home » State support » Classification of conflicts in business communication. The main causes of conflicts in the field of business relations Conflicts in business and interpersonal communication

Classification of conflicts in business communication. The main causes of conflicts in the field of business relations Conflicts in business and interpersonal communication

Business communication plays an important role in the formation and development of any organization. After all, employees have to communicate with partners, colleagues and superiors. The success of transactions, career growth and other important things may depend on how this develops. Conflict situations that can negatively affect relationships both within the team and with partners should be avoided. Therefore, a competent leader should know what conflicts are in business communication and what ways to overcome them exist. These issues will be discussed in detail in our article.

Features of conflicts

The very concept of conflicts is known to many sciences, and it is interpreted in different ways. But conflict is always understood as a clash of interests, their confrontation. Characteristic of this situation is the fact that no side wants to make concessions. A business conflict is specific in that it always happens in a professional environment. In this regard, there are several varieties of it:

Pointless. When the conflict is based on something abstract and serves only for the emotional discharge of people. This type is the least common in business environments.
Realistic. Its goal is to achieve a specific result.
Destructive. It is also called destructive, and it is the most dangerous.
Constructive. It is based on facts and is creative in nature.

What are the reasons

Any conflicts in business communications arise for certain reasons. The most well-known and studied causes of constructive conflicts are:

Different vision of the sides of the final result of the work.
Differences in intellectual level and education.
Lack of money or employees.
Difficult working conditions.
Employees have different rights.
Lack of ability to interact with each other.

Destructive conflicts always arise due to subjective reasons. This may be an illiterate management policy, the incompatibility of the characters of employees or intrigues in order to move up the career ladder.

Destructive conflicts always arise due to subjective reasons.

Solutions

Ways to resolve any conflict situation are different. But they are always gradual:

At the first stage, the conflicting parties must understand what led to the conflict, what is its cause and how the opponent views the problem. This helps to understand the essence and understand the other side, and this is already half the battle.
Actions are determined that both partners consider unacceptable for resolving the conflict. Next, a common goal is sought, because of which the dispute needs to be resolved as quickly as possible.
At the last stage, they jointly find options for actions that will lead to the end of the conflict.

It is important to resolve such situations as quickly as possible so that they do not drag out or worsen. After all, problems can accumulate with the speed of a snowball!

Preventive actions

Every business conflict is easier and wiser to prevent and prevent than to resolve later. The following tips can help you do just that:

Conduct a fair company policy aimed at equal distribution of benefits for all employees.
Creation of a comfortable environment for work.
Prescribing measures to resolve disputes.
Avoidance of accidents.
Avoiding the impact of personal problems on the work of the entire team.

When faced with a conflict situation, a person can go in two different ways: try to avoid it or accept it for a constructive solution. The first path leads either to a painless resolution of the problem, or, conversely, to a delay. The second path is active and therefore more often productive. It helps to develop their communication skills, as well as gain experience in difficult business communication.

When faced with a conflict situation, a person can go in two different ways: try to avoid it or accept it for a constructive solution.

Finally

It is simply impossible to completely prevent business conflicts, because they are an integral part of the workflow. The most important thing for a leader is to minimize them and learn how to get out of the situation correctly, acquire useful skills. Many negative consequences of such situations can be avoided if each employee of the company makes it a rule to resolve all disagreements that arise in the most operational mode.

The modern world cannot be imagined without the exchange of information. Communication is the foundation of any relationship. Especially if these relations concern the business sphere. However, when different points of view collide, it is extremely difficult to avoid all sorts of conflicts. Especially if these are conflicts in the business sphere. Why do they arise, and how can one learn to seek compromises in communication with partners? We will try to solve such an extremely important issue.

What is a business conflict?

A conflict is always a clash of interests, goals, or motives, in which neither side is willing to back down. A business conflict is a specific clash that occurs only in the professional sphere. This usually happens during negotiations or various kinds of meetings. There are several types of conflicts in business relations:

Realistic. The purpose of such clashes is to achieve some specific advantage and result.
Pointless. Their goal is an ordinary, unrelated emotional discharge. In business communication, the second type of conflict is almost never encountered.
Constructive. They are creative.
Destructive. They are destructive and often go beyond moral and ethical standards.

