Lesson 2. Causes of conflicts and stages of their development

No action aimed at preventing or effectively resolving conflicts can be taken if we know nothing about the causes of their occurrence and the characteristics of their development. Therefore, in this lesson the main focus will be on these issues.

You will learn about what groups of causes of conflicts exist and how they differ from each other, as well as what the main stages and stages of their development are and what their dynamics are.

And the first issue on the agenda will be the causes of conflicts.

Causes of conflicts

four main groups can be distinguished into which the causes of conflicts are divided:

• Objective reasons
• Organizational and managerial reasons
• Social and psychological reasons
• Personal reasons

Let's talk about each group separately.

1

Objective causes of conflicts

Objective causes of conflicts are the reasons that determine the formation of a pre-conflict situation. In some cases they may be real, and in others they may be imaginary, representing only a reason artificially invented by a person.

The most common objective reasons include the following:

• The collision of spiritual and material interests of people that occurs in the process of life in a natural rhythm.

EXAMPLE: Two people are arguing in a store about who will get the product they like, which remains in a single copy.

• Insufficiently developed legal norms that regulate conflict resolution of problems.

EXAMPLE: A manager often insults his subordinate. The subordinate, defending his dignity, is forced to resort to conflict behavior. In our time, no effective methods have yet been developed to protect the interests of subordinates from the arbitrariness of managers. The subordinate, of course, can file a complaint with the appropriate authorities, but most likely this will not yield results. Hence it turns out that in such situations, subordinates have to either make concessions or enter into conflict.

• Insufficient amount of spiritual and material goods necessary for normal life and activity.

EXAMPLE: Nowadays in society one can observe all sorts of shortages of various goods, which certainly affects both the lives of people and the characteristics of conflicts between them. Several people can apply for the same promising and well-paid position. This contributes to the emergence of conflicts between people, and the objective cause of the conflict here will be the distribution of material resources.

2

Organizational and managerial causes of conflicts

Organizational and managerial reasons are the second group of causes of conflicts. To some extent, these reasons can be called more subjective than objective. Organizational and managerial reasons are interconnected with processes such as the creation of various organizations, groups, teams, as well as with their functioning.

The main organizational and managerial reasons are:

• Structural-organizational reasons - their meaning lies in the fact that the structure of the organization does not meet the requirements that the activity in which it is engaged puts forward for it. The structure of the organization should be determined by the tasks that it solves or plans to solve, in other words, the structure must be adapted to them. But the catch is that bringing the structure to meet the tasks is very problematic, which is where conflicts arise.

EXAMPLE: When designing an organization, as well as in forecasting its tasks, mistakes were made; During the course of an organization's activities, the tasks facing it constantly change.

• Functional-organizational reasons - as a rule, are caused by a lack of optimality in the connections between the organization and the external environment, various departments of the organization or individual employees.

EXAMPLE: Conflicts may arise due to a discrepancy between the rights of an employee and his responsibilities; discrepancy between wages and the quality and quantity of work done; discrepancy between logistics and the volume and features of the tasks assigned.

• Personal-functional reasons - due to insufficient compliance of the employee, based on the professional, moral and other qualities required by the position he occupies.

EXAMPLE: If an employee does not have the qualities required by the organization, conflicting relationships may arise between him and senior management, colleagues, etc., because the mistakes he makes can affect the interests of everyone with whom he interacts.

• Situational and managerial reasons are a consequence of mistakes made by managers and their subordinates in the process of solving the tasks assigned to them (managerial, organizational, etc.).

EXAMPLE: If an incorrect management decision is made, a conflict may arise between its executors and authors; Similar situations arise when an employee does not complete the task assigned to him or does it improperly.

3

Social and psychological causes of conflicts

The socio-psychological causes of conflicts are based on the socio-psychological prerequisites inherent in interpersonal relationships. They are also divided into several types:

• An unfavorable socio-psychological climate is a situation in which there is no value-orientation unity and a low level of cohesion among people.

EXAMPLE: In an organization or any group of people, a negative atmosphere, depression, negative attitudes of people towards each other, pessimism, aggression, antipathy, etc. prevail.

• Anomie of social norms is the inconsistency of social norms accepted in an organization or society. It can give rise to double standards - situations when one person demands from others what he himself does not follow.

EXAMPLE: In an organization there is a person who gets away with everything, while another is required to perform unimaginable tasks and be held accountable for every action.

• The discrepancy between social expectations and the implementation of social roles and the fulfillment of functionality appears due to the fact that one person may already have formed expectations, and another person may not even be aware of it.

