Internal Conflict In The Workplace

Conflict can occur in all aspects of our life, including the work place. Conflict can occur between co-workers, business partners, and even between a company and their client. (“Isolate Holdouts While Attempting to Settle Workplace Conflicts”) Conflict is defined as “the process in which one party perceives that its interest are being opposed or negatively affected by another party.” (McShane & Von Glinow, 2013) A conflict is ultimately based on a difference in perception. One person may think that their way of completing a task within an organization is the right way and a co-worker may perceive that that way of completing a task isn’t correct. This in turn can cause a conflict within the organization between those two people. There are two types of conflict that can occur. One type of conflict is positive conflict or constructive conflict. A positive conflict occurs when the “conflict is aimed at an issue, not at a particular party.” (McShane & Von Glinow, 2013) This issue …show more content…
Management will meet with the individuals involved in the conflict and set or reset expectations with the individuals involved. Management also listens to both sides of those involved in the conflict in order to help better understand what is going on and figure out the best resolution. “Listen helps get to the bottom of what is really going on.” (Diamond, 2014) If the direct manager does not see a change in the action causing the conflict, they can then seek additional help from their manager or managers in other areas. Management tends to bounce ideas off of each other, especially with conflict resolution, as another manager may have already dealt with a similar situation and may have a good solution to put in place to prevent the same type of conflict occurring again. (A.Strieter, personal communication, July 14th,