There are many ways to handle conflict at the organisation level:
Conflict Management Strategy # 1. Ignoring the Conflict:
If the conflict is not too severe and the consequences are not very serious, managers tend to ignore it and pretend that it does not exist. Some managers think conflicts speak badly about an organization, so they ignore the conflict and hope it will eventually resolve itself. Because the sources of conflict are neither identified nor resolved, this strategy fails to put out the fires in time. Eventually, the situation may go from bad to worse.
Conflict Management Strategy # 2. Physical Separation:
If the warring factions or parties are physically separated, the likelihood of open hostility and aggression is reduced. Parties, however, may continue to indulge in sabotage and occasional acts of aggression unless the source of conflict is eliminated. Physical separation may work when the two groups are not required to interact while achieving targets. If they need to interact, however, separation may not solve the issue.
Conflict Management Strategy # 3. Withdrawal:
Another way may be to withdraw from a conflict it when it takes place. The withdrawal may be from the situation (fighting for resources, for promotion etc.) or from the relationship with the other group (one party may severe connection with the other as in the case of Proctor and Gamble and Godrej Soaps Ltd).
Conflict Management Strategy # 4. Dominance:
Quite often, managers use positional authority to fire a lower ranking subordinate they consider to be a troublemaker. Conflicting parties are told to maintain a calm composure, an appearance of grace and drop their fight and get on with the job.
Conflict Management Strategy # 5. Appeal Procedures:
Here parties involved in a conflict seek help from a higher authority in order to resolve a knotty issue. For example, if, the faculty members could not decide on the allocation of workload, they may refer their disagreement to the principal of the college for a final, binding decision.
Conflict Management Strategy # 6. Compromise:
Parties involved in a conflict arrive at a solution through a compromise formula. For example, management may offer to increase wages by 4 per cent, while the union may be seeking 8 per cent. Both may finally agree on a figure of 6 per cent. Compromise can be used very effectively when the goal sought (e.g., money) can be divided equitably. If this is not possible, one group should be prepared to give up something of value as concession. Compromise may also involve third-party interventions as well as total group or representative negotiating and voting.
Strategy # 7. Liaison Group/Intermediaries/Integrators:
To arbitrate differences between two warring factions, a full-time integrator can be appointed who can speak the language of both the parties. The integrator has to use expertise and persuasion to achieve coordination and get people together. He must understand each group’s problems and able to rally both groups toward a mutually agreeable solution.
Conflict Management Strategy # 8. Forcing People to Assume another Role/Position:
Inter organizational activities, sometimes, help in reducing conflict. Exchange of people between interdependent departments creates an atmosphere where the newcomer can exchange his views with others. It helps him see the big picture and his role in it. As group members understand each other better they tend to lessen some of their perceptual distortions. Role reversal or empathy helps them in “shaking up” their narrow perspectives, departmental loyalties and misunderstandings created by the organizational boundaries.
Conflict Management Strategy # 9. Reduce Interdependence:
The potential for conflict is very great in situations where two departments have to work in an interdependent fashion and share scarce resources. As a result of this mutual dependency there are more occasions for disagreement and conflict. One way to resolve conflict is to reduce interdependencies by moving from reciprocal to sequential or from sequential to pooled interdependence. Departments maybe provided with resources and inventories that are independent of those provided for other departments (known as “decoupling”).
However, decoupling is an expensive proposition; it increases costs because of duplication of effort and equipment. To avoid this, large ‘buffers’ (inventories) are created. For example, department A might send its output into the buffer inventory and department B might be allowed to process goods from this inventory independently. Sometimes, formal integration departments may also be created to facilitate coordination and smoothen work flow.
Conflict Management Strategy # 10. Procedural and Structural Changes:
Conflict can be put to rest if procedures are changed to facilitate effective delivery of a service. Instead of asking the cashier to prepare the draft, every bank executive may be empowered to handle customer requests for making drafts quickly. The arrangement of physical facilities can also be changed to eliminate barriers that come in the way of executing work.
For example, when known antagonists are seated in conference directly across from each other, the amount of conflict increases. When they are seated side by side, the conflict tends to decrease.
Conflict Management Strategy # 11. Super Ordinate Goals:
A super ordinate goal is a common goal that appeals to all the parties involved and cannot be accomplished by the resources of any single party separately. Super ordinate goals demand interdependence and cooperation between departments. It is believed that the possibilities for achieving harmony are greatly enhanced when disagreeing parties are brought together to work towards overriding goals which are real and compelling to all concerned. For example, national leaders use the ploy of claiming that their countries are about to be attacked in order to bring about (at least) a temporary unification on the opposing factions in their own countries.
Conflict Management Strategy # 12. Identifying a Common Enemy:
“A strong enemy is a great unifying force. If the parties are made to perceive that their very existence depends on how they tackle a conflictful situation, they work unitedly to realize the goal. The threat of Hitler, for example, produced an alliance between the Western powers and Russia that fell apart as soon as the common threat disappeared.
Conflict Management Strategy # 13. Integrated Problem Solving:
Another conflict management strategy tries to find a solution that incorporates the requirements of both parties.
Both parties work together to define the problem and identify mutually satisfactory solutions. They freely exchange task-related information. A minimum level of trust between parties is essential for this strategy to produce results. Since it takes time for parties to resolve issues through healthy interaction, there should be no pressure for a quick settlement of contentious issues.
Problem solving is a healthy approach for it recognizes that usually neither party is completely right or wrong. Creating a concession is not interpreted as a sign of weakness. Neither party feels that it has to win every battle to maintain self-respect. For conflicts resulting from misunderstanding or language problems, the problem solving, or confrontation method has yielded good results. For solving more complex problems (e.g. conflicts where parties have different value systems), the method has not been very successful.