UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA

SCHOOL OF NURSING SCIENCES

RIDGEWAY CAMPUS

GROUP ASSIGNMENT
=====================================================================
NAME: COMPUTER NUMBER
1. GABRIEL LUNGU: 2018242806
2. FLORA NTHALA: 2018243438
3. EXILDAH DAKA: 2018243241
4. GILBERT CHANGWE: 2018
5. EVELYN TEMBO JERE: 2018243012
6. FENNISTER MALUMANI: 2017

YEAR: 2019

COURSE: MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP

CODE: NRS 6610

LECTURER: PROF. M. MAIMBOLWA

TASK: MANAGING ORGANISATIONAL CONFLICT

AND CREATIVITY

DUE DATE: 29th MARCH, 2019

INTRODUCTION
Conflict is a 'clash of interests, values, actions, views or directions. Wherever there are people,
there are always will be conflicts. People disagree because they see things differently, want
different things, have thinking styles which encourage them to disagree, or are predisposed to
disagree. The concept of conflict, being an outcome of behaviors, is an integral part of human
life. Managing conflict effectively demands multifarious professional abilities and acumen. To
resolve and manage conflict, the organizations must understand the causes, approaches and
strategies of conflict management.
Conflict has an influence on team creativity in an organization. It can bring change but at the
same time information processing among team partners is impeded.
Abstract
A study by Abbas in 2013 on interpersonal conflict in Delhi in India where 103 employees
working in financial institution were involved. The study revealed that employees of fairer sex in
Indian organizations used integrating, compromising and avoiding styles of interpersonal conflict
handling. Dominating and obliging styles were followed by males and same was true for all the
employees as their age increased. Additionally, employees having superior income and work
experience were found to be less integrative and more dominating in their management of
conflict. Further, marital status of the employees also affected the conflict handling style.

Definitions of terms
Conflict: The clashes of interdependent people who perceive different interest of goals, aim and
values (Putnam and Poole, 2010).
Organizational conflict is the disagreement by individuals or groups within the organization,
which can center on factors ranging from resource allocation and division of responsibility to the
overall direction of the organization (Dontigeny, 2018).

Conflict management: the practice of recognizing and dealing with disputes in a rational,
balanced and effective way (Colgate, 2019)

Conflict Resolution is any of the methods used by disputing to settle their differences. (Medical
Dictionary).
CAUSES OF CONFLICT
Unclear Expectations
It is the job of an employee to meet the expectations of his manager, but if those expectations are
misunderstood, conflict can arise (Root, 2019)
Breakdown in Communication
If a department requires information from another department in order to do its job, and the
second department does not respond to the request for information, a conflict can arise. Some
interdepartmental disagreements might trigger a nonresponsive attitude that can quickly become
an internal conflict. Another way of creating this sort of conflict is by giving a circular response
such as an issue being perpetually "under review." When people or departments are late in
responding to information requests, or they are withholding information on purpose.
Misunderstanding the Information
Internal conflict can sometimes arise as the result of a simple misunderstanding. One person may
misunderstand information, and that can trigger a series of conflicts.
Lack of Accountability
Organizational conflict might arise from frustration. One source of frustration is a lack of
accountability. If something has gone wrong, and no one is willing to take responsibility for the
problem, this lack of accountability can start to permeate throughout the entire company until the
issue is resolved.
The need to share scarce resources: this causes competition for resources and in equal
allocation of limited resources.

TYPES OF CONFLICT
1. INTERPERSONAL CONFLICTS: Interpersonal conflicts are the conflicts that arise
between two individuals. (Halley, 2014). These are the most frequent type, because
people are constantly interacting and therefore differing. For example, two staff nurses
who disagree about the approach to use with a depressed patient. Two children who want
to play with the same toy.
2. Intrapersonal Conflicts: Conflict where the individual feels tension because of a
disagreement within him-or herself. (Halley, 2014). Result from failure to make a
choice which can be positive or negative.
 3. INTER-GROUP CONFLICTS: Inter-group conflicts can occur between two small
groups, two large groups, or between a large group and a small group (Halley,
2014).
4. Intra-group/intra-department; this is conflict within or inside the group.
5. Organizational conflict; occurs when organizations are antagonistic towards one
another.

BENEFITS OF ORGANISTAIONAL CONFLICT

The organizational conflict - the good, the bad & the ugly
The Good
The functional view of organizational conflict sees conflict as a productive force, one that can
stimulate members of the organization to increase their knowledge and skills, and their
contribution to organizational innovation and productivity. The successful organization, then,
needs conflict so that diverging views can be put on the table, and new ways of doing things can
be created.

