The 4 Types of Conflict in the Workplace and Why You Need to Know Them

Picture this: Everyone on your team is getting along and happy. Productivity and creativity are through the roof. And disagreements never happen. Does that sound like a fantasy? It probably does. And there is good reason for it.

If you have human beings working together, there are going to be disagreements. We’re all built differently, with distinctive attitudes, our own values and thousands of our own opinions. And that’s a good thing. Because conflict is not always negative. In fact, it can be healthy both at work and at home. When handled well, it can offer the opportunity for innovation, a better understanding of others, growth and out-of-the-box problem-solving. 

However, if not managed the right way, disagreements can turn into huge problems that can hurt your business. In fact, according to a study by CPP Inc.—publishers of the Myers-Briggs Assessment—27% of employees have seen conflict lead to personal attacks, and 25% have seen it result in sickness or absence. Nearly one-in-ten (9%) even saw it lead to project failure.¹ 

What is Conflict?

So how do you handle differences without everything going into the ditch? Let’s start with what conflict actually is. According to the Oxford Dictionary. It’s “The clashing of opposed principles.” Conflict can be minor and solved easily. Or, as we said above, it can be major and cause a lot of damage. So how do you handle it? The first step is to recognize the categories of conflict, which is what this blog post is all about. 

Categories of Conflict

There are four main categories of conflict:

1. Conflict Within a Person (Intrapersonal)

This often reflects one person’s internal struggle between two choices, two emotions or two values. When those choices, emotions or values clash, conflict is created. It can be as simple as trying to choose between a brownie or a piece of pie. Or even better, trying to choose between that piece of pie or abstaining to cut your calories.

The choice may not always be that easy, though. Internal conflict can be incredibly complicated with major consequences. Do you stand up and do the right thing at work even though there is a chance you’ll get fired? How about a choice for a parent who is gravely ill? Do you become a caretaker and take care of them at home or do you place them in a long-term nursing facility that they don’t want to go to? Conflict, indeed.

2. Conflict Between People (Interpersonal)

If you’re a living, breathing human being, you’re all familiar with this category. Conflict between people is as common as popcorn at a movie theater. This type of conflict

reflects differences between attitudes, preferences or strategies. And there are multiple categories. People with different personality styles can often butt heads. Disagreements between managers and employees have been going on since … Well, since there has been such a thing as managers and employees. There can be creative issues, work-style problems, generational differences and even discrimination to name a few. There are plenty more.

Here’s are a few examples:

• Differences in Leadership Styles—Dan is a leader who likes to get things done. When he’s trying to complete something, you need to get out of his way or get run over. He has no time for mushy feelings. You’re at work to work, not to have a lot of feelings. His team’s paychecks are all the thanks they need. Beth is a more modern style of leadership, She always takes her team’s feelings into consideration. She believes when you treat people well, good things happen. After numerous complaints from Dan’s team, she tries to talk to him about his leadership style. A fight ensues.

• Differences in Preferences—John is a top salesperson for a pharmaceutical company. He hits or even exceeds his sales goals every month. However, he not so good when it comes to paperwork. It’s never a priority and he’s always late turning in his expense report. He’s a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of guy. Jane works in the accounting department. She’s a rule follower, crosses every T and dots every I. She never misses a deadline. However, Jane can’t complete the end-of-the-month reports until she gets John’s expense report. She spends hours chasing him down. Conflict definitely arises between these two.
• Generational Differences—One great example of a multi-generational workforce is the nursing profession. Currently, it represents five different generations with very different attitudes. A nurse in their 20s just out of nursing school, for example, will have a totally different viewpoint in clinical methodology and approach to patient care than a nurse in their 60s who have been practicing in hospitals for decades. The multigenerational differences are a constant source of interpersonal conflict in hospitals across the country.

3. Conflict Within a Group (Intragroup)

Intragroup conflict involves disagreements or differences among the members of a group working toward a common goal. Basically, team conflict. Typically, the sources of this type of conflict are leadership style, task structure, group composition and size, cohesiveness and external threats. Here are a couple of examples.

• The Smith Company is about to launch a new coaching product. The marketing team is responsible for making sure the word gets out about it. Two members of the team think Facebook ads will give them the best bang for their buck. Two other team members believe sending a series of emails will garner more leads for the company. The final member of the team believes using an influencer is the ticket. No one agrees. Tension is high and the project is delayed.
  
