Sources of Conflict

Activity 21 Sources of Conflict
|Resolving Conflicts to Work Collaboratively |
|Conflict is a natural part of interpersonal relationships because of the different needs and wants of the individuals in the interaction. |
|Differences that lead to disagreements do not necessarily become conflicts. |
|Disagreements result in conflicts only when: |
|The individuals involved are interdependent i.e. what one individual does affects the other. |
|They have opposite goals i,e. each individual seems to interfere with another individual achieving his/her goal. |
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|For instance, you want to “hang out” with your friends every weekend while your parents think you ought to spend more time at home. Or you |
|think your classmates are selfish for not letting you photocopy their lecture notes, while they think you are lazy for not taking your own |
|notes. Thus how you and your parents or you and your classmates behave in order to get what you and what they want can give rise to conflict.|
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|It is important to understand how conflict arises if we are to approach it as a problem to be solved so that we can meet our best interests |
|and/or those of the group/organisation we are part of. |
|There are primarily four sources of conflict: