ABSTRACT
Whenever two or more human beings interact socially, sooner or later, some conflict is inevitable. Saying that conflict occurs naturally in the course of human interactions does not imply that friction is inherently bad or good. In fact, human beings and organizations are healthiest when they accept, encourage, and openly resolve the inescapable conflicts. Conflict, like stress, is amoral and means little until people assign meaning to a specific instance of disunity. In practice, people usually turn conflict into a benefit or a liability, seldom succeeding in holding real disagreement in neutral gear.
