What is Functional Conflict?

Functional conflict involves productive disagreements where the end goal is improvement within an organization or team. Employees in functional disputes are not motivated by selfish interests, but, rather, want to find solutions to current company problems to benefit the organization. Functional conflict is also referred to as constructive or cooperative conflict.

In functional conflict, there is no suppression of views because all members are able to express themselves fully without bias in a safe space and without fear of consequences. Working environments that view conflicts as a tool to foster growth perform well since every opinion counts, making members more willing to express an opinion and become more innovative in solution-finding.