Why Organizational Conflict Occur?

1. Divisions and departments often have different objectives. If their members cannot find common values and goals, they will not cooperate.
2. Employees are more knowledgeable and comfortable being solo contributors than being thorough members of a team, despite the need for interdependency in most work. This is exaggerated when, through their reward systems, organizations encourage employees to compete with one another. Teamwork is a concept that must be learned and applied throughout the organization.
3. Employees are neither trained nor prepared to negotiate shared areas of responsibility and productivity gaps comfortably.
4. Supervisors may state their expectations of employee job performance, but they usually do not know how to do so in a way that can be heard and understood effectively.
5. Organizational problems and responsibilities are analyzed from individual or departmental viewpoints, rather than from that of the organization as a whole. Good decisions are further undermined by a short-term, crisis approach to problem-solving.
6. Managers would rather do the work themselves than take responsibility for motivating others to do their best work. To motivate each employee to contribute maximum productivity, managers must demonstrate insight, dedication and flexibility.
7. Executives need significant information from front-line employees to make good decisions. Yet they seldom know how to ask for meaningful information, input or feedback from employees.
8. Differences in personality, approach to tasks and individual values create even more friction and tension than that caused by racial or cultural background differences.
9. Good communication requires trust, a suspension of assumptions and hard work, which most organizations do not demonstrate well from executive level downward to front line employees.   
10. Small and large changes occur constantly within organizations, but the emotions these changes generate are seldom addressed. Employees can more easily adapt to change if they are prepared, included and supported.  

Does your organization demonstrate any of these deficits? Remember ... even well-functioning organizations have room for improvement.