The Politics of Organizing and the Organization of Politics: Managing Power, Interests and Conflicts in Organizations

Abstract

This paper is a discourse of conflict management within the context of organization theory, using the stakeholder perspective as a theoretical framework. For this purpose, the paper critically examines the three dominant schools in organizational theorizing: the rational, the natural, and the open system perspectives in relation to conflict management. The idea of viewing the organization from rational school of thought is seen as an inadequate analytical tool for understanding the dynamics of conflict in an organization. The natural system approach with its emphasis on organization as consisting of members with diverse and multiple interests and the open system perspective with its focus on the organization's relationship with its environment are seen as appropriate for studying the relationship between stakeholder management and conflict management. As conclusion and recommendation, the paper suggests nine guiding precepts regarding how stakeholders should be treated in a conflict resolution and conflict management process. The key words in the principles suggest the kind of cooperative spirit that should be used in building stakeholder relations: acknowledge, monitor, listen, communicate, adopt, recognize, work, avoid, and acknowledge conflict.