Conflict Management

Conflict management in organizations is the process of aligning individual expectations, goals, and relationships with organizational expectations, purpose, and culture to produce a healthy balance of task and relationship concerns. Conflict often has negative connotations, such as boycotts, protests, office politics between the powerful and the powerless, or other destructive conflict behaviors that motivate organizational leaders to suppress or deny conflict. Alternatively, research suggests that successful organizations engage in productive conflict management to strengthen interpersonal relationships, improve organizational culture, and increase productivity, without sacrificing organizational integrity. The sources of conflict in organizations are plentiful and sometimes complex. However, conflicts provide multiple opportunities to grow personally, develop stronger relationships, and create an organizational culture of peacemaking and productive conflict resolution. The negative connotations of conflict can ...