Fanancial Analysis
17
Managing Stakeholders
Conflicts
Helder Moura and José Cardoso Teixeira
17.1
Conflicts: a behavioural process
It is not unusual that a chapter on conflict management, which is about, generally speaking, helping people or organizations that are in conflict with each other to deal with their differences, opens up with this statement (Moore, 1986 cited in Gordon, 1966):
All societies, communities, organizations, and interpersonal relationships experience conflict at one time or another in the process of day-to-day interaction. Conflict is not necessarily bad, abnormal, or dysfunctional; it is a fact of life.
Typically, a conflict situation results from resource shortage and antagonistic feeling.
Conflicts may arise between individuals, between groups of individuals and between organizations. Conflict situations between people are subjective, meaning that although objective reasons may exist, conflict only breaks out if those reasons are perceived. Conflicts between people may trigger out organizational conflicts for the simple reason that organizations are (still) governed by people. However, organizational conflicts may have other root reasons, for example resource interdependency. A common definition of conflict is a process that begins whenever an individual or a group feels negatively affected by another individual or group. In other words, people are in conflict anytime one’s actions obstruct or by any means, make other’s performance, less efficient.
Individual conflicts exist in all human relations and those within the construction activity are no exception. Due to the great diversity of people involved in construction projects and to the enormous variety of situations emerging from the construction process, individual conflicts in this activity deserve particular attention. Groton (1997) found that conflicts between people in construction arise as a result of poor interpersonal skills, inefficient communication, lack of responsiveness and
Managing Stakeholders
Conflicts
Helder Moura and José Cardoso Teixeira
17.1
Conflicts: a behavioural process
It is not unusual that a chapter on conflict management, which is about, generally speaking, helping people or organizations that are in conflict with each other to deal with their differences, opens up with this statement (Moore, 1986 cited in Gordon, 1966):
All societies, communities, organizations, and interpersonal relationships experience conflict at one time or another in the process of day-to-day interaction. Conflict is not necessarily bad, abnormal, or dysfunctional; it is a fact of life.
Typically, a conflict situation results from resource shortage and antagonistic feeling.
Conflicts may arise between individuals, between groups of individuals and between organizations. Conflict situations between people are subjective, meaning that although objective reasons may exist, conflict only breaks out if those reasons are perceived. Conflicts between people may trigger out organizational conflicts for the simple reason that organizations are (still) governed by people. However, organizational conflicts may have other root reasons, for example resource interdependency. A common definition of conflict is a process that begins whenever an individual or a group feels negatively affected by another individual or group. In other words, people are in conflict anytime one’s actions obstruct or by any means, make other’s performance, less efficient.
Individual conflicts exist in all human relations and those within the construction activity are no exception. Due to the great diversity of people involved in construction projects and to the enormous variety of situations emerging from the construction process, individual conflicts in this activity deserve particular attention. Groton (1997) found that conflicts between people in construction arise as a result of poor interpersonal skills, inefficient communication, lack of responsiveness and
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