How Can Conflict Benefit Your Organization?

One of the most common misconceptions among managers is that disagreements within their organizations are always bad, but by understanding the benefits of conflict within your firm, you can unlock a plethora of untapped creativity and problem solving skills. When managed effectively, conflict can give birth to a new level of organizational cohesiveness and collaboration. The key to making this happen is to know the difference between functional and dysfunctional conflict and making sure your organization is dealing with disagreements in the right way.

Perspectives on conflict in the workplace can be broken down into three categories: the traditional approach, the behavioral approach, and the interactionist approach. The traditional view, popular in the early twentieth century, holds firmly to the fact that conflict is destructive and should be avoided at all costs. By adopting this view, organizations miss out on the many benefits of conflict that can be brought to their team members. The behavioral approach, which emerged around the 1940's, recognized that conflict was inevitable in the workplace. This mode of thinking accepted conflict as natural, but modern management theory has taken this thinking one step further with the interactionist approach.

Interactionist theories of conflict don't just accept conflict, they embrace it and the benefits it can bring. For a successful and developing company, this is where your thinking should lie. The first step in effectively managing conflict with this perspective is to determine and control where the source of conflict arises. When disagreements arise about how projects should be carried out, objectives should be fulfilled, and long-term goals should be reached, conflict has the power to spark creativity and enhance problem-solving.

Let's look at a practical example. You and I have been assigned to coordinate the launch of our company's new product, the Gizmo 3000. You believe that the most effective strategy is to target our existing customers. If we focus on current owners of previous versions of the Gizmo, you reason, it will be easy to stress the benefits of an upgrade and push the new product. From my perspective, it makes more sense to go after new customers first and try to build our customer base. The 3000 has a number of brand-new features, I say, that will make it perfect for drawing in new users.

We now stand at a pivotal point. In an organization that is conflict-averse, the solution may be to simply pick one of our strategies and carry it out. This is dangerous, however, because each solution has only been crafted by one individual and neither have benefited from a collaborative development process. Additionally, whoever's choice isn't selected may harbor negative feelings and not devote themselves fully to the endeavor. Letting each of us go our own way also isn't maximizing productivity, because we have lost the benefits of working as a team.

The ideal solution is to embrace our conflict, not try to whisk it away. So, we continue having meetings and discussing our points of view. One of the most important elements of managing conflict and reaping its benefits now becomes clear. Conflict can manifest itself in two forms: task conflict and relationship conflict. Task conflict concerns itself with overall goals and how to reach them. Relationship conflict focuses on the individuals involved in the process. Arguing about tasks looks like a business meeting; arguing about individuals usually ends up looking like a daytime talk show. We make sure to always keep our disagreements about the task at hand and not let personal judgments or attacks get between us.

After a number of meetings (a few of which may have been slightly uncomfortable) we reach a solution neither of us had previously considered. We decide to implement a referral program where existing customers receive discounts on the new model when they get new individuals to purchase it as well. Both of are perspectives are incorporated in the solution and the new strategy goes off without a hitch.

Understanding the benefits of functional conflict and teaching your organization to embrace it can tap into problem-solving potential that has the power to transform your company. Manage it effectively, make sure the disagreements don't become personal, and don't be afraid to sit through some tough discussions. You will be surprised at the results.

Sources:
Robbins, Stephen and Timothy Judge. Organizational Behavior. 13^th ed. Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. 2009.