Costs of Conflict Essay

Conflict produces several things that are often times not seen and most of it loses. It can be considered as the cost of conflict, which represents a drain of resources on the part of the parties that are involved. It also causes unhappiness and discomfort. Although it is not clearly seen in many cases but conflict does cost and it cost a lot of which money is involved. We may not see it but being into some kind of conflict does cost us money and other things that are considered to be valuable and these are considered as the cost of conflict. Conflict really does cost a lot in several forms however, these forms can be classified into five types defending on how money is lost in resolving the said conflict and how the conflict affects the persons involved. Cost of conflicts can be direct cost and opportunity cost that is divided into direct loss and opportunity cost, continuity cost and emotional cost. Although these are different from one another but it does not necessarily mean that the cost of conflict can be classified into one of these categorize. A conflict may cost two or three type of these types and even all of them. Most people have the inability to face conflicts and so they hire professionals to settle the conflict, this is called direct cost. The amount that the conflict cost can be seen visibly and counted as well because they involve money directly for the resolution of the conflict. Those that are involved in the conflict pay people like lawyers and other professionals to solve the problem. By doing so, it can clearly be seen that the particular conflict cost money. An example would be divorce in which a couple pays legal fees in order to be separated from each other in the legal way. This of course cost much and for those that the only asset is their home, they even transform their residence in order to provide the legal fees needed for the divorce paper. Another cot of conflict is the productivity cost the person’s time as well as the value of his or her effort that is lost in the conflict. This form is divided into 2 types; the direct loss and the opportunity cost. The direct loss is the value of money that a particular person should be paid for but had not been paid because of the conflict. If a particular company employee had been absent in his or her work because a conflict arise that he or she must settle then he will not receive payment for the time that is used in solving the conflict. Opportunity cost on the other hand refer to the value of money that someone might be earning if his or her energy had been focused on the producing products in which he is being paid for. An example would be people who are being paid depending on the amount of work that they are able to finish. If a sewer is paid depending on the number of items that she is able to do then, the energy and time wasted on resolving a conflict will affect that person’s income. Continuity cost on the other hand includes the lost of relationships and even community because of conflicts. The main cause of this kind of cost is being stuck in the past conflict that happened. If two employees of a certain company have problems with each other, they will not be able to work effectively. This will be for the company’s disadvantage that will cause losses and will greatly affect the work place. Also if because of the conflict they decided to quit and look for another job, a community is lost; the community of the employees in which they had work for some time. The last cost of category of costs of conflict involves the emotions or inner state of the persons involved, the emotional cost. When it comes to conflicts I can say that it is the most common type of cost that a conflict is likely to develop. There are times in which it is so hard to let go of hurts that occurred in a conflict. It might be because of a fight with those that you do not know like someone that bumps into your car and even those that are close to you like your friends, coworkers and even members of the family. We are help prisoners by negative emotions like anger, fear and grip that we cannot let go. These emotions held us captive and make us unproductive. It saps our energies that should be focused on our job or doing something worthwhile. Instead of focusing on the business we are consumed by anger and vengeance for the other person especially in cases in which we feel that we had been maltreated or had been abused or oppressed. We kept on telling ourselves that the wrongdoer had to be punished for what he or she had done. We use our energy on our negative emotions adding to the loss that we already had on the time of the conflict. The energy and time that we use will never be recovered and as long as we focused on these negative emotions, more and more energy and time will be lost. A conflict may involve these types of costs; it may cost the person’s money directly trough hiring professionals or indirectly like the time that could have been used for earning. Also because of the same conflict your community in which you work for may be lost. Also the hurts of that particular conflict may enslave you causing you to be unproductive and full of grief and revenge for the wrongdoer. Examining closely these costs we can realize that being involve in a conflict really does cost a lot. However being involved in a conflict cannot be totally avoided because we really cannot please everybody. What is important is that in every experience that we had, we are able to learn valuable lessons that teach us how to live our lives the best way that we can. If you commit the same mistake twice, it is definitely your fault. We cannot be good to all but we must learn to be good to us much as we can in order to minimize being involved in a conflict because no matter how the situation ends, we will certainly never win. We will definitely lose something of importance and of value. Reference Overveen, C. (No Date). The many Costs of Conflicts. Retrieved December 6, 2007 from http://www. trimitra. com/articles/costsofconflict. html Levine, S. (1998 December). The Many Costs of Conflicts. Innovative Leader Volume 7, page 12. Retrieved December 6, 2007 from http://www. winstonbrill. com/bril001/html/article_index/articles35