Causes of business conflicts

The causes of conflicts in business communication are varied. Any of them represents a disagreement between two or more parties, as a result of which they cannot satisfy their needs. The difference in desires, goals, motives or infringement of someone's interests is always destructive. It is best to be able to prevent this collision than to try to restore balance after what happened. In business communication, it is customary to consider conflicts of two types: constructive (or objective) and destructive (subjective).

Causes constructive business conflicts in an organization, firm or company may be the following:

different perceptions of employees about the ultimate goals of the activity;
different levels of intelligence and education;
lack of financial or human resources;
unfavorable working conditions;
mismatch of rights and duties or their incorrect distribution in the team;
inability of colleagues to properly build communication with each other.

These reasons lead to the fact that business conflicts in the team, called constructive, happen with regular stability. Their elimination, first of all, means getting rid of the cause that led to the disagreement. In addition, the resolution of business conflicts of this kind will improve labor productivity, and in the future will lead to the development of the workforce and the company as a whole.

Destructive conflicts in a business environment are born due to subjective reasons:

incorrect policy of the organization's management in relation to the team;
psychological incompatibility of colleagues in the same work team;
intrigues of certain personalities, the purpose of which is to promote their own interests.

Such conflicts are extremely unpleasant and the consequences for business communication can be very deplorable. Lack of working mood, decline in strength and spirit, the formation of the image of enemies in the face of other colleagues, hostility in the team and unhealthy competition instead of coherence. These are just a few examples of the consequences of destructive conflict. To prevent this from happening, the best option would be to prevent such a collision. However, if the incident has already occurred, then it is important to be able to stop it.

Psychologists recommend resolving conflicts in business communication in several stages:

1. In order for the warring parties to adequately assess the situation, it is necessary that they ask the following questions:

How do I understand this issue? What led to the conflict?
how does my opponent see this problem? What do you think is the cause of the conflict?
on what issues do we disagree with the opponent, and on what do we agree?

2. Both partners must determine what actions of each other they consider unacceptable, as well as find the goals for which the conflict must be ended.

3. Also, both conflicting parties must determine what they both need to do to resolve the conflict. Which of the ways they have chosen gives them a sense of satisfaction.

After analyzing these issues and deciding on a way out of the conflict, both warring parties must implement this way. At the same time, it is important to explain that the very situation that caused the disagreement cannot be remembered and replayed in the head again.

It is almost impossible to completely prevent conflicts in business communication. But if each of the employees of the company makes it a rule to ensure that disputes and disagreements are resolved immediately, many problems can be avoided.

CONFLICT psychological (lat. conflictus - clash) - an intractable contradiction associated with acute emotional experiences; clash of oppositely directed goals, interests, positions, opinions or views of the subjects of interaction; clash of differently directed forces for the sake of realizing their interests in the face of opposition.

There are agonistic (reconcilable) and antagonistic (irreconcilable) K. Missed opportunities for resolving agonistic K. lead to its transition into a chronic form and development into K. antagonistic. Situations of imitation of K. are known for the purpose of political, ideological and psychological pressure. Such K. are called imaginary, but under certain conditions they can be transformed into real ones.

At the heart of any real conflict is a situation that includes either conflicting positions of the parties on any occasion, or opposite goals or means of achieving them in given circumstances, or a mismatch of interests, desires, inclinations of opponents, etc. A conflict situation contains the subjects of a possible conflict and its object. In order for K. to begin to develop, an incident is necessary when one side begins to act, infringing on the interests of the other. If the opposite side responds in the same way, K. moves from potential to actual and can then develop as direct or indirect, constructive or destructive (non-constructive). Escalation K. leads to a peak of tension, after which a decline begins, culminating in an outcome. The completion of the primary C. in the outcome can give rise to secondary, derivative C. This is how the phenomenon of the multidimensional C. arises. This can lead to repeated K. at new levels, with a new composition of participants, and often with other reasons.

According to the format, K. are psychologically divided into intrapersonal, interpersonal, intragroup, intergroup, interorganizational, class (social) interstate, world (international). Interethnic (interethnic) cultures are singled out as a special group. In cultures, interests, motives, and actions clash when it comes to individuals and small groups. Mass moods and opinions clash in large groups and the masses. C. arise horizontally (within groups, social and political structures) and vertically (between the leader and the followers, the governing structures and the subordinate, controlling bodies and subjects accountable to them).

