In this conceptual essay, we review the field of organizational conflict to unpack how it has been constructed genealogically and with what consequences by investigating three major shifts in theorization that have occurred over the past six decades. First, a move away from viewing conflict as dysfunctional to viewing it as constructive. Second, a shift from normative prescriptions to descriptions of what disputants do in conflict. Third, a shift from psychological functional analyses to studying conflict as an organizational phenomenon. We find that three distinct and essentially contested conceptions frame studies of conflict at work: conflict as a distinct behavioral phenomenon, conflict as an instrumental means of achieving something else, and conflict as a social construction contingent on how reality is perceived. This conceptual essay adds to current thinking in organizational conflict research by emphasizing how philosophical and political assumptions about conflict can be seen to have framed knowledge production within the field when it is viewed historically.

中文翻译：

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在组织冲突研究中揭示冲突的含义

在这篇概念性文章中，我们通过研究过去六十年中发生的三个理论上的重大转变，回顾了组织冲突的领域，以揭示组织冲突的家谱结构及其后果。首先，从将冲突视为功能失调到将其视为建设性的转变。第二，从规范性处方转向描述争端者在冲突中的行为。第三，从心理功能分析转向研究作为组织现象的冲突。我们发现，三个截然不同且本质上存在争议的概念构成了对工作冲突的研究：冲突是一种独特的行为现象，冲突是实现其他目标的手段，冲突是一种基于对现实的感知方式的社会建构。