Conflict between Individuals
Conflict can also take an interpersonal form. Conflict between individuals takes place owing to several factors, but most common are personal dislikes or personality differences. When there are only differences of opinion between individuals about task-related matters, it can be construed as technical conflict rather than interpersonal conflict. Of course, technical and interpersonal conflicts may influence each other due to role-related pressures. For a blinds store, the sales manager may put the blame for low sales volume on the production manager for not giving on time production of roller shades and woven wood shades. Because of that they were not able to meet the schedule task for sales. This may start disliking the production manger as an incompetent person. It is often very difficult to establish whether a conflict between two parties is due to manifest rational factors, or it emanates from hidden personal factors.
Conflicts between an Individual and a Group
These types of intragroup conflicts arise frequently due to an individual’s inability to conform to the group norms. For example, most groups have an idea of a “fair day’s work” and may pressurize an individual if he exceeds or falls short of the group’s productivity norms. If the individual resents any such pressure or punishment, he could come into conflict with other group members.
We will discuss briefly about conflicts between an Individual and a group in next post.
