Conflicts in Organizations - Assignment Example

Conflicts in Organizations Peace is not absence of conflict; it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means. Ronald Reagan Introduction Human interaction is a complex phenomenon and it happens many times that the behavior of individuals interacting in an organizational environment creates problems of massive magnitude for the organizations. Modern organizations are well aware of the concept of organizational conflicts that arise between the employees of the same organization and among the people working within the same environment. Although such conflicts appear to be a normal pattern of human functioning; it is yet important to understand the nature of consequences that may arise due to these conflicts. The working environment of the organization may suffer turmoil which can be a cause of emotional or physical discomfort, not only for the warring individuals, but also for people who are not related to conflicts in any manner. Modern HRM sciences take such ‘conflicts at work’ seriously and seek to explain the causes of such conflicts. Many theories focus on aspect like the creation of tension within the environment of organizations, which then contribute to conflict genesis. Many on the other hand blame an ongoing change to be the causative agent of conflicts. Whatever the cause, it is a well-accepted fact that ongoing conflicts in the environment of an organization are a well-known cause of decreased productivity and it is for this reason that timely intervention is required to avoid losses that may ensue if the issue is left unattended. The paper will take into consideration the various aspects of conflicts that arise within my organization and then take a step forward to analyze the situation in the light of famous theories. An attempt to provide recommendations for the resolution of the issue will be followed by the creation of a feasible plan that is acceptable to the various stakeholders involved in the issue. Management problem I work with Acuity Insurance and my working affiliation with the company is no less than 7 years old. I have seen many ups and downs of my company and these favorable or unfavorable circumstances have always been a source of learning for me. My company is one of the luckiest companies that not only survived the recent times of financial crises, but also due to its excellent management succeeded in maintaining high profitability. The ultimate consequence of all this is the fact that the number of employees has increased during recent times and many people visit our HR office for jobs on regular basis. Acuity Insurance’s policy of handling its employees is simple; they try to facilitate their employees as much as possible and in return they expect them to serve the company in the best way possible. In many instances, the company goes to unexpected limits to facilitate the employees. For this reason, people from diverse backgrounds work with the company for extended periods of time. Diverse background of employees enriches the working environment of the organization and for this reason this aspect has always been promoted by the organization. Although this diversity is meant to ensure increased productivity in the working environment of the organization; at times it proves to be a cause of conflicts due to the various differences that exist between the employees of the company. The HRM personnel are often challenged by the new situations. Although the nature of conflicts may differ, the ultimate consequence of conflicts is always the same i.e. decreased productivity. Current situation and its root causes Taking a closer look at the prevailing situation of my organization reveals that a multitude of causes are affecting the working environment of the organization in a complex manner. These causes may be isolated in nature or in some cases they work in overlapping fashion to bring forth a conflict that is extremely complex in nature. A detailed discussion of the causes of conflicts in Acuity Insurance organization follows; Personalities Differences in personalities can be a major cause of conflicts among the working individuals of an organization (Whitfield, 2012). In the case of Acuity Insurance, the differences in personalities appear to be playing a major role in the genesis of conflicts. Since people come from diverse origins, they values and their way of thinking is also diverse. This has a direct effect on their personalities and many problems arise merely due to the way individuals feel about others within the company. Although development of good or bad feeling is a natural process; this aspect becomes problematic when the behaviors of employees start to change based on such feelings. Organizational structure No organization is perfect and different organizational structures continue to pose different challenges which ultimately result in conflict among the employees (Schein, 2010). This organization is further subdivided into departments and various departments function in a way that assists them mutually. Many departments are dependent upon others for skilled workforce to complete their projects. Under these circumstances, it is a common observation that skilled workforce is unwilling to accept the orders or demands of other departments without asking for permission from their own department. Situations like this often result in conflicts that affect the productivity of organization. Interdependence of tasks The nature of work within the company environment demands that different components of projects be contributed by different members of the team. A person may be unable to complete his project on time merely due to the fact that other components of the project are not completed in a timely manner. This interdependence of tasks has been a