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Management - Vikhanskiy OS

4.3. Levels of conflict in the organization

Proceeding from the ones given in Ch. 7 levels of organizational interaction, we can distinguish five levels of conflict in the organization: within the individual, between individuals, within the group, between groups, within the organization. These levels are closely related. Thus, an intrapersonal conflict can cause an individual to act aggressively towards others and thereby cause an interpersonal conflict. The source of the conflict may be a shortage of resources, a different contribution to the case, unfulfilled expectations, orthodoxy of management, lack of independence, etc. The ways to resolve conflicts can be power, power, conviction, cooperation, compromise, avoiding conflict, conceding concessions, attracting a third force, conducting a game, etc. Let's consider each type of conflict separately.

Intrapersonal conflict happens within an individual and is often by nature a conflict of goals or a conflict of views. Conflict of goals Intrapersonal conflict becomes when an individual chooses and tries to achieve mutually exclusive goals. Its intensity increases with the growth of the number of alternatives, with a balance between its positive and negative outcome and the perception of the importance of the source of the conflict. An example of such an intrapersonal conflict may be the choice of a place of work by a university graduate. Intrapersonal conflict takes the form of a conflict of views, when an individual recognizes the failure of his thoughts, dispositions, values ​​or his behavior as a whole. A person begins to feel uncomfortable and tries to get out of this state by eliminating this discomfort through changing his thoughts, dispositions, values ​​and behavior or by getting more information about the problem that gives rise to this failure.

Interpersonal conflict involves two or more individuals if they perceive themselves as being in opposition to each other in terms of goals, dispositions, values ​​or behavior. This is perhaps the most common type of conflict. Individuals who have entered into an interpersonal conflict have five possible ways out of it. If we construct a matrix based on two variables (interest in ourselves and interest in others) , then measuring the "interest" in each case as low or high, we can identify the following styles of interpersonal conflict resolution (Figure 9.10).

The style that implies withdrawal from the conflict is related to the lack of personal perseverance and the desire to cooperate with others in resolving it. Usually in this case a person tries to stand apart from the conflict, strives to become neutral. The use of such a style can mean the decision of the individual to give the conflict the opportunity to develop. This style can also be associated with the rejection of tension and frustration. In some cases, an attempt to avoid conflict may reduce its intensity. However, ignoring disagreement can cause even greater discontent. With this approach to the conflict, both sides lose.

The style of resolving a conflict by force is characterized by great personal involvement and interest in eliminating the conflict, but without taking into account the positions of the other party. This is a winning-lose style. To apply this style, you must have power or physical advantages. This style can in some cases help in achieving individual goals. However, as in the previous case, the surrounding people have an unfavorable impression of the individual using this style.

The style of cooperation is different both in the high degree of personal involvement in it, and in the strong desire to pool one's efforts with others to resolve interpersonal conflict. With this approach, each side wins. People who use this style usually have the following characteristics:

• they view the conflict as a normal event, helping and even, if properly managed, leading to a more creative decision;

• while they show trust and frankness towards others;

• they recognize that with such a mutually satisfactory outcome of the conflict, all of its participants, as it were, commit themselves in the framework of a common solution;

• they believe that each participant in the conflict has equal rights in resolving it and the viewpoint of everyone has the right to exist;

• They believe that no one should be sacrificed in the interest of all.

Often such individuals are considered dynamic natures, about which others have a favorable opinion.

The style of resolving the interpersonal conflict, prompting to enter the position of the other party, is a behavior based on the desire to cooperate with others, but without entering into this cooperation of its strong interest. This style of the type "non-winning - winning" certainly carries a shade of altruism. This style can express a long-term strategy for the development of other orientation towards cooperation in resolving interpersonal conflict. This style helps in the desire to realize the wishes of others. Owners of this style as a whole are ranked positively by others, but at the same time perceived by others as weak natures, easily amenable to someone else's influence.

The style of compromise lies in such behavior in the course of resolving an interpersonal conflict that moderately takes into account the interests of each of the parties. The implementation of this style is connected with the holding of negotiations, during which each of the parties makes certain concessions. Compromise is widely used in conflict resolution and those who use it are estimated by the surrounding people as a whole to be favorable. In contrast to the style, focused on cooperation, there is no mutual satisfaction with compromise, but there is no dissatisfaction of either side. It is a style of the type "non-winning - non-gain". In many situations, a compromise style allows to achieve a quick resolution of the conflict, especially in cases when one of the parties has obvious advantages.

Intragroup conflict is more than a simple sum of interpersonal conflicts. This is usually a clash between parts or all members of the group, affecting the group dynamics and the results of the group as a whole. The productive, social and emotional processes within the group influence the emergence of causes and ways of resolving intragroup conflicts. Often an intra-group conflict arises as a result of a change in the balance of power in a group: a change in leadership, the emergence of an informal leader, the development of group organization, and so on. Intergroup conflict is a confrontation or clash of two or more groups in an organization. Such confrontation can be professional-industrial (designers - producers - marketers), social (workers and leadership) or emotional ("lazy" and "labor") basis. Usually such conflicts are of an intense nature and, if they are not managed correctly, they do not give any of the winning groups. The transition of the intergroup conflict to the sensually emotional stage is destructive not only to the groups involved, but also to the organization as a whole and to each individual participant individually. The development of intra-group conflict leads to intra-organizational conflict.

Sometimes it is very difficult to distinguish between these two types of conflict. An intra-organizational conflict is, nevertheless, most often associated with confrontation and clashes arising from the way in which individual works or the organization as a whole were designed, as well as on the basis of how formally the power is distributed in the organization. There are four types of this conflict: vertical, horizontal, linear-functional, role-playing. In real life, these conflicts are closely interwoven with each other, but each of them has its own, quite distinct features. So, vertical conflict is a conflict between the levels of management in an organization. Its origin and resolution is determined by those aspects of the life of the organization that affect vertical ties in the organizational structure: goals, power, communication, culture, etc. A horizontal conflict involves equal parts of the organization and often acts as a conflict of goals. The development of horizontal links in the structure of the organization largely helps in its resolution. Linear-functional conflict is often conscious or sensual. Its solution is related to the improvement of the relationship between line management and specialists, for example, by creating target or autonomous groups. A role conflict arises when an individual performing a certain role receives an assignment that is inadequate to his role (for details, see Chapter 1).