Workplace Conflict

Workplace cultural conflict has at least three different varieties. Only one variety relates closely to the conception of culture most often described, the learned and shared values, beliefs, and behaviors of a community of interacting people. These communities of interacting people can refer to groups based on nationality, gender, ethnicity, education, class, ability, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, or other differences. Two other conceptions of culture are more specific to the workplace but less conspicuous. Clashes between the professional cultures of different occupations, or the organizational cultures of different departments, and conflicts between the ostensible culture of the organization as a whole and its stakeholders’ personal interpretations of that culture are common. For a variety of reasons, they are less commonly treated as forms of workplace ...