Conflict is a part of our everyday life and is defined as $$a process in which one party perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party.$$ Conflict is not necessarily a bad thing and is a perfectly normal state of affairs. But some forms of conflict can indeed be bad $($i$.$e$.,$ dysfunctional$).$ This activity is important because managers should learn to differentiate between good and bad conflict in order to know how to best minimize dysfunctional conflict and capitalize on functional conflict.

The goal of this activity is to challenge your ability to differentiate between functional and dysfunctional conflict.

Select the most appropriate type of conflict for each scenario.

$1.$ David sometimes brings hard boiled eggs for lunch at work, which several of his coworkers do not enjoy the smell of$.$ One day at work, David and his coworkers discussed how they could best share the break room space. They decided that on days David brought in hard boiled eggs he would eat them in his office rather than in the break room.

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$2.$ Don was having a great year in terms of his sales numbers, but his team seemed to be struggling to hit their goals. Don went to Lai, one of the other members of the team, and told her he didn$$t think she was taking her job seriously and that perhaps she should focus on prioritizing her work over her petty personal life.

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$3.$ Both Yaz and Jasper had great ideas for a new marketing campaign and their supervisor liked both of the ideas. During their discussion of which campaign they should ultimately choose, Yaz reminded Jasper that his last campaign was ridiculous and a terrible flop and that her campaigns were always the good ones.

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$4.$ Both Smitha and Lars were very passionate about their small business venture. When they were trying to decide on a location for their new storefront, the two had a very lengthy debate and somewhat heated discussion about the merits and drawbacks of each of their preferred locations.

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