Organizational conflict is the discord that arises when the goals, interests, or values of different individuals or groups are incompatible and those individuals or groups block or thwart one another's attempts to achieve their objectives. Conflict is an inevitable part of organizational life because the goals of different stakeholders, such as managers and workers, are often incompatible. Organizational conflict can also exist between departments and divisions that compete for resources, or even between managers who may be competing for promotion to the next level in the organizational hierarchy.

Successful leaders can effectively use their power to influence others and to manage conflict to achieve win-win solutions. Managers need to develop the skills necessary to manage organizational conflict, politics, and negotiation if they are going to be effective and achieve their goals. Effective managers understand that some conflict is beneficial to organizations. You are about to read a report on conflict management at Reckitt Benckiser, a British manufacturing firm. You will be asked to identify and analyze the conflict existing in this company's product development teams.

Read the case below and answer the questions that follow.

When Reckitt & Colman, a British company that made cleaning products for household use, merged with Benckiser, a Dutch company that made consumer products, Reckitt Benckiser came into existence under the leadership of Bart Becht. Reckitt Benckiser, headquartered in Slough, England, is a truly global company that makes and sells products for personal care, household use, and health. Although some people have never heard of this company, many are familiar with what it calls its Powerbrandsbrands like Vanish, Calgon, Woolite, Lysol, Air Wick, Musinex, and Clearasil. Employing 23,000 people in over 60 countries, Reckitt Benckiser sells its products in approximately 80 countries. Revenue grew 7 percent in 2013, to just over $11 billion in revenues.

Often, mergers run into problems because employees from the different companies are accustomed to working in different organizational cultures, have different perspectives and outlooks, and find it difficult to work together synergistically. When two companies are based in different countries with different national cultures, potential problems and conflicts can be exacerbated. After the merger, Becht deliberately assigned managers to work in countries other than those of their origin and continues to do so to this day. For example, an American manager oversees operations in Germany, an Italian manager oversees operations in the United Kingdom, a Dutch manager oversees operations in the United States, and an Indian manager oversees operations in China. In each country in which Reckitt Benckiser has operations, multiple nationalities are represented along with local citizens. The 400 top managers at Reckitt Benckiser are from 53 different countries.

Essentially, working in a variety of countries over one's career is normal at Reckitt Benckiser. Becht believes that experience working and living in other countries promotes creativity, innovation, and global entrepreneurship as well as ongoing learning and development. And it also can help prevent dysfunctional conflict and an "us versus them" mentality between employees of different nationalities. By living and working in several different countries, and by having several nationalities represented in every location, employees not only learn to respect and appreciate each other but also come up with new ideas based on their different perspectives and experiences.

Even though Becht is Dutch, he does not speak his native language when he is with other Dutch employees at Reckitt Benckiser because this would make other employees feel left out. Since so many nationalities and languages are represented in Reckitt Benckiser, Becht felt the need to have one languageEnglishused in all meetings. As he puts it, "We are one team with one language. English isn't most people's native language, and often our English isn't pretty. But the way we see it, it doesn't matter as long as you give a view."

While recognizing that conflict due to cultural misunderstanding is dysfunctional, Becht believes in constructive conflict and everyone speaking his or her mind on work-related matters. Employees are expected and encouraged to come to meetings prepared with facts, to speak their minds, and to defend their positions. Becht knows that sometimes those who might disagree with the majority on a project or idea for a new product might have the best insights and be sources of real creativity and innovation.

Becht strives to achieve win-win solutions to conflicts and disagreements whereby all parties can express and defend their positions, everyone's voice is listened to, and real collaboration takes place. When conflicts occur, rather than strive for consensus by convincing those in the minority to accept the majority's decision, Becht strives for consensus in terms of implementation. Thus, once a decision has been made, everyone works together to effectively implement it, including those who might have been in the minority by not supporting it. Those in the minority, however, are permitted to continue to develop their ideas and run small experiments to determine if they are on the right track for an innovative product that will be appealing to Reckitt Benckiser's consumers.

For example, around 2003 there was much conflict over a potential new product called Air Wick Freshmatic that automatically emits air freshener on a predetermined schedule. A Korean brand manager had noticed a similar automatic dispenser of scents available in Korean stores and thought that, while that product had design problems, it was an interesting concept. At headquarters, the Korean manager met with other managers to discuss the idea, and dissenting views and conflict ensued. Some managers at the meeting thought it might be a good idea for European markets, whereas other managers thought the product would never appeal to many consumers. Concerns were raised that consumers would not want to pay for an automatic dispenser that would cost more to produce; Reckitt Benckiser had no experience with the technology involved; and ultimately a new manufacturing plant would be needed to make this kind of product for a large market. Nonetheless, two managers at the meeting thought the automatic air freshener was a great idea and continued to push for it.

Becht gave the two managers funding to develop the idea on a small scale. Initial testing of a prototype with consumers in the United Kingdom went well. By the end of 2004, the product was being sold in over 30 countries, and a new factory was built in China to manufacture it. By 2010, a variety of types of Air Wick Freshmatic were being sold in 85 countries, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues. By managing conflict through collaboration and permitting those in the minority to run with an idea that others disagreed with, Reckitt Benckiser had an extremely successful launch of a new product.

Of course, sometimes ideas for new products don't turn out that well, regardless of whether they were supported by the majority or the minority. However, by ensuring that all opinions and perspectives are heard and experimenting on a small scale, Reckitt Benckiser reaps the benefits of new ideas and innovation while finding out quickly when consumers don't like a new product and it should be dropped.

All in all, Reckitt Benckiser is a truly global company in which managers and employees from many different countries can work together to develop innovative products. For example, products launched in the last three years make up 35-40 percent of Reckitt Benckiser's revenues. And without effectively managed conflict, some of these new products might never have seen the light of day.