Classification of conflicts on different grounds. Types of conflicts and their characteristics

Conflicts, as already noted when characterizing their main features, are not only an inevitable and ubiquitous phenomenon, but also multifaceted. They are very diverse. Each conflict clash is unique in its own way, inimitable in terms of the reasons for its occurrence, the forms of interaction between two or more parties, the outcome and consequences. Conflicts occur in all areas public life, and therefore it is legitimate to distinguish socio-economic, ethnic, interethnic, political, ideological, religious, military, legal, family, social and other types of conflicts. They are the subject of consideration primarily in the relevant branches of science.

Analysis and assessment of conflicts involve their grouping, systematization, division according to essential features, types and types. Such a classification is needed as a kind of model for studying the subject in its entirety, a methodological tool for distinguishing the entire spectrum of conflict manifestations.

Approaches to classification can be very different. Thus, sociologists pay attention primarily to the macro- or micro-level of conflicts, to their main types such as socio-economic, national-ethnic and political. Lawyers distinguish between intra- and extra-systemic conflicts, the spheres of their manifestation, including family, cultural and social-labor, as well as a wide variety of economic, financial and property conflicts that arise in a market economy.

For managerial conflict management, one’s own approach is preferable. It is necessary, in particular, to more clearly understand both the basic elements of conflicts and the variety of ways they manifest, unfold and regulate, the sources and immediate causes of their origin conflict situations, interests and motives of the opposing parties, driving forces confrontations, functions of conflicts, their role in life individual person, social group (team) and society as a whole.

In terms of personnel management, priority is given to the substantive study of conflicts of the production and economic type, which are mainly related to business practices, relationships between people in the sphere of labor and entrepreneurial activity, satisfaction of the material and spiritual needs of workers, their social protection, arrangement of everyday life, rest and leisure.

Conflicts in the practice of managing an organization are a complex production-economic, ideological, socio-psychological and family-life phenomenon; they are diverse and can be classified according to various signs. The classification of conflicts allows one to navigate their specific manifestations and, therefore, helps to find possible ways their permissions (Table 2.2).

While such a division is inevitably conventional, it nevertheless allows us to systematically approach the characterization of conflict in an organization and give it a proper assessment, taking into account social nature, dynamics and consequences.

By spheres of manifestation conflicts are divided into production-economic conflicts, the basis of which is production-economic contradictions; ideological, which are based on contradictions in views; socio-psychological, arising in connection with contradictions in social sphere, as well as the characteristics of the human psyche, and family and everyday life, reflecting the contradictions of family and everyday relationships. If workers are related, then family and household conflicts can be intertwined with the types of conflicts listed above.

By scale, duration and intensity distinguish conflicts: general and local; stormy, fast-flowing, short-term, arising on the basis of individual psychological characteristics of the individual, they are distinguished by aggressiveness and extreme hostility of the conflicting parties; acute long-term, protracted, arising in the presence of deep contradictions; weakly expressed and sluggish, arising on the basis of not very acute contradictions, or associated with the passivity of one of the parties; weak

CLASSIFICATION OF CONFLICTS

Table 2.2

more pronounced and fleeting, arising in connection with superficial reasons, they are episodic in nature.

By subjects of conflict interaction conflicts are divided into: intrapersonal, which are associated with a clash of oppositely directed immanent motives of the individual; interpersonal when the interests of two individuals collide; interpersonal-group, in which the opposing parties are, on the one hand, the individual, and on the other, the group; intergroup, arising when the interests of two social groups collide.

By subject of conflict distinguish between real (substantive) conflicts, which have a clear subject, and unreal (non-substantive) conflicts, which do not have a clear subject or have a subject that is vital only for one side.

By sources and causes of occurrence Conflicts are divided into objective and subjective. In the first case, the conflict can develop beyond the will and desire of its participants, simply due to the circumstances developing in the organization or its division. But a conflict situation can also be created due to the motives of behavior, the deliberate aspirations of a particular subject social connections. The object of the conflict is a specific material or spiritual value that the conflicting parties strive to possess. This could be property, a job vacancy or the amount of wages - everything that represents a subject of personal, group or public interests. The subjects of the conflict are employees of the organization with their own needs, interests, motives and ideas about values.

For the immediate reasons for their occurrence, conflicts act as organizational ones, i.e. occurring within a certain social system, one or another structural education due to changes in external circumstances or violation of the regulated procedure; emotional, associated, as a rule, with a personal perception of what is happening around, with a sensory reaction to the behavior and actions of other people, differences in views, etc.; social and labor, caused by discrepancy, confrontation of private and general interests, incompatibility of goals of individuals and social groups; business and personal.

