Conflict Management and Communication in Organizational Behaviour

This report delves into the critical aspects of conflict management within organizational behaviour. It begins by defining conflict and its origins, emphasizing the importance of effective conflict management processes and techniques, drawing on several research articles. The report explores various conflict resolution strategies, including collaborating, avoiding, accommodating, competing, and compromising. It then examines the role of leadership in resolving conflicts, highlighting the need for open-mindedness, fair decision-making, and effective communication. The report underscores the significance of organizational communication in mitigating conflicts and fostering positive relationships. Finally, it discusses the practical implications for managers, emphasizing the need for proactive strategies and the importance of considering all parties involved in conflict situations. The report concludes that effective conflict management is essential for organizational performance, providing opportunities for improvement and requiring a comprehensive approach that considers various perspectives.

Running Head: Organizational Behaviour
Organizational Behavior and Management

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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................2
2.0 Conflict Management in Organization......................................................................................2
2.1 Conflict management process and resolving techniques.......................................................2
2.2 Definition of conflict management and abilities of leaders to resolve the conflict...............4
2.3 Organizational Communication and conflict management....................................................5
2.4 Summary of key points..........................................................................................................6
3.0 Practical Implications of managers............................................................................................7
4.0 Reflection...................................................................................................................................7
5.0 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................8
6.0 References..................................................................................................................................9

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1.0 Introduction
Conflict is the dispute which arises due to various reasons within a workplace. Generally,
conflict arises due to non-understanding between the employees of the organization, due to
personal issues too, conflicts could generate, etc. There are number of reasons through which
conflicts may arise within the workplace of the organization. Conflict management is the process
under which the compromise is being made between the conflicted parties. This process is
generally implemented and regulated by the organizational management in order to prevent the
negative effect of the conflict on the organization. Under this literature review, conflict
management process will be discussed from the four articles.
2.0 Conflict Management in Organization
2.1 Conflict management process and resolving techniques
Research conducted by Tjosvold, Wong & Chen (2014), describe that conflict
management is an easy task and it can be done by the management team of the organization.
They need to adopt certain controlling measures through which appropriate notifications could
be obtained from the workplace. This will help the organization in the scenarios of conflicts; they
can take appropriate actions as per the situations which will reduce the chances of arising
conflict as well as chances of negative impact over the organization will also be reduced. Modern
techniques such as involvement of all employees of the organization in the decision making
process of the organization also leads to conflicts between employees, teams, etc. When one
team’s suggestion is overruled and other team’s suggestion will be considered on the priority
basis then it may leads to the conflicts due to immaturity of the teammates as well as due to lack

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of collaboration within the teams of the organization (Bauer & Erdogan, 2012). Conflict also
arises due to various acts of the organizational management such as introduction of uncertain
policy within the workplace, amendments made in the incentive or bonus policies, etc. In these
situations, organization needs to consult with an outsider or the team hired for resolving conflict
between the organizational members.
According to Vollmer & Seyr (2013), various controversies will be discussed in an
organization because these are the major reasons for generating conflict within the workplace.
Business organizations need to face number of challenges and the opportunities in the global
market while performing their general functionalities. Conflict arises between two people of the
organization due to different ideologies, unique conclusions given by them, etc. Major impact of
the conflict affects the performance of the organization. Number of approaches, methods and
strategies could be used in order to make conclusions over the constructive conflicts and
controversies. Collaborations in the teams are quite necessary and this should be maintained for
enhancing the performance of the organization. With regards to reduce the conflicts between the
teams, organization takes support of conflict management process (Mullins, 2013).
As controversies is the primary reason for generating the conflict between the employees
and this has been observed that the origin of controversies are learning, productivity,
interpersonal relationships, and decision making. Constructive controversies arise due to
interpersonal relationships. Learning is another crucial factor which affects the relationship of
employees and managers and then dispute arises. Apart from this, it also affects the performance
of the organization. Productivity is another vital element which leads to constructive
controversies. Decision making process affects the organizational performance due to lack of