frequent cause of tension between different employees of the organization (McShane & Von, 2007). Moreover, since the various components of a project are delivered by different individuals, a difference in the quality can also become a source of dissatisfaction among employees. Since this affects the overall outcome of projects, conflicts commonly arise due to such outcomes. Differences in perceptions A close observation reveals that every individual employee of the organization has a specific way of perceiving emotions, behaviors and hence people who work around. A closer look at the issue reveals that this is closely related to the psychological development of individuals and since diversity in origins is a main feature of the employees of this company, differences in perception are a prominent theme in various conflicts that arise within the organization (Davidson & Fielden, 2003). Various socioeconomic issues, differences in educational level, racial differences, cultural differences and differences in social class are some of the issues that affect the perception of individuals in unique ways. Differences in self-esteem and psychological factors Some employees of the organization have the tendency to get affected by the behaviors of others and they are extremely vulnerable to the words or behaviors of others. Such situations often give way to the emergence of conflicts and tension between relationships of employees. Even after the conflicts are resolved, there exists a grudge that is sufficient to spoil the working environment of the organization. In most cases, individual who are easily affect by the words of others have a low self-esteem and they suffer from a sense of insecurity that affects their personal as well as professional life (Wiley & Kowske, 2012). They are extremely offended by any behavior which they perceive as criticism due to any cause. Ambiguity about tasks It often happens that tasks are carried out in an inter-dependent manner and since the company has many departments, they are required to maintain a close association by utilizing effective means of communication. Despite the fact that different employees and departments maintain close association with each other, various ambiguities may arise during the course of work (Griffin, 1990). There may at times, arise situations where one individual of the organization lacks clarity regarding an ongoing project (Bonstra, 2004). In other cases, departments or employees may make assumptions that are not shared by others in the team or organization. The ultimate result of this lack of clarity or self-developed assumptions is ambiguity, which later manifests as conflict. Competing interests A very common cause of conflicts is the competition that may prevail among members of a team. Individuals that possess similar level of competence are often found to struggle for projects that correspond to the skill set (Picard, 2002). This is a scenario that is most often encountered in organizations, since ongoing projects cannot be hidden from colleagues and every employee who possesses the skills of a high yield project strives to acquire the project by fair or unfair means. Similar is the case of promotions. Since individuals compete with each other regarding promotion, a conflict is a natural occurrence. Performance deficiencies When a member of the team is not performing in accordance to the expectations of the organization, a situation of internal friction may result among the employees (Yukl, 2004). In many situations, such employees remain hidden due to the collective over-functioning of other employees, but in tasks that have high visibility, their under-productivity is revealed. Such elements of the team may then respond by utilizing unfavorable means to overcome their feeling of guilt or to prevent themselves from becoming isolated. This gives rise to a situation of conflict among the employees and may affect the productivity of the organization eventually. Scarcity of resources Scarcity of resources is perhaps the most well-known cause of conflicts that arise within organizations. Although Acuity Insurance struggles to provide the required resources to all its employees, the competition to gain control of more and more resources continues within the organization (Carter et al, 2006). Due to the dynamic nature of the organization, it is common for individuals to encounter situations where organization is short of human capital or financial resources. In these situations, a struggle to acquire the most resources starts, which ultimately leads to conflict development. An interesting aspect is the development of conflicts that arise due to scarcity of access to information; this is a conflict which appears to be very simple but very difficult to resolve (Bardhan, 2005). Poor communication Since communication works to streamline the ongoing processes of a company, any failure in this regard may contribute to conflict arousal. Poor communication creates a sense of uncertainty which can then create stress and ultimately culminate in conflicts (Verderber et al, 2015). In this organization, where employees have to share the resources of this company, they are expected to communicate their needs in advance. Any failure in this regard contributes to the development of conflicts. An unexpected yet interesting role is that of rumors or gossips that contribute to stress in the organization. Although the vast majority of such rumors turn out to be false; they are yet very powerful contributor of stress to the working environment of the organization and they also contribute to the development of conflicts. Failure to follow the norms of professional team The development of teams is an ongoing process and before the teams can actually perform, they have to pass through a number of