|  | Mental Health | Stress

Pros and Cons of Destructive Conflict

In 1969, psychologist Morton Deutsch published a paper defining his theory of conflict. He posited that conflict falls into two categories: constructive and destructive. Constructive conflict lends itself to mutually agreeable resolution and has the potential to leave all parties better off than they began. Destructive conflict involves discussions and arguments that lead to win-lose or lose-lose outcomes. As the name suggests, few people find destructive conflicts enjoyable or desirable. However, it has more than one aspect.

  1. Emotions

    • During and after a destructive conflict, no one feels good. Destructive conflicts often escalate and can involve powerful, negative emotions and exchanges of hurtful words. Denigration, humiliation and manipulation frequently occur during destructive conflict. At the conflict's end, relationships can be strained and broken. Traumatic and frequent destructive conflicts can lead to psychological and emotional problems for either or both sides.

    Breakdown

    • Destructive conflicts can spiral into communication failures. Whether in a workplace or in personal relationships, people stop working together which leads to a lack of coordination, productivity and accomplishment. Couples engaged in destructive conflict are likely to cease functioning together as parents, leading to worse parenting for children. Co-workers with conflicts can divide a team and lower the quality of work or even bring it to a halt. In many cases, the destructive tone of a conflict prevents participants from understanding each other's issues and possible solutions from surfacing.

    Solution by Default

    • Although win-lose situations always have a loser, the end of a destructive conflict can produce a decisive outcome. When someone clearly wins an argument or battle, there is a resolution -- even if it's not mutually agreeable. The outcome can be beneficial to the majority of the affected persons. For instance, when a couple argues about a financial decision and the conflict turns destructive, they may continue to disagree and remain angry, but that doesn't preclude the winner from being right. The outcome may result in a good investment or a major cost savings that in the long run benefits them both.

    Competition

    • Competitive behaviors fall into Deutsch's destructive conflict paradigm. There are many situations where competition is negative and destructive to progress. But there are also many situations where competition drives success and acts as a motivator. For example, if two salespeople get into an argument about who can perform better, they both work extra hard to prove each other wrong. In the end, their conflict yields higher sales revenues that benefit their company.

Stress - Related Articles