Conflict: Good or Bad?

I think that conflict is an area that most people try to avoid because it usually has a negative connotation. However, it can be both good and bad. The text states that "unjust communication stifles needed conflict; healthy communication can make conflict productive" (p. 481). I completely agree. If you can communicate effectively, conflict can be a positive learning experience. Griffin defines conflict as "the struggle between people who perceive they have incompatible values and goals, or competing over scarce resources" (p. 482). Which makes sense. On the other hand, some face-to-face interactions deal with using power to squash conflict instead of working through it. Watzlawick talks of a double bind in his interactional view theory where the 'powerful' or dominant person in a relationship insists that the individual with less power act as if the relationship were actually symmetrical. That is a really unfair type of conflict, which I see in the workplace sometime. For instance, when managers use double standards; when they require everyone do a task, that they wouldn't want to do themselves, but yet claim they are on a level playing field. I've seen this cause conflicts at work.