Intrapersonal K. is the product of ambivalent aspirations, rather strong, but oppositely directed motives that can cause contradictory political behavior. Three main types of such K are known: “removal - removal”, or the situation of “Scylla and Charybdis” (K. choice between two equally strong dangers); “approach-approach”, or “the situation of Buridan's donkey” (K. choice between two equally strong attractive targets); K. "removal - approximation" is a special case when the same goal has both attractive and repulsive properties.

Conflict is a social phenomenon generated by the very nature of social life. One of the main human needs is the need to belong to a community of one's own kind. At the same time, individual differences, differences in interests and goals, in ways of building a joint life lead to contradictions between people, the aggravation of which should be called a conflict.

Conflict situations arise in all spheres of public life - be it economics, politics, everyday life, culture or ideology. They are inevitable as an integral component of the development of society and the individual himself. Conflict-freeness is an illusion, a utopia, and even less good.

A conflict is a clash of oppositely directed interests, views, positions in the psyche of an individual, in the relationship of people or their groups. Conflict interaction, if it takes place in creative forms, carries a constructive, productive beginning. Such conflict promotes progressive change.

Conflict is a predictable phenomenon, it can be regulated. Conflict interaction is different in that the confrontation of people in it serves as a link for them at the same time (the more dependent the relationship, the more they are fraught with conflict). Since people are in conflict, they are bound to have something in common.

By virtue of its very nature, conflict can be the bearer of creative and destructive tendencies, be good and evil at the same time.

conflict functions.

q Stabilizing (relationships are strengthened, norms and values of joint life and activity are more clearly realized).

q Activating (interaction becomes more dynamic, which affects the pace of socio-economic development both in society and within a single organization).

q Signaling function (factors of dissatisfaction with the status quo are identified).

q The function of emotional response (open expression of their thoughts and feelings allows people to get emotional relief).

q Function of innovation (conflict is a means of promoting creative initiative).

q Preventive (timely conflict prevents destructive behavior).

Classification of conflicts. Conflicts are not only an inevitable and universal phenomenon, but also many-sided. Each conflict encounter is unique in its own way. Depending on the basis, the following types of conflicts are distinguished.

§ By sources and causes of occurrence (objective and subjective; business and personal).

§ By communicative orientation (horizontal, vertical, mixed).

§ According to the composition of the conflicting parties (intrapersonal, interpersonal, intragroup, intergroup).

§ By functional significance (constructive and destructive).

§ According to the forms of collision (open and hidden).

§ By scale and duration (general and local; short-term and protracted).

§ According to the methods of settlement (antagonistic and compromise).

10.2. Causes of conflicts. Conflict personality types.

Awareness of the causes of the conflict is connected with the awareness of the nature of both society and man. There are at least three starting points that give rise to this or that conflict: the people themselves; social connections and relationships; operating conditions of the organization.

The essence of man is the main cause of conflict. It consists in the contradictory unity of his needs and abilities. Overcoming this contradiction is a source of self-development.

People, being born free and equal in their human dignity and rights, in reality turn out to be unequal. They differ from each other in sex and age, health and physical strength, spiritual qualities and external attractiveness, mental abilities and will, moral preferences and life experience. In everyday life, these differences can lead to intrapersonal and interpersonal conflicts.

Role conflict is the result of contradictions that have arisen between different positions of people in a particular social group. Potentially contradictory and conflicting relationships are between a boss and a subordinate, a teacher and a student, a driver and a traffic police officer, a seller and a buyer, a parent and a child.

In organizations, conflicts most often arise due to inadequate conditions for their functioning (lack of fair rules for joint activities, their ignorance or non-acceptance by group members).

Most often, the following five types of conflict personalities are distinguished.

ь Demonstrative (wants to be in the spotlight, likes to look good in the eyes of others, admires his suffering, emotions are strongly expressed with a weak manifestation of the mind, planning of behavior and life is carried out situationally and poorly implemented, avoids painstaking, systematic work, does not avoid conflicts , in a conflict situation feels good).

- Rigid (suspicious, has an overestimated self-esteem, often does not take into account changes in the situation, with great difficulty accepts the point of view of others, is very offended by the unfriendly attitude of others, hypersensitive to imaginary or real injustices).

ü Uncontrollable (impulsive, lacks self-control, behavior is unpredictable, aggressive, often does not pay attention to generally accepted norms of communication, tends to blame others for many of his failures, draws few lessons from past experience).

