First of all, I would like to define the meaning of conflict. Confli...]]> The main point purpose of this essay is to classify identify conflict. I will portray
the sources of conflict and clarify the positive and negative
features of conflict. I will also specify methods for managing conflict.

First of all, I would like to define the meaning of conflict. Conflict
is a process that begins when one party observes that another party
has negatively affected, or is about to negatively affect something
the first party cares about. Conflict is inevitable because people
will always have different viewpoints, ideas, and opinions. The
question is how can we deal with or relate to these differences. It is
unfortunate that negative connotations are often associated with
conflict, because if we manage conflict properly, it is highly
constructive and essential to cross-cultural interactions.

Conflict is a state of mind. It has to be perceived by the parties
involved. If two or more parties are not aware of a conflict, then no
conflict exists. This broad definition encompasses conflicts at
different levels within an organisation. Conflicts are based upon
differences in interest and values, when the interests of one party
come up against the different interest of another. Parties may include
shareholders, managers, departments, professionals and groups; while
conflict issues can include dividends, control and wage levels.

I am now going to examine the reasons that conflict can occur in
management. It can occur in businesses when the stakeholders’
objectives are different. Stakeholders are groups of people who has an
interest in business activity. Each type of stakeholder is likely to
have a set of goals that they want to achieve. For instance,
shareholders want regular, secure and high returns and a say in the
goals of the business; managers want responsibility, high rewards and
a lack of interference in their actions; employees want high earnings,
an interesting job and secure employment; customers want quality
products at low prices and a good service; suppliers want secure,
regular and profitable orders; government wants to achieve a large
number of goals including growth in the economy and low inflation; the
local community wants thriving local businesses which do not cause
problems. All of these stakeholders have different objectives
therefore they have different actions to fulfil their aims. When they
are making decisions for their businesses, conflicts can exist between
many different groups of stakeholder since they have varied goals.

There are some reasons that lead to conflicts between the employees
and the owners of a business, such as levels of pay, working condition
and changing practices. It is common for employees and owners to
disagree on new wage levels. This is because workers generally want
more than the owners are prepared to pay. Conflict may also arise if
workers are not satisfied with their working environment. The
consequences are that employees have no motivation to work and hence
less output will be produced. It leads to lower level of revenue and
profit.

Conflicts are always occurring between owners and managers. It is
because in some businesses the management team may become powerful and
influential. When this happens they may seek their own interests
rather than those of the owners. This might involve paying themselves
high salaries or organising their time to suit their own needs, whilst
achieving satisfactory levels of profit rather than high levels of
profit. This would go against the interests of the owners who would
benefit more from higher profits. Such conflict may result in some
owners selling their shares. This is often referred to as a divorce of
ownership and control. Conflicts between owners and managers may
result in lower levels of output and loss of profits for the owners.
Managers and other employees may suffer from poor motivation, a lack
of job security and loss of wages.

As I have explained above, if there is very high levels of conflict it
may cause problems. It could lead to anxiety and tension in the
workforce which are counter-productive. There are some reasons to
suggest that conflict always happens between groups. It is because
groups are often in competition with each other over resources. One
example might be where the sports and leisure department in a local
council needs funds for a swimming pool, but this may result in
another group such as the social services department having less. In
addition, there may be conflict between groups at different levels in
the business organisation. When there is a divorce of ownership, the
control managers may attempt to satisfy their own aims, such as market
leadership by a series of price cuts. At the same time they would
attempt to make a satisfactory profit for shareholders, who may have
wanted the business to maximise profits.

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