EXAMPLE: A manager expects a subordinate to perform his duties in a specific way, but has not brought him up to date. The subordinate performs the work as it should happen in his understanding. As a result, the manager’s expectations are not met, which is what causes the conflict.

• Generational conflict is usually associated with different behavior patterns of people and differences in their life experiences.

EXAMPLE: An elderly person believes that young people should behave in a certain way, corresponding to the idea that is fixed in his mind. Young people, in turn, behave in a way that is right from their point of view. Conflict may arise as a result of this discrepancy.

• Communication barriers - in other words, misunderstanding between people, which can arise either unconsciously, due to the inability to communicate effectively and focusing only on one’s interests, or deliberately, to make it difficult for a partner to communicate.

EXAMPLE: threats, lectures, commands, orders, accusations, humiliation, moralizing, logical arguments, criticism, disagreements, interrogations, clarifications, distractions, deliberate withdrawal from the problem and everything that can disrupt another person’s train of thought and force him to prove his point position.

• Territoriality – refers to the field of environmental psychology. Territoriality means the occupation by one person or group of people of a specific space and taking it and everything that is in it under their control.

EXAMPLE: A group of young people comes to the park and wants to take a bench where people are already sitting. They demand to give up their place, which can cause a conflict, because others may not give up their place. Another example would be the introduction of troops into the territory of a country in order to occupy certain positions there, subjugate it to one’s control, and establish one’s own rules.

• Presence of a destructive leader in an informal structure - If there is a destructive leader in an informal organization, he, intending to achieve personal goals, may organize a group of people who will obey his instructions, rather than the instructions of the formal leader.

EXAMPLE: You can remember the movie “Lord of the Flies” - according to the plot, the following situation occurred: a group of boys who found themselves on a desert island chose one of the guys as a specific leader. At first, everyone listened to him and followed his orders. However, later one of the guys felt that the leader was behaving ineffectively. Subsequently, he becomes an informal leader and lures the boys to his side, as a result of which the boy, who was the formal leader, loses all authority and power.

• Difficulties in the socio-psychological adaptation of new team members arise in many cases when a new person joins an organization, company or any other group of people. In such situations, the stability of the team is disrupted, which makes it susceptible to negative influences both from within and from the outside.

EXAMPLE: A new person comes to the established team of a department of an organization, with his own characteristics and qualities. People begin to take a closer look, adapt, check each other, arrange all kinds of “tests”. In the process of such interaction, conflict situations of various kinds may arise.

• Responsive aggression is characteristic mainly of weak and defenseless people. It manifests itself in the fact that a person’s indignation is directed not at its source, but at the people around him: relatives, friends, colleagues, etc.

EXAMPLE: A young man works as a manager in a company. But due to his character and personality traits, everyone makes fun of him, “teasing” him, sometimes not in a very friendly way. But he cannot answer anyone, because... weak by nature. His indignation is sublimated into aggression, which he takes out when he comes home on his relatives - he shouts at them, swears at them, starts quarrels, etc.

• Psychological incompatibility is a situation when people are incompatible with each other according to some psychological criteria: character, temperament, etc.

EXAMPLE: Family quarrels and scandals, divorces, domestic violence, negative atmosphere in the team, etc.

4

Personal causes of conflicts

The personal causes of conflicts are closely related to the psychological characteristics of the people involved. As a rule, they are determined by the specifics of the processes occurring in the human psyche during his interaction with the outside world and people around him.

The types of reasons presented include the following:

• A person’s assessment of another’s behavior as unacceptable - the nature of each person’s behavior depends on his personal and psychological characteristics, as well as his mental state, attitude towards another person or situation. A person’s behavior and communication can be regarded by a partner either as acceptable and desirable, or as unacceptable and undesirable.

EXAMPLE: Two people met in a new company. One of them is used to communicating in a purely rude manner, which the rest of the company members already treat normally, while for the other such behavior is unacceptable, as a result of which he expresses his indignation about this. People come into confrontation and a conflict situation arises.

• Low level of socio-psychological competence - manifests itself in situations where a person is not prepared to act effectively in conflict situations or has no idea that many non-conflict methods can be used to get out of a pre-conflict situation.

EXAMPLE: A fierce argument arises between two men on some sensitive topic. But while one of them can give arguments in his favor and resolve the dispute verbally and without aggression, the other is used to resolving all issues with his fists. As soon as the situation begins to heat up, one resorts to physical contact - a conflict situation arises, although before that it could be characterized as pre-conflict and a lot of ways could be applied to it to get around the “sharp corners”.

