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Friday, January 17, 2014

Dysfunctional and Functional Conflict

In the last byte, we looked at the positive and negative consequences of conflict. In today's byte, we discuss about functional and dysfunctional conflict.

We claimed looking at the consequences that functional conflict should be encouraged and dysfunctional conflict has to be discouraged. The challenge really is distinguishing between dysfunctional and functional conflict.

  • Functional Conflict - is a healthy, constructive disagreement between two or more people
  • Dysfunctional Conflict - is an unhealthy, destructive disagreement between two or more people.

Functional conflicts can produce new ideas, learning and growth among individuals. By developing a constructive conflict, individuals develop a better awareness of themselves and others.
 
The awareness doesn’t just limit itself to individuals, it could help teams develop an improved working relationship - by working through disagreement two parties feel they have accomplished something together.
 
Functional conflicts can lead to innovation and positive change for the organization too - i.e. functional conflicts tend to encourage creativity among individuals, this positive form of conflict can translate into increased productivity.

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