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collaboration in the teams of the organization. Authors of this article have provided certain
resolutions to resolve the conflicts between the employees, managers, etc. Collaborating,
avoiding, accommodating, competing, and compromising are certain terms which are also known
as resolution techniques for resolving conflicts from the workplace. These terms are often used
in the conflict management process as this helps the organization to remove the negative impacts
of the conflict. With the help of these techniques, organization also moves towards the right
direction under which attainment of goals and the objectives becomes an easy task.
Conflicts’ origins are many such as win-win, lose-lose and win-lose. Win-lose and win-
win origins does not create much impact over the organizational performance while lose-lose
origin is the most disastrous situation under which all the parties involved in the conflict needs to
face various negative outcomes. These also arise at the time of conflict resolution because the
compromising, avoiding, etc. terms will generate to certain results under which these three
situations will arise. Under win-lose situation, one party needs to bear losses while other party
enjoys the winning of the argument. In the scenario of win-win situation, both the parties
involved in the conflict does not need to bear any type of losses and both stands in the winning
position.
2.2 Definition of conflict management and abilities of leaders to resolve the conflict
According to Chaudhry & Asif (2015), providing definition of the conflict is difficult
because various scholars have accepted the common definition under which some says it is a
reflexive action against the disagreement on their decisions while some says it arises due to
personal differences. Conflict can easily be managed with the effective leaders as well with the
open minded leaders. Apart from this, leaders and managers need to be creative enough to

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provide appropriate resolutions for the conflicts which will reduce the negative impact of the
conflicts. Open-minded decisions and the fair decision taking ability help the organization to deal
with the complex conflict situations. This type of thinking also helps the organization to maintain
the transparency between the employees as well as the pattern of thinking of parties involved in
the conflict situation can also be assumed easily. Leader’s and manager’s capabilities to resolve
the conflicts are crucial because it will help the organization to attain its desired goals and the
objectives. Results drawn in for resolving the conflicts should be acceptable by both the parties
involved in order to reduce the chances of disagreement from any of the party (Robbins & Judge,
2013).
According to the authors of this article, before reaching to the decision, appropriate
factors must be analysed which are the reason for conflict. All the parties involved in the conflict
situation must be heard and researched in order to reach to the adequate outcomes. Drawing
results on the assumptions may resolve the conflicts for that particular period of time but these
are not suitable for long term. For resolving the conflicts from the roots, the authority must be
capable enough and must be filled with adequate amount of patience so that all the parties could
put their views. After hearing the views from parties involved in the conflict, outcomes should be
concluded. This helps the organization to resolve the conflicts from the roots as well as adequate
resolution will influence the involved parties in the conflict to work with in a team with
appropriate collaboration.
2.3 Organizational Communication and conflict management
As per Spaho (2013), communication is essential part in order to perform the
organizational functionalities in an effective manner. In order to build adequate communication

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system, organization needs to adopt external as well as internal communication methods for
smoothen the activities of the organization. Effective external communication system deals help
the organization to tackle the factors which affect the organizational performance from the
external environment whereas, internal communication system helps the organization to maintain
the transparency between the employees of the organization. With regards to the employees, it
also helps the organization to share the crucial information through a safe and secure medium
(Ivanko, 2013).
While considering the conflict management, imagining any organization without conflict
is difficult as well as organization with too many conflicts is also harmful situation. And
communication system plays crucial role in order to eliminate these conflicts in an effective
manner. Adequate communication system leads to development of good human relationship
within the workplace. Apart from development of good relationships, it also helps the
organization to attain desired goals and the objectives in an effective manner. While without
communication, assumption of conflict is also impossible and sometimes, conflicts gave the
organization a chance to make required amendments.
2.4 Summary of key points
 Conflict management is an effective process which eliminates the negativity from the
organization and resolves the conflicts through various approaches such as
compromising, avoiding, etc.
 Conflict is necessary as it gives another chance to the organization to change their
decision for attainment of better results.