Conflict also provides people with feedback about how things are going. Even "personality
conflicts" carry information to the manager about what is not working in an organization,
affording the opportunity to improve.

The ugly part of conflict

Ugly occurs where the manager (and perhaps employees) attempt to eliminate or suppress
conflict in situations where it is impossible to do so. For example;
 Many conflicts run for years.
 people have given up on resolving and addressing conflict problems
 there is a good deal of private bitching and complaining but little attempt to fix the problem
 staff show little interest in working to common goals, but spend more time and energy on
protecting themselves
The bad part of conflict
This can arise when the organization is not designed or structured correctly or adequately. This
can relate to job descriptions, authorities and responsibilities and increase in the use of central
power (discipline), separate conflicting members, etc.
CONFLICT PROCESS IN AN ORGANISATION (Sinha, 2019)

There are stages in conflict process

Latent conflict
This is a stage in which factors exist in the situation which could become potential conflict. For
instance, members may compete for scarce resources, drive for autonomy, and divergence of
goal and role conflict.
Potential/ perceived: This is the stage wherein groups or individuals recognize that diversity in;
culture, religion or language, and differing personal habits or a lack of resources may cause
conflict if people are not sensitive to each other's needs.

Open/ felt conflict: Open conflict occurs when words or actions trigger an incident and conflict
becomes real, expressed by; raised voices, a breakdown of communication and expressions of
anger and passive or active aggression.

Manifest behaviour: In this stage there is overt action or behaviour, oppression, competition,
debate, or problem solving. The two parties engage in behaviours which evoke responses from
each other.

Conflict Aftermath: The outcome may have positive or negative repercussions for the
organisation depending on how the conflict is resolved. If the conflict is genuinely resolved to
the satisfaction of all participants, the basis for more cooperative relationship may be laid or the
participants in their drive for a more ordered relationship may focus on latent conflicts not
previously perceived and dealt with. However, if the is merely suppressed but not resolved, the
latent conditions of conflict may be aggravated and explode in a more serious form until they are
rectified.

MANAGEMENT OF CONFLICT
There are strategies in conflict resolution
Accommodating strategy: This entails giving the opposing side what it wants. The use of
accommodation often occurs when one of the parties wishes to keep the peace or perceives the
issue as minor. Employees who use accommodation as a primary conflict management strategy,
however, may keep track and develop resentment.
Avoiding strategy: This seeks to put off conflict indefinitely. By delaying or ignoring the
conflict, the avoider hopes the problem resolves itself without a confrontation. Those who
actively avoid conflict frequently have low esteem or hold a position of low power. In some
circumstances, avoiding can serve as a profitable conflict management strategy, such as after the
dismissal of a popular but unproductive employee.

Collaborating strategy: Collaboration works by integrating ideas set out by multiple people.
The object is to find a creative solution acceptable to everyone. Collaboration, though useful,
calls for a significant time commitment not appropriate to all conflicts. For example, a business
owner should work collaboratively with the manager to establish policies, but collaborative
decision-making regarding office supplies wastes time better spent on other activities.

Advantages of collaborating:
 Leads to solving the actual problem.
 Leads to a win-win outcome.
 Reinforces mutual trust and respect.
 Builds a foundation for effective collaboration in the future.
 Shared responsibility of the outcome.

Disadvantages of collaborating:
 Requires a commitment from both parties.
 May require more effort.
 Requires more time, hence not appropriate when a quick solution is required.
 Difficult to use when trust is lost in an opponent.

Compromising strategy: This typically calls for both sides of a conflict to give up elements of
their position in order to establish an acceptable, if not agreeable, solution. This strategy prevails
most often in conflicts where the parties hold approximately equivalent power.

Advantages of compromise:
 Faster issue resolution
 Can provide a temporary solution
 Lowers the levels of tension
Disadvantages of compromise
 May result in a situation when both parties are not satisfied with the outcome (a lose-lose
situation)
 Does not contribute to building trust in the long run
 May require close monitoring and control to ensure the agreements are met

Competing: Competition operates as a zero-sum game, in which one side wins and other loses.
Highly assertive personalities often fall back on competition as a conflict management strategy.
The competitive strategy works best in a limited number of conflicts, such as emergency
situations.

Advantages of forcing/competing
• May provide a quick resolution to a conflict.
• Increases self-esteem and draws respect when firm resistance or actions were a response to
an aggression or hostility.

