Managing Stakeholders Conflicts

Abstract

It is not unusual that a chapter on confl ict management, which is about, generally speaking, helping people or organizations that are in confl ict with each other to deal with their differences, opens up with this statement (Moore, 1986 cited in Gordon, 1966:All societies, communities, organizations, and interpersonal relationships experience confl ict at one time or another in the process of day-to-day interaction. Confl ict is not necessarily bad, abnormal, or dysfunctional; it is a fact of life.Typically, a confl ict situation results from resource shortage and antagonistic feeling. Confl icts may arise between individuals, between groups of individuals and between organizations. Confl ict situations between people are subjective, meaning that although objective reasons may exist, confl ict only breaks out if those reasons are perceived. Confl icts between people may trigger out organizational confl icts for the simple reason that organizations are (still) governed by people. However, organizational confl icts may have other root reasons, for example resource interdependency. A common defi nition of confl ict is a process that begins whenever an individual or a group feels negatively affected by another individual or group. In other words, people are in confl ict anytime one's actions obstruct or by any means, make other's performance, less effi cient.Individual conflicts exist in all human relations and those within the construction activity are no exception. Due to the great diversity of people involved in construction projects and to the enormous variety of situations emerging from the construction process, individual conflicts in this activity deserve particular attention. Groton (1997) found that conflicts between people in construction arise as a result of poor interpersonal skills, inefficient communication, lack of responsiveness and unethical or opportunist behaviour. Conflicts of this nature may remain within the individual sphere of people involved or build up to the organizations they work for if not adequately handled. This may easily develop into organizational conflicts, affecting several organizations participating in a construction project.On the other hand, because organizations act through individuals, then confl ict events emanate from key actors within the organizations, due to their different perceptions on a particular aspect about which they are unable to agree. This applies both to group confl icts within an organization (for example, inter-department confl icts within a contractor's organization) and to confl icts affecting several organizations working together in a construction project (for example, between the owner and the contractor). Beyond people issues mentioned above, Groton (1997) suggested two main identifi able group causes for organization confl icts: project uncertainty and process problems. Examples of the former

Relationships among internal stakeholders in construction projects: A cognitive evaluation for sustainable team integration in Nigeria

“…In a pluralist relationship, stakeholders do not agree or do not share in each other's value systems; rather one of the stakeholders dominates, even though parties ought to reach compromises on objectives and values. In a coercive relationship, stakeholders do not share a common value system, but one of the stakeholders is powerful enough to make its own value system dominant, coercing others to accept it (Moura & Teixeira 2010). Elmualim (2010) identified adversarial and mutuality as relationships existing among stakeholders.…”

“…The second is the relationship between professionals in different roles in managing the construction project (Hussin & Omran 2009). Rwelamila (2010) noted that the relationship between the client and the professionals may depend on the procurement method, while Moura and Teixeira (2010) observed that the relationships established between stakeholders and the balance of power among parties is an important issue in conflicts during team integration. Relationships can be classified as unitary, pluralist, or coercive.…”

Conflict Causes and Prevention Strategies at the Society-Science Nexus in Transdisciplinary Collaborative Research Settings: A Case Study of a Food Security Project in Tanzania

“…The published literature agrees on three categories of conflict: cognitive conflicts, normative conflicts, and relationship conflicts [12,21,25]. Cognitive conflicts occur when two or more parties evaluate and interpret information or data in different ways, thus arriving at different conclusions.…”

Step-Change: Micro-Entrepreneurs’ Entry into the Middle-Class Market

“…Solidarity groups together with institutional support may allow entrepreneurs to fight back power configurations, norms and perceptions that constrain relationships (Das, 2014). Entrepreneurs who master the abovementioned relational competences are more likely to prevent and/or successfully address (potential) stakeholder conflicts (Moura & Teixeira, 2010).…”

“…In this process, microentrepreneurs need to scrutinize, prioritize, and establish the suitable mix of relationships necessary for achieving their goals (accessing resources) (Gummesson, 1994). As the relationships between actors are embedded in a social network, the literature on relationship marketing argues that the relation between entrepreneurs' relationship competence and access to resources is contingent on the configuration of all other stakeholders (Moura & Teixeira, 2010;Payne, Ballantyne, & Christopher, 2005). Stakeholders' configuration refers to the total set of stakeholders and their influences on entrepreneurs (Lee, 2011).…”