Introduction: 

Everyone would have had experience with the Conflicts arising in an organization. Conflicts generally result in heated arguments and bad emotions. Many people view conflicts in an organization as degrading, energy consuming and waste of resource. On the contrary, conflicts can be very useful, provided the energy in it is directed positively for the development of the organization. 

Conflicts arising in an organization can be looked in 2 different angles:

•  The Good
•  The Bad

It depends on the way the conflict is viewed and dealt that it is good or bad.  

The Bad view of Conflict: 

This view of conflict is seen in many organizations where the notion is that the goal of an organization can be achieved only by giving structure to the organization which completely defines the role and responsibility of every member. This traditional view of organization will view conflict as an evil, and instead of solving the conflict it will only end up suppressing it.  

For a person who views traditionally, a conflict is an infection to the organization reflecting on the bad structure and management of the organization. A manager with such a view will end up giving solution like diversifying job responsibilities, shifting the authorities, separating the conflicting members, and increasing the central power or discipline. This kind of an approach will not yield permanent solutions. 

This bad view of conflict or an organization tends to create many problems. If the so called Structure of the organization is valued more than the conflict it will end up in siding away the conflict and suppressing the reason for the conflict. This kind of an organization is one that does not have innovation and change. Many government organizations work in a very disorderly context, thus allowing the room for a constant change and adaptation. Suppressing the conflict will have many bad effects including missing the positive aspect of disagreement - that is looking at the other side of the coin. Innovation and better decision making are lost in the process.       

The Ugly is an effect of this kind of a bad view of conflict. 

  

The Good View of Conflict: 

This is more modern view of conflict and an organization in sharp contrast to the above mentioned traditional view. In this view a conflict is taken up positively and it is used to develop members of the organization by improving their knowledge and skills. It results in better performance of the members and gives wide opportunity for change and innovation.  

This kind of an approach believes the success of an organization relays in creativity, responsiveness and adaptability rather than structure, clarity and orderliness. The main aspect of this approach is that various views of the same issue can be understood and the best way of doing things can be noted and employed. 

Another important functional view of conflict is that it provides the manager a feedback of the things going on. A personal conflict can also give a feedback about the member of the organization. Thus a manager can use a conflict to take better decisions.  

Thus if you have good and flexible view of conflict it will provide you with lots of information that will help in the better management. The information will also help in innovation. So it is advisable to learn to manage conflicts rather than suppress them. 

The Ugly Effect: 

This is the result of a decision taken by a member of an organization, especially the manager who has a bad view of conflict. It is a result of putting away of the conflict, in situations where it is impossible to do so. Some characteristics of organization having the Ugly effect are: 

• Conflicts run for years without a solution 
• People don't intend to resolve the conflict
• People complaining each other in private rather than finding a solution
• Members don't work for the common goal but keep trying to protect themselves

 

Every member of an organization is equally responsible for the ugly effect of a conflict. Generally the deciding authority or the manager is blamed for such an effect, but it is the result of all the members of the organization rather than a single one, whatever may be his position in the hierarchy. It is the joint responsibility of all the members of the organization including the managers to reduce the ugly effects of the conflict. Everyone should try to direct the future conflicts in a positive effective force for innovation.  

 

The Ugly Strategies: 

To better manage the ugly effects of conflicts and to increase the frequency of positive outcome you must understand some of the Ugly strategies that can be followed. Any member of an organization, at any level can adopt any of the following ugly strategy thus causing havoc to the organization. 

1. Inactive: 

Non action or doing nothing about the conflict is a very dangerous strategy. In very rare occasions non action can have positive results, but it has to be an outcome of careful analysis of the situation. Neglecting the conflict will only increase tension in the organization and will only escalate the conflict. A manager can take this decision due to fear of facing anger of his employees.  

2. Administrative orbit: 

This is more dangerous than the Inactive strategy. Here the manager acknowledges the conflict but fails to give a solution. He simply puts away the conflict by saying "the issue is being dealt". Documenting performance, canceling meeting, collecting extra data, documenting performance are some the examples of strategy people use that follow administrative orbiting.  

3. Maintain Secrecy: 

This is more commonly seen among the people in higher hierarchy. Even after hearing to the conflict they try to maintain it as a secret so that other members don't come to know about it. Though it might give as temporary solution once the conflict comes to the light it will have bad consequences. 

4. Law and Order: 

It is the worst possible ugly strategy followed by the managers or employees. Here they try to exercise their power of authority bringing law and order into issue and force the conflicting member to give it up. This will lead to lack of harmony and will again bounce back more seriously. 

Conclusions: 

Conflicts are common in every organization. It is the view of the conflict that determines the effect of it. Bad view of the conflict results in suppression of the conflict, creating lack of opportunity for a change. But a Good view opens the door for innovation, more ideas and better management. A bad view decision can lead to a Ugly consequence of the conflict. Ugly strategies mentioned above should be completely avoided by all the members for a better development of the organization.