How to Resolve Conflict in Organizations

3Conflict within organizations – structure

A classic framework

There is a great deal of theory and research on organizational effectiveness. There is much less on conflict in organizations. Within the latter there is a lot of research on teams (which will be explored in the next chapter) or interpersonal contexts (Chapter 5). However, there is one framework, a classic one by Pondy (1967), which looks at what I call ‘structural conflict’. In this chapter, I make use of this approach as well as one People Model I know well, the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) (Myers et al., 2009).

Pondy’s framework looks at the organization more than the individual. Most of my consulting work is for the organization as a whole. Even work I am hired to do for ...