Personal characteristics can be the reasons for conflict. There are some situations where individuals have to join
together knowingly or unknowingly towards achieving a common goal.
The necessity to interact with one another compels personalities to mix with one another which is possible only by mutual understanding between the individuals.
Interpersonal conflicts are characterized by people not liking one another or not agreeing with one another, expression of hostility towards one another, pointing out the weakness of other person and criticism etc.
Some of the factors which are mostly responsible for interpersonal conflict could be competition, difference in values, stereotype behavior, exploitative nature of human beings etc.
Competitive environment: This is one of the major sources of interpersonal conflict. When competence is rewarded in an organization, competitive environment is created. In this situation, the remaining group gets dissatisfied because their self respect is challenged.
In this situation, the hostility may be directed towards the person who was rewarded or to the authority who had rewarded him. While in the former case the individual is under attack, in the latter, the authority is under attack.
Difference values: The difference preference, values, beliefs, cultural background etc. also lead to interpersonal conflict. Stereotype behavior: Stereotyping and sharp judgment lead people to evaluate others first and form biased opinions about them through hurried judgments.
These types of perceptional distortions lead people to behave in a biased manner towards one another resulting in conflicts. Religions, regional linguistic segments also lead to conflict.
Exploitative nature of human beings: Interpersonal conflicts may also arise in team work situations due to the exploitative tendencies of some team members. It is quite common that individuals have the tendency to take undue share in the outcome although their contributions to the achieving of goals may not be always proportional. This type of situation also leads to interpersonal conflict among the work force.
