Organizational Conflict: A Critical Approach on Formal and Informal Management Processes

Abstract

Many researches and scholars would without hesitation justify the role of formal processes to manage the conflict in the workplace. The organizational culture and conflict management research in mainstream thinking has often neglected to examine the impact and implications of culture on informal processes of conflict management in organizations. This preliminary study examines the amount and types of conflict in organizations, the processes used to informally manage conflict, and the relationship between culture and informal conflict management processes by examining the results of a survey questionnaire given to 168 employees of three Public Administrations. The findings show that there is a relationship between culture, defined by sociability, and informal methods of conflict management. In this scenario, formal processes of conflict management become prescriptions and lose their relevance for understanding the challenges and the evolutions of conflict situations. The practice of conflict management is seen as more problematic, especially bringing the topic of organizational culture into discussions with conflict theory literature. Therefore, organizational culture and informal processes are factors that must be considered contributing to a critical perspective of conflict management.