stages. Tuckman’s model of forming, storming, norming and performing gives a clear insight into the issue of formation of teams (Zastrow, 2009). A number of conflicts that arise in Acuity Insurance are due to the lack of professional behavior of individual team members. Older members of the working team are well aware of the norms of the professional team. How, since new members continue to join the professional team, a mixture of old and new employees always persists in the working environment of the organization. Since they are unfamiliar to the norms, they act and behave in manners that are unacceptable for other members; a situation that directly causes conflicts to arise. Critical evaluation of how these issues have been managed Critically speaking, the difference in personalities is an issue that cannot be resolved by developing rules. Individuals tend to act according to the way they feel about others. For this reason, the company has opted to train the individuals regarding recognition of the various personality types that exist among individuals (Mitchell & American Society for Training and Development, 2008). Since every person has a specific personality type, a learning of the types of personality not only bestows the ability to understand others, but also helps in understanding one’s own behavior. Although this training has helped in reducing the conflicts, an important thing to realize is the need of such trainings to be an ongoing process; an aspect that needs continuous investment of time and money. The organization very frequently responds to the issues that arise due to organizational structure. Although plans of minor changes in the structure of organization are an ongoing process, major organizational changes have not been observed frequently. This may be due to the fact that management of ‘change’ itself becomes an issue within the organization (Griffin & Moorhead, 2014). Instead the organization has focused on defining the internal relationships of employees and departments; an approach that has to some extent limited the occurrence of conflicts (Pless & Maak, 2012). However, it should be understood that defining relationships has to be a continuous process since new definitions are often required for any new situations or challenges that arise during the course of work. Regarding interdependence of tasks, the company has managed to solve the issue, by developing and implementing project guidelines, according to which the different contributors of a project are forced to deliver their work according to a pre-defined timeline which in most cases is developed in the form of Gantt charts or the likes, before the commencement of a project. Individuals that cause any delays in this regard are then answerable for their conduct. The aspect of maintaining quality however remains unattended, since quality is largely dependent upon the creativity of a person’s abilities and it cannot be quantified strictly. Regarding the management of issues that arise due to differences in perceptions, the company has developed, implemented and communicated the values hierarchy for this organization, which has contributed significantly towards reduction of conflicts within the organization. Despite taking such measures, it is at times difficult for the management to make decisions in matters of conflict that arise due to differences in perception. These may sometimes be related to issues that arise due to religious beliefs or due to racial differences. Regarding individuals who are easily offended and have low self-esteem issues, the company has ensured their participation in empowerment programs that revolve around the notion of empowering people by educating them regarding the various techniques that alter their cognition in a positive way. Learning to use effective communication techniques and adopting empowering beliefs are some of the important aspects of such empowering programs (Conrad & Poole, 2012). Although, individuals have responded positively to such interventions, the prospect of measuring the outcomes of such interventions has yet to be explored. Since ambiguity about the various aspects of work is related to conflicts, the organization struggles hard to clearly delineate the roles of individuals in the organization (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2009). The organization has developed guidelines to clearly define the responsibilities of individuals and departments to prevent ‘assumptions’ to creep in (Schnabel & Carment, 2004). Moreover, during the onset of new projects, the organization ensures that no aspect of roles and responsibilities is left ambiguous; everything has to be written in black and white and a hard copy made available to all the concerned individuals and departments. Regarding resolution of conflicts that may arise due to competing interests, the company has set forth a number of rules; based upon which the assignments or projects are awarded to employees. The company ensures that a merit system is strictly followed and projects are assigned according to the skill set of individuals (Pynes, 2013). No favors whatsoever are given due to personal relationships. As far as promotions are concerned, the company ensures that the most qualified and competent individual is given a promotion, only after this is proved by an internal testing of the organization. Although such measures have reduced the number of conflicts, total eradication of conflicts that arise due to competing interests has so far not been a possibility. Regarding performance deficiencies, the company has adopted the approach of counseling the employees to help them find the cause of decreased productivity (Aamodt, 2010). This helps in determining factors like training deficiency, lack of motivation, conflicts with other members of the