Dr.

Najafi Auwalu
Ibrahim
Department of Business
Administration & Entrepreneurship,
Bayero University Kano.
Email: najafauwal@gmail.com
Objectives
 At the end of the lectures, participants should be able
to:
 Understand the concept of conflict and conflict
management/resolution.
 Know the various types and causes of conflict
 Know the various techniques managers/leaders use in
managing conflict
 Learn the techniques of managing escalation problem
 Relate what they learnt in the class with the current
situation in their surrounding.
 Understanding Conflict and Conflict Management
 A conflict-free society has never existed and never will
exist.
 Antagonisms, tensions, aggressions, stereotypes, negative
attitudes and frustrations will always be an integral part of
any society or organization where people have to live and
work together.
 Therefore, conflict is seen as an inseparable part of people’s
life particularly managers, employees, politicians,
academics, religion and community leaders.
 It can be seen from global, national, organizational, or local
levels
 At each level, participants should be able to relate examples
happening around them with the issues raised.
At the Global Level
 Globally, escalation of crisis in multiple countries in
the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Ukraine, North Vs
South Korea have made conflict management more
important and continued to attract greater attention
and combined efforts of different stakeholders across
the globe.
 At both socio-political and economic levels, the roles
of EU, AU, ECOWAS, UN, NATO, and ECOMOG in
conflict management continue to remain relevant.
 E.g. Civil war in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, embargo on Qatar
etc
At the National Level
 At the national level, conflict management is said to
attract greater attention more than ever.
 The adoption of rotational presidency in Nigeria
between the North and the South since 1999.
 Federal Government of Nigeria Amnesty Programme
for the Niger Delta Militants
 Several delegations that visited the Niger Delta Region
headed by the Vice President of Nigeria, Yemi
Osinbajo, to find lasting solution to the destruction of
oil installations in the region
 Are ALL seen as practical step in addressing myriad of
conflict issues in Nigeria.
……National Level
 Negotiation with Boko Haram insurgents that led to the
release of 21 abducted Chibok girls and later 80 girls
 Reconciliation between herdsmen and farmers in some
parts of the country are all seen as practical steps towards
conflict resolution in Nigeria
 At the organizational level, both at the public and private
settings, conflict management has never been important.
 The frequent and incessant industrial conflict in Nigeria
has clearly revealed that the conflict management skills of
most people in positions of authority are at best
inadequate.
 The case of ASUU and the Federal Government of Nigeria
under the questionable leadership of Goodluck Jonathan
was a clear example among others.
Definition and Nature of Conflict
 The term ‘conflict’ has no single clear definition. Much of
the confusion has been created by scholars in different
disciplines who are interested in studying conflict (Rahim,
2005).
 When two or more social entities (i.e., individuals, groups,
organizations, and nations) come in contact with one
another in attaining their objectives, their relationships
may become incompatible or inconsistent.
 Relationships among such entities may become
inconsistent when two or more of them desire a similar
resource that is in short supply; when they have partially
exclusive behavioral preferences regarding their joint
action; or when they have different attitudes, values,
beliefs, and skills.
Conflict Defined!!
 Conflict can be defined as the perception of
differences of interests among people (Thompson,
1998).
 Another definition of conflict would be a process of
social interaction involving a struggle over claims to
resources, power and status, beliefs, and other
preferences and desires.
 The aims of the parties in conflict may extend from
simply attempting to gain acceptance of a preference,
or securing a resource advantage, to the extremes of
injuring or eliminating opponents. (Bisno, 1988; Coser,
1968).
Definition….cont
 Schmidt & Kochan (1972) define conflict as a perceived
condition that exists between parties (individuals,
groups, societies, nations et cetera) in which one or
more of the parties perceive goal incompatibility and
some opportunity for interfering with the goal
accomplishment of others.
 Robbins & Coulter (2000) refer conflict as perceived
incompatible differences that result in interference or
opposition.
