What Causes Conflict?

As stated in the previous post, there are a variety of reasons conflict can arise in everyday life.  There are seven major reasons that I will discuss here.  These are important to consider when analyzing a situation and finding the best way to resolve it. Having knowledge of the other persons' view and understanding WHY they are upset is a significant step in managing conflict.

1) Stress:

• Individual is pressured by factors in both personal and professional life
• Pushed beyond threshold for pressure
• Allows frustrations from all pressures to compound

2) Personality Clash:

•  Individuals of a team have opposing personalities.

•  Opposing personalities may clash and cause disagreements based on personal preference.

3) Values:

•  Individuals come from differing belief systems.

•  Differing religious, ethnic or individual beliefs than another team member.

•  Individuals may allow these external beliefs interfere with and sour a relationship 

4) Miscommunication:

•  One individual delegates work to another who misinterprets the direction and fails to complete the work as requested.

5) Unresolved Disagreement:

•  Individuals in a team have an old disagreement they have avoided or failed to communicate their needs or views.

6) Ego:

•  Individuals with high confidence in themselves and their opinions or points of view.

•  The individuals will protect their opinions and points of view while thinking others are “wrong”

7) Breech of Trust:

•  One individual has placed trust or faith into another to follow through on a direction or promise.

•  The direction or promise was not completed as expected and the trust or faith is lost.