Conflicts communicative orientation are divided into horizontal ones, in which people participate who, as a rule, are not subordinate to each other; vertical, whose participants are bound by one or another type of subordination. These conflicts can also be mixed, representing relationships of subordination and disobedience. Vertical conflict bears a special stamp (both “top-down” and “bottom-up”), which usually expresses the inequality of power of the conflicting parties, differences between them in hierarchical level and influence (for example, manager - subordinate, employer - employee, etc. ). In this case, unequal status and rank may be valid, which, of course, will affect the course and outcome of the conflict.

By social consequences conflicts can be: positive, when conflict resolution contributes to the development of the organization, and negative, leading to a deterioration in the organization’s performance; constructive, which are based on objective contradictions that contribute to the improvement of the organization’s activities, and destructive, which are based on subjective reasons that contribute to the growth of social tension and the deterioration of the organization’s activities; creative, contributing to the prosperity of the organization, its rapid development, and destructive, leading to the destruction of the socio-economic system.

By forms and degrees of collision confrontation can be open (dispute, quarrel, etc.) and hidden (actions on the sly, masking true intentions, etc.); spontaneous, i.e. spontaneously arising, and proactive, pre-planned or simply provoked. Such conflicts are either inevitable, to a certain extent natural; or forced, although necessary; or unjustified, devoid of any expediency.

By methods and scope of settlement(resolution) conflicts are divided into antagonistic, accompanied by intransigence and intransigence of the parties, as well as compromise, allowing for different options for overcoming differences, mutual convergence of views, interests, goals. Each person, any social group reveals a unique style of communication, establishing and maintaining relationships, a special style of behavior in conflict situations. On the degree of behavioral flexibility warring parties in an antagonistic or compromise conflict, the method and scale of its resolution depend. The conflict can be resolved completely or partially and lead to cooperation between the parties involved.

However, despite all the dissimilarity of manners and styles, and also despite the fact that there are no uniform recipes for overcoming conflicts and any universal methods their settlement, there are also some general signs conflict behavior. Such behavior is almost always connected in one way or another with the solution of the problem that caused the confrontation and which, to a certain extent, is significant for each of the participants in the conflict, making them interact. This requires choosing the appropriate method, i.e. course of action that would meet both the specifics (features) and general nature, some standard basis of this type conflict.

An illustration of the approach to classifying a specific conflict can be found in the popular approach in the early 1980s. V former USSR Alexander Gelman’s play “Minutes of One Meeting” (in theaters performances based on it were staged under the title “Prize”). The plot of the play is simple: the workers of the site, led by foreman Potapov, refused the bonus that was allocated to them by the management of the construction department; the refusal was motivated by the fact that work assignments had been disrupted, the supply of materials was extremely poor, and there was no order at the construction site; The bonus in these circumstances was perceived by the workers as hiding shortcomings, as a “burn on the conscience.” The conflict became the subject of consideration at a meeting of the collective body, which recognized the correctness of the position of the workers at the site, but not without reproaching it for an extreme form of indignation.

In terms of its sphere of manifestation, the named conflict certainly relates to production and economic issues. Immediate cause its emergence is emotional, reflecting the conscientious attitude of workers to the conditions, results and evaluation of their work. In terms of the form of the collision, the conflict should be considered as open, spontaneous, directed vertically - “from the bottom up”, requiring the intervention of interested mediators. The way to resolve the conflict was a compromise between the parties who admitted that they were wrong: some (the management of the construction department) - on the essence of the problem, others (the site workers) - on a defiant form of protest. In the end, a positive result prevailed.

There are many criteria for classifying conflicts. If we take the object of the conflict as a criterion, we can distinguish the following types of conflicts.

Economic. At their core is a collision economic interests when the needs of one party are satisfied at the expense of the needs of the other. The deeper these contradictions, the more difficult it is to resolve them. Exactly economic reasons most often underlie global crises between society and government.

Socio-political. They are based on contradictions concerning state policy in the sphere of power and social relations, parties and political associations. They are closely related to interstate and international clashes.

Ideological. They are based on contradictions in the views and attitudes of people on the most different problems life of society and state. They can arise both at the macrosphere level and in the smallest associations at the personal level.

Socio-psychological. They can manifest themselves both between individuals and between social groups. They are based on disturbances in the area of ​​relationships. The reason may be psychological incompatibility, unmotivated rejection of a person by a person, the struggle for leadership, prestige, influence, etc.

Social and household. They are related to different ideas groups and individuals and life, everyday life, etc. The main one is disharmony in family relationships. Its reasons: everyday troubles, moral and everyday laxity, as well as serious ideological differences.

If we take the duration and degree of tension as the criterion, then conflicts can be divided into following types:

Stormy and fast flowing. Characterized by great emotionality and extreme manifestations negative attitude conflicting parties. They can end in difficult outcomes and have tragic consequences: they are based on the psychological state of people.

