**1. Introduction**

Conflict is an inevitable part of life. Individuals have their own opinions, ideas and sets of beliefs. They have different ways of looking at things and they act according to what they think is proper. Hence, people often find themselves in conflict in different scenarios; may it involve other individuals, groups of people or a struggle within their own selves [1, 2]. From traditional view, conflicts should be avoided because they result in negative dysfunctional

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outcome such as low performance. The interactionist view proposes that conflict can be a positive force in a group but also necessity for group to perform effectively. This view encourages conflict because it provokes innovation and change. Groups, whose members have different interests and means tend to produce higher quality solutions to a variety of problems than do homogeneous groups [3, 4].

case offered high success, long timespan and much dynamics regarding the conflicts to get answers the study questions. Furthermore, there was plenty of documented material avail-

Conflicts as Springboard for Metallica's Success http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.71579 131

The next section presents the research methodology, after which Section 3 concentrates on state of the art. Section 4 analyzes how conflicts have helped Metallica to succeed, but also what dysfunctional outcomes have resulted from conflicts. Research results are discussed in Section 5, after which the article is closed with conclusions and need for further studies.

The study was conducted as a qualitative and retrospective longitudinal one case study to understand profoundly how conflicts helped Metallica to achieve "the best in the world" level and sustain it. Longitudinal study is a research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables over long periods of time. This study used existing data about Metallica over the period 1976–2017. The band was formed 1981, but its founders, Ulrich and Hetfield, were examined 5 years before, to understand their motives, backgrounds and intrapersonal conflicts. The study focused on the inner cycle of Metallica that included members of the band and a few outsiders who got inside the band. Conflicts were studied at intrapersonal, interpersonal, intragroup and intergroup level. During its career, Metallica has also had a lot of conflicts with external stakeholders, such as press, fans, record companies, other bands and producers, but these groups were limited out of the scope. This is because, in order to understand external conflicts, one must first understand the conflicts of

In the study, the narrative method was used that is appropriate when real life problems are examined. The goal of narrative and qualitative study is the understanding of the phenomenon. The study questions are mostly of the kind "what" and "how". The narrative study includes three main phases: narrative inquiry (narrative as data), constructivism (story construction from narrative data) and interpretivism (interpretation of story to understand the

The data sources used in the study included almost 3000 pages of text from biographies, newsletter, magazine, Internet articles and Metallica song lyrics, as well as 10 hours of video footage and audio interviews of Metallica. The data gathering concentrated on contents where the following words or expressions were used: conflict, anger, fight, battle, compromise, nervous, tease, pester, accommodate, aggression, hatred, avoid, collaborate, compete, harmony, debate, lose temper, get offended, arbitrate, negotiate, diplomat, challenge, different opinion, collision, disharmony, dispute, disagreement and agreement. In the analysis of the video footage, the attention especially focused on the scenes where emotions emerged. Research data were collected until the saturation point was achieved. This narrative inquiry phase produced 70 pages of narrative data concerning the studied phenomenon. After this, the constructed story presented in Section 4 of this chapter was created. Finally, this story was interpreted to

able about the band, which provided rich research data.

**2. Methodology**

the core group.

studied phenomenon).

answer research questions.

The conflict management involves doing things that limit the negative outcomes of conflict and increase the positive ones. When conflicts are constructive, they enhance relationships, create an environment for self-growth, enable individual, group and organization to achieve goals, solve problems and enhance self-esteem. Properly managed conflict also improves learning by increasing the amount of questions asked and encourages people to challenge the status quo. Conflict handling is an essential part of conflict management including five methods: competing, collaborating, avoiding, accommodating and compromising. Groups with collaborative conflict handling styles are usually more effective than groups with a competitive style. Compromise method usually prevent to achieving the best possible outcome, because it reduces the pressure to create new together [2, 4–7].

Conflict handling involves dynamics. When the parties of the conflict interact with each other, the intended conflict handling methods and outcomes may change. From this point of dynamism, there is already a lot of knowledge available. The dynamism has been studied much less in a longer period, that is, how the conflict handling and its outcomes change within the lifecycle of the product or organization. Lifecycle is divided into four main phases: introduction, growth, maturity and decline. To go through the lifecycle can take years or even decades—especially when the product or products are improved incrementally or radically. At that point we can talk about the lifecycle of the community or organization, where the vitality of the whole community in the long run is in focus. Radical product innovation means that new product lifecycle will take place, and causes discontinuity compared to earlier product lifecycle [4, 8–11].

The study tries to answer the following questions:


To focus on the phenomenon profoundly, the study concentrated on one single community. The band Metallica was chosen as the subject of the study. The criteria were that the band had been innovative in its sector by first creating a new genre, thrash metal, and by later rising to the world's biggest heavy rock band and keeping that position to this day. The band has sold approximately 110 million albums, and it holds a world record in the continuing number one places in Billboard 200. Metallica is like a large enterprise, which operates worldwide and employs a large amount of people, as well as manages its wealth and investments. Metallica has not gone with the rules of the music industry, but nevertheless or because of it, it has succeeded. Running against the wind has not been an easy way. Metallica has gone from one conflict to another. Its 36 year career includes changes in musical style, success and failure and conflicts that have almost led to the breakdown of the band [12–15]. Therefore, Metallica case offered high success, long timespan and much dynamics regarding the conflicts to get answers the study questions. Furthermore, there was plenty of documented material available about the band, which provided rich research data.

The next section presents the research methodology, after which Section 3 concentrates on state of the art. Section 4 analyzes how conflicts have helped Metallica to succeed, but also what dysfunctional outcomes have resulted from conflicts. Research results are discussed in Section 5, after which the article is closed with conclusions and need for further studies.
