At a university, older tenured faculty cannot be terminated regardless of their competence. This has caused conflict with younger, nontenured…

The conflict originates from the university's formal tenure system. This system is an element of the organizational structure that dictates job security, status, and power. This structure creates a clear division and potential inequity between tenured and non-tenured faculty, leading to structural conflict. The rules and policies governing the groups are the root cause of the friction, as they create a perceived unfairness in job security and performance accountability between the two groups.

A. Communication: The conflict stems from an established policy, not from misunderstandings or a poor exchange of information between the faculty groups.

B. Differing ideals: While the groups may have different ideals about job security, these differences are a symptom of the underlying structural inequality, not the primary source.

D. Personal variables: The issue is systemic and affects entire groups (tenured vs. non-tenured), not rooted in the individual personalities or values of specific faculty members.

1. Robbins

S. P.

& Judge

T. A. (2018). Organizational Behavior (18th ed.). Pearson. In Chapter 14

"Conflict and Negotiation

" the authors identify "Structure" as a primary source of conflict. Structural variables include reward systems

specialization

and status inconsistencies

all of which are embodied in a tenure system that differentiates groups based on formal status and job security (pp. 463-464).

2. Lumen Learning. (n.d.). Organizational Behavior: Module 9: Conflict and Negotiations. In the section "Understanding Conflict

" structural factors are cited as a major cause. It states

"Conflict can arise from structural factors such as... scarce resources

or reward systems." The tenure system is a structural reward and status system that creates this type of conflict. Retrieved from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-organizationalbehavior/chapter/understanding-conflict/

3. Pondy

L. R. (1967). Organizational Conflict: Concepts and Models. Administrative Science Quarterly

12(2)

296–320. Pondy's foundational model of organizational conflict identifies structural conditions as a source of "latent conflict." The tenure system represents a structural condition of differentiation and resource allocation (job security) that creates latent conflict between faculty groups (p. 301). https://doi.org/10.2307/2391553