in the healthcare sector such as distribution of
revenues, rewards and recognition of employees, work procedures, organisational structure
and many others. There took place jurisdictional disagreements among the organisational
people, departments, management and unions8. There are various types of conflicts
comprising of favour, struggle for power, role definitions, personality clashes, jealousies
and rivalries. There are also conflicts in the organisations among the individuals because of
high competition in satisfaction of individual demands and needs9. Ignoring any issue by the
manager is not the final solution and the manager who tries to avoid conflicts cannot satisfy
the employees as well as also not able to achieve the organisational goals. It results in
dissatisfaction and discontented behavior of the employees which results in occurrence of a
number of organisational conflicts. Avoiding conflicts can only be beneficial when the
problem is minor and can be easily forbidden. Otherwise, in all other situations of the
organisational conflicts, there is an essential to have intervention for the managers or the
associate parties to resolve the issue10. The managers or the organisational employees
possess some kind of skills, abilities and competencies which help them in resolving the
conflicts in a constructive manner rather than in a negative manner. The inherent
competencies of the individuals help in saving the organisation from various faults and
having a better and improved working place11.
7 Belbin. Need higher-performing teams? [website], 2017, http://www.belbin.com/belbin-for-teams/ (accessed 29
October 2017).
8 Chartered Management Institute. Develop True Management Professionals, [website], 2017,
http://www.managers.org.uk/ (accessed 29 October 2017).
9 XH, Chen, K, Zhao, X, Liu, D, Dash Wu. Improving employees' job satisfaction and innovation performance using
conflict management. International Journal of Conflict Management. 2012 Apr 20;23(2):151-72.
10 CIPD. The professional body for HR and people development, [website], 2017, https://www.cipd.co.uk/ (accessed
29 October 2017).
11 S, Lewis, I, Roper. Flexibility and work-life balance. (2008): 181-199.

Management 6
1.3 Analyze the potential consequences of unresolved conflict within a team
Following are the potential consequences of the unresolved conflict within a team:
 There will be complete waste of time as the employees will exhaust all their time in
resolving conflict and discussion which will ultimately affect the productivity
 There will be bad decision making as in the unresolved conflict there will be difference
in opinions and the decisions will be more based upon emotions rather than a practical
approach.
 Higher turnover rate and decreased motivation of the employees due to high density of
chaos and stress.
1.4 Explain the role of external arbitration and conciliation in conflict resolution
There is a vital and noteworthy role of external arbitration in the process of conflict
management as arbitration can be explained as a third party that makes a specific and
firm decision on the basis of all the issues and the various other relevant factors. And
both the parties involved in conflict are liable to agreed upon the decision made by the
third party.
2 Be able to reduce the potential for conflict within a team
2.1 Communicate to team members their roles, responsibilities, objectives
and expected standards of behavior
In managing the workplace conflicts within a team there is an efficient and significant
role of communication. It is essential that there is effective communication of the roles,
expected standard of behaviour, objectives and responsibilities to the team members so
that there can be remained clarity in the job roles and tasks of each and every individual
and less chances of conflicts takes place in the organisations12. Communication is one
of the significant tool to manage the organisation and the various issues that takes place
in teams as there is a need of both informal as well as communication among the
organisational members to develop a better understanding of each other. The informal
flow of communication is the way to develop a bond of trust and association among the
12 A, Schlaerth, N, Ensari, J, Christian. A meta-analytical review of the relationship between emotional intelligence
and leaders’ constructive conflict management. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. 2013 Jan;16(1):126-36.

