A conflict is a situation in which unacceptable differences in interests, expectations, values, or opinions occur between individuals, or between or in groups.
Definitions Depending on the source, there are different definitions for conflicts:
Disagreements, discrepancies, and frictions that occur when the actions or beliefs of one or more members of the group are unacceptable to one or more other group members and are rejected by them. An interaction between actors (individuals, groups, organizations, etc.), where at least one actor experiences incompatibilities in thinking/imagination/perception and/or feeling and/or wanting with the other actor (the other actors) in such a way that in realizing an impairment by another actor (the other actors) occurs. Contradictory interests that are represented by different people or groups of people and who are dependent on each other in achieving their interests (or at least believe this). Interactive processes that manifest themselves in incompatibility, disagreement, or dissonance within or between social entities. A state of tension that arises because there are irreconcilable contradictions between two or more parties with regard to a certain good. Activities that take place when conscious beings (individuals or groups) want to take actions that do not match their desires, needs, or obligations. Situations where hostile behavior occurs. Behavior that deliberately hinders the achievement of another's goals. State of objective incompatibility between values or goals.
Classification
In cases of intragroup conflict, there is a conflict between the overall goals of the general group, and the goals of at least one person in that group. The disagreements may also be examples of interpersonal conflict, a conflict between two or more people. Intrapersonal conflicts are conflicts occurring in an individual, for example a bad conscience or an identity conflict. Intergroup conflict is conflict between two or more groups.
Types More specific types of conflict include the following.
Content conflict occurs when individuals disagree about how to deal with a certain issue. This can be a good thing as it has the potential to stimulate discussion and increase motivation. Relationship conflict occurs when individuals disagree about one another. This relational conflicts decreases performance, loyalty, satisfaction and commitment, and causes individuals to be irritable, negative and suspicious. This stems from interpersonal incompatibilities. It is an awareness of frictions caused by frustrations, annoyance, and irritations. Relationship conflict is comparable to affective and cognitive conflict as defined by Amason and Pinkley, respectively. Process conflict refers to disagreement over the group's approach to the task, its methods, and its group process. They note that although relationship conflict and process conflict are harmful, task conflict is found to be beneficial since it encourages diversity of opinions, although care should be taken so it does not develop into a process or relationship conflict. Task conflict is related to disagreements in viewpoints and opinion about a particular task in group settings. It is associated with two interrelated and beneficial effects. The first is group decision quality. Task conflict encourages greater cognitive understanding of the issue being discussed. This leads to better decision making for the groups that use task conflict. The second is affective acceptance of group decisions. Task conflict can lead to increased satisfaction with the group decision and a desire to stay in the group. Affective conflict is an emotional conflict developed from interpersonal incompatibilities and disputes. It often produces suspicion, distrust, and hostility. Therefore, it is seen as a negative kind of conflict and an obstacle to those who experience it and is described as "dysfunctional." Cognitive conflict occurs during tasks and comes from a difference in perspective and judgement. It improves decision making and allows for the freer exchange of information between group members. Cognitive conflict is seen as a positive tension that promotes good group work.
Geography Conflicts can also be categorized geographically, as in the North-South conflict and the East-West conflict. Other examples are territorial conflicts such as the Kosovo War, the Iraq-Iran War, the Middle East conflict, the China-Taiwan conflict and the Korean Conflict.
Persons or Groups Likewise, conflicts can be categorised according to the people involved. Areas in which conflicts frequently occur are, for example, in the family, between parents, between siblings or between parents and children, among friends and acquaintances, in groups, in school, in nature, in business between companies, employers or employees, in science, between generations (generational conflict), between ethnic groups (ethnic conflict) or within or between states (see peace research).
The following are examples of conflict that could be either intragroup or intergroup conflict. Conflict of interest is involvement in multiple interests which could possibly corrupt the motivation or decision-making. Cultural conflict is a type of conflict that occurs when different cultural values and beliefs clash. Intellectual conflict is a subclass of cultural conflict. Ethnic conflict is conflict between two or more contending ethnic groups. Organizational conflict is discord caused by opposition of needs, values, and interests between people working together. Role conflict involves incompatible demands placed upon a person in a manner that makes accomplishing both troublesome. Social conflict is the struggle for supremacy or autonomy between social classes. Work–family conflict involves incompatible demands between the work and family roles of an individual.
