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Managing Conflict in the Small Group 293

experience. Kerwin and her colleagues found that members of nonprofit group steer
3
4
clear of labeling their contentious talk as conflict, preferring to call it “disagreement.”
For these reasons, we focus on how to manage your group’s conflict in ways that
benefit rather than destroy the group.

A Definition of Conflict

A variety of definitions exist for conflict. We like Hocker and Wilmot’s definition: Conflict
The expressed
Conflict is an expressed struggle between at least two interdependent parties who struggle that occurs
perceive incompatible goals, scarce resources, and interference from the other party when interdependent
in achieving their goals. 5
parties, such as
group members,
This definition promotes the central role that communication processes play in small perceive
group dynamics. incompatible goals or
First, conflict as an expressed struggle indicates that conflict involves communi- scarce resources and
cating. Although a group member may feel internal distress, this distress becomes interference in
interpersonal conflict only when it is expressed, whether verbally or in such subtle ways achieving their goals.
as not making eye contact or shifting nervously in one’s chair.
Second, parties to a conflict are interdependent with each other, meaning that all
actions by members carry consequences for all group members. For example, Edd
may detest Desha’s views about what is appropriate treatment of laboratory animals,
but that won’t matter much unless both are in a group that is charged with recom-
mending a university policy regarding treatment of laboratory animals. For the group
to succeed fully, Edd and Desha must reconcile their views enough to collaborate on
a policy each can support. However, their interdependence is accompanied by inter-
ference. Edd’s disagreement with Desha interferes with Desha’s having her way, and
vice versa. This interference may take the form of Desha’s trying to persuade the
other group members to accept her view, Edd’s trying to undercut Desha’s credibility
within the group, or Desha’s sabotaging Edd’s car so that he misses an important
meeting.
Third, this definition suggests a number of things over which people conflict,
such as goals and scarce resources, to which we add values, beliefs, and ways of achiev-
ing goals. Suppose, that Edd believes humans are superior to all other forms of life,
which makes it appropriate for laboratory animals to serve human needs, but Desha
values all animal life forms equally. This incompatibility in values may make it impos-
sible for their group to reach consensus on a policy regarding laboratory animals. It is
also possible that Edd pushes for his idea because he is trying to be heard in a group
where Desha’s ideas are always supported—suggesting a conflict over perceived scarce
resources—in this case, power.
Fourth, parties to a conflict must perceive that they are in conflict. This percep-
tual dimension is a very important one. There is nothing that automatically labels a
situation as conflict; instead, conflict depends on how people perceive the situation.
For instance, if Vou disagrees with a proposal you have made, you have a choice
about how to perceive Vou’s disagreement. You can say, “What a jerk! What makes

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