Acute and long lasting. They arise mainly in cases where contradictions are quite deep, stable, irreconcilable or difficult to reconcile. The conflicting parties control their reactions and actions. The forecast for the decision is mostly uncertain.

Weak and sluggish. Characteristic of contradictions that are not acute in nature, or for clashes where only one side is active; the second does not seek to clearly reveal its position or avoids confrontation.

Weakly expressed and fast-flowing. ABOUT favorable prognosis one can only speak if such a conflict takes place in a certain episode. If it is followed by a new chain of similar conflicts, then the prognosis can be not only difficult, but also unfavorable.

If we take the degree of contradictions as a criterion, then there are conflicts:

· aggressive;

· compromise.

Of course, it is impossible to reduce all conflicts into a single universal scheme. There are conflicts such as “fights”, where resolution can only be achieved if one of the parties wins, and “debates”, where a compromise is possible. In addition, there are other views on the typology of conflicts. American sociologist M. Roich, for example, identifies the following types of conflicts (taking into account the motivation of the conflict and subjective perceptions of the situation):

False conflict - the subject perceives the situation as a conflict, although real reasons for this purpose no. It has no objective basis and arises as a result of false ideas or misunderstandings.

Potential conflict - there are real grounds for a conflict to arise, but so far one of the parties or both, for one reason or another (for example, due to lack of information), has not yet recognized the situation as a conflict. It may take place due to objective reasons, but it will not be updated until a certain time.

The real conflict is real collision between the parties. This clash of interests exists objectively, is recognized by the participants and does not depend on an easily changeable factor. In turn, true conflict can be divided into the following subtypes:

a) constructive - arising on the basis of real contradictions between subjects;

b) accidental or conditional - arising from a misunderstanding or an accidental coincidence that is not realized by its participants; it stops when real alternatives are realized;

c) displaced - arising on a false basis, when the real reason hidden. Here the perceived cause of the conflict is only indirectly related to objective reasons underlying it, when the effect is presented as a cause;

d) an incorrectly attributed conflict is a conflict in which the true culprit, the subject of the conflict, is behind the scenes of the confrontation, and the conflict involves participants who are not related to it. This is done either deliberately or deliberately, with the aim of provoking a clash in the enemy group.

If the basis of the conflict is taken mental state parties and the behavior of people in conflict situations corresponding to this state, then conflicts are divided into:

· rational;

· emotional.

Depending on the goals of the conflict and its consequences, conflicts are divided into:

· positive;

· negative;

· constructive;

· destructive.

Social psychologist V.I. Kurbatov offers other approaches to classifying conflicts:

· external - confrontation between subjects;

· internal - confrontation of motives, intentions, goals of the subject;

· choice conflict - difficulty choosing one of two equal goals;

· conflict of choice of the least evil - difficulty choosing between options, each of which in equally undesirable;

· group - between groups of people;

· communicative - the result of speech confrontation, which is a consequence of barriers to understanding the attitude of the first impression;

· motivational - between needs and intentions;

· open - fighting with the aim of causing damage to the enemy;

· hidden - implicit confrontation, tense relationships;

· conflict of needs - a type of motivational one associated with the fact that a person wants to achieve conflicting goals;

conflict of needs and social norm- between motivating personal motives and prohibitive general imperatives;

· status - confrontation determined by the status, position and role of the participants;

· target - confrontation over achieving a certain goal, etc.

Based on the degree of people’s involvement in the conflict, the following types can be distinguished: intrapersonal; interpersonal; between the individual and the group; intergroup; intercollective; cross-party; interstate.

Let us consider the main types of conflicts, depending on the degree of involvement of people in them, concerning social interaction in a family there are generations of “parents” and “children”.

Intrapersonal conflict. Its possible dysfunctional consequences are similar to those of other types of conflict. He can take various shapes, and of these the most common form is role conflict when one person is subject to conflicting demands on what the result of his work should be or, for example, when production requirements are not consistent with personal needs or values. For example, children and husband demand from a woman-mother that she pay a lot of attention to them and the home and be a good housewife. But, at the same time, in the modern economic situation, a woman is forced to work and make a material contribution to the family budget. In the workplace, she is also required to devote time and effort. The woman perceives both types of claims as personal. An intrapersonal conflict arises. Intrapersonal conflict may also arise when job demands are inconsistent with personal needs or values. For example, a wife was planning to go on vacation with her husband on Sunday, since her excessive attention to work began to have a bad effect on her life. family relationships. But on Friday, her boss comes into her office with some problem and insists that she work on solving it over the weekend. Or, for example, many organizations are faced with the fact that some managers object to a transfer to another city, although this promises them a significant increase in position and salary. This happens especially often in families where the husband and wife occupy leadership positions or are qualified specialists. Intrapersonal conflict can also be a response to work overload or underload. Research shows that such intrapersonal conflict is also associated with low job satisfaction, low self-confidence and organizational confidence, as well as stress.