• Insufficient psychological stability - makes itself felt when a person is not able to adequately respond to the influence of stress factors during social interaction.

EXAMPLE: The cause of the conflict here can even be a banal “crush” in the morning in transport - one person accidentally steps on another’s foot, the second in response begins to be indignant and insult the first.

• An insufficiently developed ability to empathize is the cause of conflict when one person is unable to understand the emotional state of another and empathize with him.

EXAMPLE: A wife comes home from work in a dejected state, she is upset about something, upset, she needs to talk it out, share her experiences. The husband does not pay any attention to this, continues to watch TV or read the newspaper. The wife, not feeling any attention, begins to be indignant about this and a family quarrel begins.<

• Inflated/lowered level of aspirations can cause conflict when a person has inadequate self-esteem or assessment of his own strengths and capabilities.

EXAMPLE: low or high self-esteem, self-confidence, lack of self-confidence, the desire to avoid responsibility, the desire to constantly complain or complain about life, etc.

The causes of conflicts we have considered are the most common in everyday life, but they are not exhaustive. Of primary importance in this matter are the situations that serve as causes for conflicts. In some cases, situations can contribute to their appearance, and in others - contribute to their inhibition.

Now we should move on to a question that concerns an already emerging and developing conflict, namely: consider the stages of its development and dynamics.

Conflict interaction. Incident

An incident is the deliberate actions of opponents who want to individually take possession of the object of the conflict, regardless of the consequences. Awareness of a threat to their interests forces the warring parties to use active methods of influence. An incident is the beginning of a collision. It specifies the balance of power and reveals the positions of the conflicting parties. At this stage, opponents still have little idea of ​​their resources, potentials, strengths and means that will help them gain the upper hand. This circumstance, on the one hand, restrains the conflict, and on the other, forces it to develop further. At this phase, opponents begin to turn to a third party, that is, to appeal to legal authorities to assert and protect their interests. Each of the subjects of the confrontation tries to attract the largest number of supporters.

Stages of development and dynamics of conflict

As a socio-psychological phenomenon, conflict has dynamics, in other words, it is a process that has a beginning, certain stages of development and a final phase, i.e. ending.

It is important to note that conflict dynamics can be viewed both broadly and narrowly. In a broad sense, the dynamics of a conflict is understood as a change in specific stages of its development in time and space, in a narrow sense - the development of one of the most acute stages of a conflict situation.

Today, there is no single approach to studying the dynamics of the conflict, either on the issue of the number of its stages or on the issue of their content. Scientists share several points of view on this matter. We will present the most common of them.

So, the beginning of a conflict, as a rule, is determined by the first acts of counteraction by the subjects of the conflict. The beginning of a conflict is considered to be the moment when the conflict situation meets three conditions:

In the event that one of the subjects expresses his aggressive position, and the second remains passive, no conflict arises. In addition, there is no conflict when one of the subjects takes aggressive actions only in the imagination, and not in reality, because conflict interaction is at the planning stage. The end of a conflict can take various forms, but in any situation it implies the cessation of actions by the participants directed against each other.

The dynamics of the conflict consists of three basic periods. Each period is characterized by its stages.

1

Pre-conflict (latent) period

The pre-conflict period consists of the following stages:

• An objective problematic situation arises . Conflict can be caused by a problem situation in which disagreements arise between two or more entities. Considering that these disagreements have not yet been recognized and conflicting actions have not been taken, the situation is characterized as problematic. The catalysts for a problematic situation are mainly objective reasons. Contradictory situations that arise as a result of human interaction cause real conflicts only in conjunction with subjective factors. The condition for transition here is the subjects’ awareness of the problem situation.

EXAMPLE: In everyday life, people may not have the same aspirations, interests, motives, goals. This discrepancy can accumulate over a long period of time, initially not presenting a danger, but nevertheless being a potential threat to people. Moreover, such discrepancies can arise in any area of ​​life: family relationships, at work, in business, in production, etc.

• The subjects of interaction are aware of the objective problem situation . The content of the presented stage is the perception of the situation by its subjects as contradictory, their understanding that it is necessary to begin to take certain actions in order to eliminate contradictions. If there are obstacles to the realization of the interests of the subjects, then the problematic situation will be perceived by them subjectively and distortedly, which is due to the peculiarities of the psyche of the subjects and their social differences. The subjectivity of awareness also depends on the personal characteristics of the participants in the problematic interaction, their needs, level of education, etc. The most complex situations develop and are distorted by subjects most quickly.