team etc. as the possible causes of performance deficiencies. Although this has been successful to some extent, the need to monitor and supervise the activities of such employees has been felt. This area has been left unattended so far and it appears that continuous supervision is mandatory to ensure effective participation of such employees; an aspect that can indirectly reduce the occurrence of conflicts. As far as the scarcity of resources is concerned, the management of Acuity Insurance is inclined towards supporting their employees by providing all possible means to work in a smooth fashion. However, areas in which the organization is short of resources, the employees are instructed to provide justification regarding utilization of scarce resources for their ongoing projects. Moreover, an internal audit is mandatory to ensure that such resources are consumed in an effective way and for the benefit of the organization. Although such measures have reduced the occurrence of conflicts, the struggle to acquire resources is an ongoing process and total eradication demands further actions. The management of Acuity Insurance is very concerned about the issues that arise due to poor communication. For this purpose, they have developed and implemented clear guidelines that are meant to ensure optimum dispersal of information at all levels of the organization. They employees are advised to avoid relying on information that arises from undetermined sources. Despite these measures, spread of irrelevant and undesired information remains an issue and many work place conflicts still arise within the organization on a continuous basis. ACUITY INSURANCE spends considerable amount of resources on the professional development of its employees; however adopting the professional norms of an organization demands that the employees get adequate exposure to the prevailing conditions of the organization. This is especially true for individuals that are new to the organization and are unaware of the prevailing norms of the organization. For this reason, total elimination of conflicts that arise due to failure of the employees to act in accordance to the prevailing norms of the organization is not a possibility. Recommendations Based on the above discussion, the following recommendation can be made to improve the issue of conflicts within Acuity Insurance. The organization should invest more in ventures that relate to the training and professional development of its employees. Many shortfalls identified in the above discussion relate directly or indirectly to a lack of professional skills or a lack of knowledge about the behaviors of others within the organization. Additionally, individual employees that have difficulty in adjusting to the prevailing environment of the organization may be offered empowerment courses on individual basis. Although this may appear to be an expensive pathway, its output should be weighed against the prospect of firing and then re-hiring new employees; an approach that demands far more resources and time. Since organizational structure often becomes a cause of conflict between the employees, Acuity Insurance’s management should ensure proper delegation of responsibilities to all the concerned employees and departments. The roles and responsibilities of every individual should be clearly defined and new employees should be trained in advance about this aspect. Any disputes pertaining to non-compliances between individuals or departments should be dealt with on individual basis and new rules and regulation should be developed keeping in view the fresh circumstances. Assignment of new roles to the departments should be conveyed to all other departments of the organization to prevent future conflicts. To reduce the conflicts that arise due to interdependence of individuals, the company should adopt the policy of development of ‘timelines’ prior to the commencement of projects. The project should be split into smaller components and different components should be assigned to different individuals. Timelines for individual components of every project should be conveyed to the concerned individuals. Any delays in the completion of individual components of projects should be regarded as professional incompetence of the concerned individuals. All participants should be asked to take on the projects voluntarily; since forced assignments often reduce the success rate of such interventions, which can then culminate in workplace conflicts. The implementation of a strict merit system is mandatory for the organization to survive and prosper. This is the only way by which a judicial distribution of projects and opportunities of progress can be made possible. Every individual’s progress should be evaluated on six-monthly basis to make it possible for the organization to determine his/her competence and suitability for promotion. This evaluation should be carried out by an external examiner to create a sense of competition among the employees. As far as assignment of projects is concerned, the assigning authority should develop a portfolio of every individual’s capabilities and assignments should be made based on the details of portfolios. If more than one individual qualify for a project, a test to determine aptitude and eligibility may be introduced, to ensure that the most suitable person performs the job. Scarcity of resources is an issue common to all organizations and it is frequently associated to conflicts. Management of this issue can not only reduce the occurrence of conflicts, but also improve the productivity of this organization. A suitable recommendation in this regard is to develop and implement a system of audit regarding consumption of resources. Acquiring resources should be linked to a central system related to provision of resources. After