Interpersonal conflict. This is the most common type of conflict. It manifests itself in different ways in organizations. Let's imagine that two artists are working on the same advertisement, but have different points of view regarding the way it should be presented. Everyone tries to convince the director to accept his point of view. A similar conflict, only more subtle and lasting, can occur between two candidates for promotion if there is one vacancy.

Interpersonal conflicts in families are frequent. The oppositions are well known: mother-in-law - son-in-law, mother-in-law - daughter-in-law. The cause of such conflicts may be the struggle for the dominant role in the family, personal hostility, different family structures, etc. Interpersonal conflict can also manifest itself as a clash of personalities. People with various features character, views and values ​​are sometimes simply unable to get along with each other. As a rule, the views and goals of such people differ radically.

Conflict between the individual and the group. As a rule, production groups establish norms of behavior and attitude towards production. Everyone must comply with them in order to be accepted by the informal group and thereby satisfy their social needs. However, if the group's expectations conflict with the individual's expectations, conflict may arise. For example, someone will want to earn more, either by working overtime, or by exceeding production standards, and the group views such “excessive” zeal as negative behavior.

Conflict may arise between an individual and a group if that individual takes a position that differs from that of the group. For example, when discussing ways to increase sales at a meeting, most will believe that this can be achieved by lowering the price. And someone alone will be convinced that such tactics will lead to a decrease in profits and create the opinion that their products are of lower quality than those of competitors. Although this person, whose opinion differs from the group, may have the company's interests at heart, he can still be seen as a source of conflict because he goes against the group's opinion. A similar conflict may arise due to job responsibilities manager: between the need to ensure adequate performance and comply technological discipline. The manager may be forced to take administrative measures, which may turn out to be unpopular in the eyes of subordinates. Then the group can strike back - change its attitude towards the leader and, possibly, reduce productivity.

Intergroup conflict. Organizations are made up of many formal and informal groups. Even in the most best organizations Conflicts may arise between such groups. Informal groups, who believe that the manager is treating them unfairly, may rally more tightly and try to “get even” with him by reducing productivity. A striking example intergroup conflict - a conflict between the trade union and the administration. Unfortunately, frequent example intergroup conflict is caused by disagreements between line managers and administrative staff. This is an example of dysfunctional conflict. Administrative personnel are usually younger and more educated than line personnel, and they like to use technical vocabulary when communicating. These differences lead to clashes between people and difficulty in communication. Line managers may reject the recommendations of management specialists and express dissatisfaction with their dependence on them for everything related to information. IN extreme situations Line managers may deliberately choose to implement the specialists' proposal in such a way that the whole undertaking will end in failure. And all this in order to put specialists “in their place.” Administrative personnel, in turn, may be indignant that their representatives are not given the opportunity to implement their decisions themselves, and try to maintain the information dependence of line personnel on them.

From an ordinary point of view, conflict brings negative meaning, associated with aggression, deep emotions, disputes, threats, hostility, etc. There is an opinion that conflict is always an undesirable phenomenon and should be avoided if possible and, if it arises, resolved immediately. Modern psychology considers conflict not only in a negative, but also in a positive way: as a way of developing an organization, group and individual, highlighting the inconsistency of conflict situations positive points related to the development and subjective understanding of life situations.

From the point of view of role theory, conflict is understood as a situation of incompatible expectations (demands) to which a person playing a particular role in the social and interpersonal structure is exposed. Typically, such conflicts are divided into inter-role, intra-role and personal-role.

In L. Coser's theory of social conflict, conflict is a struggle over values ​​and claims due to a lack of status, power and means, in which the goals of opponents are neutralized, infringed or eliminated by their rivals. The author also notes the positive function of conflicts - maintaining the dynamic balance of the social system. If the conflict is related to goals, values ​​or interests that do not affect the basic existence of groups, then it is positive. If the conflict is associated with the most important values ​​of the group, then it is undesirable, since it undermines the foundations of the group and carries a tendency towards its destruction.

There are numerous classifications of conflicts. The reasons for them may be the source of the conflict, content, significance, type of resolution, form of expression, type of relationship structure, social formalization, socio-psychological effect, social result. Conflicts can be hidden and obvious, intense and erased, short-term and protracted, vertical and horizontal, etc.

