Christian educational institutions
Conflicts in Christian educational institutions are usually inevitable due to the differences in culture, personality, and communication breakdowns, among other issues. The outcomes of these conflicts could include stress, decreased productivity, among other impacts, hence priority is put on the resolution. Conflict resolution entails identification of the type of disagreement and whether it can be resolved.
The first assumption of intergroup disagreement and their management is when conflict is inevitable and agreement is possible. In Christian educational institutions, conflicts are inevitable. When two groups of people interact for a long time, conflict happens. This conflict may shift the focus from the long term goals of the organization to short term issues, which impact its progress (Blake et al., 1968). A demonstration of the first assumption is when there is a disagreement between the management of a Christian educational institution and its staff where the administration has set its focus on achievement of the organizational goals while withdrawing its focus on real issues affecting the employees, such as poor working conditions and allowances, among other problems. In this type of conflict, an effort is put to address the issues using a problem-solving approach (Rahim, 2010). The agreement can be achieved through bargaining, trading, or compromising. An effort is not made to discover who is right or wrong, but rather to identify a creative solution that would unearth the fundamental points of difference.
The second assumption is when conflict is inevitable and yet agreement not possible. In Christian educational institutions, this assumption may be demonstrated a conflict between the management of the institution and a student. This conflict could occur when the student is brought forward to the disciplinary team for alleged misconduct and denies doing it. In this type of conflict, the two groups move away from interdependence to separation and independence (Rahim, 2010). In this case, the separation could be by withdrawal, where the student disassociates himself of herself with the institution thereby reducing the need to achieve agreement in the dispute (Blake et al., 1968).
References
Blake, R., Shepard, H., & Mouton, J. (1968). Managing Intergroup Conflict in Industry (3rd ed.). Houston: Gulf Pub Co.
Rahim, A. (2010). Managing Conflict in Organizations (4th ed.). New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.