The Ways Leading In to Conflict

Certain situations produce more conflict than others. By knowing the primary causes (or antecedents) of conflict, managers are better able to anticipate conflict and take steps to resolve it if it becomes dysfunctional.

Values

Differences in value systems have enormous power to provoke conflict. The word “value” comes from the French verb “valour” meaning “to be worth” and has associations with valour, importance and worth. Values constitute our deepest sense of what is, in our respective views, right, correct and how things should be. We tend to be very prescriptive about issues which relate to our value system and we are likely to experience a challenge to our values as unacceptable or intolerable.

Examples of values would include:

• How we want to behave toward each other.
• How we want to behave toward customers.
• How we like to spend our leisure time.
• How we believe children, spouses, partners, employers, employees, unions, management, students, lecturers, doctors, dentists, lawyers, sportspeople, pro-abortion, pro-choice, dry cleaners, cigarette smokers and any other category of persons should behave.

Our own values are the boundaries we have no intention of crossing and we expect others to feel the same way. When they do not, trouble is inevitable.

Perceptions and Perspectives

Perceptions and perspectives comprise the mindset, the collective views we hold regarding a topic or an issue. The phrase “perception is reality”, means that we all mediate to some extent the data which we objectively perceive and create a personal reality and a personal meaning which may be quite different from the meaning created by someone else who saw the same thing. It is common for people to believe that their view is the correct view, even the only view. Naturally, this is a rich source of conflict, for multiple views and perspectives abound!

Attitudes

Attitudes are a related aspect of perceptions in that they constitute our thoughts whether something is good or bad. Attitudes are learned and become patterns of response which incline an individual to certain types of behaviour. We say that people have a “conservative” attitude or a “positive” or a “negative” attitude. Attitudes express our values and reflect in the things we do. Attitudes can only be discerned by the accompanying behaviour. It is easier to change attitudes than to change values, because attitudes are more readily influenced by daily encounters and experiences.

Motives and “Agenda”

When different parties have different motives, either openly or hidden, there is plenty of room for conflict. A motive is a drive towards attaining a specific objective and may be covert or openly expressed (hidden agenda).

Use of Language

Words, and the tone of what is said or written, have the power to produce strong emotional reactions, whether writers have crafted the effects of their message with deliberate intent to arouse such emotions or are simply unaware of how provokingly they are coming across. It is the responsibility of the communicator, not of the recipient of the communication, to create the message in a way which is appropriate both to the receiver and to the occasion. For example, the proficiency of the recipient in the language must govern the way the language is used; and if the occasion is a personal message or for a public notice board, the tone of the communication will be different.

Click here to view a video on conflict.