Group Behaviour - Intergroup Conflict

Intergroup Conflict

Intergroup conflict may be caused by competition for resources, goal incompatibility, time incompatibility, and contentious influence tactics. There are activities that organizations can participate in to reduce or prevent competition between groups.

• Resources: Resources (e.g., budgets, personnel, physical space) are generally limited within organizations so that competition for resources between groups is often unavoidable.
• Goal Incompatibility: Goal incompatibility occurs when the goals of two or more groups are in direct opposition such that one group will achieve its goal while the other group(s) will be unable to meet the goal. Goal incompatibility may be distinguished between real goal incompatibility and perceived goal incompatibility.
• Time Incompatibility: Work groups perform different tasks, have different goals, and interact with different customers such that groups will have different time frames or deadlines in which they operate.
• Contentious Influence Tactics: Contentious influence tactics (e.g., threats, demands, and other negative behaviours) may be used to attempt to influence others from another group creating cycles of retaliation and influencing the opinions of those within their own group (e.g., creating bad reputations).