Disadvantages of forcing:
• May negatively affect your relationship with the opponent in the long run.
• May cause the opponent to react in the same way, even if the opponent did not intend to be
forceful originally.
• Taking this approach may require a lot of energy and be exhausting to some individuals

MANAGEMENT OF IRRESOLVABLE CONFLICT

To resolve what appears to be an irresolvable problem, consider the following alternatives:
Confront the situation outright: Call a meeting and insist that the warring factions agree on a
process to settle the dispute; consider an outside facilitator. If settlement is impossible, create a
working agreement and agree to disagree while working together in the collaboration. This can
and does work. (Kate. 2013).
Confront the situation through people of influence: Collectively, ask important people (board
members, legislators, and peers) associated with each of the warring organizations to intervene.
(Kate. 2013). This option allows the conflicting parties to fight in another and more appropriate
arena than the collaboration.
Alert funders and donors to the problem: While one group might not want to admit that they
have a conflict, many funders are knowledgeable enough to know what is really happening.
(Kate 2013). They can influence people who may otherwise seem immune to change.

PREVENTION OF CONFLICT IN AN ORGANISATION

Before starting any conflict one should take some time out to think, “How will this fight benefit
me?” “Is it going to provide me any solution?”
 First learn to keep a control on your emotions: Avoid being hyper or overreact.
Always remember the other individual may be not from the same background as you are,
but you have no right to ridicule his opinions.
 Be a good and a patient listener. Listen carefully what the other person has to say and
then only give your expert comments. Even if you don’t agree to his suggestions, don’t
just start fighting, instead discuss with him.
 Never be rigid on any point, instead be flexible and try to find out an alternative.
 Learn to keep a control on your tongue. Soften your voice while interacting with
others and learn to adjust with others. Sit with the other person and try to sort out your
differences.
 Be very clear and transparent in your communications. Never play with words and
the content of your communication has to be specific to avoid conflicts.
 Don’t always expect the other person to understand everything on his own. It is your
moral responsibility to make him aware of what you exactly expect out of him. Effective
communication goes a long way in preventing conflicts.
 Never hesitate to accept your faults. Be the first one to apologize. A small sorry can
work wonders and prevent conflicts and unnecessary tensions.

MANAGEMENT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CREATIVITY

Introduction
Creative thinking is not a talent; it is a skill that can be learnt. It empowers people by adding
strength to their natural abilities which improves teamwork, productivity and where appropriate
profits. Capital isn’t so important in business. Experience isn’t so important. You can get both
these things. What is important is ideas. If you have ideas, you have the main asset you need, and
there isn’t any limit to what you can do with your business and your life (Harvey firestone,
2014). There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without
creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns
(Edward de Bono, 2017).
Definition
Creativity mean a talent for unique combination or unusual association of ideas.
From a managerial perspective, creativity is the conceiving of original and unique alternatives to
the solution of existing problems.
The innovation and creativity
"Creativity" sense of the word is product. And the term means something else to create a unique
species. Creativity means more or less a phenomenon and transform or combine it with other
phenomena, the objects and things. The meaning of creativity to create something new and
unique way that is appropriate and useful, thereby solving a problem (Marzieh & Najmeh, 2011)
The importance of creativity and innovation in organizations
Specific features of human creativity and innovation, because the notions of reason and that is
unique to humans. In terms of workmanship, our intellectual ability can be summarized as
follows:
 The ability to see and use the
 Recording, the ability to memorize and recall
 Reasoning, ability to analyze and judge
 Creativity, ability to visualize, predict and develop ideas
Traits associated with creativity
They found that the frequency characteristics and traits associated with creativity Creative people
have emerged from among more than 30 features; most of them were as follows:
 Mental fluency (the ability to gather thoughts and ideas about a problem and create a
diverse and numerous as the different categories of them and tell them so desirable);
 The ability to rapidly produce large numbers of diverse ideas;
 The ability to create recurring and unusual ideas;
 Ability to identify and isolate the source (speaker) and content (say) the evaluation of
information;
  Outstanding ability to get others to come and have a little difference;
 The problems go well;
 Perseverance in the pursuit of problems in place;
 To postpone premature judgments and lack of commitment;
 Willingness to spend time on analysis and exploration;
 Honest value for the subject of intellectual and mental.
Creative thinking
Developed by Edward de Bono in his book “The mechanism of mind”. Focuses on exploring
ideas, generate possibilities, look for many right answers rather than just one.
Everyone has substantial creative ability.
 An ability: to generate new ideas by combining, changing, or reapplying existing ideas.
 An attitude: the ability to accept change
 A process: the creative person knows that there is always room for improvement.

Characteristics of the creative person

 Curious
 Seeks problems
 Enjoys challenge
 Optimistic
 Able to suspend judgment
 Imaginative
 Sees problems as opportunities
 Doesn’t give up easily.