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 Origins of conflict such as win-lose, win-win and lose-lose should be considered because
all win-lose and lose-lose origins may create negative over the organizational
performance.
 Adaptation of effective communication strategies is another crucial factor through which
organization can deal with various issues.
 In the first article, conflict management’s origins, approaches are discussed while second
article defines the methods to resolve the conflicts. Apart from resolving the conflicts, it
also includes the sources from conflicts arises. While in the third and fourth article,
definition of conflict are discussed from different perceptive and the importance of
communication for resolving the conflicts are included respectively.
3.0 Practical Implications of managers
Managers of the organisation needs to adopt various techniques such as competing,
compromising, collaborating, etc. for resolving the conflicts within the workplace. As discussed
above, managers and the leaders needs to adopt open-minded thinking for resolving the conflicts
in an appropriate manner. As they are authorities which spends regular time with the employees
and they understand the ideologies of the concerned parties involved in the conflict. Using
available communication strategies with the organization also helps the managers to resolve the
conflicts. This also helps to build effective and efficient relationship between the employees,
hence; effective communication system is quite crucial for smoothen the functionalities of the
organization. Appropriate and right time decision plays crucial role in the creation of effective
solutions for conflicts. The solution developed by the organization should be capable enough to
satisfy the needs and the requirements of all the parties involved in the conflict situation.

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4.0 Reflection
From the above literatures, I observed the importance of the communication and conflict
in the workplace. Both are the vital elements for enhancing the performance of the organization.
I also observed that without conflicts, organization’s survival is difficult whereas with too many
conflicts are also harmful for the organization’s survival. In order to eliminate this type of
situation, effective communication strategies are being adopted. From the first and the second
article, I learnt the process of conflict management and the techniques which are used to resolve
those conflicts. While from the third and the fourth article various definitions of conflict
management, leader’s abilities and the manager’s abilities to resolve the conflicts were observed
and the importance of communication was learnt respectively.
5.0 Conclusion
It was concluded from the above literatures that conflict management should be
processed in an effective manner through which organizational performance does not get
affected. Conflict situations are sometimes important as they provide adequate chances to the
organization to amend their decision for enhancing the performances of the organization. The
outcomes generated for resolving the conflict should be developed from the perceptive of all the
parties involved in the conflict situation.

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6.0 References
Vollmer. A. & Seyr, S., 2013, “Constructive controversy research in the business
organizational context: A literature review”, International Journal of Conflict Management,
vol. 24 (4), pp. 399-420.
Chaudhry. A.M. & Asif, R., 2015, “Organizational Conflict and Conflict Management: a
synthesis of literature”, Journal of Business and Management Research, vol. 9, pp. 238-244.
Bauer, T. & Erdogan, B., 2012, An Introduction to Organizational Behaviour,
Organizational Behaviour. Vol. 1 (1).
Tjosvold, D., Wong, A.S.H. & Chen, N.Y.F, 2014, “Constructively Managing Conflicts in
Organizations”, The Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational
Behavior, vol. 1, pp. 545-568.
Ivanko, S., (2013). Organizational Behaviour. Faculty of Public Administration. PP. 1-280.
<http://www.fu.uni-lj.si/fileadmin/usr-files/Mednarodna_pisarna/ORGANIZATIONAL-
BEHAVIOR-2013.pdf>
Kenan Spaho, 2013, “Organizational Communication and Conflict Management”,
Management, vol. 18 (1), pp. 103-118.
Mullins, L., (2013). Management & Organisational Behaviour. Management &
Organisational Behaviour. Vol. 9.
<http://www.pearsoned.co.uk/media/OnlinePreview/Mullins_9780273728610/assets/pdf/
A01_MULL4087_09_SE_FM%20(3).pdf>

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Robbins, S. P. & Judge, T. A. (2013). Organizational Behaviour. Pearson. Vol. 15.
<https://www.pearson.com/us/higher-education/product/Robbins-Organizational-Behavior-
15th-Edition/9780132834872.html>