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Literature Review: Organizational Conflict Management
Literature Review: Organizational Conflict Management
Blake A. Campbell
Master of Arts in Executive Leadership, Liberty University
Author Note
Blake A. Campbell
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Blake A. Campbell
Email: bacampbell8@liberty.edu
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Literature Review: Organizational Conflict Management
Abstract
Conflict is inevitable between coworkers, peers, managers, customers, etc. As a leader or
manager within an organization, understanding the importance of conflict management is a key
element to their success. As such, they must understand what the leading cause of conflict is,
how conflict affects their organization for both good and bad, and what styles are available to
personnel when conflict arises. Being better prepared will allow leaders and managers to be more
successful in their positions and the organization will also be more successful. Even the most
successful conflict management practitioner can make improvements to their skills.
Keywords: organizational conflict, conflict management styles, causes of conflict
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Literature Review: Organizational Conflict Management
Literature Review: Organizational Conflict Management
Conflict is a consequence of an unmet need, from a lack of support that undermines the
core needs of the parties involved (O’Sullivan, 2017) Conflict, both positive and negative, within
organizations will happen when working together. Conflict will happen between peers,
management teams, and even with customers, but they cannot allow conflict to take over. Those
with a stake in an organization will inevitably have conflict because to be successful in their
business ventures, they will have to interact with one another (Chen et al., 2019).
As a leader within an organization, they must understand that conflict will fall into one of
two categories, functional and dysfunctional conflict. Workers who have a disagreement about
how they would accomplish each task and focus their views on such is functional conflict
(Pfajfar et al., 2019). Most workers will have a form of functional conflict because they may
believe their way of completing a certain task is better, smarter, safer, or any other reason.
Dysfunctional conflict is the most common form of conflict leaders and managers will see and
comes from unhealthy behaviors and will often be associated with friction, anger, and tension
that leads to hostility and distrust (Pfajfar et al., 2019). These types of conflict can be further
divided into areas of conflict, such as task, relationship, and process conflicts as well.
When conflict does arise within the organization, the parties involved need to be ready
and prepared to effectively manage their conflict and not allow the resolution to become
disruptive conflict (Pfajfar et al., 2019). This is where understanding conflict management styles
will play a key role in the overall success of conflict management. Styles of conflict management
include avoiding, mediating, and collaboration. Each style will have its time and place of when
to be used. What leaders and managers can learn from it will determine their success, and the
recommendations provided will allow them to grow this necessary and crucial skill.
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Literature Review: Organizational Conflict Management
The Types of Conflict That Affect Conflict Management
Whether functional or dysfunctional, leaders and managers must determine what the
cause of conflict is to determine the best course of action. The following three areas of conflict
are areas that will most often affect an organization as a whole. Those three areas are task
conflict, relationship conflict, and process conflict. By understanding what each area of conflict
is and how conflict arises from each will give the path that is needed to resolve each.
Task Conflict
Completing a task is the basis of any career. In the military, a task can be something as
simple as cleaning a tool or more challenging such as mounting a satellite to a launch platform
ready to go into orbit. How each task is completed will depend on the level of knowledge needed
for the task or the level of error that is allowed for each task. Cleaning a tool can be as easy as
wiping dirt off with a towel or more in-depth and using chemicals to clean rust off.
Task conflict arises when the personnel assigned to complete the task disagree on how to
complete the task being performed, either having different viewpoints, ideas, or opinions (Jungst
& Janssens, 2020). As a leader in the military, they need to understand the task at hand to
understand the conflict that may have arisen to determine which way is the correct way.
Personnel feelings cannot and should not come into play when determining task conflict causes.
Relationship Conflict
Maintenance within the military works better when teamwork is used. The advantages to
using teams are numerous but with having more interaction, there will be another source of
conflict, relationship conflict. How successful a team is in completing a job hinges on how well
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Literature Review: Organizational Conflict Management
they work together, and relationship conflict can come in between members, leading to a
perceived incompatibility of the team members (Thiel et al., 2019).
The military does not normally allow you to pick who is on your team. In basic training,
recruits or trainees are put with 50 or more others and required to come together as a team to
successfully complete their training. When relationship conflict arises, we begin to see tension,
annoyance with one another, and animosity among the team (Simons & Peterson, 2000). Getting
to the end of basic comes down to following the rules set out by the instructors, follow the
processes in place.
Process Conflict
How to accomplish a task, such as who will be responsible for what area or how things
are delegated is known as process conflict (Kuriakose et al., 2019). In the military, process
conflict comes up often within the lower enlisted ranks. One person may see themselves as being
the one in charge because of their perceived maturity in the group and may delegate specific jobs
to their peers. The peers who disagree would then have process conflict with this assumed leader.
Junior enlisted members are often tasked as a group to accomplish a task and it is up to
them to determine who does what. Preferences in what they want to do, such as reading the
technical data or being the runner for parts, may lead to process conflict. Because process
conflict can impede group performance, it is most often considered to be the longest-lasting type
of conflict within organizations (Kuriakose et al., 2019).