Creative methods
 Evolution: Every problem that has been solved can be solved again in a better way.
 Synthesis: Two or more existing ideas are combined into a third, new idea.
 Revolution: Sometimes the best new idea is a completely different one.
 Reapplication: Look at something old in a new way.
 Changing direction: The goal is to solve the problem, not to implement a particular
solution
BARRIERS CREATIVITY .
Lack of motivation and lack of trust: This is an essential factor in the development of cultural
partnerships. If the motivation for participation in a working group and subsequent ideas of no
confidence this will continue. Lack of confidence in our work group, including cultural barriers
in this field, often due to failure of teamwork and employee participation in trust, your lost. This
is perhaps the major factor in the formation of processing the idea of a lack of motivation and
confidence of senior managers to be employee involvement.
Lack of acceptance and tolerance of criticism in the conflict: If managers’ attempt to
consensus critical mass is achieved without the constructive criticism of the principles of creative
thinking is critical of the lack of acceptance and tolerance of a system of odds tastes innovation
will lead to active and participatory management.
Conservatism and authoritarian management: the organization's middle managers and even
maintain the status quo and opposes any change to the principle of the hand "of thought and
authoritarian rule is broad, participatory management and creative thinking to a group where RA
would not.
When is Creativity useful
 Businesses are facing deep changes
 Globalization.
 Competition

CREATIVITY PROCESS
Saturation: While it may be true that some new ideas may come just by the way but it certain
that most important way to get right ideas is to work on a baffling problem and work hard.
Preparation: The preparation stage may last few minutes, hours, days or weeks, or even years.
At this stage, information must be mulled until what we might call mental digestion takes place.
During this period, the person commonly suffers from anxiety and frustration especially if the
preparation stage lasts for very long.

Incubation: If no solution of problem is found out the stage of preparation, the creative person
attempts to shelve the problem and to forget about it. He may engage himself in activities totally
unconnected with the problem; and so on. However, he may shelve the problem consciously but
it exists in the subconscious mind. The difference between conscious and subconscious minds is
that the centre of logical thinking and people are aware about it while the latter is unknown but
engages continuously in generation of ideas for the solution of problem even though people may
not be aware about it. During the process of incubation, the mind will work subconsciously to
create certain new ideas.

Illumination: The illumination stage of creativity is characterized by a flash of insight or a

sudden spontaneous solution. If the previous stages of creativity have been accomplished
properly, the new data will be brought to mind. Many other ideas will follow in quick; faster than
what one’s memory can absorb or retain them. Many flashes of ideas are lost, others rejected,
while some are retained for further analysis. Sometimes many come when one is not really
thinking about the problem consciously.

Verification: This is the final stage of creative process and involves verifying modifying, or
applying the ideas towards the solution of the problem under study. During this stage, mind sets
about, by logical method or by experimentation, to prove or disprove the solution that has been
suggested.

Impact of Conflict and creativity in an organization

Conflict has a dysfunctional effect on team creativity by decreasing the satisfaction and
commitment of team members. When interpersonal conflict intensifies and arousal increases,
team partners spend time and energy focusing on each other rather than on task-related problems.
Conflict undermines team functioning to the degree that anger and frustration impede effective
communication within the team and reduce team members’ receptiveness to each other’s ideas.
Therefore, animosity, miscommunication and mistrust among team partners inhibit the effective
flow and exchange of information and knowledge across inter-organizational areas which are
prerequisites for nurturing team creativity.
Conflict can also reduce team creativity in organizational teams because it interferes with
cognitive functioning of individuals. It narrows the range of attention, incites rigid thinking and
reduces cognitive flexibility.
However Team creativity benefits from intermediate levels of task conflict. Task conflict
enhances team creativity, thereby resulting in an organizational productivity. Task conflict,
particularly in organizational teams, represents open exchange of ideas, objective assessment of
alternatives and rigorous contrast of perspectives

Conclusion
Conflicts are inevitable in groups or organizations due to the complexity and interdependence of
organizational life. It is important to understand the root cause of individual’s or group
unhappiness. Therefore, to manage conflict it is important to look at the previous relationship
between the employees and managers and the feeling which may influence them. The mangers
should communicate and consult with employees about future changes so that they don’t feel
alienated and raise grievances. This is because conflict can have an influence on the
organizational function in a positive and negative way depending how it is handled.
To survive, all organizations need new thoughts and ideas are innovative and fresh. Creativity
and innovation are so mixed together that give the definition independent of each is difficult.
Creativity and the emergence of a new thought and thought and thought and thought while
making practical innovations. For the creation of new ideas and expanded, the forces driving the
deterrent force to cope with the situation is such that the forces driving us towards new ways and
lead.
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