ü Ultra-precise (he is scrupulous about work, makes high demands on himself, makes high demands on others, and does it in such a way that it seems to the people with whom he works that he finds fault, has increased anxiety, is overly sensitive to details, tends to give excessive importance to the comments of others, suffers from himself, experiences his miscalculations, failures, pays for them with diseases (insomnia, headaches, etc.).

b “Conflict-free” (unstable in assessments and opinions, has increased suggestibility, is internally contradictory, focuses on momentary success in a situation, depends on the opinions of others, strives excessively for compromise, does not have sufficient willpower).

10.3. Conflict Management.

There are many conflict management methods. They can be broadly divided into the following groups:

Intrapersonal;

interpersonal;

Structural.

Intrapersonal methods affect an individual and consist in the correct organization of one's own behavior. It is important to remember that we are prone to react emotionally to acute situations. Therefore, it is important to learn how to express your point of view without causing a defensive reaction from the opponent. Even if the partner is in a state of strong emotional excitement, in no case should you succumb to the psychological law of infection. It is useful for regulating one's own emotional state to "say" one's feelings to the interlocutor without making accusations against him (the so-called "I-statement" method). One of the reasons for undesirable emotional reactions of partners in a conflict situation is the underestimation of their self-esteem. This behavior is explained by one of the mechanisms of psychological defense - regression. To eliminate emotional reactions, you should maintain a high level of self-esteem in yourself and your opponent.

Interpersonal methods involve the creation of certain conditions for interaction, which is most likely to lead to a constructive outcome of the conflict.

In a conflict situation, opposing people, on the one hand, especially need to understand each other correctly. On the other hand, such mutual understanding is hindered by the lack of proper trust between them. Therefore, to ensure constructive communication in conflict, it is necessary to create an atmosphere of mutual trust in this process. At the same time, it is useful to be guided by the following psychological law of communication: cooperation causes cooperation, competition causes competition. The main content of effective interpersonal methods of conflict management comes down to the observance of certain rules.

· After identifying the problem, identify solutions that are acceptable to both conflicting parties.

· Focus on the speaker, his message, and not on his personal qualities.

Clarify whether I understood correctly what the interlocutor wanted to say.

· Communicate to the other party in paraphrased form the meaning of the received information.

· In the process of receiving information, do not interrupt the speaker, do not give advice, do not criticize, do not sum up, do not be distracted by preparing an answer. This is best done after receiving the information and clarifying it.

· If you are not convinced of the accuracy of the information received by the partner, do not proceed to new messages.

Maintain an atmosphere of trust, mutual respect, show empathy for the interlocutor.

· Use non-verbal means of communication: frequent eye contact, head nodding in understanding, a benevolent facial expression, and others.

Structural methods mainly affect participants in organizational conflicts that have arisen due to an incorrect distribution of functions, rights and obligations, and a poor incentive system. These methods include.

§ Explanation of requirements for work (each employee must clearly know what his duties, responsibilities, rights are).

§ Clarification of corporate goals (allows to unite the efforts of all employees of the organization).

§ Creation of reasonable reward systems.

The concept and essence of the conflict.

Like many concepts, conflict has many definitions and interpretations. One of them defines conflict as a lack of agreement between two or more parties, which may be specific individuals or groups. Each side does everything to get its point of view or goal accepted, and prevents the other side from doing the same.

When people think of conflict, they most often associate it with aggression, threats, arguments, hostility, war, and so on. As a result, there is an opinion that conflict is always an undesirable phenomenon, that it must be avoided if possible.

The modern point of view is that even in well-managed organizations, some conflicts are not only possible, but may even be desirable. Of course, conflict is not always positive. In some cases, it can interfere with the satisfaction of the needs of an individual and the achievement of the goals of the organization as a whole. But in many situations, conflict helps bring out a variety of points of view, provides additional information, helps bring out more alternatives or problems, and so on. This makes the decision-making process of the group more efficient, and also gives people the opportunity to express their thoughts and thereby satisfy their personal needs for respect and power. It can also lead to more efficient implementation of plans, strategies and projects, as discussion of different points of view on these documents takes place before they are actually implemented. Thus, the conflict can be functional and lead to an increase in the effectiveness of the organization. Or it may be dysfunctional and result in decreased personal satisfaction, group collaboration, and organizational effectiveness.

