What Is an Interpersonal Conflict?

An interpersonal conflict is a term that is used to describe a situation whereby there is a form of friction or conflict between two entities. The conflict may be between two groups or it may be between two people. Whatever the case, interpersonal conflict puts a strain on the relationship between the two entities that may result in some unpleasant consequences if left unaddressed. This type of conflict may be the result of anything, ranging from some form of miscommunication to a deliberate act by one party, or even the two parties, resulting in feelings of antagonism or anger. Interpersonal conflict may be an issue in personal situations, such as between two individuals, between members in a social setting, or between members in an official, semi-formal or business setting.

For those in a business setting, interpersonal conflict can lead to a drop in productivity if the situation is left to continue without any direct action to address it. Usually, the human resource department of the business will be responsible for acting to stem the development of such a conflict through several actions that are targeted toward resolving any issue that may have precipitated the conflict. An example of something that may result in interpersonal conflict is a situation where one member of a group works against the effort of other members toward a stated aim. Assuming a marketing team has been given a sales target and one member of the team is not living up to his or her part of the bargain, this could foster resentment among the other members and lead to conflict within the team.

Something else that could lead to the development of such a conflict is an outright act of aggression by one party against another, leading to retaliatory act by the aggrieved party. Since situations are sometimes inevitable due to the imperfect attributes of human nature, the key is to manage the situation before it escalates into something very ugly. Sometimes the parties are able to put aside their feelings of antagonism in order to address the cause of the problems themselves through a series of meetings that may be initiated by either party to the conflict. Most times, this type of conflict resolution is not an option, and the conflicting parties require the assistance of a third party in the form of an arbitrator or a mediator. If this fails, the final recourse may be to take the matter to a court of competent jurisdiction.