The Three Views of Conflict: How Criminal Justice Agencies Function in the Midst of Conflict
What is conflict? There are many definitions for conflict. A conflict is defined by Robbins & Judge (2011) as "A process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected, or is about to negatively affect something that the first party cares about".
In this paper the three views of conflict will be discussed, then compared and contrasted. They are: (1) traditional view ;( 2) human relations view and (3) interactionist view. In addition functional conflict and dysfunctional conflict are discussed with examples of criminal justice agencies that are in the midst of one of these types of conflict.
Traditional View
According to Robbins & Judge (2011), the traditional view of conflict assumes that all conflict is bad and should be avoided. When there is poor communication in a group or a lack of openness, the end result is conflict among the members of the group.
For example, a new officer is transferred from a patrol into the tactical unit, as the patrol finger print technician. Another officer that’s in the same squad takes an immediate dislike to the new officer. She sabotages the officer’s work and constantly startS arguments with her and other officers in the unit. This conflict is counterproductive, because there is no team work; there is constant tension among the memberS in the unit, which creates a hostile work environment.
Human Relations View
According to Robbins & Judge (2011) the human relations views conflict as a natural and an inevitable outcome in any group. In other words, when you have people working together there will always be conflict of some sort. The main focus of the human relations view of conflict is to resolve conflicts that occur in the group, because conflict is dysfunctional and counterproductive. According to (Perrow, 1986; Andrade, Plowman & Duchon, 2008), The human relations view of conflict works to find constructive methods for resolving conflicts productively so that their disruptive
In this paper the three views of conflict will be discussed, then compared and contrasted. They are: (1) traditional view ;( 2) human relations view and (3) interactionist view. In addition functional conflict and dysfunctional conflict are discussed with examples of criminal justice agencies that are in the midst of one of these types of conflict.
Traditional View
According to Robbins & Judge (2011), the traditional view of conflict assumes that all conflict is bad and should be avoided. When there is poor communication in a group or a lack of openness, the end result is conflict among the members of the group.
For example, a new officer is transferred from a patrol into the tactical unit, as the patrol finger print technician. Another officer that’s in the same squad takes an immediate dislike to the new officer. She sabotages the officer’s work and constantly startS arguments with her and other officers in the unit. This conflict is counterproductive, because there is no team work; there is constant tension among the memberS in the unit, which creates a hostile work environment.
Human Relations View
According to Robbins & Judge (2011) the human relations views conflict as a natural and an inevitable outcome in any group. In other words, when you have people working together there will always be conflict of some sort. The main focus of the human relations view of conflict is to resolve conflicts that occur in the group, because conflict is dysfunctional and counterproductive. According to (Perrow, 1986; Andrade, Plowman & Duchon, 2008), The human relations view of conflict works to find constructive methods for resolving conflicts productively so that their disruptive
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