Managing Conflicts in Organizations: A Communicative Approach

This is an exploratory study of interpersonal conflict handling in multinational organizations in India. The study draws from and builds on the premise that modern organizations thrive on teamwork, collaboration and interdependence; this situation necessitates more interaction and better interpersonal communication skills than before. However, close interactions and collaborative teamwork also cause conflicts that in turn affect the work environment. This paper studies the causes of conflicts, ways in which conflicts are handled, time taken to resolve a conflict and whether or not communication helps in the resolution of conflicts. The study also explores possible relationships between causes of conflict, time taken to resolve the conflict, and communication. Based on the data gathered from multi-national organizations based in India, the study shows that the “causes of conflict” are significantly related at 95% level of confidence to the variables “whether the conflict is resolved or not”, “the time taken to resolve the conflict” and “usefulness of communication ability in conflict resolution”. It is also observed that the resolution of the conflict is significantly dependent on the cause of conflict and that communication, although largely useful, may fail to resolve conflicts in specific contexts. This study also presents implications for future research in the area of conflict management through communication.