The role of conflict mainly depends on how effectively it is managed. To manage the conflict, it is necessary to understand the causes of the conflict situation. Too often managers believe that the main cause of conflict is a clash of personalities. However, subsequent analysis shows that other factors are to blame.

There are four main types of conflict: intrapersonal conflict, interpersonal conflict, conflict between an individual and a group, and intergroup conflict. We will consider them from the point of view of conflict in the organization.

All conflicts have multiple causes. The main causes of conflict are: limited resources to be shared, interdependence of tasks, differences in goals, differences in perceptions and values, differences in behavior, differences in education, and poor communication.

intrapersonal conflict- it an acute negative experience caused by the struggle of the structures of the inner world of the individual, reflecting contradictory connections with the social environment and delaying decision-making.

Intrapersonal conflict may arise as a result of role inconsistencies, i.e. production requirements are not consistent with the personal needs or values of a person, that conflicting requirements are presented to one person about what the result of his work should be, who is responsible for what, inadequate assessment of the results of work. Intrapersonal conflict can also be a response to work overload or underload. Research shows that such intrapersonal conflict is associated with low job satisfaction, low self-confidence and organization, and stress.

interpersonal conflict- this is a situation of contradictions, disagreements, clashes between people.

This type of conflict is perhaps the most common. Interpersonal conflict can manifest itself as a clash of personalities. People with different personality traits, attitudes and values are sometimes unable to get along with each other. It could also be the struggle of executives for limited resources, capital or labor, equipment usage time, or project approval. Each of them believes that since resources are limited, he must convince the higher authorities to allocate these resources to him, and not to another leader.

So, in a company selling services, the director entrusted interaction with the chief accountant to his deputy. It was possible to predict the development of the situation if the director paid attention to the character traits and family circumstances of both employees. The personal incompatibility of a young, successful deputy and an elderly single female accountant turned out to be so great that it made any communication impossible. If these people did not have to jointly solve problems in such a difficult area as finance, they could continue to work successfully for the benefit of the company. In this case, the director was forced to transfer his deputy to a managerial position in one of the branches.

Conflict between the individual and the group. Production teams set standards for behavior and performance. Everyone must comply with them in order to be accepted by an informal group and, thereby, satisfy their social needs. Conflict can arise between an individual and a group if that individual takes a position that differs from that of the group. This situation can be seen as a source of conflict because one goes against the opinion of the group.

Intergroup conflict- interactions both between groups of people and between individual representatives of these groups, as well as any situations in which communication participants interact in an intergroup dimension, perceiving each other and themselves as members of different groups.

In an intergroup conflict, the opposing sides are groups (small, medium, or microgroups). At the heart of such confrontation is the clash of oppositely directed group motives (interests, values, goals). This is one of the essential features of such conflicts.

Organizations are made up of many groups, both formal and informal. Even in the best organizations, conflicts can arise between such groups.

Conflict variant	Possible reasons
Organization management - personnel	Poor communications; violation of legal norms; unsatisfactory working conditions; low wages, etc.
Administration - trade unions	Violation of labor legislation by the administration; unsatisfactory working conditions; low wages, etc.
Between departments within an organization	Mutual dependence on the tasks performed; allocation of resources; poor communications; structural adjustment
Conflict between organizations	Violation of contractual obligations; struggle for resources, spheres of influence, sales markets, etc.
Between microgroups within a team	Contrast of interests, values, goals; leaders' ambitions

Conflict management begins with their anticipation. And in order to foresee, it is necessary to know the reasons that most often lead to conflict situations.

Reasons leading to constructive conflicts

The reasons leading to constructive conflicts are shortcomings in the organization of production and management. Most often lead to conflicts:

1. dissatisfaction with wages;

2. unfavorable working conditions (for example, lack of ventilation, gas pollution, vibration, noise, drafts, uncomfortable temperature at the workplace, etc.);

3. discrepancy between rights and obligations;

4. irregularity of work (downtime, forced vacations, storming);

5. inconvenient work schedule;

6. omissions in technology (especially those from which the employee's earnings suffer, and not through his fault);

7. lack of resources for assignments (in particular, interruptions in the provision of raw materials, materials, components);

8. lack of clarity in the distribution of responsibilities, in particular inefficient, too

vague or outdated job descriptions (i.e. forgetting such a management principle: "It is preferable to manage with the help of instructions, not orders");

9. low level of labor and performance discipline;

10. conflictogenic (i.e., contributing to the emergence of conflicts) organizational structures.

