Operational Conflict at International Level

Types of Operational Conflicts

At an international context, different types of operational conflicts take place (In Novais, In Carneiro & IGI Global, 2016). Notably, it is common for interpersonal disagreements between individuals, such as operational managers, to happen. Interpersonal conflicts are mostly attributed to peculiar differences that individuals have due to various factors such as time, attitudes, cultural background or individual’s country of origin (In Novais et al., 2016). For example, as one of the main elements of business operations, time is considered as critically vital. However, operational managers or colleagues may disagree due to their attitudes toward time. Illustratively, American business leaders and managers are known to take time seriously. They consider late arrival at workplaces as unnecessary and being insensitive to one’s responsibilities (In Novais et al., 2016). Therefore, with this attitude toward time, they may end up having conflicts with other colleagues from different regions such as in Arabic countries.

Intergroup Conflict

Intergroup types of conflict at an international context also take place (In Novais et al., 2016). In any business operations, departmental harmony is critically important since it helps in maintaining workplace productivity and morale. However, this may be negatively impacted by factors such as individualism. For example, a procurement manager may demand that a close relative be awarded a tender to supply resources to an organization. On the other hand, a financial department may be concerned about the financial implication of the price quoted by the relative, thus leading to conflict.

Intragroup Conflict

An intragroup disagreement is another form of operational conflict at the international level (In Novais et al., 2016). Apparently, intragroup conflict takes place when employees in a department or sections within a department escalate their disagreement to an extent of creating conflict. Among the factors that contribute to intragroup conflict is individuals’ attitude toward the introduction of change. For example, some employees in a sales department may consider a change in daily targets without their knowledge as unfair practice by the sales manager.

References

In Novais, P., In Carneiro, D., & IGI Global. (2016). Interdisciplinary perspectives on

contemporary conflict resolution. Hershey, Pennsylvania. IGI Global.