MGMT20001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Elton Mayo, The Roots, Best Alternative To A Negotiated Agreement
17 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Conflict and Negotiation
Conflict
● Involves two or more parties
● Can be overt (parties aware of conflict) or covert (parties unaware of conflict)
● One or both parties perceive that the other party or parties has had a negative impact on
their interests (or is about to)
● Varies in terms of its intensity and importance, as well as the significance of outcomes
Where does conflict come from?
● Interests: all individuals and groups have interests, although they may not be the same
○ Not necessarily a “zero-sum” game - if one person pursues their interests, the
other’s is damaged
○ Importance of values and culture
● Perceptions: when there is a perceived clash of interests, this creates conflict (conflict
may not actually exist)
● The immediate causes of conflict can be grouped into three categories (“flashpoints”):
○ Communication - poor communication may cause conflict of interest
○ Interpersonal - clash due to people not liking each other
○ Structure - e.g. employment relationship - employer wants employee to do as
much work for as little money as possible, employee wants to do the least
amount of work for the most money
Is conflict a bad thing?
● Radical view - conflict is an inevitable part of organisational life due to structural reasons
○ e.g. Marx
● “Unitarist” view - conflict is dysfunctional and avoidable
○ e.g. Elton Mayo
● Interactionist view - conflict can be functional or dysfunctional, functional conflict should
be encouraged
● Focused - or Managed-conflict view - there are some specific cases where conflict can
be beneficial
○ e.g. teamwork
Types of conflict in teams
● Task conflict - differences arise over the legitimacy of the task itself
○ Due to a number of points of view
○ Low to moderate levels can be productive
● Process conflict - differences arise over how to achieve a task
○ Low levels can be productive
● Relationship conflict: Conflict between individuals
○ mostly destructive
Relationship Conflict in Teams