11. contradictory attitudes or goals of technological and economic services (for example, services responsible for quantitative indicators, for the implementation of the plan, and services responsible for quality - technical control department, etc.).

Positive resolution of constructive conflict- this is, first of all, the elimination of shortcomings, the reasons that led to it. And since these causes are objective, reflecting the imperfection of the organization of production and management, the elimination of these causes means the improvement of production and management.

Therefore, the positive resolution of constructive conflicts is good for the cause. That is why they are considered creative. Consequently, the leader should not move away from these conflicts, but constantly work on their resolution, deal with the elimination of the causes leading to such conflicts. An attempt to get away from solving these problems leads to their deepening, to a drop in the authority of the leader, the emergence of alienation between him and his subordinates, to a deterioration in the situation in the team, to conflicts, and personnel losses.

Causes leading to destructive conflicts

Destructive conflicts are generated most often by subjective reasons. These subjective reasons include:

Wrong actions of the leader;

Wrong actions of subordinates;

Wrong actions of both the leader and subordinates.

Most often, destructive conflicts arise with the wrong actions of both subordinates and the leader.

This is how a person works, that first of all he sees mistakes in others, and not in himself. But the leader is the one who is supposed to help subordinates correct their

errors. Therefore, it is necessary to dwell on the erroneous actions of leaders.

In business relationships, conflicts are inevitable. Conflict - this is the result of the interaction of two or more subjects having mutually exclusive goals and realizing them one at the expense of the other. Conflicts are characterized by the opposite of psychological attitudes and behavior, reaching the point of psychological incompatibility, that is, the inability of partners to continue joint activities.

conflict is a situation where opposite positions of the parties, goals and means of resolving an existing problem collide. Conflict is a psychological category. It has objective reasons (goals, interests, positions of the parties) and subjective grounds (psychological incompatibility of partners).

In order for a conflict to arise and develop, a reason (incident) is needed, that is, actions of one of the parties, as a result of which the interests, rights or freedoms of the other party (s) are infringed, even if this is not done with malicious intent. Participants in a conflict most often believe, or at least act as if they believe, that they have the truth on their side.

By some estimates, more than 65% of problems in organizations are related to broken relationships rather than professional difficulties. On average, 25% of managers' time is spent on conflict resolution, but 70-80% of them in organizations are somehow dependent on management activities. The people involved in the conflict try to find supporters for themselves, and therefore it tends to grow. The conflict is not always destructive, sometimes it carries a constructive way out of the current situation.

Despite the fact that conflict is always a process, it has certain elements that form its internal structure as a holistic phenomenon:

1. parties to the conflict. In any conflict there are at least two conflicting parties - individuals or groups. Conflicts can also be multilateral, when more than two parties participate in the interaction, differing in roles in it:
- participants in the conflict are divided into direct and indirect. Between direct participants allocate just active and initiator (or instigator) of the conflict. Indirect participants may explicitly or implicitly support direct participants or even provoke conflict in order to achieve their own interests;
- organizer conflict - the one who plans it and manages its course;
- a victim of conflict;
- intermediary - this is a judge who can help reduce the severity or complete cessation of the conflict.

In a conflict, the roles of participants can change: at one stage, a person or group acts as the initiator of the conflict, and towards the end they move into the category of victims.

Each side of the conflict has force (potential) - the ability and ability to realize their goals in spite of the opposition of the opponent. Strength is a combination of potential and actual means and resources of the parties to the conflict. According to Western standards, there are three most important power source: violence, wealth and knowledge. Violence is considered a low-quality force, the use of which is generally undesirable, and in a business conflict is unacceptable.

Wealth can be used both positively and negatively. Therefore, it is a power of average quality. Power of the highest quality - knowledge (information combined with its skillful use). At the same time, along with true facts and scientific laws, religious views and even false and ambiguous facts are weapons of power play. Knowledge is the most flexible, universal and democratic source of power. (“Informed means armed.”)

2. subject of the conflict. That, because of which a conflict arises, an objectively existing or perceived as such a problem; this is the contradiction for the sake of resolving which the parties come into conflict. The subject of the conflict is always real and relevant. (For example, unfair, according to employees, attitude towards them, inept management, etc.)
3. The object of the conflict - a specific cause, the visible driving force of the conflict. It can be real or false, potential or actual, false or illusory. This is a material (resource), spiritual (idea, norm, principle, etc.) or social (power) value, which both opponents strive to possess or use.

