Management of conflict within small and medium group teams in French organizations

Abstract

Conflict exists from as many years as humans. We deal with it in our public and in our private life. However, we try to adapt the intensity of our emotions to every situation. Conflict occurs between humans, that’s why finding a solution that satisfies both parts appears as difficult or even impossible sometimes. The situation becomes even more difficult at workplace as it could have an impact on the efficiency and quality of the employees’ work. This way being able to resolve conflict is an essential skill for managers. Through this dissertation, we establish the main concepts of conflict management, define the main approaches and processes but also the tools and techniques used by managers to solve these problems within small and medium group teams in French organizations. Our study is based on a practical case study, eight interviews of French managers from different industries and companies as well as on an online questionnaire completed by sixty-four French managers. The main results from this research are that most of the conflicts in these companies are based on personal differences, that compromise and confrontation are the two most used techniques to resolve it and that more of forty percent of them never use third-party intervention. Some limits have this way been observed. Indeed we recommend managers to organize team-building activities to improve relationships between employees, to learn more about conflict management and third-party intervention techniques and finally to come to a clear agreement and analysis of the causes of conflict to prevent it.