The perceived reasons of the conflicts that occur in organizations and handling styles: A research on SME's operating in agriculture sector in Antalya

Conflict is an inevitable element of the organizational life. It is indispensable that the conflict is experienced in every environment in which people interact. The fact that any person or any group behaves in a way that impedes counterparties achieve their goals, stonewalls to them, opposes them and even argue with them obviously is a sign of the existence of conflict.There are many factors that cause conflict. However, it generally arises from three main sources. These are the process and features of the oranizational structure, the aspect and applications of the management and personal differences. How often these factors that constitute the reasons of conflicts are experienced reveals conflict intensity in an organization.The inefficiency of the conflict intensity in organizations impedes change by giving rise to stagnancy and monotony. This alleviates the competition strength of the organization. Excessive conflicts provoke chaos by bringing about sabotages. Except these mentioned two cases, it is required to provide optimal conflict intensity that is to demonstrate positive effects of the conflict, that is to say, to increase the performance of the organization. For this reason, conflicts must be managed effectively by the managers.The management of conflicts includes three basic processes. First of all, to encourage the conflict it to increase to conflict intensity. Second, to alleviate the conflict intensity that exceeds optimal level. Third, to solve the conflict.In this research, to determine the factors that cause conflicts among colleagues working at private sector companies at SME level taking place in the agriculture sector in Antalya, to state how often individuals experience conflict and to reveal how they they overcome conflicts were aimed. In additon, the effects of demographic variables on the factors aforementioned were examined.As a result of the research, it was observed that the reasons of conflicts experienced among colleagues in the working place are composed of a structure with three factors. These are-to rank according to their intensities- personal, organizational and managerial reasons.It was determined that, individuals having a bachelor?s degree or a post-graduate degree who work at SMEs in agriculture sector in Antalya experience less conflicts arising from the aspect and applications of the management than the individuals who are primary or secondary school graduates working, accordingly.According to another result, it was seen that marital status variable has a meaningful effect on the conflict handling styles. Hereby, it was determined that single males prefer the manner of coercion more in comparison to the married ones.It was seen that the factors have a close interrelation among them as a result of the interrelation among sub-dimensions of the factors. This situation reveals that the reasons causing the conflict cannot be seperated by means of absolute lines, even they cause each other to show up. Among the conflict handling styles, compromise and problem solving styles that reveal the cooperation behavior of the indivuals have a very strong interrelation. In addition, it was concluded that, as the personal reasons of the conflict increase, individuals get away from the behavior of cooperation and compromise.Key words: Conflict, conflict intensity, conflict management, conflict handling styles, problem-solving, compromise, obliging, avoiding, forcing, agriculture sector, SMEs (Small and Medium sized Enterprises)