Question: What Are the Sources of Conflict? Form groups of three or four people and appoint one member as the spokesperson who will communicate your conclusions to the rest of the class. Think of an organization you are all familiar with such as a local restaurant or supermarket store and discuss the way it operates. Using the material in the chapter:
1. Identify how differentiation might potentially give rise to conflict between different employees or groups in this organization (e.g., because of status inconsistencies).
2. Identify how task relationships might potentially result in conflict between different employees or groups in this organization (e.g., because of task interdependencies).
3. How does the way the organization operates, such as its hierarchy of authority and the way it groups activities into departments, help to prevent such conflict from arising?