The Authentic Organization

In many cultures, both organizational and social, it is in the avoidance of conflict that we often manage to lose our authenticity.

I am following some conventional or interpersonal dynamics (rather than global politics) in my use of the phrase ‘conflict avoidance’. I’m considering it as quite distinct from conflict management, conflict prevention, and conflict resolution.

Conflict avoidance is the denial of something that is already present, and comes in many forms: In the back and forth cycle of not wanting to make someone uncomfortable (because it would in turn make us uncomfortable). In failing to prepare for conflict in the first place. In hiding from our own desires. In making agreements we do not wish to keep. Whatever its form, it separates us from our ourselves and from each other.

This separation kills the life in us and in our organizations. Each time we avoid conflict, the next conflict becomes even harder to avoid. The cycles of creative engagement, whether internal or external, that constitutes life itself is replaced by cycles of denial.

What are the alternatives? Are we utterly dependent on individual initiative to just face up to and barge ahead despite our fears? I don’t think so. The literature of conflict resolution is full of positive alternatives, some of which have already been alluded to in the context of this inquiry.

It doesn’t even have to go so far as mediation or dispute resolution. Most conflict in organizations really isn’t that big a deal. It’s true that sometimes smaller conflicts touch upon (and serve as a proxy for) larger ones. But most of the time some institutional practices, in the form of simple routines (like air clearing) and leadership by example, go a long way all on their own.