Based on their direction, conflicts are divided into “horizontal” and “vertical”, as well as “mixed”. Horizontal conflicts include those conflicts in which persons subordinate to each other are not involved. Vertical conflicts include those in which persons subordinate to one another participate. Mixed conflicts have both vertical and horizontal components. According to psychologists, conflicts that have a vertical component, that is, vertical and mixed, account for approximately 70-80% of all conflicts.

According to their significance for the group and organization, conflicts are divided into constructive (creative, positive) and destructive (destructive, negative). The former bring benefit to the cause, the latter harm. You can’t leave the first, but you need to get away from the second.

According to the nature of the causes, conflicts can be divided into objective and subjective. The first are generated by objective reasons, the second by subjective, personal reasons. Objective conflict more often it is resolved constructively, subjective, on the contrary, as a rule, it is resolved destructively.

M. Deutsch classifies conflicts according to the criterion of truth-falsity or reality:

• · “genuine” conflict – existing objectively and perceived adequately;
• · “random or conditional” - depending on easily changeable circumstances, which, however, is not realized by the parties;
• · “displaced” - an obvious conflict, behind which lies another, invisible conflict that lies at the basis of the obvious one;
• · “misattributed” - a conflict between parties who misunderstood each other, and, as a result, about misinterpreted problems;
• · “latent” - a conflict that should have occurred, but which does not, because for one reason or another it is not realized by the parties;
• · “false” - a conflict that exists only due to errors of perception and understanding in the absence of objective grounds.

Classification of conflicts by type of social formalization: official and informal (formal and informal). These conflicts are usually associated with organizational structure, its features and can be both “horizontal” and “vertical”.

According to their socio-psychological effect, conflicts are divided into two groups:

• · developing, affirming, activating each of the conflicting individuals and the group as a whole;
• · promoting self-affirmation or development of one of the conflicting individuals or groups as a whole and suppression, limitation of another individual or group of persons.

Based on the volume of social interaction, conflicts are classified into intergroup, intragroup, interpersonal and intrapersonal.

Intergroup conflicts assume that the parties to the conflict are social groups pursuing incompatible goals and their own practical actions interfering with each other. This may be a conflict between representatives of different social categories (for example, in an organization: workers and engineers, line and office staff, trade union and administration, etc.). Social and psychological studies have shown that the “own” group looks better than the “other” in any situation. This is the so-called phenomenon of in-group favoritism, which is expressed in the fact that group members favor their group in one form or another. It is a source of intergroup tension and conflict. The main conclusion drawn from these patterns social psychologists, the following: if we want to eliminate intergroup conflict, then it is necessary to reduce differences between groups (for example, lack of privileges, fair wages, etc.).

Intragroup conflict usually involves self-regulatory mechanisms. If group self-regulation does not work, and the conflict develops slowly, then conflict in the group becomes the norm of relations. If the conflict develops quickly and there is no self-regulation, then destruction occurs. If a conflict situation develops in a destructive manner, then a number of dysfunctional consequences are possible. This may be general dissatisfaction, poor condition spirit, decreased cooperation, strong devotion to one's group with great unproductive competition with other groups. Quite often there is an idea of ​​the other side as an “enemy”, of one’s goals as positive, and of the other side’s goals as negative, interaction and communication between the parties decreases, greater value is given more importance to “victory” in a conflict than to solving the real problem.

Intrapersonal conflict is, as a rule, a conflict of motivation, feelings, needs, interests and behavior in the same person.

Interpersonal conflict is the most frequently occurring conflict. The emergence of interpersonal conflicts is determined by the situation, personal characteristics people, the individual’s attitude to the situation and psychological characteristics interpersonal relationships. The emergence and development of interpersonal conflict is largely determined by demographic and individual psychological characteristics. For women, conflicts related to personal problems are more common, for men - with professional activities.

Psychologically unconstructive behavior in conflict is often explained by the individual personality characteristics of a person. Traits of a “conflict” personality include intolerance to the shortcomings of others, reduced self-criticism, impulsiveness, incontinence in feelings, deep-rooted negative prejudices, prejudiced attitude towards other people, aggressiveness, anxiety, low level of sociability, etc.

Conflict (lat. conflictus) is a collision of oppositely directed, incompatible tendencies in the consciousness of an individual, in interpersonal interactions or interpersonal relationships individuals or groups of people associated with acute negative emotional experiences. Any organizational changes, controversial situations, business and personal relationships between people often give rise to conflict situations, which are subjectively accompanied by serious psychological experiences.

From an ordinary point of view, conflict has a negative meaning and is associated with aggression, deep emotions, disputes, threats, hostility, etc. There is an opinion that conflict is always an undesirable phenomenon and should be avoided if possible and, if it arises, resolved immediately . Modern psychology views conflict not only in a negative, but also in a positive way: as a way of developing an organization, group and individual, highlighting in the inconsistency of conflict situations positive aspects associated with the development and subjective understanding of life situations.