Condition conflict is the claim of one of the parties to the indivisibility of the object, possession of it. Anything can be such an object: a convenient location of the table in the office, the size of a salary increase, copyright, a personal car, an enterprise, an oil field, etc., etc. There are three types of objects of conflict, which are:

cannot be divided into parts, it is impossible to own them jointly with someone;
can be divided into parts in various proportions;
the parties to the conflict can own them jointly (this is a situation of imaginary conflict).

It must be borne in mind that, even if the object of the conflict is somehow eliminated, and the subject remains, the possibility of continuing the conflict or the emergence of a new one remains (for example, if an employee believes that he is not paid enough because the boss is unfair to him, a simple salary increase will stop the conflict only for a while.If the relationship is not changed, the conflict will begin on another issue).

4. Environment. This is a set of objective physical and social conditions of the conflict. The environment of the conflict has a great influence on its causes and dynamics.

Both individuals and groups can act as parties to the conflict. According to the nature of their involvement in the conflict, its types are distinguished.

Interpersonal. These are conflicts of relations between specific people, individual parts of the group, the leader and the group, the group and its member. Researchers note that there is a certain minimum of conflict that is necessary to maintain social activity in the team.

The strength of the team is not in the absence of conflict, but in the productive resolution of contradictions for its unity and successful achievement of common goals.

Variants of conflicts depend on the hierarchical position of the conflicting personality in the team.

"Supervisor - team" (“vertical conflict”). Its possible causes:

a new leader was appointed from the outside, and the team had its own candidate for this position, whom the employees consider worthy;
inadequate management style, low competence of the head;
strong influence of negatively directed microgroups and their leaders.

"Ordinary member of the team - team" ("horizontal conflict"), Possible causes:

conflict personality;
discrepancy between group and personal motivations (this reason can serve as an internal basis for the manifestation of the others listed below);
violation of group norms of behavior;
inadequacy of a person's internal attitude to his status, a person's incorrect assessment of his role in the group;
mismatch of expectations - a person's behavior does not match what the group expected from him in accordance with his age, gender, education, status, and the atmosphere in the group is not what he hoped for.

In a situation of such a conflict, group sanctions are applied to a person.

"Leader - group (microgroup). Possible reasons:

low professional training of the leader;
provoking a conflict, using compromising evidence against the leader;
excess of authority by the leader, his attempt to take more power than the group allows him to have;
change in group consciousness.

Highly developed groups react to conflicts by mobilizing efforts to overcome the difficulties that have arisen, and low-level groups, conflict can lead to internal disorganization. Positive for the group are those conflicts that do not affect the foundations of its existence, fundamental goals, values, organizational culture. Such conflicts only contribute to the reorientation of the norms and relations adopted in the group, according to the need that has arisen. On the contrary, if the conflict is connected with the most important values of the group, it undermines its foundations and tends to destroy it.

Intrapersonal. Conflicts between contradictory personal attitudes. For example, the discrepancy between personal and corporate ethics, the rejection of her personality.

Intergroup. These are conflicts between groups or divisions. They arise in any situations in which participants in communication perceive each other and themselves as members of different groups, and not as autonomous people. Conflict occurs when the interests of strong groups are opposed. In other cases, relatively stable relationships are possible. In an intergroup conflict, the opposing sides are groups (small, medium, or microgroups). The confrontation is based on the clash of oppositely directed group motives (interests, values, goals). Such conflicts have specific functions:

rallying a group that defends just interests;
a split in a group defending illicit interests;
approval of the status of the individual in the group.

Under the influence of a conflict situation, there are changes in relations between groups:

1. Members of conflicting groups perceive each other according to the "We - They" scheme. Each of the parties sees the other as impersonal, that is, it considers its members as representatives of some category or group, and not as separate individuals. This perception contributes to the intensification and persistence of the conflict, weakening the factors that deter aggressive action. In addition to the depersonalization of the other, self-depersonalization occurs, that is, a person perceives himself more as a member of a group than as an independent person.
2. Inadequate social, group comparison. In group opinions, one's own group is valued higher, and the merits of the opposing group are underestimated.
3. "Double standards". The positive, approved behavior of one's own group and the negative behavior of a stranger is explained by internal causes. Accordingly, the negative behavior of one's own group and the positive behavior of a stranger is explained by external circumstances. (“We do good because we are good, and bad because of bad circumstances. They do bad because they are bad, and if they do something good, then by accident.”)

