Brown et al. [12] highligted that c

Brown et al. [12] highligted that conflict is doubt or questioning, opposition, incompatible behavior,
controversy or antagonistic interaction and disputes is one of the range of events considered as conflict.
According to Kumaraswamy & Yogeswaran [3], ―a dispute can be said to exist when a claim or assertion
made is made by one party is rejected by the other party and that rejection is not accepted.‖ This shows
that disputes is more likely occur when the conflicting parties shows an action or arguments to a
controversy.
Referring to Vorster [13], ―a dispute is defined as an argument about an issue concerning project
operations, usually resulting from a debate over differences in two or more parties‘ understanding of
situation.‖ This statement is supported by another statement by Deutsch [14] that defines conflict as
―incompatible activities; conflict occurs when the behavior of one person is interfering or obstructing the
actions of another.‖
There are perhaps as many definitions of conflict as there are occasions for its occurrence. According
to Thomas [15] there are three themes among the definitions of conflict. The first, is that whether conflict
exists or not is a perception issue. The perceived difference may not be real but conversely if the
difference is real but not perceived there is no conflict. The second common theme is that there is
interdependence among parties (i.e. each has the potential to interfere with the other). Third, there are
issues of blockage, opposition, and scarcity. Resources, for example, money, power and prestige, are
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limited. Their scarcity creates blocking behavior. When one party blocks the means to a goal or interest of
another, a state of conflict exists [16].
These numerous definitions show that scholars are looking at conflict from different angles but are
there a difference between conflict and dispute and if so, should we concern ourselves with the
difference? Some authors do not differentiate as Moore [17] manages to mix the two terms in the first
paragraph of his Chapter 1. However, most of previous research defines conflict and disputes shares the
same definition that is generally involves disagreement regarding interests or ideas and that was adopted
for this research. The important issue is both of the terms has ―historically been viewed as undesirable,
something to be avoided.‖ [18].