ABSTRACT
Even though confl ict is often said to be functional for organizations, most recommendations relating to organizational confl ict still fall within the ambit of confl ict resolution, reduction, or minimization. Action recommendations from the current organizational confl ict literature show a disturbing lag with the functional set of background assumptions that are endorsed. These recommendations are usually designed to deal with confl ict at the dyadic or group levels and are not appropriate for macro-level changes in an organization. Insofar as it could be determined, the literature on organizational confl ict is defi cient (with minor exceptions) in three major areas.
