Difference between Destructive and Productive Conflicts in Workplace

This paper will focus on evaluating the difference between destructive and productive conflicts. Conflicts are inevitable in workplace, but they can be controlled and minimised by the management. Negative conflicts are caused due to lack of empathy or inability of the management to understand the issue of employees. Positive conflicts encourage new and creative thinking at the workplace. Corporations should differentiate between them to promote positive conflicts in the workplace.

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Assignment

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Conflict is referred to an act of disagreement which arises between parties due to opposing
of their opinion or principles. Conflicts are common in workplace where people from
different cultural backgrounds, race, caste, gender and age work together. Organisational or
workplace conflicts are defined as a state of discord which is caused due to actual or
perceived opposition and values, interest and needs of people who are working together
(Gilin Oore, Leiter, and LeBlanc, 2015). Generally, the management avoids conflicts because
they are considered as bad for the productivity of employees and performance of the
organisations. However, many times conflicts lead to positive results in a corporation which
promotes healthy competition and learning in the workplace. This paper will focus on
evaluating the difference between destructive and productive conflicts. This report will
analyse how conflicts can be both destructive and constructive, and they result in
influencing the performance of the organisation positively and negatively.
Conflicts are inevitable in workplace, but they can be controlled and minimised by the
management. The response of an individual or group towards particular conflict determines
whether there is positive or negative outcome of the disagreement. In case the
organisational conflicts are not property managed or mishandled by the parties, then it
leads to unproductive workplace environment which generates unlikely results (Sonnentag,
Unger and Nagel, 2013). Destructive or negative conflicts resulted in hindering the
performance of employees because people refuse to speak with each other, and they did
not have civilised conversations. A negative conflict between two or more individuals
resulted in bringing down the morale of entire team or department which resulted in
reduced productivity and efficiency. On the other hand, constructive and positive conflicts
resulted in embracing different ideas in the workplace which are focused on moving the
company forward by achieving its goal and vision. It is significant for parties to differentiate
between the types of conflict because it either hampers or increase its productivity.
One of the common causes of destructive conflict in workplace is power struggle between
employees or the management which leads to negative conflicts. Negative conflicts are
caused due to lack of empathy or inability of the management to understand the issue of
employees. If a positive connection did not establish between the employees and the
managers, then it leads to destructive conflicts in the workplace. Many times employees
fear the changes which are brought by the management to change the policies of the

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company. Many times they also feel anxious or stressful which resulted in increasing their
conflicts with the management. Difference in ideologies or principles of employees also
results in increasing conflicts at the workplace because it increases the change of
disagreement between employees and the management (Laschinger et al., 2014). If the
managers did not take any action to stop the disagreement between employees, then it
leads to serious negative consequences due to which the productivity of the entire
department is hampered.
On the other hand, positive or productive conflicts are beneficial for the organisation since
they encourage new and creative thinking at the workplace. Many people enjoy conflicts at
the workplace which leads to healthy competition between workers. They enjoy the conflict
to a certain degree in which they did not get personal, and it can be a stimulus for creative
thinking. These conflicts open up new possibilities in the workplace since they help in
generating new ideas which might otherwise have not been considered by the employees
(Odetunde, 2013). Positive conflict raises questions between the parties which leads to their
disagreement and these questions can lead to breakthroughs and innovation in the
workplace because they challenge employees to think outside the box. In case no conflict
exists in the workplace, then nothing changes in the organisation because people are in
their comfort zone where they are not challenged to answer a new question or find
different ways to address specific challenges. These conflicts also build a strong relationship
between employees and the management based on mutual respect and understanding.
In conclusion, not all conflicts are considered negative in organisations because many
conflicts lead to positive results which are crucial for the growth of the company. There are
both positive and negative conflicts in organisations which lead to productive and
destructive outcomes respectively. It is significant that corporations differentiate between
these conflicts to promote productive ones and eliminate destructive ones. Negative
conflicts adversely affect the productivity of employees who are engaged in the conflict
along with those who are not a part of such conflict. On the other hand, positive conflicts
lead to new ideas and breakthroughs which are important for organisational growth since it
leads to innovation. They also form strong bonding between employees and the
management. Therefore, corporations should differentiate between them to promote
positive conflicts in the workplace.

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References
Gilin Oore, D., Leiter, M.P. and LeBlanc, D.E. (2015) Individual and organizational factors
promoting successful responses to workplace conflict. Canadian Psychology/psychologie
canadienne, 56(3), p.301.
Laschinger, H.K.S., Wong, C.A., Cummings, G.G. and Grau, A.L. (2014) Resonant leadership
and workplace empowerment: The value of positive organizational cultures in reducing
workplace incivility. Nursing Economics, 32(1), pp.5-18.
Odetunde, O.J. (2013) Influence of transformational and transactional leaderships, and
leaders' sex on organisational conflict management behaviour. Gender and Behaviour, 11(1),
pp.5323-5335.
Sonnentag, S., Unger, D. and Nagel, I.J. (2013) Workplace conflict and employee well-being:
The moderating role of detachment from work during off-job time. International Journal of
Conflict Management, 24(2), pp.166-183.