Definition…cnt
 Baron (1990) after reviewing various definition of conflict,
summarized the concept of conflict as:
 a. Conflict includes opposing interests between individuals or
groups in a zero-sum (win - lose) situation;
 b. Such opposed interests must be recognized for conflict to
exist;
 c. Conflict involves beliefs, by each side, that the other will
thwart (or has already thwarted) its interests;
 d. Conflict is a process; it develops out of existing relationships
between individuals or groups and reflects their past interactions
and the contexts in which these took place; and
 e. Actions by one or both sides do, in fact, produce thwarting of
others’ goals.
 In addition, the concept of conflict includes the extreme,
the subtle, indirect, and highly controlled forms of
interference, to overt acts such as strikes, riots, protests
and wars.
View about Conflict: The Traditional view
 Over the years three distinct views have evolved about
conflict.
 The Traditional view (dominant from the late
nineteenth century until the mid-1940s) assumes that
conflict is bad, always has a negative impact, and leads
to declines in performance as the level of conflict
increases.
 As such, conflict must therefore always be avoided. In
this view, conflict is closely associated with such terms
as violence, destruction, and irrationality.
 The response to conflict in the traditional view is to
reduce, suppress, or eliminate it.
Traditional View…..
 It was not generally effective; when they are suppressed,
the root causes cannot be identified, and the potentially
positive aspects of conflict cannot emerge.
 This traditional view of conflict is still widely held
because industrial, political and business institutions
that have a strong influence on our society concur with
it.
 This negative view of conflict played a role in the
development of labour unions.
 Violent or disruptive confrontations between workers
and management led people to conclude that conflict
was always detrimental and should therefore be avoided.
Human relations view
 Emerged in the late 1940s and held sway through the
1970s.
 It argues that conflict is natural and inevitable in all
organizations and that it may have either a positive or
a negative effect, depending on how the conflict is
handled.
 Performance may increase with conflict, but only up
to a certain level, and then decline if conflict is allowed
to increase further or is left unresolved.
 This approach advocates acceptance of conflict and
rationalizes its existence. Because of the potential
benefits from conflict, managers should focus on
managing it effectively rather than suppressing or
eliminating it.
Interactionist view
 The newest perspective, the Interactionist view
assumes that conflict is necessary to increase
performance.
 While the behavioral approach accepts conflict, the
Interactionist view encourages conflict based on the
belief that a harmonious, peaceful, tranquil, too-
cooperative organization is likely to become static,
apathetic, stagnant, and unable to respond to change
and innovation.
 This approach encourages managers to maintain an
appropriate level of conflict enough to keep
organizations self-critical, viable, creative, and
innovative.
Conflict Resolution Vs Conflict Management
 Conflict resolution implies reduction, elimination, or
termination of conflict. A large number of studies on
negotiation, bargaining, mediation, and arbitration
fall into the conflict resolution category.
 Conflict management does not necessarily imply
avoidance, reduction, or termination of conflict. It
involves designing effective strategies to minimize the
dysfunctions of conflict and enhancing the
constructive functions of conflict in order to enhance
learning and effectiveness of an organization.
Conflict: A Fact of Life
Conflict is a reality of social life which exists at all
levels of society. Hence, it viewed as:
 Natural: Life and conflict are inseparable. Conflicts
are dynamic and are not inherently negative or positive
 Being about differences: Individual, interpersonal,
intra-group, inter-group, or at broader levels. It is how
we express such differences and what we do that can
lead to positive or negative experiences for us and
those around us.
 Danger and opportunity: Conflicts can both be
dangerous and beneficial depending on how the
people involved choose to deal with them.
Conflict: A Fact of Life
 Moving up and down an escalator: ‘going up’ factors are
what contribute towards turning a conflict into something
negative or destructive. The de-escalating or going down
factors are the factors that help us to channel the conflict
energy into something positive and constructive.
 Something we all know about: we have all in one way or
the other encountered and resolved conflicts and we will
continue to do so. Therefore, it would be helpful if each
one of us would start to have a positive look at conflicts.
The way we view conflicts determines how we deal with
them, either from a negative point of view which often lead
to destruction, or from a positive point of view which
enables us to get something good and beneficial from a
conflict.
Conflict: A Fact of Life
 Something that is culturally bound: There is not
one right way to handle conflict and we cannot assume
that all people and societies think and deal with
conflicts in the same way.
