People working in organizations are different
. Accordingly, they perceive the situation in which they find themselves in different ways. Differences in perception often result in people not agreeing with each other. This disagreement occurs when the situation is indeed of a conflict nature. Conflict is determined by the fact that the conscious behavior of one of the parties (a person, group or organization as a whole) conflicts with the interests of the other party. That is, conflict is the lack of agreement between two or more parties. The manager, according to his role, is usually at the center of any conflict in an organization and is called upon to resolve it with all the means at its disposal. Conflict management is one of the most important functions of a manager.
From the point of view of the causes of a conflict situation, three types of conflicts are distinguished. The first is a conflict of ends. In this case, the situation is characterized by the fact that the parties involved in it differently see the desired state of the object in the future. There are many methods for resolving such conflicts. The second is a conflict caused by the fact that the parties involved disagree over the views, ideas and thoughts on the problem being solved. Resolving such conflicts takes more time than resolving conflicts related to conflicting goals. And finally, the third is a sensual conflict, which appears in a situation where participants have different feelings and emotions that underlie their relationships with each other as personalities. People just irritate each other with their style of behavior, business, interaction. Such conflicts are the hardest to resolve, since they are based on the reasons related to the psyche of the individual.
There are five levels of conflicts in an organization: within a person (related to the contradictions between “I want”, “I can” and “need” in a person), between individuals (on professional-industrial, social and emotional grounds), within a group, between groups, inside the organization. These levels are closely related. Thus, intrapersonal conflict can make an individual feel aggressive towards others and thereby cause personal conflict.
Sources of conflict can be a shortage of resources, unequal contribution to the cause, unfulfilled expectations, orthodoxy of management, lack of autonomy, etc.
Ways of conflict resolution can be force, power, persuasion, cooperation, compromise, avoiding conflict, engaging a third force, playing a game, etc.
The following strategies of behavior in a conflict exist:
1) avoiding interaction;
2) smoothing;
3) fight;
4) cooperation and problem solving;
5) search for a compromise.
To resolve organizational conflicts are widely used so-called structural methods of conflict management within the organization. These methods are associated with the use of changes in the structure of the organization to resolve conflicts that have developed. They are aimed at reducing the intensity of the conflict. The group of these methods includes:
• methods related to the use by the head of his position in the organization (order, decree, directive, etc.);
• methods related to the "dilution" of parts of the organization - participants in the conflict ("breeding" them by resources, goals, means, etc.) or reducing their interdependence (differentiation and autonomy of units);
• methods related to the creation of a certain “groundwork” in the work of interdependent divisions (stock of materials and components);
• methods related to the introduction of a special integration mechanism for conflicting units (general deputy, supervisor or coordinator, etc.);
• methods related to the merger of different divisions and endowing them with a common task (for example, integrating the labor and wages department and the personnel department into the personnel development department, designed to develop each individual employee in terms of his growth, and not just settlement and accounting functions).
If the conflict situation is under the control of the leadership, then such conflicts are called functional. They have a positive impact on the effectiveness of the organization and are beneficial to it. Functional conflicts may arise at meetings, councils, in business discussions, etc. The parties involved usually control themselves and the situation.
If the situation gets out of hand control, the conflict becomes dysfunctional. Dysfunctional conflict leads to a decrease in personal satisfaction of employees, efficiency of group cooperation, leads to hostility in relations, to injustice in the distribution of resources, forcing them to act against their will in favor of one of the parties.
The term "stress" has now become one of the most popular and has become a source of justifiable concern for company executives. Stress is an adaptive response mediated by individual differences and / or psychological processes, which is a response to any external influence, situation or event, which imposes increased psychological and / or physical demands on a person.
Stress in the workplace can be caused by a high level of requirements and a low level of control over the labor process. It is associated primarily with the changes that cause the interaction of people and their work. Stress is the result of human interaction with the external environment. It covers not only the emotional and psychological, but also the physical sphere of man. Stress factors are both in the reality surrounding the person and in his psychological environment. There are working and non-working factors that can be sources of stress.
There are several ways to manage stress. You can change the objective reality, to remove the stress factor, or to change the psychological environment in which the person is. In other cases, stress symptoms can be altered so that they do not have a long-term effect. There are organizational and individual methods of stress management. Organizational methods include: wellness programs for employees; changing the work environment, etc. Individual methods include: psychological (changing the environment in which there is stress; changing the cognitive assessment of the environment; changing behavior to change the environment) and physiological methods (improving the physical condition of a person to increase the effectiveness of stress management).