Conflict is most often seen as competition in satisfying interests. What situation can be called a conflict? This question is answered Thomas's theorem: if situations are defined as real, then they are real in their consequences, that is, the conflict becomes reality when it is experienced as a conflict by at least one of the parties.

Conflict can also be seen as a state of shock, disorganization in relation to previous development and, accordingly, as a generator of new structures. In this definition M. Robert And F. Tilman point to modern understanding conflict as a positive phenomenon.

J. von Neumann And O. Morgenstein define conflict as the interaction of two objects that have incompatible goals and ways of achieving these goals. Such objects can be considered people, individual groups, armies, monopolies, classes, social institutions and others, whose activities are in one way or another connected with setting and solving problems of organization and management, with forecasting and decision-making, as well as with planning targeted actions.

K. Levin characterizes conflict as a situation in which an individual is simultaneously affected by opposing forces of approximately equal size. Along with the “force” lines of the situation, the personality itself plays an active role in resolving conflicts, understanding and seeing them. Therefore, Lewin's works examine both intrapersonal and interpersonal conflicts.

From the point of view role theory conflict is understood as a situation of incompatible expectations (demands) to which a person playing a particular role in the social and interpersonal structure is exposed. Typically, such conflicts are divided into inter-role, intra-role and personal-role.

In the theory of social conflict by L. Coser conflict is a struggle over values ​​and claims due to scarcity of status, power and means, in which the goals of opponents are neutralized, infringed or eliminated by their rivals. The author also notes the positive function of conflicts - maintaining the dynamic balance of the social system. If the conflict is related to goals, values ​​or interests that do not affect the basic existence of groups, then it is positive. If the conflict is associated with the most important values ​​of the group, then it is undesirable, since it undermines the foundations of the group and carries a tendency towards its destruction.

By W. Lincoln, positive The impact of the conflict is manifested in the following:

• conflict accelerates the process of self-awareness;
• under its influence, a certain set of values ​​is approved and confirmed;
• promotes a sense of community, since others may be found to have similar interests and strive for the same goals and results and support the use of the same means - to the extent that formal and informal alliances arise;
• leads to the unification of like-minded people;
• promotes detente and pushes other, unimportant conflicts into the background;
• promotes prioritization;
• plays the role of a safety valve for a safe and even constructive release of emotions;
• thanks to him, attention is drawn to dissatisfaction or proposals that need discussion, understanding, recognition, support, legal registration and permission;
• leads to working contacts with other people and groups;
• it encourages the development of systems for just conflict prevention, resolution and management.

Negative The impact of conflict often manifests itself in the following ways:

• the conflict poses a threat to the stated interests of the parties;
• he threatens social system ensuring equality and stability;
• prevents rapid implementation of change;
• leads to loss of support;
• makes people and organizations dependent on public statements that cannot be easily and quickly retracted;
• instead of a carefully considered response, it leads to quick action;
• As a result of the conflict, the parties' trust in each other is undermined;
• causes disunity among those who need or even strive for unity;
• as a result of the conflict, the process of forming alliances and coalitions is undermined;
• the conflict tends to deepen and expand;
• conflict changes priorities to such an extent that it threatens other interests.

There are numerous conflict classifications. The reasons for them may be the source of the conflict, content, significance, type of resolution, form of expression, type of relationship structure, social formalization, socio-psychological effect, social result. Conflicts can be hidden and obvious, intense and erased, short-term and protracted, vertical and horizontal, etc.

By focus conflicts are divided into “horizontal” and “vertical”, as well as “mixed”. Horizontal conflicts include those conflicts in which persons subordinate to each other are not involved. Vertical conflicts include those in which persons subordinate to one another participate. Mixed conflicts have both vertical and horizontal components. According to psychologists, conflicts that have a vertical component, that is, vertical and mixed, are approximately 70-80% of all conflicts.

By meaning For groups and organizations, conflicts are divided into constructive (creative, positive) and destructive (destructive, negative). The former bring benefit to the cause, the latter - harm. You can’t leave the first, but you need to get away from the second.

By nature of the reasons conflicts can be divided into objective and subjective. The first are generated by objective reasons, the second by subjective, personal reasons. An objective conflict is often resolved constructively; a subjective conflict, on the contrary, is usually resolved destructively.

M. Deutsch classifies conflicts according to the criterion truth-falsity or reality:

• “genuine” conflict - existing objectively and perceived adequately;
• “random or conditional” - depending on easily changeable circumstances, which, however, is not realized by the parties;
• “displaced” - an obvious conflict, behind which lies another, invisible conflict that lies at the basis of the obvious one;
• “misattributed” - a conflict between parties who misunderstood each other, and, as a result, about misinterpreted problems;
• “latent” - a conflict that should have occurred, but which does not, because for one reason or another it is not realized by the parties;
• “false” is a conflict that exists only due to errors of perception and understanding in the absence of objective grounds.