Management 7
employees of the organisation so that the grievances, issues and conflicts can be
resolved at the initial stage only and do not escalate further to the whole organisation13.
In the UK healthcare sector there are several organisations where there takes place open
forum discussions where the employees can have an open discussion of any issue or
problem they are facing so that it may resolve and do not develop as organisational
conflict. Therefore effective and smooth flow of communication is the key to
organisational success and resolution of organisational conflicts14.
2.2 Explain to team members the constraints under which other colleagues
work
In every company and organisation, all the people have a point of interest for which
they are working. And working in a team is advantageous for all but there are few
negative implications too. If the team leader do not cooperate with other team members
or assign those responsibilities and roles which are not according to their desired work
profile then it will result in stressful and conflicting situations. There is a need to
understand the constraints under which other people are working to have better team
efficiency and to avoid conflicts.
2.3 Review systems, processes, situations and structures that are likely to
give rise to conflict in line with organisational procedures
Conflicts at the workplace are not just because of the difference in opinions of the
organisational employees but there are various other reasons too that result in conflict in
the teams and in the organisation. The organisational review systems, situations and
structures and processes are few of those factors that result in organisational conflict.
There are performance review systems in the organisations which are one of the key
factors in the occurrence of issues and conflicts. There are employees who do not find
the review system as fair and equitable and thus the sense of unfair performance review
develops a feeling of de-motivation and dissatisfaction which at the end results in
13 JM, Wood, RM, Zeffane, M, Fromholtz, R, Wiesner, R, Morrison, A, Factor, T, McKeown, JR, Schermerhorn,
JG, Hunt, RN, Osborn. Organisational behaviour: Core concepts and applications. John Wiley & Sons Australia,
Ltd.; 2016.
14 AZ, Soieb, J, Othman, JL, D'Silva. The effects of perceived leadership styles and organizational citizenship
behaviour on employee engagement: The mediating role of conflict management. International Journal of Business
and Management. 2013 Mar 20;8(8):91.

Management 8
workplace conflicts15. The organisational structure and processes are also the other major
factors that are responsible for organisational conflicts. The organisational structure
defines the way in which the organisational activities, policies, rules, supervision, and all
other functions are designed and directed. The loopholes or bureaucracy in the
organisational structure also results in organisational conflicts.
2.4 Take action to minimize the potential for conflict within the limits of
their own authority
There are various actions which are used as well as can be implemented to minimize
the risk of conflict at the workplace and within the teams. The first and the most
important action is to set workplace-conflict guidelines where a proper set of guidelines
will be implemented for analyzing, reviewing and resolving the conflict at the
workplace. They next approach is to develop an effective line of communication where
there is effective flow of information and clarity in the distribution of any policy among
the various levels of the organisations. Other important action is to have regular
training sessions and discussions for preventing the occurrence of conflicts within the
teams and the organisations16. The next approach is to encourage the organisational
employees to have a sound acceptance towards the individual differences. The one most
vital aspect for minimizing the workplace conflict is to train managers to act as
mediators. The organisational must understand and resolve the issue at the initial level
with a fair view so that it can help in reducing the risk of future workplace conflicts.
There can also be take actions such as clarification of priorities, elimination of the
gender based biasness and open discussions for minimizing the risk of conflicts within
a team17.
15 MP, Li, BH, Lam. Cooperative learning. The Active Classroom, The Hong Kong Institude of Education. 2013.
16 K, Spaho. Organizational communication and conflict management. Management: journal of contemporary
management issues. 2013 Jun 24;18(1):103-18.
17 S, Sonnentag, D, Unge, IJ, Nägel. Workplace conflict and employee well-being: The moderating role of
detachment from work during off-job time. International Journal of Conflict Management. 2013 Apr 19;24(2):166-
83.

