1. ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT
Stojkovic/Kalinich/Klofas
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Administration and Management
Chapter Eleven
ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT

2. Conflict Defined ● Conflict is a dynamic process in which two or
more individuals in an organization interact in
such a way as to produce conflict episodes
that may or may not lead to hostile behaviors.
● Conflict in organizations can be understood:
○ by exploring the antecedent conditions of
conflict;
○ as producing affective states in workers;
○ from individual employees’ cognitive states; or
○ by exploring the conflict behavior itself. 2

3. Types of Conflict The four types of organizational conflict are:
● Personal conflict within an individual
● Group conflict
● Intraorganizational conflict
○ Vertical conflict
○ Horizontal conflict
○ Line-staff conflict
○ Role conflict
● Interorganizational conflict 3

4. Types of Conflict A conflict episode consists of:
● the latent conflict stage (underlying conditions of
conflict are present);
● the perceived conflict stage (one or more parties
recognize conflict situation exists);
● the felt conflict stage (a party personalizes the
conflict situation);
● the manifest conflict stage conflict (overt/covert
behavior brings out the conflict); and
● the conflict aftermath stage (if antecedent
conditions are resolved, conflict dissolves). 4

5. Types of Conflict Combinations of cooperativeness and assertiveness,
conflict’s two dimensions, create conflict behaviors.
● Competing behavior (assertive, uncooperative)
● Accommodating behavior (unassertive,
cooperative)
● Avoiding behavior (unassertive, uncooperative)
● Collaborating behavior (assertive, cooperative)
● Compromising behavior (intermediate in both
assertiveness and cooperativeness) 5

6. Conflict Management
● Process interventions are categorized as consciousness-raising or interaction management.
● Process interventions from administrators and
managers can alter organizational conditions.
● Administrators have to accept that sometimes they
will not be able to handle a conflict situation.
● Conflict management deals with all dimensions of
conflict outcomes:
○ goal attainment
○ awareness of conflict consequences
○ economy of effort 6

7. Conflict Roles in Organizations
● Conflict can be both beneficial and harmful.
● Conflict in criminal justice organizations is often
good because it promotes change.
● Conflict in criminal justice organizations is normal;
it is not only unrealistic, but also counterproductive
to long-term organizational health to eliminate it.
● Conflict in criminal justice organizations seems
inevitable. Managers must learn to live with, adapt
to, and cope with it.
● Conflict management programs must train
managers and administrators how to do so. 7