Classification of conflicts by type social formalization: formal and informal (formal and informal). These conflicts, as a rule, are associated with the organizational structure, its characteristics and can be both “horizontal” and “vertical”.

In my own way socio-psychological effect conflicts are divided into two groups:

• developing, affirming, activating each of the conflicting individuals and the group as a whole;
• promoting self-affirmation or development of one of the conflicting individuals or groups as a whole and suppression, limitation of another individual or group of persons.

By volume of social interaction Conflicts are classified into intergroup, intragroup, interpersonal and intrapersonal.

Intergroup conflicts assume that the parties to the conflict are social groups pursuing incompatible goals and interfering with each other through their practical actions. This may be a conflict between representatives of different social categories (for example, in an organization: workers and engineers, line and office staff, trade union and administration, etc.). Social and psychological studies have shown that the “own” group looks better than the “other” in any situation. This is the so-called phenomenon of in-group favoritism, which is expressed in the fact that group members favor their group in one form or another. It is a source of intergroup tension and conflict. The main conclusion that social psychologists draw from these patterns is the following: if we want to eliminate intergroup conflict, then it is necessary to reduce differences between groups (for example, lack of privileges, fair wages, etc.).

Intragroup conflict As a rule, it includes self-regulatory mechanisms. If group self-regulation does not work, and the conflict develops slowly, then conflict in the group becomes the norm of relations. If the conflict develops quickly and there is no self-regulation, then destruction occurs. If a conflict situation develops in a destructive manner, then a number of dysfunctional consequences are possible. These may be general dissatisfaction, poor morale, decreased cooperation, strong devotion to one's group with great unproductive competition with other groups. Quite often there is a perception of the other side as an “enemy”, of one’s own goals as positive, and of the other side’s goals as negative, interaction and communication between the parties decreases, and more importance is placed on “winning” the conflict than solving the real problem.

A group is more resistant to conflict if it is cooperatively interconnected. The consequences of this cooperation are freedom and openness of communications, mutual support, friendliness and trust towards the other party. Therefore, the likelihood of intergroup conflicts is higher in diffuse, immature, poorly cohesive and value-disparate groups.

Introduction.

1. The concept of conflict, conflict situation.

2. Main types of classification of conflicts.

3. Dynamics of conflict.

Conclusion.

Introduction.

Conflictology is a fairly developed multidisciplinary discipline that studies the causes, essence, forms and dynamics of conflicts that arise in different spheres of public life, as well as ways to resolve and prevent them.

However, there is still no unity among scientists in understanding the nature of conflict as a social phenomenon. Some of them see conflict as the norm social life, believing that a conflict-free society is as unthinkable as, for example, dry water is unthinkable. In their opinion, there is only one place in the world where there are no conflicts - a cemetery. “If there are no conflicts in your life,” one of the American conflict experts ironically notes, “check if you have a pulse.” Other scientists assess the role of conflicts differently. For them, conflict is dangerous disease, social pathology, which must be excluded once and for all from public life, from all forms human communication as a foreign element. One of the modern domestic authors believes that the place of conflict in communication is not necessary and therefore it is necessary to deal with it consistently, nonviolent struggle, gradually freeing communication from conflicts.

However, today, when the increase in conflicts in society has taken on an avalanche-like character, last point view looks like a utopian one, and its supporters are becoming fewer and fewer.

But regardless of this or that understanding of the nature of conflicts, all researchers are unanimous that these social phenomena they need to be carefully studied and clear guidelines developed to regulate them in order to prevent their destructive consequences.

Conflictology efforts today are concentrated around solving the following main theoretical problems:

– identifying the essence of conflicts, their causes, stages, participants;

– identifying methods for regulating conflict situations, as well as ways to prevent conflicts;

– establishment of the main forms of conflicts, the uniqueness of each of them.

As you can see, these tasks are not only theoretical, but to a large extent also practical, applied in nature, and the development of a classification of conflicts is of no small importance.

1. The concept of conflict, conflict situation.

The term "conflict" comes from Latin word"conflictus", which means clash. Therefore, in modern management, conflict is understood as a clash, a struggle between parties, opinions, forces, the process of escalating a conflict situation into a clash open to others.

A conflict necessarily contains a situation that is perceived by the participants as a conflict. A conflict situation is mutually exclusive positions on any issue that are objectively perceived by people, the pursuit of opposing goals, and the use of any means to achieve them.

