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Tip for Managing Conflict

Guest post by: Robert Whipple

Article Overview: Conflict exists in the workplace on a daily basis in nearly every organization. This article shares some insight about how using Abraham Maslow's famous "Hierarchy of Needs" can help resolve some habitual conflicts.

Tip for Managing Conflict

More than a half century ago, Abraham Maslow, a famous behavioral scientist, generated what he called his "Hierarchy of Needs." He showed it as a pyramid of layers and posited that human beings needed to have the lower level needs satisfied before they could become concerned about higher level needs. The levels identified by Maslow were as as follows (from the bottom up)

Survival Needs

Safety and Protection Needs

Need for Love and Affection

Need for Self Worth

Need for Self Actualization

The logic of the hierarchy is not hard to identify with. If I hold you underwater, I am depriving you of your need to survive. No other need is going to be important to you until there is an opportunity for you to breathe. Once that is provided, then you can think about higher level needs. It works exactly that way all the way up his pyramid.

How can this be used to help resolve conflicts at work? When you observe two people habitually arguing with each other, check to see if they may be operating at different levels on Maslow's Hierarchy. It is often the root cause of conflict between people. Let me share a couple examples so you can get the idea.

Sam does not get along well with Mary. They are constantly bickering about seemingly petty things that would not bother most people. After thinking about the situation, you discover that Mary is very high on Maslow's Hierarchy. She is trying to get into graduate school because her self esteem is high and she wants to move her work life to a higher level. Sam just got divorsed last year, and is feeling lonely and insecure. He is near the middle of Maslow's Hierarchy. He would like Mary to pay more attention to him and show she likes him as a person, but she is more interested in doing her homework so she can do well in class. This makes Sam think Mary is aloof and "too good to associate with me." In reality, Mary does not feel superior, but is just trying to use her time for self actualization.

In another example, we have Bart and Zelda. Bart is really worried about his job situation. He is on final warning for poor attendance. If he loses his employment, he will become homeless in a matter of months. His chances to get another job quickly are poor as a result of his past actions - he has a criminal record. Bart is operating at the lowest level of Maslow's Hierarchy.He is worried about survival. Zelda wants to be accepted by the group for her ability to be personable and humorous. She is a social being who is operating in the middle of Maslow's Pyramid. She thinks Bart is just getting what he deserves because his own actions in the past have caused his problem. She has little sympathy for him. Bart thinks Zelda is being exclusive with her selection of friends. She never joins Bart at his table for lunch and seems to ignore him. If something happened to allow Bart to step up one level where safety and security were more the issue rather than simple survival, and if Zelda also slipped down one level to where she became worried about getting safely to the parking lot at night, they might have the opportunity to become mutually helpful to each other. Since they were now both on the same level, that would be more likely.

This analogy does not work in all conflict situations, but if you check it out in the case of habitual problems between people, it can give you some management insight that can help you understand what is going on.

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Article Tags: affection, conflict, Hierarchy f Needs, levels on Pyramid, love, management, Maslow, safety, security



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