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Causes of Conflict:
Organizational Structure
Conflict tends to take different forms, depending upon the organizational structure. For example, if a company uses a matrix structure as its organizational form, it will have decisional conflict built-in, because the structure specifies that each manager report to two bosses.
Limited Resources
Resources such as money, time, and equipment are often scarce. Competition among people or departments for limited resources is a frequent cause of conflict. For example, cutting-edge laptops and gadgets such as a BlackBerry or iPhone are expensive resources that may be allocated to employees on a need-to-have basis in some companies. When a group of employees has access to such resources while others do not, conflict may arise among employees or between employees and management. While technical employees may feel that these devices are crucial to their productivity.
Task Interdependence
Another cause of conflict is task interdependence that is when the accomplishment of your goal requires reliance on others to perform their tasks. For example, if you’re tasked with creating advertising for your product, you’re dependent on the creative team to design the words and layout, the photographer or videographer to create the visuals, the media buyer to purchase the advertising space, and so on. The completion of your goal is dependent on others.
Incompatible Goals
Within an organization, incompatible goals often happen because of the different ways department managers are compensated. For example, if the company assigns the bonus based on the profitability of a sale, not just the dollar amount, the cost of the expediting would be subtracted from the value of the sale. It might still make sense to expedite the order if the sale is large enough, in which case both parties would support it. On the other hand, if the expediting counteract the value of the sale, neither party would be in favor of the added expense.
Personality Differences
Personality differences among co-workers are common. By understanding some fundamental differences in the way people think and act, we can better understand how others see the world. Knowing that these differences are natural and normal lets us anticipate and remove interpersonal conflict—it’s often not about “you” but simply a different way of seeing and behaving.
Communication Problems
Sometimes conflict arises simply out of a small, unintentional communication problem, such as lost e-mails or dealing with people who don’t return phone calls. For example, say that Rakesh always arrives late to all your meetings. You think he has a bad attitude, but you don’t really know what Rajesh’s attitude is. You do know, however, the effect that Rajesh’s behaviour has on you. You could say, “Rakesh, when you come late to the meeting, I feel like my time is wasted.” Rakesh can’t argue with that statement, because it is a fact of the impact of his behaviour on you. It’s indisputable because it is your reality. What Jeff can say is that he did not intend such an effect, and then you can have a discussion regarding the behaviour. This example shows how a lack of communication can lead to increased conflict.
