As Abraham Lincoln said, "Let minor differences and personal preferences, if there be such, go to the winds."" As long as people have unique and different personalities, there will be conflict. Conflict is inevitable, however, conflict needs to be constructive and not destructive. .
According to Webster's dictionary the definition of conflict is a: competitive or opposing action of incompatibles: antagonistic state or action (as of divergent ideas, interests, or persons) b: mental struggle resulting from incompatible or opposing needs, drives, wishes, or external or internal demands. Conflict is when two or more values, perspectives, and opinions are contradictory in nature and have not yet been resolved or agreed upon.
There are two types of conflict; affective conflict or A type and cognitive conflict or C type. Affective conflict is emotional and is typically not aimed at an issue but a person, though personal criticisms and focuses on people instead of the facts. A type conflict can lead to low levels of acceptance and poor decisions, dubbing this conflict as dysfunctional or bad. (Tools for Teams). On the other hand cognitive or C type conflict is positive conflict, which occurs from differences in perspectives and judgments. Cognitive conflict can be viewed as positive because it focuses on the facts instead of the person. C type conflict can help identify potential solutions thus making it acceptable as functional or good.
According to Robert Bolton's book "People Skills,"" conflict can be realistic and nonrealistic. The realistic conflict focuses on the facts at hand, as well as issues that can be resolved. Nonrealistic conflict focuses on irrelevant issues, and is never resolved because the proper issues are not being discussed. Group performance is the criterion that differentiates the types of conflict. .
There has been conflict over the role of conflict. The role of conflict has evolved since the early 1900's.
