COOPERATIVE AND COMPETITIVE GOAL APPROACH TO CONFLICT - ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND CHALLENGES

Theory and research in cooperative and competitive conflict have poten tially important implications for managing conflict in organisations a s well as families and societies. To distinguish it from competition, conflict is defined as incompatible activities rather than as opposing interests. To the extent that protagonists emphasise their cooperativ e interdependence they have been found to express their various views directly. explore and consider opposing positions open-mindedly, and i ntegrate them into new solutions that they are committed to implement. Experimental research has documented these constructive controversy d ynamics and field studies have shown that they impact employee commitm ent, empowering leadership, innovation, quality customer service; and other vital organisational outcomes. Understanding the mediators of co operative and competitive conflict. illuminating the processes by whic h protagonists conclude that their goals are predominantly cooperative or competitive, documenting the value of competitive conflict, and ap plying the theory in cross-cultural settings need much more theorising and research. Practical challenges include developing reliable proced ures for cooperative conflict, especially in tough, intractable confli ct. Cooperative conflict is far from a simple panacea but it is a viab le way to deal with divisions.