Conflict

Because the concept of conflict denotes a social phenomenon, it has multiple definitions linked to individual perspectives. Some generally accepted definitions in this regard are listed below.

• Disagreement or friction arising from differences in thoughts, ideas, and actions between individuals (Marquis and Huston, 2000),
• A social phenomenon resulting from differences in interests, goals, preferences, value judgments, and perceptions between individuals or groups, leading to negative behaviors such as unrest, discomfort, stress, hostility, and quarrels, where one party’s gain necessitates the other’s loss,
• A situation arising from the inability of individuals or groups to work together, thereby causing disruptions in activities,
• An interaction process in which incompatibility, disagreement, or disharmony emerges among or within social entities.

There are two main approaches to conflict: modern and traditional. These are presented in the table below.

^{Table on approaches to conflict.}

The causes of conflict are examined from two perspectives: organizational and personal/individual. Organizational causes include:

• Limited time and financial resources,
• Goals not being shared by all members,
• Unclear or undefined responsibilities within the organization,
• Lack of motivation and cohesion within teams, among other factors.

From the other perspective, personal/individual causes of conflict include:

• Prejudiced attitudes of individuals,
• Lack of trust,
• Differences in competency levels among employees,
• Deficiencies in communication skills in interpersonal relationships,
• Perceptions of unfairness and inequality among individuals, among other factors.

Fundamentally, the causes of conflict stem from individuals, emotions, thoughts, ideas, behaviors, and attitudes, while within team collaboration, they arise from cohesion, communication, dedicated work, and available resources.

Conflicts occurring in society, systems, and organizations are classified and analyzed in various ways. The types of conflict at the individual level are as follows:

• Interpersonal Conflicts: Conflicts that occur between two individuals, arising from differences between them.

• Intrapersonal Conflicts: These are internal struggles within individuals involving their thoughts, ideas, values, principles, and emotions. This type of conflict is also referred to as psychological conflict.

• Intragroup Conflicts: These arise from disharmony, misunderstandings, and inequities among members within a team or organization.

• Intergroup Conflicts: These occur between different groups within an organization or system. They may arise between groups that are interdependent and part of the same process, or between groups engaged in competition with each other.

Intragroup conflict types can be classified as follows:

• Relationship Conflicts: These occur within groups when personal issues, values, and emotional matters come into conflict among members. Relationship conflicts are considered one of the most significant sources of time loss in organizations, as individuals tend to be highly insistent on expressing their views when they believe they are right. Additionally, relationship conflicts can hinder individuals’ dedicated work and sense of responsibility.

• Task Conflicts: These arise from disagreements regarding the content of assigned tasks, allocation of resources, and decision-making processes. Task conflict has a positive aspect: it can lead to the emergence of new ideas and improved quality of decision-making.

• Process Conflict: These occur within teams regarding how tasks are assigned and managed. Potential negative outcomes of process conflict include decreased morale and motivation, reduced commitment to the work environment, lower personal performance, diminished capacity for dedicated work, and potential difficulties in achieving organizational goals.

Another perspective categorizes conflicts as vertical and horizontal. Vertical conflict arises from hierarchical relationships within an organization’s command structure. Managers play a significant role in vertical conflicts, influencing both their occurrence and management management of conflict.

Horizontal conflict occurs among individuals at the same organizational level. Like other types of conflict, when well-managed, it can enhance performance through healthy competition; when poorly managed, it can lead to negative outcomes.

The subject of conflict is crucial in its resolution. Conflicts at the action or procedural level are easier to resolve; however, when they escalate to the principle level, resolution becomes more difficult. In such cases, it may be beneficial for one party to make a concession to bring the conflict back from the principle level to the action or procedural level.

When examining the parties involved in conflict from a personal perspective, some examples of how individuals behave in conflict situations based on personality traits are provided below.

• Individuals with passive, dependent, submissive, and obedient personality traits tend to avoid conflict with others.
• Individuals who have a positive attitude toward others, are capable of abstract thinking, open to ideas, and tolerant of ambiguity are expected to lean more toward cooperation.
• Individuals with authoritarian, aggressive, defensive, prejudiced, ambitious, rule-bound, status-oriented, and low stress tolerance traits are expected to engage more frequently in conflict, avoid cooperation, and cause conflicts they are involved in to escalate rapidly.

Understanding how personality traits influence outcomes is important. In particular, being able to predict how individuals will behave in conflict situations can accelerate the resolution process.

Various management models offer temporary solutions to conflicts in organizations. These are methods applied during the conflict and designed to provide short-term relief.

Avoidance is defined as an individual or team distancing themselves from a choice they believe will cause them greater harm. For example, an employee who is unhappy in their job but cannot find comparable pay elsewhere may choose to remain in their current position, which is considered avoidance.

From an organizational perspective, avoidance refers to managers ignoring conflicts between employees. It is assumed that employees will resolve their own problems over time, and decisions regarding the conflict are delayed. While this approach can sometimes help resolve conflict, it can also intensify it and lead to more negative outcomes.

The accommodation strategy involves behaviors aimed at satisfying the other party by disregarding differences. It can also be described as fully accepting the other party’s demands during a conflict. This strategy is often employed when an individual believes that expressing their own needs would escalate the conflict further.

Compromise is defined as a strategy in which the parties to a conflict reach a mutual solution by making reciprocal concessions. It is a strategy in which there is no clear winner or loser, and balancing personal and shared interests is essential. While it achieves agreement between both parties and is less risky than accommodation, it does not generate major problems afterward. However, it is still classified among temporary resolution strategies because it does not resolve the root cause of the conflict but only provides a temporary agreement that addresses the conflict only for the moment.