The Impact Conflict Management Has on Organizational Outcomes
The cultural diversity of organizations has increased, in part due to globalization, and as a
leader, we need to understand how cultural differences play into how conflict is managed and
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Literature Review: Organizational Conflict Management
negated (Gonçalves et al., 2016). Conflict management is not a one style fits all approach as
leaders need to consider who the parties involved are, such as looking at their personality or the
style used may also be associated with the type of power a person holds, the influence they have
over their follower or peer (Pfajfar et al., 2019). Of course, the conflict a leader has may also be
for a good reason. As discussed earlier, not all conflict is for negative reasons, some need to
happen.
In the military, quality assurance plays a major role in a maintenance organization. They
are the section tasked with ensuring technicians follow technical data. Some may find the
interpersonal conflict between themselves and the quality assurance personnel and see it as a
growth opportunity, which benefits the organization (Chen et al., 2019). Other times, conflict can
have a detrimental impact on the organization. Detrimental impacts on workers can be a sign of a
problem that leaders will need to face (Chen et al., 2019). Leaders face these impacts by using
one of many types of conflict management styles, but we focus on the following three: Avoiding,
Mediating, and Collaboration.
Avoiding
Avoiding conflict does sound like it should not be a style of conflict management, but it is
an important one. Some personality types do not like to engage with others or even cultural
upbringings can cause parties to avoid conflict by withdrawing from the situation or even
suppressing the urge to engage with the other party (Park & Nawakitphaitoon, 2018). In the
military, we see avoiding conflict most often when junior enlisted members engage with senior
enlisted. They may fear reprisal or retribution from the higher ranked person, so they avoid the
situation altogether.
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Literature Review: Organizational Conflict Management
Mediating
As a leader, you may be tasked with being the middle party, the unbiased member needed
to resolve conflict. This is when mediating conflict management styles come into play. Mediating
conflict should allow the resolution to benefit both parties rather than only one member and
precluding the others, a win-lose solution (Mukherjee & Upadhyay, 2019). As a mediator in the
military, the resolution should start with what is best for the military, then work down to the
closest possible outcome to both parties.
Collaboration
Being in the military as a leader, the most often recommended way to resolve conflict is
to find a resolution that has a win-win solution for the parties involved. That style of conflict
management is collaboration when parties exchange information and find a mutual agreement
(Kay & Skarlicki, 2020). A great example that leaders in the Air Force see is reprimanding
personnel for failing their physical fitness tests. The goal of the leader is to have the person pass
their test while for the member it is to become more fit. As a leader, and using collaboration, the
resolution could be for the leader to coach the other person in fitness as maybe they do not know
enough about it to maintain a healthy workout schedule. The win for the leader is the person
becomes more fit while the win for the failing member is they pass their follow-up tests.
Recommendations
Because conflict will happen, leaders and managers that are more prepared to tackle and
resolve conflict will be more successful, leading to a quicker resolution. Understanding if the
conflict is functional or dysfunctional as well as the cause of the conflict is what the starting
point of resolving the conflict should be. Next, be prepared to dig into who the conflict affects,
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Literature Review: Organizational Conflict Management
look at personality types, cultural backgrounds, the situation at hand, this will allow the leader or
manager to determine the best conflict management style to use. For an organization to run
smoothly, the personnel need to operate harmoniously, which provides a better understanding to
one another on the issues at hand are and how each party is affected (Nguyen, 2019).
Not every conflict resolution will be an easy task to handle. The parties involved need to
be ready to face obstacles that stand in front of getting to the resolution. An important step in
resolving conflict in the face of obstacles is to stay on track, do not become distracted, and do not
let egos win. As a leader, stress the importance of keeping emotions in check and the end goal of
reaching a mutual resolution. If needed, pause and step away before allowing emotions to go
unchecked and reflect on the goals needed from resolving a conflict.
Conclusion
Conflict is part of an organization and something leaders and managers need to be
prepared to manage. Conflict will happen between peers, between leadership teams, and even
between the organization and its stakeholders but should not be feared. Conflict can be used as a
learning tool, finding new processes, or getting bad ones out into the open. The important area
for leaders is to understand if the conflict is functional and dysfunctional and what the cause of
the conflict is so they may be better prepared to manage and resolve the conflict.
Once conflict has been identified, the parties involved need to come together to resolve
the conflict. Build trust around the organization that conflict can be resolved as a win-win
solution for the parties involved, ease the tension that may come with conflict. Provide a clear
understanding of the many options for the parties must resolve conflict, such as collaborating or
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having a mediator. Ensure they are aware that while avoiding conflict could help the conflict not
to escalate, they should still find a resolution that satisfies all parties.
An organization that works in harmony with one another will work smarter and make
processes easier. They will understand one another and what their roles are and how each plays a
critical part within an organization. As a leader, showing communication is the key to getting
information out to resolve conflict quickly and effectively will help others as well. Followers
look to their leaders for guidance and examples to follow, and as such, by following the
recommendations, they will be better prepared to tackle any conflict.
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Literature Review: Organizational Conflict Management
References
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Gonçalves, G., Reis, M., Sousa, C., Santos, J., Orgambídez-Ramos, A., & Scott, P. (2016).
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