In its broadest sense, conflict refers to circumstances in which the interests of different parties are not aligned. This can lead to open hostilities between the parties which have potential to negatively affect the organisational environment if let uncontrolled. However, if managed constructively, conflict can offer positive value in ensuring effective performance within the organisation. This study focussed on conflict related issues within a privately owned trucking business based in Durban. Senior management of this company has indicated the ever increasing prevalence and occurrence of conflict related issues within the company which is negatively affecting the business. Therefore, this study was deemed highly appropriate for this specific company. The objectives of the study were to identify the sources of conflict within the company, evaluate the frequency and extent of conflict within the company, and identify conflict inducing work related procedures as well as the contribution of internal communication processes towards conflict within the organisation. The quantitative method as well as qualitative research methodology was used for this study. The research instrument was distributed to all staff members within the company. Information was gathered from the sample (n=78) by means of a questionnaire comprising 3 demographic questions, 22 closed ended likert scale type questions and 2 open ended questions. The simple random sampling technique was employed in this study which was then statistically analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program. The findings outlined source problem areas of conflict within the company, frequency and extent of conflict within the company and certain pitfalls of existing work related practices and procedures that contribute to conflict within the company. The conclusions and recommendations of this study are bound to positively contribute and add value to the company. Though this study was too small to generalise to the entire trucking industry, pertinent recommendations made will certainly contribute to substantially reduce the occurrence of negative conflict within the organisation. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-63). / v, 63 leaves, bound 29 cm

Diversity and conflict are often perceived as double-edged swords (Milliken & Martins, 1996; Jehn, 1995), in that increasing diversity and conflict may also harm implementation efficiency (i.e., speed, cost savings) and member satisfaction. The linkage between team outcomes and diversity and conflict has generally been found to be inconsistent in the literature (Williams & O Reilly, 1998; De Dreu & Weingart, 2003). Jackson, Joshi & Erhardt (2003) were the first to propose that the social context in which a team resides plays a critical role in influencing the outcomes of diversity and conflict. This thesis argues that the interactions between diversity, conflict and team innovation may be clearer if the research population consists of innovative performance driven IT project teams rather than arbitrary groups. / The research examines the effect of diversity and conflict in the tightly controlled context of IT service project teams in a Fortune 500 IT multinational in China (Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) that operate with cross-functional, cross-national, cross-regional, cross-company (internal employee versus external client/contractor) and cross-demographic membership. The thesis investigates how the characteristics of the teams, the type of tasks the teams perform, and the research location influence the process. A three-part model hypothesizing the associations between the variables is proposed where diversity is separated into functional and demographic diversity and its effects on team outcomes in terms of innovation, efficiency and member satisfaction are investigated. Conflict is separated into two conditions; task or relationship, and is hypothesised as an intervening variable in this association while the adoption of cooperative goal and conflict management strategies by the teams is hypothesised as moderating the association. / The data presents details of a comprehensive field study into the effect of diversity and conflict on IT project teams in China. The unique nature of IT project teams in China has provided a rich testing ground which contributes to knowledge in the areas of diversity and conflict and highlights the following contributions: First, it has unravelled the crucial role of the project stage in affecting group processes and outcomes in project teams; second, it questions existing theory regarding the use of types of conflict as the mediators between diversity and outcomes; third, it extends the diversity literature by introducing new diversity variables, i.e., national, regional and company affiliations; fourth, it has tested some existing group theories on new group forms including short-term temporary, part-time membership, performance goal driven and virtual oriented IT project teams; fifth, it proposes a useful valid measurement of team performance by separating team innovation from team efficiency; sixth, it has tested some existing diversity and conflict theories in the Chinese context and lastly it has investigated the roles of cooperative goals and cooperative management styles in the conflict-outcome relationship. / Thesis (PhDBusinessandManagement)--University of South Australia, 2007.

This thesis examines distinctive issues related to conflict theoretically and empirically. The theoretical part in this thesis investigates the following issues: the entitlement failure model, the defence spending allocation model and the terror cycles model. The empirical part focuses on the following: the CMP, the beta-index and beta-mobility idea, and the relation between economic inequality and violent social conflicts. The thesis argues that the introduction of market ethos and democratisation in developing nations has created a fragile economic and social system. It demonstrates the existence of a political equilibrium that maximises the probability of re-election of an incumbent government. This demonstrates the existence of a region of capital allocation such that if the optimal allocation of capital lies in this specific region there does not arise any distribution failure. In the second part we highlight two types of conflicts, namely market conflicts and political conflicts and attempt to weave them together to illuminate an important intersection between the economy and the polity. The thesis argues that conflicts are to some extent driven by international tension, or global, ideological and geo-political factors. Notwithstanding the global influence, local factors such as income inequality, income growth or lack of it, and political institutions, have an influence on conflicts. The thesis proposes a participatory conflict management procedure (CMP) that aspires to discover stable points for collaboration between confrontational parties. Stable points are mutual joint cooperative arrangements that diminish the probability of conflict re-escalation. The thesis presents a fundamental theoretical analysis for a new index of conflicts beta (b ) driven by international tension. In this section we show how to measure the extent to which local conflict in a country is driven by international tension/ global factors. We then offer an empirical foundation to the beta index by calculating the beta values for 92 nations for which we have data from 1970–2004. The thesis analyses the relationships between violent conflict and inequality. An econometric model is estimated using binary dependent variable techniques to capture the relation between violent conflict and inequality across Middle Eastern and Arab countries. It constructs two models based on the theoretical model and actual data: the first is a dummy variable that takes a value of one when a conflict has resulted over 1000 battle deaths in a given year and country. The second is a dummy variable that takes a value of one if the conflict is completely internal, and another which is equal to one when the conflict involves an external actor. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Canterbury, 2007. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-145).

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, 1989. / Includes bibliographies.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, June, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Div.)--Emmanuel School of Religion, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-58).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: Paul Begley.