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The Causes Of Conflict: The Nature Of Group Conflicts

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4. Conflicts 4.1. The Nature of Group conflict Conflicts are surrounding people everywhere in their lives. In the most extreme cases, conflict represent open fighting, even warfare. In a less aggressive and hostile form, it may reflect disagreement, tension over styles, opposing values, goals, or even personal choices. Whether conflicts affect individuals, families, groups, or organizations, people are inclined to avoid rather than confront them. In Scott Pecks work he suggests, that “by far the greatest source of mental illness is delivered from our unwillingness to deal with conflicts as they arise. We put them off until the stress surrounding such unfinished business begins to influence our ability to cope and the very quality of our lives.” (Peck S. , 1978, p. 17) The same is true in groups and teams. It is the avoided task, the unfinished business, or the hostile relations that constantly detract from the group`s ability to function as well as it might. The dislike for conflict has many reasons: it is difficult and people are usually poorly trained to deal with it. The result of …show more content…

Substantive conflict is based on members differing options about ideas, information, and facts presented during the team`s work. This type of conflict is helpful because it stimulates healthy dialogue, the development of solutions that include different points of view. Affective conflict is based on the emotional and interpersonal relationships among members and it pits members against each other. This type of conflict is rarely helpful to the development of the team. In general, affective conflict is more difficult to resolve than substantive conflict because it is resistant to persuasive reasoning. (Toseland & Rivas, 2001, p.

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