The smoothing strategy involves emphasizing the need for long-term cooperation and its benefits to the parties, while downplaying the significance and urgency of the situation. Through this behavior, the manager encourages conflicting parties to focus on unity and solidarity rather than highlighting their differences.

This strategy involves the manager using the authority granted by their position to resolve conflicts. The manager implements a strategy without considering the interests of either party, and it is enforced upon the parties. When used frequently, this method can reduce employee morale and motivation.

Management models that provide permanent solutions to conflicts are highly beneficial in the long term, aiming to resolve issues at their root rather than merely suppressing them temporarily.

This is the opposite of avoidance and involves actively addressing conflict in a positive manner. It is defined as the manager bringing the parties together to jointly identify the causes of disagreement and then collaboratively finding a solution. When management decides to gather the necessary information from within the organization, it must create an environment conducive to resolution. To this end, it must establish flexible authority delegation, build infrastructure for innovation, and implement a multidirectional communication and information system that allows free flow of ideas.

This approach is achieved by introducing new resources within the organization. If conflict arises from material or immaterial constraints, management can resolve it by increasing available resources.

This method is based on altering and restructuring the organization’s structure to eliminate conflicts. Changes occur through modifications to employees’ job descriptions. In this context, improved interactions and mutual understanding among employees can lead to positive outcomes.

This approach involves removing individuals involved in conflict from the organization, either fully or partially. It may mean completely removing an individual from the organization or retaining them but redirecting them to a different process. For example, if two managers in a project clash due to overlapping authority, assigning one of them to a different project exemplifies this approach.

The primary method for changing behavior in conflict situations is educational efforts aimed at influencing behavior and beliefs. Individuals causing conflict are placed under managerial supervision for training, and their progress is monitored. Ultimately, their responses and attitudes toward similar future situations are assessed to determine appropriate solutions. This approach aims to develop individuals intellectually, end the conflict, and prepare them for how to behave in future situations. Relevant training examples include:

• Sensitivity Training: A training program designed to analyze individuals’ emotions and behaviors to improve interpersonal relationships. Organization members gather in a free and open environment under the guidance of a professional behavioral scientist to discuss their interaction processes. As a result, they learn to understand their own thoughts in relation to others’ and explain the causes of their behaviors.

• Stress Management Training: Stress creates negative atmospheres both within individuals and within their teams. In this context, “stress management” training is highly valuable as it teaches individuals how to manage stress effectively.

• Interaction Analysis: Used to examine individuals’ communication and interactions to identify related problems. Subsequently, potential solutions can be explored.

In this approach, existing active goals are replaced by new, shared objectives. Sometimes destructive conflicts in organizations arise because employees view events solely through their own perspectives and responsibilities, focusing narrowly on their own departments. To address this, a common and overarching goal must be established to guide employees.

Positive consequences of conflict on individuals include:

• Individuals may experience increased self-confidence through sharing their ideas and generating solutions during conflicts.
• Through exposure to behaviors during conflict and being exposed to others’ behaviors, individuals, aided by training for conflict resolution, embark on a path of self-improvement. This is primarily a mental/psychological development. Enhancements in empathy, respect for freedom of thought, and similar qualities positively impact organizational processes.
• The development of empathy improves individuals’ ability to understand each other better and reduces self-centeredness.
• When experiencing conflict, individuals enhance themselves academically by exchanging ideas with others or with experts in different fields.

Negative consequences include:

• Conflicts experienced by individuals often lead to chronic stress accumulation. Stress can negatively affect individuals and, consequently, the organization. If stress management is inadequate, it can also harm individuals’ health.
• Individuals experiencing stress due to conflict begin to adopt unhealthy lifestyles and feel worse about themselves. In particular, anxiety and depression felt at the end of the day are direct negative outcomes of conflict.
• Naturally held thoughts, ideas, attitudes, and preferences may, depending on the duration of conflict, lead individuals to exhibit hostile behaviors toward each other, such as anger, resentment, disrespect, and verbal arguments.

• Cognitive conflicts play a significant role in helping team members access new ideas, thoughts, and information, thereby enhancing organizational creativity and innovation capacity.
• When individuals comply with decisions and work toward them, organizational members’ job satisfaction increases, creating a more successful work environment.
• Another positive organizational effect of conflict is reducing or preventing groupthink. For example, during a task, a team member with a different opinion may avoid voicing it due to social pressure, leading to reduced team performance.
• External threats to the organization can motivate employees to improve their team’s performance, directly enhancing team effectiveness.
• A tolerant attitude toward customers and increased customer satisfaction are possible when conflicts are resolved positively. This occurs especially when conflicts arise from customer expectations.
• Conflict can also affect the distribution of responsibilities within a team. Clearly defining individuals’ roles and tasks within the team can prevent conflicts from arising.
• Individuals affected by conflict may negatively impact their team’s performance. A decline in job satisfaction among individuals is very common. Similarly, if an individual has problems with another person in the organization, issues regarding loyalty and commitment to the organization may arise.
• An individual’s sense of peace at work is proportional to their trust in the environment and people around them. A person or group whose trust has been shaken will experience a decline in motivation.

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As shown in the graph above, an increase in the level of conflict initially has a positive effect on organizational performance. However, once it exceeds the optimal level, it leads to a significant decline in performance.