Development
Conflicts are not static events in themselves, but develop a dynamic that can become uncontrollable in extreme cases. The course of a conflict can be divided into four phases:
Phase of conflict Name Description Phase I Latent phase The conflict situation emerges Phase II Conscience Both parties recognise the conflict Phase III Action Both parties react based on their thoughts and emotions Phase IV Interactions Both parties interact with alternating conflict modes
Escalation Beyond that a conflict can further escalate. Models of escalation in conflicts are the Friedrich Glasl's model of conflict escalation, the conflict curve by Michael S. Lund and the hourglass model by Oliver Ramsbotham. When an escalation is initiated by one party there often is a sequence of escalation behaviour: requests, demands, angry remarks, threats, harassment and abuse.
Models with a fixed order of stages of conflict escalation have been criticized for not representing the probabilistic nature of conflicts.
Behavior
The various ways in which people react to conflict situations have been presented by Gerhard Schwarz, sometimes in reference to Eric Lippmann, as follows:
Flight (Evasion, Avoidance) Fight (Enforcement, Destruction) Subordination (Adaptation, Concession, Unilateral Acceptance) Delegation (of the problem to another instance) Compromise (Agreement with advantages and disadvantages on both sides) Consensus (Cooperation)
These behavior patterns can lead to the solution or dissolution of a conflict in different situations. While the first-mentioned stages are anti- or confrontational in character, the last-mentioned stages represent forms of constructive conflict resolution - with consensus as the highest (to be learned) form. Paul Graham divided forms of argument hierarchically according to their escalation potential and the quality of the argument. In the dual concern model, conflict types are divided along the two dimensions: orientation towards one's own goal or orientation towards the goal of the conflict partner. Personality tests for conflict behavior are the Kraybill Conflict Style Inventory, the open-source licensed "Ethics Position Questionnaire" and the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument. Further, more general and comprehensive personality tests are Leadership Derailers, Social value orientation, Hexaco-PI-R and NEO-PI-R, which also include a bit of conflict behaviour.
Interpersonal Often, further phenomena occur in the course of a conflict. Doubts and uncertainties about one's own position are usually replaced with firm convictions (confirmation bias), without anything having changed in the real probabilities. Moreover, people often stick to their conviction in order not to lose face, even if the conviction is now being questioned by themselves.David C. Wilson: A Strategy of Change: Concepts and Controversies in the Management of Change. ITBP Textbooks Series, Routledge series in analytical management. Thomson, 1992, ISBN 1-86152-383-1. The reciprocity ("an eye for an eye") favors a conflict escalation and a convergence of behavior when the other side consistently shows competitive or consistently collaborative behavior to achieve their goals. However, collaborative behavior tips more easily into competitive behavior than vice versa. In conflicts, destructive behaviours can also appear: violence, coercion, intimidation, blackmailing, deception and seduction.
Negative emotions such as anger and fear make it difficult to work through the differences. Moreover, anger is often contagious, because a person who is met with anger reacts in turn more often angrily. Likewise, behaviors such as hostile, overly aggressive, choleric, conflict-avoiding, evasive, passive-aggressive, nagging or accusing (without changing anything), non-changing, annoying, pessimistic, superior or indecisive behavior can make conflict resolution difficult.
The attribution of presumed strengths, attitudes, and values to the other conflict party is often distorted during a conflict. Likewise, there is often a false attribution of whether the problem arises from the situation or the character of the participants. As a conflict escalates, the tactics used by each side become more confrontational (harder). However, there are situations where the threatened party fares better when a threat is not met with a counter-threat. A too dominant negotiation style can provoke a blocking stance as a reaction. In conflicts between equally strong parties, a competitive conflict style is avoided if a strong counter-reaction is expected. While at the beginning of a conflict escalation a counter-reaction tends to be disproportionately high, it is rather disproportionately low at a higher level of escalation. Often at the beginning of a conflict escalation, various coalitions are formed to support one's own interests, which later in the conflict lead to conflicts between two groups.
Intergroup