Contradiction and Conflict Management – Means to assimilate innovative ideas

Innovative discoveries are resultant of conflicting ideas. History has proved to us that those who defied superstitious belief with contradicting / conflicting ideas, were ridiculed and even put down heavily by peers only to be accepted as eminent scientists years later. Scientific community of his times bitterly opposed C. J. Doppler, who postulated optical Doppler Effect theory. His fellow scientists considered Galileo to have bewitched his telescope to show the world evidence that supported Copernicus heliocentric theory. Sir Arthur Eddington and Lev Landau viciously attacked their contemporary Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar for this calculation on black hole theory using Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity (Author.A.N, Black Hole, 2010). Scientific American Magazine called Orville and Wilbur Wright, commonly known as Wright brothers, “The Lying Brothers” for years before they became a sensation in Europe (Beaty, 2002). Though initially ridiculed by research fraternity for his radical views on cellular energitics, Peter D. Mitchell received his Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “Vectorial Metabolism” in 1978 (Saier. Jr., 2007).



In all the above incidents in history, individuals related these discoveries to their acquired knowledge and commonly held beliefs & values, forming perceptions which reflected in their undesirable action. I will not enunciate that every individual with conflicting ideas, in organizations, as a potential eminent scientist of the future. However, what we need to understand is that not all individuals with conflicting ideas, who defy proven principles, are troublemakers. There can be very strong reasons behind their stand, which could be from their understanding of the situation when they viewed it due to their differentiated background. Perceptions are based the individual’s learning from experience on the key elements – comfort and security – that define life (Clawson, 2001). One has to note that any individual’s perceptions of the key elements form the basis of motivation of that individual to react to a situation in his own way (Robbins, Judge, & Sanghi, 2009, pp. 194-195). Organizations are made of individuals capable of drawing their individual conclusions to situations. It is obvious that the conclusions, based on their perceptions, of no two individuals are collinear. The reading and thus the conclusion drawn, will be considered as innovative idea by the person who concludes, while is it considered as lunatic ideas by others.


Conflicts arise due these differentiated perceptions to situation. While it is evident from numerous researches that conflicts are unavoidable as we deal with humans with varied values, beliefs and perceptions, if not handled effectively can become stressful and dangerous situation (Hose, 2009). Unhealthy conflicts can turn congenial workplaces to unproductive environments when substantiated reasoning is interpreted as personal attack, frustration due indecision or due to anxiety when complicated choices have to be considered (Eisenhardt, Jean, & Bourgeois III, 1997). In certain situations it becomes difficult to manage conflicts as individual personalities and values gets intertwined with issues, thus making individuals find difficulty acknowledging their emotional and irrational behavior.


Conflicts need adept handling on the part of leaders in an organization to minimize its affects in order to bring a congenial environment in the work place. It is a greatest challenge for leaders to manage conflicts by keeping them constructive and avoiding it from degenerating into dysfunctional interpersonal conflicts. Leaders need to look for the early signs of conflicts, which will be evident from individual’s body language, disagreements regarding strategic decision making, surprise with bad news, declaring conflicting values, expressing desire for power, increasing lack of respect towards organization’s leadership, failure in reporting etc (Author.A.N, 2007).


Regardless of the cause of a conflict, it is essential for leader to understand that a conflict need to be attended immediately and a most effective solution is put in place to resolve it. Below are few common strategies that can help resolve conflict.


Take stock of the situation: Conflict managers need to get to ground zero and identify the root cause of a conflict. Setting aside personal perception, managers will have to determine the variations in individual perceptions of the conflicting parties and ascertain if the conflict is worth mediating or fighting – if the conflict is between the manager and a team member.


Make them understand: Listening to the individual’s perceptions will help managers narrow down to the core value, which formed the basis of the conflict. If managers try to increase their stakes in support of their points, it will only escalate the conflict (Hose, 2009).

Make way for personal space: It is likely that individuals, out of shear frustration, walk out of conflicts. Make way for such reactions; they will come around when their blood pressure eases down.


Avoid contradicting statements / body language: Managers have to make sure that they avoid certain words that contradicts initial acceptance to conflicting individual’s ideas and views. Words like “but” and “however” negate the effects of tolerance that was initially enacted.

Tune your vocal cords: Ensure that the tune in which the ideas and conflicting statements are floored have a lowered pitch. High-pitched statement only intensifies the conflict, as it can be perceived as damaging the self-respect of individuals.

Winning is not as important as resolution: Allow the other party to sink in your viewpoints and present his for your consideration. Avoid repetition – this will lead to continuous arguments. Do not try to win the conflict; it will leave the other party high and dry.


Bibliography


•Author.A.N. (2010). Black Hole. Retrieved September 1, 2010, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole
•Author.A.N. (2007). Dealing with Conflict. Retrieved September 1, 2010, from National School Boards Association: http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/Conflict.html
•Beaty, W. (2002). Weird Science vs Revolutionary Science. Retrieved September 01, 2010, from Ridiculed Discoveres, Vindicated Mavericks: http://amasci.com/weird/vindac.html
•Clawson, J. G. (2001). A Leader's Guide to Why People Behave the Way They Do.
•Eisenhardt, K. M., Jean, K. L., & Bourgeois III, L. J. (1997, July - August). How Management Teams Can Have a Good Fight. Retrieved September 1, 2010, from Harvard Business Review: http://hbr.org/1997/07/how-management-teams-can-have-a-good-fight/ar/1
•Hose, C. (2009, September 10). Ways of Dealing With Conflict. Retrieved September 1, 2010, from eHow.com: http://www.ehow.com/way_5348025_ways-dealing-conflict.html
•Robbins, S. P., Judge, T. A., & Sanghi, S. (2009). Organizational Behavior (13 ed.). Delhi, India: Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd.
•Saier. Jr., M. H. (2007). Ridiculed at first, Mitchell’s ideas about proton motive force. ASM News , 63 (1), pp. 13-21.