 A challenge: From the points above it is apparent that
conflict and conflict resolution are a challenge that we
all need to deal with in our daily lives be it in our
families, religious institutions, and indeed political
parties. Let us always remain prepared to face this
challenge whenever we encounter it.
 What role have you ever played in resolving conflict??
Sources of Conflict: Economic conflict
 Daniel Katz (1965), created a typology that
distinguishes three main sources of conflict: economic,
value, and power.
 Economic conflict: This involves competing motives
to attain scarce resources.
Each party wants to get the most that it can, and the
behavior and emotions of each party are directed
toward maximizing its gain.
Union and management conflict often has as one of its
sources the incompatible goals of how to slice up the
“economic pie”.
Sources conflict: Value Conflict
 Value conflict: This involves incompatibility in
ways of life, ideologies – the preferences, principles
and practices that people believe in. International
conflict (e.g., the Cold War between USA and
Russia in the 80’s and 90’s; stand-off between USA
and North Korea) often has a strong value
component, wherein each side asserts the
rightness and superiority of its way of life and its
political-economic system.
Sources of Conflict: Power Conflict
 Power conflict: This occurs when each party wishes to
maintain or maximize the amount of influence that it
exerts in the relationship and the social setting. It is
impossible for one party to be stronger without the other
being weaker, at least in terms of direct influence over each
other.
 Power conflicts can occur between individuals, between
groups or between nations, whenever one or both parties
choose to take a power approach to the relationship.
 Power also enters into all conflict since the parties are
attempting to control each other.
 As a former ruling party that has been in power for about 16
years, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is caught in a
serious power conflict between the two splinter groups of
Ali Modu Sheriff and Ahmad Makarfi.
Sources of Conflict
 It must be noted that most conflicts are not of a pure
type, but involve a mixture of sources.
 For example, union-management conflict typically
involves economic competition, but may also take the
form of a power struggle and often involves different
ideologies or political values.
 But it is important to note that the more sources that
are involved, the more intense and intractable the
conflict usually is.
 Any Example from Global, National, Organizational or
Local level???
Levels of Conflict: Interpersonal Conflict
 Interpersonal conflict: This occurs when two people
have incompatible needs, goals, or approaches in their
relationship. Mainly due to Communication
breakdown, differences in motives, values or styles,
(e.g.) if both parties in a relationship have a high need
for power and both want to be dominant in the
relationship, there is no way for both to be satisfied,
and a power struggle ensues.
 Usually involve the use of rewards and punishments,
deception and evasion, threats and emotional
blackmail, and sweet talk or ingratiation.
Role Conflict
 Role conflict: If there are ambiguities in role
definitions in an organization or unclear boundaries of
responsibilities, then the stage is set for interpersonal
friction between the persons involved. Unfortunately,
the conflict is often misdiagnosed as interpersonal
conflict rather than role conflict, and resolution is
then complicated and misdirected.
 This type of conflict is very common in organizations
among employees or agencies that have similar roles.
 Any example??
Intergroup Conflict
 Intergroup conflict: This occurs between collections of people
such as ethnic or racial groups, departments or levels of decision
making in the same organization, and union and management.
 Competition for scarce resources is a common source of
intergroup conflict
 Societies have developed numerous regulatory mechanisms,
such as collective bargaining and mediation, for dealing with
intergroup conflict in less disruptive ways
 Intergroup conflict is especially tense and prone to escalation
and intractability when group identities are threatened.
 The costs of destructive intergroup conflict can be extremely
high for a society in both economic and social terms.
Multi-Party Conflict Vs Intl Conflict
 These complex conflicts typically involve a combination of
economic, value and power sources.
 This complexity is often beyond the reach of traditional
authoritative or adversarial procedures, and more
collaborative approaches to building consensus are
required for resolution (Cormick et al, 1996; Gray, 1989).
 International conflict: This occurs between states at the
global level. Competition for resources certainly plays a
part, but value and power conflict are often intertwined
and sometimes predominate.
 The differences are articulated through the channels of
diplomacy in a constant game of give and take, or threat
and counter-threat, sometimes for the highest of stakes.
 Mechanisms of propaganda can lead to many of the same
social-psychological distortions that characterize
interpersonal and intergroup conflict.
