Conflict and Power: Assessing Power Imbalances Essay

Although many of us go great lengths to avoid it, sometimes it is just inevitable. People in the workplace setting will always have different ideas, values, and attitudes than others around them. A conflict can arouse in any given setting, and the affect it can have on those involved can either be negative or positive. Depending on the approach and strategies utilized during and after a conflict will determine the result of the conflict. Conflict helps people recognize legitimate differences within an organization or profession and serves as a powerful motivator to improve performance and effectiveness, as well as satisfaction (CCN, 2017). This paper will identify and explore a particular recurring conflict in the

Whether you work for a manufacturing facility or the health care system, conflict is unavoidable. As a manager, you must learn to deal with conflict in the workplace. In this paper I will describe the different styles of conflict management. I will also discuss my preferred conflict management style with examples of its use. Lastly, I will describe a situation at work and how a conflict management strategy could have improved that situation.

Conflict results from real or perceived opposition to one’s values, actions, desires or general interests. Conflicts may occur internally or externally between individuals or groups; conflict within a team environment can cause frustration, and occasionally anger. However, conflict resolution can also often generate positive results for the team. Conflict management skills remain in demand; conflict may be managed successfully by reaching an agreement that satisfies the needs of both the individual(s) and the team as a whole

A basic view about conflict is that it is a bad and destructive. However, conflict is not something bad at all times, sometimes if a conflict’s outcome can increase group performance and improve the quality of decision, according to Organizational Behavior, it is considered as a functional conflict outcome. Conflicts can help solve problems better and increase the understanding of the team. “Remember the Titans” is seen to have a functional conflict outcome, which is why they won every game they played.

The potential for conflicts would consist of pointing fingers and judging without investigating. A person might already know who the employee is that started the problem and approach the person, unprofessionally. The process needs to be redefined and no one should be singled out as the culprit. Furthermore, a conflict may ignite if communication is not open. Hence, one person might feel an idea or strategy is not helpful to reach the goal. Although, good teamwork creates a positive environment. If there is a heated disagreement, it can lower the mood, and demotivate the rest of the team. However, according to Cheesebro, (2010) Conflict is healthy in certain situations, because it will bring a team together. Research has shown, employees who feel part of a strong team are happier and more productive. An acronym for team

Throughout the world`s history, conflict and power has being an important topic to be discussed and analyzed among scholars and researchers. Conflict and power can be found in several areas and levels such as colonization process, wars, inside an organization, and even in our own family, and it can have political, economic, social and cultural reasons. However, there are different types of power such as Reward, Coercive, Referent, Expert and Legitimate, and three perspectives of conflict as Traditional, Interpretive and Critical. Based on these concepts, this paper will explain the conflict and the resolution pointed in a case study, then it will identify the type of power and the perspective of conflict presented in the case, and lastly it will relate the case study with the cooperation and competition model.

Conflict is defined by Wilmot and Hocker (2007, p9) as “an expressed struggle between at least two interdependent parties who perceive incompatible goals, scarce resources, and interference from others in achieving their goals”. Many people try their best to avoid conflict, but conflict is an unavoidable factor in team work. The main causes of conflict in our team might have been the different cultures and personal attitudes. For example, the teacher required all students to have a meeting at a weekend in order to prepare for a performance. Most of our members did their best to

The conflict that is flexible and encourages creativity, innovation or open-mindedness can create a healthy work environment. The adaptive conflict has the opportunity to challenge group thinking. It can push a dynamic group to create a different paradigm of a business. The further new thinking one has, the more innovation the team can be. A system that has the ability to manage and encourage honorable conflict by discovering and opening new doors can be career

“One of the tenets of this book is that all conflicts are about two issues: power and self-esteem.”(Hocker,J.L. & Wilmot, W.W., 2014). Thought, interpersonal relationships, and knowledge form our mental image of how we view or regard ourselves, consequently how view ourselves determines our conflict engagement method. Personal power, as it relates to the authority, control and the influence we exert in an organization, is also a predictor of our conflict engagement method. From our text, we can carefully conclude that our self view and perceived organizational influence contribute to our participation in conflict.

While conflict can be a healthy part of an organization, conflict managed poorly has significant impact on an organization. What further exacerbates this issue is when there is an imbalance of power. This paper examines the relationship of conflict and power. It will address how imbalance of power can impede one’s efforts in managing conflict in the workplace. It will also identify ideas on how to integrate ways to mediate conflict into the culture. Lastly, the paper will use a case study to illustrate these concepts.

Many authors have highlighted the inevitability of conflicts on the other hand it is said that disputes can be prevented or at least can be minimized through proper management. Conflicts are ubiquitous where ever a large number of people are involved i.e. where the human relationships proliferate (Kumaraswamy, 1997). People are the principle resource for any commercial project today. Different project managers, engineers, surveyors belonging to different organizations and having different needs, goals and each of them looking to maximize their benefits are brought together to form a team. Because of these differences in the individuals the conflicts and disputes become inevitable in a project. Conflicts are generally perceived as a negative term but it has both positive and negative sides. Positive conflicts can be helpful to generate new ideas, make innovations, helps people to ‘Be real’ and creative. But this conflict has to be maintained so that it does not get out of control and bring about dysfunctional consequences. There are large numbers of potential sources that makes conflict inevitable in a project. Some of them are explained below: - (scribd)

Teams without conflict tend to be less innovative due to the creative function of conflict. Conflict’s creative function comes from the necessity of varying perspectives to reach a consensus. Indeed, “teams tend to make higher quality decisions when dissent exists about the wisest course of action” (Sidle, ρ.75). Dissent and conflict forces team members to think outside of the normal realm of experience and knowledge to realize a collaborative solution.

Conflict is inescapable, having the ability to recognize, understand, and resolve conflicts are important in both personal and professional lives. Myatt (2012) states that conflict in the workplace is unavoidable; if left unresolved, workplace conflict may result in loss of productivity and the creation of barriers that can inhibit creativity, cooperation, and collaboration. It is vital to embrace conflict and address problems through effective conflict-resolution tactics because if not handled appropriately, conflict will escalate. “If not handled properly, conflict may significantly affect employee morale, increase turnover, and even result in litigation, ultimately affecting the overall well-being of

Conflict is an occurrence in virtually any organization, regardless of how large or small it may be. It is exceedingly difficult to get people to agree with one another about everything all the time, especially when they are competing for the same resources (Tsang, 2012, p. 84). This difficult is naturally exacerbated when there are stratifications between people, which frequently occurs in organizations. Organizations may have different categories of employers such as those in sale, marketing, finance, human resources, etc. The three main views of conflict which also play a significant part in the resolving of conflict are the traditional, the human relations, and interactionist views. There are points of similarities and differences between all of these views.

The important issue, however, is not whether or not a conflict exists, but how it is handled once it is identified. Conflict can be detrimental to the team effort when it is not addressed quickly, but allowed to grow and widen the gap between those team members whose opinions differ from each other. This tension can lead to decreased productivity and low team spirits, which can negatively affect the entire organization. On the other hand, if conflict is identified and addressed by following a structured process and by involving everyone affected by the conflict, it can result in personal progress for all team members. Another benefit of this progress is the discovery of an actual solution to the initial problem is derived from the conflict.