Question

Is conflict a natural phenomenon? Should it ever be stimulated, or should we attempt to resolve it at all times? In your discussion provide example(s).

Course: Organizational behavior

And it would be great if there some referencens included in the answer.

Answer 1

I think conflict is a natural phenomenon in an organizational setup. Conflict primarily arise because we all have different perspectives, opinions, unique judgment, etc. about the world around us. Therefore, different people have different ways of looking at things. These create differences among organizational members, which give birth to conflict.

Conflict is often very essential to promote creativity and innovation. If there is no conflict and everyone agrees with everyone, then there will hardly be any innovation. Innovation takes place when someone challenges the status quo or come with a different idea or criticize someone's else's idea. Therefore, conflict is essential to the growth of an organization. So, I think we might have to stimulate conflict in a certain situation to churn out the best idea. It is not a good idea to resolve conflict at all times.

Conflict can be promoted effectively to achieve innovation, create value and generate best ideas. For example, if a company wants to develop a marketing strategy to address a unique situation, it might stimulate conflict in the team so that each member wants to come with a better strategy than another member. This would help the company come with the best strategy.

References:

Inc.com. (2018). My Secret Company Growth Strategy: Encourage Conflict. [online] Available at: https://www.inc.com/eric-v-holtzclaw/leadership-secret-growth-strategy-is-conflict.html [Accessed 18 Jan. 2018].