  
• A web design team at a medium-sized corporation is responsible for re-designing the company’s home page. Part of the team believes the best answer is to get the page complete as fast as possible and fix any issues later, while several members of the team are more meticulous and want to everything perfect before the page goes up. Unless a compromise is made, the project will not meet its deadline.

4. Conflict Between Groups (Intergroup)

Intergroup conflict involves disagreements or differences between the members of two or more groups of people. Often, the sources of this type of conflict are issues related to authority, responsibility, territory and resources. Such conflict is generated from system differentiation, scarce resources, jurisdictional ambiguity and separation of knowledge from authority. 

A classic example is happening right now. Is there any more conflict than what is going on between our two political parties? The best they can do is agree to disagree. That’s great but what about the workplace? Intergroup conflict happens here all the time too. Examples include:

• A medium-sized company is divided into four divisions, with each one lead by a senior vice president. The budget is tight and resources are limited. So, each vice president must outmaneuver the other leaders to get the supplies and personnel they need to hit their goals, no matter how it affects the other divisions. The four vice presidents begin to clash as they try to do their best for their divisions. 

• Two small companies merge with the employees from each business naturally sticking together and having not-so-good feelings about the other group. Unless the conflicts are not resolved, the employee will never unify.

Besides the four main categories of conflict, disagreement can be based on the substance of a dispute. There are four types of these too. They include:

• Conflict Over Facts
  Often disagreement results from differences over what we believe to be facts. We read the same words in a book but argue over different meanings. We witness the same event but disagree as to what transpired. We analyze the same research findings but contend the implications are quite different. In essence, our experiences are the same— reading, witnessing and analyzing—but our understanding is different.

  An example of this is two people who read the same sales report. Sales are up by 5%. The sales manager, Luke, thinks with the economy booming, sales should have increased by 30%. Is the sales team slacking? The top salesperson, Jake, believes that 5% is a reasonable jump in sales and he and his coworkers have done an amazing job.
  

• Conflict Over Goals
  Conflict is also a clash of perspectives and goals. At times, these different perspectives related to the goals of individuals or groups can result in serious conflicts. For example, a manager sets an overly ambitious goal for a team member, who truly believes they can’t hit it. They become overwhelmed and can’t proceed forward. The manager doesn’t understand why the employee can’t “do his job.”
  
  
• Conflict Over Methods
  Not only do we differ on what should be done, but we experience great disagreement over how it should be carried out. The methods of carrying out any task, when viewed by a number of people, provide fertile ground for difference and conflict.

  The above scenario of web designers is a perfect example of this type of issue. One group is meticulous and wants everything perfect first, while the other is ready to launch and deal with any problems later.

• Conflict Over Values
  Just as conflict can occur from a clash of perspectives on facts, goals or methods, it also can result over different values. John Burton, in his book Conflict Resolution and Prevention, suggests that values are those ideas, habits, customs and beliefs that are characteristic of particular social communities. They are the linguistic, religious, class, ethnic or other features that lead to separate cultures and groups. When values differ, conflict often becomes a reality.

  If an employee, for example, has different values than the company they work for, there can be many issues. A classic example is an employee who puts their family above everything else and believes a job should be strictly nine to five. While the boss thinks they the employee should stay until a project is done—even if they have to stay until midnight every night of the week. Or a deeply religious person whose job is to man the company’s booth at a tradeshow. His fellow employees at the tradeshow have no problem partying all night after their day is complete, which goes against the first team member’s beliefs.

Conflict comes in all shapes and sizes. Recognizing its type and what it’s about is the first step in resolving disagreements.

The Lowry Group, LLC (TLG) is the outgrowth of almost three decades of experience helping organizations achieve their next level of success throughout the United States and around the world, including conflict resolution. TLG’s work began as an external consulting, systems design, and training resource composed of faculty from the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law. But TLG has moved beyond its academic roots to respond to repeated requests from corporate and government organizations for “real world” assistance. The TLG team has been chosen by scores of major organizations that must become more effective in negotiating sales, business transactions, client relationships and disputes.

Conflict is an inherent part of life. Left unchecked, however, it can bring even the biggest and well-intentioned organizations to heel. What makes companies and individuals truly successful is the ability to ably manage conflict. We created ConflictStop as the only resource you need to identify, resolve, and manage conflict. From CEOs to small business owners, and to anyone managing a team – developing the skills to navigate conflict is not just important, it’s imperative.