But sometimes conflict in theoretical terms is also considered as a system of relations, a process of development of interaction between subjects within society (organization), determined by differences in motives, interests, and values ​​of participants. With this approach, conflict is considered a natural condition for the existence of people interacting with each other, an internal generator of the development of the organization. At the same time, although it is recognized that there are some negative consequences conflicts, but in general, over a significant period of time, their destructive impact is not so destructive compared to the consequences of eliminating conflicts, their information and social blockade.

This dualistic nature of assessing and defining the concept and essence of conflicts stems from weak theoretical development scientific direction, called conflictology. Currently, there is no generally accepted theory of conflicts that explains their nature, causes, determinants, and impact on the development of teams and society as a whole.

The “fathers” of conflictology are considered to be Heraclius of Ephesus (535 – 475 BC), who argued that “discord is the father of everything” and Plato (428 – 348 BC). But the main luminary of the conflictological view of the world is considered to be the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770 - 1831) with his teaching about contradictions and conflicts (struggle) of opposites, which act as internal sources“ascents from the abstract to the concrete” and described in the form of triads.

The doctrine of conflicts as a theory of conflictology was started by Woodberry Small (1854 - 1926), William Graham Sumner (1840 - 1910) and others. In the 60s of the 20th century, the German sociologist Ralf Dahrendorf substantiated the concept of “ conflict model society", according to which social stratification society is built on relations of domination and subordination, inherent in any society and civilization and inevitably giving rise to conflicts.

Currently, conflicts are studied within the scientific direction - conflictology - in the philosophical and sociological aspect - sociological conflict(reasons, factors and trends at the macro level); in organizational and management – ​​personnel management (reasons, genesis and dynamics of conflicts in the organization); on an individual psychological level (psychological and psychophysiological characteristics of the individual that influence behavior in conflict).

2. Main types of conflict classification

Typology of the conflict plays an important methodological role. It serves not only as a means of capturing and organizing accumulated knowledge, which in itself is very significant, but also often plays a noticeable heuristic role in the process of obtaining new knowledge. Attempts to analyze existing specific examples conflict situations from the point of view of the chosen classification basis often reveal completely new aspects of conflicts that had previously escaped the attention of the researcher.

However, the methodological role of conflict typologization can be fully reflected only if the basic logical requirements for scientific classification. In particular, the basis of the classification must be clearly identified and consistently carried out, as a result of which the classification must be complete (according to the identified basis) and non-overlapping.

The mentioned logical requirements, however, are very often violated. As typical example One can cite the typology of conflicts proposed by M. Deutsch. Deutsch identifies the following six types of conflict:

1. "Genuine conflict." This is a conflict “that exists objectively and is perceived adequately.” (If the wife wants to use a spare room in the house for painting, and the husband as an office, they enter into a “true” conflict.)

2. “Random, or conditional, conflict.” The existence of this type of conflict “depends on easily changeable circumstances, which, however, is not realized by the parties.” (“The genuine conflict” of the previous example turns into “accidental” if we assume that the wife and husband do not notice that there is also an attic, garage or some other room that could easily be converted into an office or studio.)

3. “Displaced conflict.” In this case, what is meant is an “overt conflict”, behind which lies some other, hidden conflict that underlies the overt one. (The previous example is modified into an example of “displaced conflict” if a vigorous argument about a spare room occurs in conditions where the husband and wife have little or no interest in the studio or office, and the resulting clash serves as a manifestation of some other, more serious, perhaps even an unconscious conflict.)

4. “Misattributed conflict.” It is a conflict “between misunderstood parties and, as a result, over misinterpreted problems.” (When, for example, a child is reprimanded for something that he was forced to do while fulfilling the instructions of his parents.)

5. “Latent conflict.” This is a conflict “that should have happened, but does not”, since for one reason or another it is not realized by the parties.

6. “False conflict.” This is a case when there are no “objective grounds” for a conflict, and the latter exists only due to errors of perception and understanding.

As the basis for classification, Deutsch names “the relationship between the objective state of affairs and the state of affairs as perceived by the conflicting parties.” Such a formulation, however, cannot act as a valid basis, since it is extremely vague.

One of the generally accepted classifications of conflicts in conflictology is their division into four main types based on the parties involved in the conflict: intrapersonal conflict, interpersonal conflict, conflict between the individual and the group and intergroup conflict. This classification is universal; it can be applied to both social conflicts in general, and to specific ones - for example, to industrial conflicts. Let's look at these types of conflicts in more detail.

Intrapersonal (psychological) conflict. Intrapersonal conflict is a state internal structure personality, characterized by the confrontation of its elements. Just as there are numerous grounds for classifying conflicts in general, there are various grounds for distinguishing types of intrapersonal conflicts.