Conflict, or unresolved disagreement, can negatively affect an organization in myriad ways. In order to be effective, each organization must learn to deal with conflict in its own way. The issue of conflict may be moderated by the organization’s style of leadership, its power structure and its political structure. The three major types of conflict, including task conflict, relationship conflict, and process conflict, are each affected in different ways depending on the uses of these three moderating factors.
Task conflict involves differences between team members about the content of the task, including differences in viewpoints and opinions about the task (Robbins & Judge, 2006). Task conflict can lead to unwillingness to work together and in some cases personal conflict or antagonism. In this case, the role of the leader is most important, because the leader will be able to resolve task conflict through the use of some forms of power (Kouzes & Posner, 2007). For example, one study found that the use of expert power and legitimate power by the team leader was most effective in resolving task conflict regarding a manufacturing task. However, it should be noted that the use of forms of power such as coercive power are rarely, if ever, likely to resolve a task conflict, but will only force the conflict below the surface in order to allow it to interfere some other time. Task conflict is not always a negative factor; if it is used properly, and without engendering relationship conflict between two individuals with competing viewpoints, it can be a healthy addition to a team’s group dynamic, increasing the capabilities of the team by increasing its creative thinking skills and techniques (Robbins & Judge, 2006). This use of task conflict should be encouraged, rather than discouraged, by leadership, as it improves the overall organizational effectiveness.
Relationship conflict, or personal conflict, is conflict between two individuals based on elements or issues not related to the task at hand. These conflicts may be based in any number of factors, including previous poor relationships, diversity and unexamined attitudes toward it, or different viewpoints about the individual’s relative position within the organization (Robbins & Judge, 2006). Relationship conflict is one of the hardest types of conflict to resolve, because it is not the case that the leader’s assertion of reality concerning the task or goal will be able to override the conflict that exists between the two individuals (Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, 2005). In extreme cases, relationship conflict may even lead to fractionalization of the organization as the two individuals fail to resolve their differences (Grossman, 2006). In this case, the use of politics and reputation may come into play; if the leader can resolve the issues between the two politically, or by using leadership techniques such as affective leadership, which strives to make connections between the two, the issue may be resolved (Davies & Mian, 2006).
The third type of conflict is process conflict, which is conflict regarding the way in which a task should be completed, including the actual process and allocation of resources for the task (Robbins & Judge, 2006). The use of power in resolving process conflict is high; for example, an individual with expert power may override an individual with legitimate power in this case (Weinstock, 2007). Process conflict is often one of the more productive forms of conflict, particularly when a system is being developed, because it offers a number of views of the meaning and structure of a task that can be examined in order to provide insight into the task (Robey, Farrow, & Franz, 1989). However, even in this case the resolution of process conflict must be done skillfully or it can impact the ability of an organization to function; for example, if one QC technician uses a different process for quality control than another, there will be a significant impact to the overall ability to create consistent quality control within the organization. In this case, the leader must determine the appropriate methods and assist the others in following these methods by using the appropriate power base and leadership technique (Abreu, May, Spangler, & Vargas, 2008)
In all of these issues, politics plays a role, because politics is the basis on which an organization’s power structure is based. For example, if the political bias of the organization tends to value legitimate power over expert power, the effectiveness of the organization may be reduced because, unless the expert happens to also have legitimate power to make a decision, his or her input may or may not be considered (Abernethy & Vognoni, 2004). One way to resolve this is to implement a matrix organizational structure, in which power flows along two separate axes; legitimate power rests with one group of managerial personnel, while a second power flow, that of expert power, is assigned legitimacy by implementing a technical management structure (Robbins & Judge, 2006). This organizational structure will serve to balance the emphases on legitimate and expert power, and allow for both the procedure of the organization and the technical or other knowledge contained informally within the organization to be used to their fullest potential to resolve conflicts and to keep the organization functional. Ultimately, conflict has both positive and negative potential effects upon an organization, and whether these effects are positive or negative rests largely in the way they are addressed and resolved by the use of leadership and power.