Managing Workplace Conflict

a difference in wants, needs, or expectations. The workplace is always filled with people who have differences of want, needs, desires and expectations. So, definitely conflicts will occur. These conflicts can be an asset to the organization. They may be opportunities for creativity, collaboration, and improvement. It is an unavoidable component of human activity (Brahnam et al., 2005, 204) that may be viewed as a situation in which the concerns of two or more individuals appear to be incompatible (Darling & Fogliasso, 1999, 394), and which tends to occur when individuals or groups perceive that others are preventing them from attaining their goals (Antonioni, 1998, 336). More broadly, conflict is an interactive process manifested in incompatibility, disagreement, or dissonance within or between social entities (i.e., individual, group, organization, etc.) (Rahim, 2002, 207). Conflict can be thought as a question or series of questions that need an answer or multiple answers. To solve a problem one needs to come up with an answer and to achieve this they must apply sound problem-solving skills. Interpersonal employee differences or organizational problems or a mix of both cause workplace conflicts. The supervisor or manager needs to discern what type of conflict he is dealing with before coming up with a resolution strategy.