mpasses conflicts across departments of a firm as well as conflicts between different firms. Inter group conflicts are most commonly found in acquired companies where cultural differences exist between old and new employees. The best way to resolve these conflicts involves setting up work teams within the troubled zones, whereby grievances are openly aired and defensive routines (not discussing the undiscussability of the undiscussable) are avoided.While studying an acquisition between Compaq and Tandem computers, I proposed that the establishment of work groups across all levels of the organizations consisting of Compaq and Tandem employees would be the most effective way of diffusing tension and subsequently reducing conflict between employees. Communication in small groups enable peers to interact with each other, increasing their understanding of each other which in turn increases interpersonal coordination.SOURCES OF CONFLICTConflicts usually spring from the following sources within an organization.1. Limited Resources: Basic economics state that all resources are finite, and this promotes conflict among individuals and groups.2. Interdependent Work activities- Differences in opinion regarding the usage of these scarce resources result in conflict as people have differences in perspective.3. Communication problems- inadequate channels of communication between opposing parties result in the escalation of conflict.4. Environment of the organization- this is applicable to the creation of an organizational climate in a corporation that has recently acquired other firms. Cultural differences coupled with poor communication between managers create conflict between all employees. Frequent changes in a firms environment, or the amount of turbulence in the environment often promotes conflict among members. An example is the change in importance from hardware to software in the computer industry, and the subsequent actions IBM had to t...