Management 9
2.5 Explain how team members' personalities and cultural backgrounds may
give rise to conflict
Conflicts at the workplace are not just because of the difference in opinions of the
organisational employees but there are various other reasons too that result in conflict in
the teams and in the organisation. The organisational review systems, situations and
structures, processes, working in team and personality and cultural background of the
employees are few of those factors that result in organisational conflict. The next key
factor is diverse set of personality and cultural backgrounds of the individuals. In the
UK healthcare sector, there are large numbers of employees which are from diverse
cultural backgrounds and because of increased diversity in culture and personality of the
individuals; it becomes difficult for them to understand each other and work together.
While working in a team with diverse set of personality, values, cultural backgrounds
and perspectives, there is occurrence of conflicts within a team18.
3 Be able to deal with conflict within a team
3.1 Assess the seriousness of conflict and its potential impact
There are various forms of conflicts that take place in the organisations19. The inevitable
disturbance and opposition of perspectives among the power and informal authority
results in negative impacts upon the team members in terms of organisational conflict. It
results in dissatisfaction and discontented behavior of the employees which results in a
number of negative implications such as there will be complete waste of time, loss of
productivity, bad decision making, decreased motivation and upsurge turnover rate of
employees.
3.2 Treat everyone involved with impartiality and sensitivity
There are employees who do not find that there are fair and equitable policies or the
assessment sense that there takes place unfair performance review and partiality which
18 MJ, Gelfand, LM, Leslie, K, Keller, C, de Dreu. Conflict cultures in organizations: How leaders shape conflict
cultures and their organizational-level consequences. Journal of Applied Psychology. 2012 Nov;97(6):1131.
19 Belbin. Need higher-performing teams? [website], 2017, http://www.belbin.com/belbin-for-teams/ (accessed 29
October 2017).

Management 10
develops a feeling of de-motivation and dissatisfaction which at the end results in
workplace conflicts20. Thus, the organisational structure and processes are required to be
fair, sensitive and impartial as the organisational structure defines the way in which the
organisational activities, policies, rules, supervision, and all other functions are designed
and directed. The insensitivity and the impartiality in the organisational structure also
results in organisational conflicts.
3.3 Decide a course of action that offers optimum benefits
The course of action which can offer maximum benefits may include setting up of
workplace-conflict guidelines; develop an effective line of communication, having
regular training sessions and managers acting as mediators for resolving the issue at the
initial level of the conflict.
3.4 Explain the importance of engaging team members’ support for the
agreed actions
There is a huge importance and significance of the involvement and engagement of the
team members in the implementation of the agreed actions so that there can be a sound
acceptance towards the individual differences as well as having more informal and
improved discussions for declining the occurrence of the organisational conflicts.
3.5 Communicate the actions to be taken to those who may be affected by it
There is a huge significance of communicating the actions to the team members who are
affected as there are diverse set of personalities and cultural backgrounds of the
individuals. In the UK healthcare sector, there are large numbers of employees which are
from diverse cultural backgrounds and because of increased diversity in culture and
personality of the individuals it becomes difficult for them to understand each other and
work together and thus thy are highly affected from the situation of conflicts21. The flow
of communication of the actions is the way to develop a bond of trust and association
among the employees of the organisation so that the grievances, issues and conflicts can
be resolved at the initial stage only and do not escalate further to the whole organisation.
20 MP, Li, BH, Lam. Cooperative learning. The Active Classroom, The Hong Kong Institude of Education. 2013.
21 MJ, Gelfand, LM, Leslie, K, Keller, C, de Dreu. Conflict cultures in organizations: How leaders shape conflict
cultures and their organizational-level consequences. Journal of Applied Psychology. 2012 Nov;97(6):1131.

Management 11
3.6 Adhere to organisational policies and procedures, legal and ethical
requirements when dealing with conflict within a team
Conflicts at the workplace are not just because of the difference in opinions of the
organisational employees but there are various other reasons too that result in conflict in
the teams and in the organisation. Therefore, it is essential that the employees or the
team members must adhere to the organisational structures, policies and processes, legal
and ethical requirements at the time of organisational conflicts22. The organisational
structure and processes are also the other major factors that are responsible for
organisational conflicts. Thus adherence to these factors develops a specific way in
which the organisational activities, policies, rules, supervision, and all other functions
are designed and directed and helps in declining the occurrence of organisational
conflicts.
Conclusion
Conflicts are the inevitable part of any workplace or organisation which will take place in an
organisation at one or the other point of time. From this report, it can be concluded that there are
number of reasons because of which the conflicts within a team and at the workplace takes place
such as organisational review systems, situations and structures, processes, working in team and
personality and cultural background of the employees. To overcome these conflicts the
companies and the organisations take use of various strategies and actions. These actions
includes personal skills, external arbitration, setting up of workplace-conflict guidelines,
developing an effective line of communication, regular training sessions and discussions,
acceptance of the individual differences and various other aspects. The report concludes that it is
essential to manage the workplace conflicts by various methods described in the report so that a
more better and improved workplace environment could be there to work in.
22 MP, Li, BH, Lam. Cooperative learning. The Active Classroom, The Hong Kong Institude of Education. 2013.

