The traditional (and the oldest vie

The traditional (and the oldest view) view of conflict assumes that all disagreement is harmful and should be avoided. The human relations view argues that conflict is a natural occurrence in all groups and, as such, it should be managed and not eliminated. The interaction view proposes that conflict can be a positive force in a group and explicitly argues that some conflict is necessary for a group to perform effectively. According to the interaction view, conflict can be functional or dysfunctional. Functional conflict supports the goals of the group and improves it performance while dysfunctional conflict hinders group performance. Conflict can also be described by type: task, relationship, or process. Task conflict relates to the contents and goals of the work, while relationship conflict focuses on interpersonal relationships. Process conflict, in contrast, relates to how the work gets done. Studies indicate that relationship conflict is almost always dysfunctional, while low levels of process conflict and low to moderate levels of task conflict are functional.

The process of conflict consists of five stages: potential opposition, cognition and personalization, intentions, behaviour, and outcomes. The first step in the conflict process is the presence of conditions that create opportunities for conflict to arise. These conditions may be condensed into three categories: communication, structure, and personal variables. Communication variables include semantic difficulties, misunderstandings, and noise in communication channels. Structure variables include factors such as size, degree of specialization, jurisdictional clarity, member-goal compatibility, leadership styles, reward systems, and the degree of dependence between groups. Personal variables, in contrast, include personality, emotions, and values.

The second state of the conflict process is cognition and personalization. For conflict to exist, perception is required. Further, the conflict must be felt and individuals must become emotionally involved.

The third state in the conflict process is intentions. Intentions intervene between people's perceptions and emotions and their overt behaviour and may be described according to two dimensions: cooperativeness and assertiveness. The way in which individuals handle conflict has been characterized into five distinct intentions: competing (assertive and uncooperative), collaborating (assertive and cooperative), avoiding (unassertive and uncooperative), accommodating (unassertive and cooperative), and compromising (midrange on both assertive and cooperative).

The next stage of the conflict process is behaviour. This is where conflict becomes visible, with statements, actions, and reactions made by the conflicting parties. Managers may control the level of conflict through conflict management and conflict stimulation techniques. Conflict management techniques include problem solving, superordinate goals, expansion of resources, avoidance, smoothing, compromise, authoritative command, altering the human variable, and altering the structural variables. In the event that a manager wishes to stimulate conflict, techniques such as communication, bringing in outsiders, restructuring the organization, and appointing a devil's advocate may be used.

The final stage of the conflict process is outcomes. These outcomes may be either functional, resulting in an improvement in group performance, or dysfunctional, hindering group performance.