Below we summarize the main characteristics of the six most common types of conflict within a company.

  • Resource conflict: more than one interlocutor in competition for scarce resources. All parties feel entitled to use the resources, but they may not be distributed so that everyone feels satisfied, due to their scarcity.
  • Task conflict: is when interlocutors’ aims are mutually exclusive or when the pursuit of a goal means a limitation in the pursuit of another goal.
  • Process conflict: there is an agreement between the interlocutors on the goal to achieve, but a disagreement on how best to pursue it.
  • Relationship conflict: when tensions between interlocutors are perceived, due to disliking each other or a diversity of character.
  • Role conflict: when expectations of different roles, covered by the people involved, are at odds with each other.
  • Value conflict: when the values of the interlocutors are in opposition. A value conflict by default is not ‘resolvable’; the only way to deal with it in constructive ways is through work on respect for other’s diversity and mutual tolerance.