Organisational change and conflict are two essential topics that engineering managers need to understand and have confidence in acting on, if they are to succeed in today's changing and increasingly competitive environment. This paper examines and dissects the elements of organisational change that almost inevitably result in conflict. Conflicts that impact on organisational change can act as a retardant to progress, creativity, innovation and productivity, and potentially precipitate the demise of an organisation. One of the many difficulties relating to organisational conflict is to define the division between conflict and competition. This paper explores what is known about the various states of conflict and presents an approach to addressing this problem, through identifying and subsequently managing institutional elements influencing organisational change and conflict.