EXAMPLE: People who do not coincide in aspirations, ideals, interests, motives, goals, but regularly interact with each other, can come to the understanding that they are faced with a problematic situation that requires immediate resolution in one way or another. As a result, the question arises of how the situation can be resolved.

• The subjects of interaction try to get out of a problematic situation using non-conflict methods. You should know that the awareness of subjects of a contradictory, problematic situation does not in all cases lead to the emergence of a conflict as such. In many cases, the subjects (or at least one of them) seek to resolve the situation using non-conflict methods.

EXAMPLE: If a problematic situation has arisen in a family, its members can discuss the problem at a family council so as not to aggravate the situation; if confrontation has arisen between work colleagues or superiors and subordinates, a meeting may be organized or a disciplinary conversation may be held. One participant in a conflict situation may yield to another or convince him; each party can argue its position and come to a compromise in order to avoid the problem situation escalating into a conflict. Otherwise, there is a high probability of a pre-conflict situation.

• A pre-conflict situation arises. The situation can become such if subjects feel a threat to their interests, a danger from an opponent. It is important to note that the actions of opponents here will not be considered as a potential threat characteristic of a problem situation, but as an immediate one. This is precisely the reason why the direction of development of the situation will be directed towards the conflict, i.e. an immediate threat is a psychological trigger.

EXAMPLE: Spouses at the family council did not come to a compromise, as a result of which the situation worsened and a scandal began; at a meeting or during a disciplinary conversation, employees did not come to a consensus and the situation worsened - a “debriefing” began, a showdown, a showdown, personal attacks, etc. As a result, a conflict begins.

2

Open period

The open period of conflict is the conflict interaction itself, or, more simply, the conflict itself. It consists of the following steps:

• Incident. It represents the very first clash of subjects, during which there is an attempt to use their personal powers in order to resolve the situation to their advantage. If the resources of one of the subjects are sufficient to ensure an advantage in its favor, the conflict can be exhausted. However, conflicts often develop further in the form of a series of incidents. Moreover, conflict interactions between subjects can contribute to changing the initial structure of the conflict, modifying it, and adding new incentives for taking new actions.

EXAMPLE: During a quarrel, people begin to use methods of fighting that are suitable for them: putting pressure on each other, interrupting, shouting down, intensely blaming. If one of the opponents managed to suppress the other, the quarrel may end. But one quarrel can escalate into another, becoming a serious scandal with all the ensuing consequences.

• Escalation. The escalation process can be characterized as a transition from negotiations to active confrontation. In turn, the struggle will cause new, more violent emotions, which contribute to an increase in errors and distortion of perception, which ultimately leads to an even more intense struggle, etc.

EXAMPLE: During a disciplinary conversation, a conversation between colleagues escalated into a heated argument, then people began to get personal, insult each other, and humiliate each other. Emotions began to take over, clouding the opponents' judgment. After leaving the office, one may begin to publicly accuse the other, the other may begin to win others over to his side, weave intrigues, build intrigues, etc.

• Balanced opposition. This stage is characterized by the fact that the interaction between the subjects of the conflict continues, but its intensity is gradually declining. The participants realize that continuing the confrontation using force does not produce a corresponding effect, however, the parties’ actions to achieve a compromise solution or agreement have not yet been observed.

EXAMPLE: Participants in a family scandal or a serious conflict at work begin to understand that the actions they take to achieve an advantage in their favor do not bring results, i.e. their efforts are in vain; active aggressive actions are being taken less and less. The parties are gradually realizing that it is time to come to an agreement and establish normal relations, but none of them is yet willing to do so openly.

• Ending the conflict. The meaning of this stage is that the subjects of the conflict move from conflict resistance to the search for a more adequate resolution of the situation in order to end the conflict on any terms. The main forms of ending conflict relationships can be called their elimination, extinction, settlement, resolution or escalation into a new conflict.

EXAMPLE: The conflicting parties come to mutual understanding: the spouses’ relationship improves and becomes less aggressive, because both were able to meet each other halfway and understand opposing positions; Colleagues found a common language, figured out what didn’t suit everyone, and resolved their dispute. But this may not always happen - if the end of the conflict is its escalation into a new conflict, then the consequences can be very disappointing.

3

Post-conflict (latent) period

The post-conflict period, like the pre-conflict period, is hidden and consists of two stages:

• Partial normalization of relations between subjects. It occurs in cases where the negative emotions present in the conflict have not completely disappeared. The presented stage is characterized by people’s experiences and their understanding of their position. Often there is a correction of self-esteem, attitude towards the opponent, and the level of one’s aspirations. The feeling of guilt for actions taken during the conflict may also worsen, but the negative attitudes of the subjects towards each other do not provide them with the opportunity to immediately begin the process of normalizing relations.

