<![CDATA[Objective: To examine conflict engineering as a proactive organizational practice that deliberately structures naturally occurring tensions into a repeatable cycle of organizational learning and innovation, rather than merely resolving conflict after it emerges. Method: Using a qualitative multi-site case study, the research investigates governance practices in two hybrid schools combining academic and residential functions in Lamongan Regency, Indonesia. Data were collected from 34 purposively selected informants through semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and document analysis, and were analyzed using within-case coding and cross-case synthesis. Result: The findings reveal that conflict engineering operates through six interconnected stages: detection, diagnosis, intervention design, facilitation, evaluation, and learning. Social capital, manifested in trust, shared norms, and informal networks, enables organizational actors to channel tension into constructive competition and collaborative problem-solving. The findings further identify relational structure as a provisional boundary condition: horizontal conflicts among peers were more amenable to engineering and were associated with organizational innovation, whereas vertical conflicts tended to encourage avoidance under conditions of high power distance. Novelty: The study’s novelty lies in conceptualizing conflict engineering as a cyclical governance mechanism enabled by social capital and conditioned by relational structure, while repositioning the classical POAC functions (Planning, Organizing, Actuating, and Controlling) as its operational mechanism rather than its theoretical foundation. The study thus extends conflict management from reactive resolution toward deliberate organizational learning and innovation.]]>
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