Conflict Management

What is it?

A conflict is an active disagreement between people with opposing opinions or principles. As procurement practitioners deal with a wide range of stakeholders who often have different objectives, conflict is inevitable. Conflict management is therefore a key skill.

There are a number of major sources of conflict:

Conflict is usually seen as having a destructive effect, but it can also be constructive:

Having no conflict may actually be a symptom of complacency, lethargy, or lack of interest. An effective manager therefore recognises the inevitability (even necessity) of conflict, encourages opposition and challenge to ideas and the status quo, and knows how to manage conflict.

There are a number of different conflict management styles. The classic model is that of Kilmann & Thomas, who identified five different styles, based on whether you attempt to satisfy your own concerns or those of others. The style you adopt depends on the importance of the relationship and the importance of the issue/outcome.

AVOIDING: aims to reduce conflict by ignoring it.
ACCOMMODATING: puts the other party’s needs before your own in order to preserve harmony.
FORCING/COMPETING: imposes your own solution without considering others’ needs.
COMPROMISING: seeks to find the middle ground with both parties conceding some aspects of their needs so that a solution can be agreed upon.
COLLABORATING: Each party’s needs are considered and a win-win solution is found so that everyone is satisfied.

The avoiding and accommodating styles are weak but may be necessary when you have no power over the outcome and there are other issues of greater concern. The forcing/competing style has a negative impact on relationships but may be called for in times of crisis to achieve a short-term solution. The compromising style secures an outcome but risks both parties being moderately dissatisfied.

The collaborating style produces the best long-term results, a win-win outcome, but is the most difficult and time-consuming approach. It involves all parties sitting down together, talking through the conflict and negotiating a solution together. It is used for complex situations when it is vital to preserve the relationship between the parties and the solution itself will have a significant impact.

What does it look like?

How does it work in practice?

A study of 13 business services outsourcing (BSO) cases provides interesting insight into the causes of conflict, the conflict management styles adopted, and their relative success.[1]

The sources of conflict were categorised under three key themes:

BSO are complex arrangements which require strong relationships. It is therefore no surprise that in nine of the cases the conflicts were resolved using a collaborating style. Four cases demonstrated this style from the beginning whereas five others initially adopted a different style, but then switched to collaborating. Suppliers and buyers in all nine cases were satisfied with the outcome.

The accommodating style was evident in two cases, with the supplier acquiescing to the buyer’s requests. Both of these cases related to disagreements over the supplier’s work habits, therefore they were easily fixed with no real cost to the supplier. The buyers were therefore satisfied and the suppliers ‘somewhat satisfied’ with the outcome. Another case entailed the avoiding style from both parties. It concerned only a small part of the service provision and was never resolved, therefore both parties were dissatisfied by the outcome. The overall service was not majorly impacted.

The final case was a commercial dispute over the gainshare arrangement involving a significant amount of money. Both sides were opportunistic and adopted a competing style. The conflict went all the way to the dispute process and had a detrimental impact on the relationship. Neither party was satisfied by the outcome.

A study of 69 public-sector procurement professionals in Kenya revealed that a collaborating style and a compromising style were the most effective in managing stakeholder conflicts. A procurement professional qualification and enhanced status in the organisation also helped in balancing the level of authority in the relationships.[2]

Construction projects are prone to conflict because of their large scale and complexity, with many stakeholders involved. A recent study explored conflict management in construction projects.[3]

The most common causes for conflict were: difference in objectives; unclear definition of job responsibilities; contract defects; incompetence; competitive relationships; and poor teamwork. The conflicts resulted in negative consequences concerning cost, time, quality, relationships, and safety, as well as on process and regulations. The two most common impacts of conflict were delays and cost overruns.

The general principles in resolving the conflicts were to promptly address the conflicts, prioritise them, work systematically to resolve them, and use a cooperative style. It was agreed that avoidance was the worst solution for conflicts, which would only worsen the situation. There were some positive impacts as a consequence of resolving the conflicts, such as improved relationships and inspiring other parties.

The study found that many of the conflicts were preventable and could have been avoided. Prevention measures were suggested in relation to improvements in preparation, teambuilding, knowledge management, communication, and information technology. Improving conflict management skills was also seen as important.

A workplace study in South Africa analysed how nurse unit managers managed conflict in public hospitals. A number of positive and negative behaviours were identified in the study:[4]

[1] Lacity, Mary & Willcocks, Leslie; Conflict resolution in business services outsourcing relationships; Journal of Strategic Information Systems; 2017

[2] Ndolo, J & Njagi, E; Balancing conflicting supply chain stakeholder interests: the big procurement practitioner’s dilemma. Archives of Business Research, 4(6), 400-404, 2016

[3] Wang, Nannan & Wu, Guobin; A systematic approach to effective conflict management for program; SAGE Open, January-March 2020: 1–15

[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6620509/