Orientations to Conflict: Constructive or Destructive
 Constructive/Functional/Positive Conflict: Functional
conflict may actually encourage greater work effort and
help task performance. One of the main benefits of
constructive conflict it is that it gives its members a chance
to identify the problems and see the opportunities. Also it
can inspire to new ideas, learning, and growth among
individuals.
 stimulating innovation, creativity, and growth;
organizational decision making may be improved;
alternative solutions to a problem may be found; lead to
synergistic solutions to common problems; individual and
group performance may be enhanced; individuals and
groups may be forced to search for new approaches and
articulate and clarify their positions.
Destructive/Dysfunctional/Negative
Conflict:
 Dysfunctional conflict is believed to be destructive.
 Such form of conflict usually hinders organizational
performance and leads to decreased productivity.
 This conflict orientation is characterized by competing
individual interests overriding the business’s overall
interests.
 Managers withhold information from one another.
 Employees sabotage others’ work, either intentionally
or through subtle, conflict-motivated disinterest in
teamwork (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2008).
Destructive/Dysfunctional/Negative
Conflict: Outcomes
 Job stress, burnout, and dissatisfaction; communication
between individuals and groups may be reduced or completely
avoided; a climate of distrust and suspicion can be developed;
relationship may be damaged job or organizational performance
may be reduced; resistance to change can increase; and
organizational commitment and loyalty may be affected.
 The differences between these two types of conflict are not in
their sources but in the manner in which each of them is
expressed.
 In constructive conflict, each party resists attacking the other.
Instead, both sides take part in thoughtful discussion. They
listen to each other’s point of view, and try to find mutually
beneficial solutions.
 By contrast, in dysfunctional conflict both parties are involved in
confrontation which does not lead to any beneficial solution
(Whetten & Cameron, 2012).
Conflict Management Techniques
 Conflict management is the ability to recognize
conflict (intra, inter, and organizational) and to
respond in ways that alleviate emotional tensions and
enhance relationships, such that opportunities for
growth, creativity, and productivity are enhanced, and
disputes prevented. It also includes the resolution of
any disputes that do arise, and the containment of
power struggles, through appropriate interventions.
 In other words, conflict management involves
acquiring skills related to conflict resolution, self-
awareness about conflict modes, conflict
communication skills, and establishing a structure for
management of conflict in your environment.
Conflict Management Techniques
 Good Governance
 Effective Communication
 Collaboration
 Compromise
 Avoidance
 Accommodation
 Domination/Competition
 Confrontation/Fighting
 Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration
 Adjudication
Treating Escalation Problems (Crisis
Management)
 Escalation Training
 Cooling-Off Periods
 De-escalatory Language
 Dealing with Destructive and Hateful Speech
 Media Management
 Step-by-Step De-escalation (GRIT): Graduated Reciprocal
Reductions in Tension.
 Controlled Confrontation
 Dealing with Extremists
 Changing Leaders
 Ground Rules
 Managing Strong Emotions
 Peacekeeping
 Observers
 Future Focus
 Develop Personal Relationships
Important Hints for Effective conflict Resolution

 a. Conflict Mapping
 Strategic Option Identification and Costing
 Analysis of Similar Conflicts
 Identifying and Involving All Potential
Disputants
 Understanding Historical Context
 Recognizing Related Disputes
 Assisted Scoping
 Opening Lines of Communication
 Conclusion
 It recognizes that many a times effective solution to a problem is half
solved when its cause is already known.
 It is worthy to note that not all forms of conflicts among individuals,
groups, organizations, and societies should call for immediate
resolution. Some conflicts are usually mild and manageable and they
further pave way for better communication and understanding.
 Conflicts that lead to better ideas and innovation lead to improved
performance and productivity. These are positive conflicts and therefore
should be maintained and encouraged.
 Whereas, conflicts that exist in the contrary frameworks are negative
conflicts, and therefore, in whatever dimension they exist, the
management, the constituted authorities or the stakeholders should
immediately move in to resolve them.
 However, the choice and effectiveness of any conflict resolution strategy
depend on the circumstances or the exigencies of the environment
prevailing at a particular time. That is to say, there is no one best
method of resolving conflict for all conflict situations.
Thank you for listening!!
Anticipating your
comments and
questions