Conflict Management Strategies and the Role of Third Party in Managing Conflict in Complex Organizations

Abstract

Conflict Management has been an area of interest in complex
organizations for over the past decades. This is so because organizations
have become more polarized with diversity of interest from the individual
and group level which often leads to conflict. Since conflict is inescapable,
it becomes imperative for it to be properly managed. Conflict
management implies integration of all factors which can contribute to
the prevention and resolution of conflict which involves the processes
of reducing the negative and destructive capacity of conflict through a
number of measures by working parties involved in that conflict. The
study analyse the conflict management strategies such as integration,
obliging, avoiding, dominating, compromise, negotiation and the role
of third party in managing conflict in complex Organizations. The conflict
management strategies are model aimed at assisting conflicting parties
to reach agreement and determine the condition for settlement. In spite
of the seeming criticism of Neo Marxist Conflict Theory, it was adopted
because of it ability to explain the conflict situation in complex
organizations. As a descriptive type of study, the study utilizes secondary
sources of data from textbooks, Seminar Papers, and Journals. From
the literature reviewed, the study discovered that all the conflict
management strategies and the third party role are effective in managing
conflict in different ways in organizations. However, the study
recommends that since conflict is an integral part of work organization,
the government and stakeholders should encourage the utilization of
conflict management strategies and third party role in dealing with conflict
situations.