Management 12
References
ACAS. Help & advice for employers and employees, [website], 2017,
http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1461 (accessed 29 October 2017).
Ayoko OB, Konrad AM. Leaders’ transformational, conflict, and emotion management
behaviors in culturally diverse workgroups. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International
Journal. 2012 Nov 2;31(8):694-724.
Belbin. Need higher-performing teams? [website], 2017, http://www.belbin.com/belbin-for-
teams/ (accessed 29 October 2017).
Chartered Management Institute. Develop True Management Professionals, [website], 2017,
http://www.managers.org.uk/ (accessed 29 October 2017).
Chen XH, Zhao K, Liu X, Dash Wu D. Improving employees' job satisfaction and innovation
performance using conflict management. International Journal of Conflict Management. 2012
Apr 20;23(2):151-72.
CIPD. The professional body for HR and people development, [website], 2017,
https://www.cipd.co.uk/ (accessed 29 October 2017).
Deyoe RH, Fox TL. Identifying strategies to minimize workplace conflict due to generational
differences. Journal of Behavioral Studies in Business. 2012 Sep 1;5:1.
Gelfand MJ, Leslie LM, Keller K, de Dreu C. Conflict cultures in organizations: How leaders
shape conflict cultures and their organizational-level consequences. Journal of Applied
Psychology. 2012 Nov;97(6):1131.
Kaitelidou D, Kontogianni A, Galanis P, Siskou O, Mallidou A, Pavlakis A, Kostagiolas P,
Theodorou M, Liaropoulos L. Conflict management and job satisfaction in paediatric hospitals in
Greece. Journal of nursing management. 2012 May 1;20(4):571-8.
Kazimoto P. Analysis of conflict management and leadership for organizational change.
International journal of research in social sciences. 2013 Sep;3(1):2307-27.

Management 13
Kinicki A, Kreitner R. Organizational behavior: Key concepts, skills & best practices. McGraw-
Hill Irwin; 2012.
Lewis S, Roper I. Flexibility and work-life balance. (2008): 181-199.
Li MP, Lam BH. Cooperative learning. The Active Classroom, The Hong Kong Institude of
Education. 2013.
Schlaerth A, Ensari N, Christian J. A meta-analytical review of the relationship between
emotional intelligence and leaders’ constructive conflict management. Group Processes &
Intergroup Relations. 2013 Jan;16(1):126-36.
Soieb AZ, Othman J, D'Silva JL. The effects of perceived leadership styles and organizational
citizenship behaviour on employee engagement: The mediating role of conflict management.
International Journal of Business and Management. 2013 Mar 20;8(8):91.
Sonnentag S, Unger D, Nägel IJ. Workplace conflict and employee well-being: The moderating
role of detachment from work during off-job time. International Journal of Conflict
Management. 2013 Apr 19;24(2):166-83.
Spaho K. Organizational communication and conflict management. Management: journal of
contemporary management issues. 2013 Jun 24;18(1):103-18.
Wood JM, Zeffane RM, Fromholtz M, Wiesner R, Morrison R, Factor A, McKeown T,
Schermerhorn JR, Hunt JG, Osborn RN. Organisational behaviour: Core concepts and
applications. John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.; 2016.