The behavior of most people in intergroup conflicts depends mainly on the acceptance of group norms, and not on personality traits. Experiments are widely known in which relatively large groups were divided into two small ones, and in such a way that people who knew each other and even sympathized with each other ended up in different groups.

Then an acute competitive situation, even enmity, was artificially created. As a result, the competing groups formed a negative image of the opposing group. Hostility between members of different groups quickly arose and grew sharply. Ugly plans were attributed to the enemy, all obscure situations were interpreted in their favor and to the detriment of the dignity of strangers. The past individual experience of a good relationship with a person who found himself in the camp of strangers was rejected. Solidarity triumphed in the general hostility to the rival group. In conditions of a limited resource, competition aggravated negative processes in the perception and assessment of the enemy and in interaction with him.

One of the most "sharp" experiments of this kind was that the participants were brought to the premises of the former prison and one group (by lot) was appointed "prisoners", and the other - "guards" with unlimited power. At first, the participants in the experiment perceived the situation as a joke, but after a few days, the "guards" began to demonstrate their power in every possible way and behave very harshly with the "prisoners" who showed hatred for the "guards". There was a strong intergroup conflict, life-threatening participants, and the experiment was terminated.

With the opposite organization of the experiment, people who treated each other with indifference or hostility fell into small groups. But they set common interdependent goals. The experience of cooperation in the name of common goals reduced the intensity of hostility and disposed the participants to sympathy and mutual understanding.

From the point of view of the consequences for the further existence of the group, the main positive function of the conflict is that it contributes to the emergence and strengthening of group self-consciousness and more clearly defines the boundaries between the group and the social environment. The unifying meaning of the struggle is manifested in several factors: in strengthening unity both in consciousness and in actions; in greater group cohesion; the exclusion of elements that can violate the boundaries of opposing groups, as well as the very possibility of uniting in the struggle of people and groups that in a peaceful situation are not related to each other.

To prevent and regulate intergroup conflicts, it is necessary to change stereotypes, that is, replace destructive, hostile, negative stereotypes with those that would not actualize intergroup aggression and conflict, would not prevent the establishment of relationships and the use of compromise strategies in decision-making.

Interdepartmental. Conflicts caused not by personal, but by departmental interests. They follow the same patterns as the intergroup ones.

Conflicts in organizations, on the one hand, have universal features, on the other hand, they have some substantive features.

Conflicts in organizations are divided into:

1. innovative - at the time of reforms. People usually do not like changes, they assume that they can threaten them with something, therefore, when they approach, the tension in the organization always increases. In addition, innovations in organizations are directly related to structural changes, territorial movements, redistribution of professional and functional duties and powers. Any restructuring and development in general are associated with the production of tension and conflict in interpersonal relationships in the team. But at the same time, the origins of conflicts are seen by the members of the collective not in the nature of the substantive activity of the group, but in the sphere of personal relations. Therefore, during the reforms in the organization, all types of them become aggravated.
2. Because of the demand for justice. Arise in the distribution of money or benefits. This is a showdown on the principle: “Why is that?” The conflicts of justice turn out to be protracted, since the feeling of resentment is fixed at the level of group and personal relations.
3. Because of resources. These are the most common real conflicts over finances, equipment, premises, benefits.
4. Positional. Due to the psychological incompatibility of the members of the group.
5. Dynamic. Situational conflicts, "from scratch" are, as a rule, a disguised form or a recurrence of conflicts of 2, 3 or 4 types.

Conflicts may be targeted when the achievement of victory makes the result absolute (for example, an election or appointment to the position sought), and status (multi-faceted and exciting for many people, when the “loss” or “win” of each participant is difficult to determine unambiguously).

As a rule, the conflict does not arise suddenly, but has certain development stages:

1. Pre-conflict stage. Tension appears between the future participants in the conflict. For conflict to develop, incident, in which one of the parties commits actions that infringe on the interests of the other.
2. "Acute" stage of a clear manifestation of the conflict, which goes beyond the initial incident, there are signs of 1-2 types of conflicts described above.
3. Resolution of the conflict or its transition into a protracted "chronic" form, which is especially characteristic of conflicts of position and justice.