ABSTRACT
The workplace of the twenty-first century is filled with tension and strife. Incivility has risen noticeably in the American workplace. Conflict can arise from a variety of sources, but many experts see it as a function of such workplace variables as personality, personal and professional relationships, cultural differences, working environments, demands of the marketplace and of course, competition. According to Pollock Peacebuilding Systems, a conflict resolution consulting firm in California, some 60 percent of employees they surveyed have never received basic conflict management classes or lessons. Pollack Peacebuilding Systems reports an annual cost of $482 million in settlement damages for victims of employment-related abuse. The interactionist approach actually encourages conflict on the grounds that a harmonious, peaceful, tranquil and cooperative group may become static, apathetic and unresponsive to a need for change and innovation. Without a minimum level of conflict, they reason, no organization can change, adapt and survive the rigors of the marketplace.