EXAMPLE: Spouses between whom there was a conflict realize their guilt, understand that they were wrong, but in each of them there is still resentment, indignation and other negative emotions that do not allow them to ask each other for forgiveness, forget about the scandal, or return to the old rhythm of life.

• Complete normalization of relations. Relations can finally normalize only when all parties to the conflict come to the realization that it is most important to find a way for constructive further interaction. This stage is different in that during communication people overcome their negative attitudes, achieve mutual trust and take an active part in any joint activity.

EXAMPLE: Work colleagues made concessions to each other, overcame their pride, and to some extent reconsidered their attitude towards the situation, their behavior, and the behavior of their opponent. It is likely that they will together carry out some task given by the leader, or even themselves will come to the conclusion that joint activity can unite them and improve their relationship.

In addition to the periods of conflict dynamics presented above, we can also highlight another period, which is characterized by differentiation of the parties . This means that the conflict is developing progressively, as a result of which the opposition of the participants is intensifying. The confrontation between the parties continues until the moment when any further strengthening ceases to make sense. This will be the moment when the integration of the conflict begins - the desire of the participants to come to an agreement that suits each of them.

EXAMPLE: You may have seen the feature film “Angel Falls” starring Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan. The two heroes oppose each other throughout the entire picture, they are irreconcilable enemies, their goal is to kill each other. But the situation at the end of the film develops in such a way that this goal loses all relevance for each of the characters, and, even having the opportunity to achieve it, they find another way out of the situation. As a result, the heroes not only do not kill each other, but also become like-minded people with one common mission.

Let's summarize the lesson : knowledge of the causes of occurrence and stages of development of conflicts is a necessary condition for mastering the skill of preventing and neutralizing them, because, as they say, the best way to avoid a fire is to extinguish its barely smoldering hearth than to extinguish an already raging flame. The ability to come out of any conflict with dignity comes down mainly to being able to find compromises and make concessions.

In the next lessons of our training, we will talk about ways and methods of managing, resolving and resolving conflicts, their prevention and prevention, and also touch on the topic of intrapersonal conflict in more detail.

Pre-conflict (main phases)

In the latent stage of development, the following phases can be distinguished:

1. The emergence of a conflict situation. At this stage, a certain contradiction arises between opponents, but they are not yet aware of it and do not take any active steps to defend their positions.
2. Awareness of a conflict situation. At this time, the warring parties begin to understand that a clash is inevitable. In this case, the perception of the situation that has arisen is usually subjective. Awareness of a conflict objective situation can be either erroneous or adequate (that is, correct).
3. An attempt by opponents to resolve a pressing issue through communicative means, competently arguing their position.
4. Pre-conflict situation. Occurs if methods of peaceful resolution of the problem have not brought success. The warring parties realized the reality of the emerging threat and decided to defend their interests by other methods.

Introduction

Like any social phenomenon, conflict can be considered as a process that occurs over time. A conflict has certain periods and stages during which it arises, develops and ends. The dynamics of the conflict represents the course of development, changes in the conflict under the influence of its internal mechanisms and external factors.

The purpose of this work is to examine the dynamics of the conflict.

Objectives of this work:

— study the main periods and stages in the development of the conflict;

— analyze the escalation of the conflict;

— consider the dynamics of various types of conflicts.

Conflict interaction. Escalation

This stage is characterized by a sharp increase in the aggressiveness of the warring parties. Moreover, their subsequent destructive actions are much more intense than the previous ones. The consequences are difficult to predict if the conflict goes so far. The stages of conflict in its development are divided into several stages:

1. A sharp decrease in the cognitive sphere in activity and behavior. The subjects of the confrontation are moving to more aggressive, primitive methods of confrontation.
2. Displacement of the objective perception of the opponent by the universal image of the “enemy”. This image becomes the leading one in the information model of the conflict.
3. Increased emotional stress.
4. A sharp transition from reasonable arguments to personal attacks and claims.
5. The growth of the hierarchical rank of prohibited and violated interests, their constant polarization. The interests of the parties become bipolar.
6. Uncompromising use of violence as an argument.
7. Loss of the original subject of the collision.
8. Generalization of the conflict, its transition to the global stage.
9. Involving new participants in the confrontation.

The above signs are characteristic of both interpersonal and group conflicts. At the same time, the initiators of the conflict can support and shape these processes in every possible way by manipulating the consciousness of the warring parties. It must be emphasized that in the process of escalation, the conscious sphere of the opponents’ psyche gradually loses its significance.