2. Defining Conflict

Defining Conflict and its Role in the Workplace

Defining Conflict and its Role in the Workplace (1:35)


If you were to search for a definition of conflict online, you would find an endless list of the ways it can be defined. The one theme that holds true among all of those definitions is that conflict always occurs in the context of a relationship. Where you find two or more people in a relationship, there is potential for conflict. As you begin work within your program, you will be in relationships with dozens of other people. These people include your co-workers, the program participants, and their parents/guardians. It can be helpful to recognize that conflict is not unusual working relationships, and can even have positive impacts on the workplace. 

Take a moment to read this quick article from The 10 benefits of conflict by Sherri Campbell in the Entrepreneur Magazine about some of the positive implications of conflict. 

The article speaks about how conflict can benefit you on a personal level. However, conflict can be helpful to the organization as well. Conflict is an important part of organizational development. If, as an example, no one ever spoke up about things that they perceived could be better, programs we deliver to students would never improve. When properly handled, conflict helps us better the environments we work in.  

Within the definition of conflict, there are different levels and stages of conflict and different ways people process conflict. Understanding these different stages is critical because we often only notice conflict when it has manifested into an argument or another obvious form.

So what is conflict? 

The Conflict Cycle Model

The Conflict Cycle Model (2:51)



The diagram below illustrates the 5 stages of the conflict cycle model as described in Pondy’s seminal work on Organizational Conflict: Concepts and Models (1967). Each step is derived from Ponday’s foundational work on the subject. 



1. Latent Conflict: 

According to Pondy (1967), latent conflict is the initial stage where potential conflict-inducing factors exist within a situation. The four basic types of latent conflict are:

  • “Competition for scarce resources
  • Drive for autonomy
  • Divergence of goals
  • Role conflict” (Pondy, 1967, p. 301).

2. Perceived Conflict:

Perceived conflict occurs when one party believes that the other is likely to obstruct their goals, even if no overt signs of conflict exist. Pondy (1967) notes that "conflict may sometimes be perceived when no conditions of latent conflict exist, and latent conflict conditions may be present in a relationship without any of the participants perceiving the conflict" (Pondy, 1967, p. 301). 

The case in which conflict is perceived when no latent conflict arises, is said to result from the parties misunderstanding each other's true position. Such conflict can be resolved by improving communication between the groups. 

3. Felt Conflict: 

Understanding felt conflict is to grasp that emotions and emotional turmoil can affect how we see and deal with conflict. For Pondy (1967), “there is an important distinction [to be made] between perceiving conflict and feeling conflict” (p. 302).

Pondy (1967) uses the example that if two people are in a conflict over a policy, one person may not feel tense or anxious, and it may not affect their affection for the other person, but the opposite could also be true. The personalization of conflict is what has an impact on people’s emotions and relationships. 

There are two ways why personalization of conflict occur: 

  • Internal stress arises due to inconsistent demands of organizational efficiency and individual growth (Pondy, 1967). Most times, individuals will need to express their anxieties in order to cope with emotions that come with stress.

  • Conflict becomes personalized when the whole personality of the individual is involved in the relationship. This is often seen in close relationships, such as those within institutions and residential colleges (Pondy, 1967). 

4.  Manifest Conflict: 

Manifest conflict is the stage when the two parties engage in behaviours which evoke responses from each other. To understand manifest conflict is to understand “under what conditions will a party to a relationship knowingly frustrate another party to the relationship” (Pondy, 1967, p. 304). Think about what behaviour you feel during a conflict and how this behaviour can frustrate or add to the conflict. The most obvious of these responses are open aggression, apathy, sabotage, withdrawal and perfect obedience to rules. 

5. Conflict Aftermath:

The aftermath of a conflict may have positive or negative repercussions for the organization depending upon how the conflict is resolved. 

Conflict aftermath can be looked at in two perspectives. 

  • If the conflict is resolved to the satisfaction of the participants, there is a basis of a more cooperative relationship for the future, or the participants in their “drive for a more ordered relationship, may focus on latent conflicts not previously perceived and dealt with” (Pondy, 1967, p. 305). 
  • If the conflict is suppressed, ignored or not resolved, the latent conditions can lead to individuals being “more aggravated or explode in a more serious form until they are rectified” (Pondy, 1967, p. 305).

Conflict resolution has been added as an additional box in the diagram to elucidate that conflict aftermath is a direct function of the results of the conflict resolution style adopted and exercised in any given situation.

Activity One

Reflection Questions:

In your printout of the Conflict Resolution Workbook PDF or in a personal notebook, record your responses to the following reflection questions.

  • Have you ever been involved in a conflict that when resolved lead to a positive outcome for both parties? 

  • Think of a conflict you were in recently that hit the manifest stage - can you identify what signs existed before that would have indicated you were in the earlier stages of conflict?

Conflict Resolution

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