MSG Team's other articles

12711 Change Management – Meaning and Important Concepts

The business landscape of the 21st century is characterized by rapid change brought about due to technological, economic, political and social changes. It is no longer the case that the managers and employees of firms in this decade can look forward to more of the same every year. In fact, the pace of change is […]

12130 Interpersonal Relationship Skills/Qualities

A strong association between individuals sharing similar interest and goal is called as interpersonal relationship. It is important to have trustworthy colleagues around at the workplace. One needs to know how to interact with fellow workers. Let us go through some interpersonal skills an individual needs to inculcate for a healthy relationship with coworkers. Stay […]

10523 Strategies for Organization Diversity

Let us go through few strategies for organizational diversity: Treat all individuals equally irrespective of their designation, back ground, community and religion. It hardly matters to the organization whether the individual concerned is a Christian, Muslim, Hindu or a Sikh. What matters is his willingness to learn and passion to perform. Rules and regulations ought […]

10162 Lessons from Cutting Edge Research on Gender Diversity

Introduction Statistics show that only 49 percent of all Fortune 1000 companies have women on their senior management and that too restricted to one or two of them. This is also the case with 45 percent of boards that have minimal presence of women on the boards. However, recent cutting edge research has shown that […]

12429 The Behavioural Approach and its application in Management field

The Behavioural Approach came into existence during early twentieth century as a response to the then much discussed about Psychoanalytic theory. Since, Psychoanalytic theory lacked scientific approach and could not be subjected to experimental techniques for making predictions. On the other hand, behaviourists reckoned that different behavioural predispositions can be explained scientifically. Behavioural approaches have […]

Search with tags

  • No tags available.

Whenever two individuals opine in different ways, a conflict arises. In a layman’s language conflict is nothing but a fight either between two individuals or among group members.

No two individuals can think alike and there is definitely a difference in their thought process as well as their understanding. Disagreements among individuals lead to conflicts and fights.

Conflict arises whenever individuals have different values, opinions, needs, interests and are unable to find a middle way.

Let us understand conflict in a better way

    Tim and Joe were working in the same team and were best of friends. One fine day, they were asked to give their inputs on a particular project assigned to them by their superior.

    There was a major clash in their understanding of the project and both could not agree to each other’s opinions. Tim wanted to execute the project in a particular way which did not go well with Joe. The outcome of the difference in their opinions was a conflict between the two and now both of them just can’t stand each other.

    The dissimilarity in the interest, thought process, nature and attitude of Tim and Joe gave rise to a conflict between the two.

What is Conflict

Conflict is defined as a clash between individuals arising out of a difference in thought process, attitudes, understanding, interests, requirements and even sometimes perceptions.

A conflict results in heated arguments, physical abuses and definitely loss of peace and harmony. A conflict can actually change relationships. Friends can become foes as a result of conflict just as in the case of Tim and Joe.

A Conflict not only can arise between individuals but also among countries, political parties and states as well.

A small conflict not controlled at the correct time may lead to a large war and rifts among countries leading to major unrest and disharmony.

It is a well known fact that neighbours are our biggest assets as they always stand by us whenever we need them.

Let us take the example of India and China or for that matter India and Pakistan.

    India and Pakistan are twin sisters as there is hardly any difference in the culture, religion, climatic conditions, eating habits of the people staying in both the countries, but still the two countries are always at loggerheads and the reason is actually unknown.

    Small issues between the two countries have triggered a conflict between them which has now become a major concern for both the countries.

Misunderstandings as well as ego clashes also lead to conflicts. Every individual has a different way to look at things and react to various situations.

    Mike wanted to meet Jason at the church. He called up Jason and following was the conversation between them.

    Mike - “Jason, I want to meet you tomorrow at 9”

    Jason tried Mike’s number a several times but could not speak to him. Mike waited the whole day for Jason and finally there was a major fight between them.

    For Mike 9 meant 9 in the morning whereas Jason misunderstood it for 9 in the evening and hence a major conflict between the two.

It is always advisable to be very clear and very specific to avoid misunderstandings and conflicts.

Any feedback or suggestion by an individual might not go very well with other individual leading to severe displeasure. It might hurt the ego of the other person resulting in a fight and major disagreement.

Phases of conflict

A conflict has five phases.

  1. Prelude to conflict - It involves all the factors which possibly arise a conflict among individuals.

    Lack of coordination, differences in interests, dissimilarity in cultural, religion, educational background all are instrumental in arising a conflict.

  2. Triggering Event - No conflict can arise on its own. There has to be an event which triggers the conflict.

      Jenny and Ali never got along very well with each other. They were from different cultural backgrounds, a very strong factor for possibility of a conflict.

      Ali was in the mid of a presentation when Jenny stood up and criticized him for the lack of relevant content in his presentation, thus triggering the conflict between them.

  3. Initiation Phase - Initiation phase is actually the phase when the conflict has already begun.

    Heated arguments, abuses, verbal disagreements are all warning alarms which indicate that the fight is already on.

  4. Differentiation Phase - It is the phase when the individuals voice out their differences against each other. The reasons for the conflict are raised in the differentiation phase.

  5. Resolution Phase - A Conflict leads to nowhere. Individuals must try to compromise to some extent and resolve the conflict soon.

    The resolution phase explores the various options to resolve the conflict.

Conflicts can be of many types like verbal conflict, religious conflict, emotional conflict, social conflict, personal conflict, organizational conflict, community conflict and so on.

Conflicts and fighting with each other never lead to a conclusion. If you are not on the same line as the other individual, never fight, instead try your level best to sort out your differences.

Discussion is always a better and wiser way to adopt rather than conflicts.

Article Written by

MSG Team

An insightful writer passionate about sharing expertise, trends, and tips, dedicated to inspiring and informing readers through engaging and thoughtful content.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Articles

Conflict at Workplace – Why Conflict Should be Avoided ?

MSG Team

Conflict Management at Workplace

MSG Team

Conflict Management in Groups

MSG Team