utilization of resources, every individual should be bound to report about the success with which resources are used. This will increase the efficiency with which resources are consumed. Moreover, a three-monthly audit of resources should be carried out to establish if resources are being consumed in an efficient manner. The organization should develop means of ensuring effective communication across all levels of the organization to prevent conflict occurrence. An effective way in this regard would be to ensure documentation of every operation that goes on between employees of the organization. Any matters that may give rise to ambiguity or leave space for assumptions should be written down and discussed prior to the initiation of a project. Moreover, the employees should be advised to choose an arbitrator of their choice from within the organization, who may act as a judge during ongoing conflicts. A dedicated ‘Conflict Resolution Team’ should be established by taking one senior employee from every department of the organization. They should conduct a meeting, whenever a conflict among employees is reported and take actions to resolve the conflict. This meeting should not be delayed since any delay will cause the friction between employees to increase and hence productivity will be affected. Employees of the organization should be educated about the methods that are necessary to avoid conflicts. In this regard, it is essential that the services of experts are sought, who can spend their time with the employees to train them about the practical aspects of this subject. They should be educated about the possible choices that are available under conditions of strife. These may include accommodation, avoidance, collaboration, competition and compromise. An understanding of these choices is likely to provide them an insight into the ways that can be adopted to overcome the issue. Additionally, the employees may understand each other’s behavior during conflicting scenarios. This enhanced cognition of conflicts is likely to contribute positively towards reduction in the rate of conflicts and hence result in enhanced productivity of the organization. Action plan Based on the above discussion and recommendations, the following plan is proposed for the said organization. What Who When Resources required Stakeholders Communication needs Training of employees regarding identification of factors that cause conflicts Internal and External Instructors Once monthly Arrangement of instructor Classroom Multimedia equipment Stationary items Refreshments Organization employees Organization’s finance department All employees below the managers ranks Meeting of ‘conflict resolution team’ Senior members of all departments Immediately after conflicts Meeting room Privacy 30-60 minutes of time Refreshments HR department Organization’s finance department Message should be conveyed to the concerned members of the ‘conflict resolution team’ Training regarding effective communication skills Internal and external instructors Once monthly Arrangement of instructor Classroom Multimedia equipment Stationary items Refreshments Employees of the organization Organization’s finance department All employees below the managers rank Meetings for promotions Managers of all departments Quarterly Meeting room Multimedia equipment Stationary items Refreshments Employees of the organization. HR management team. Organization’s finance department Needs to be conveyed to all concerned managers Meetings for project assignment Managers of all departments Twice weekly Meeting room Multimedia equipment Stationary items Refreshments Employees of the organization. HR management team. Organization’s finance department Needs to be conveyed to all concerned managers Training regarding the use of organizational resources Internal instructors Once monthly Arrangement of instructor Classroom Multimedia equipment Stationary items Refreshments Employees of the organization. Organization’s finance department. All employees below the managers rank Internal audit for resources consumption Internal audit team Quarterly Meeting room Multimedia equipment Stationary items Refreshments Employees of the organization. Organization’s finance department. Senior officials The message should be conveyed throughout the organization Training regarding avoidance of conflicts External instructors Once monthly Arrangement of instructor Classroom Multimedia equipment Stationary items Refreshments Employees of the organization. Organization’s finance department All employees below the managers rank Conclusion Based on the above discussion it can be concluded that conflicts are a common happening in nearly all organizations of the world. Although conflicts appear to arise as a result of common daily happenings, their root causes may reveal many underlying issues that are prevailing in the organization. An analysis of the underlying causes is essential to understand the nature of conflicts that arise on a routine basis. This is important since conflicts result in diminished productivity; an aspect that is detrimental for the organization’s goals. Conflicts can result from a complex interplay of factors that exert their effect on personal or organizational level. Various checks and measures should be implemented at organizational level to prevent emergence of conflicts. Similarly, active measures should be taken to resolve the conflicts by interventions that may prevent the reoccurrence of conflicts in future. In this regard, it is important that the underlying causes be identified and treated in a timely manner. If underlying issues are left unattended, conflict resolution may not serve the purpose, since the same circumstances may affect other individuals in a similar manner; an aspect that cannot be favored by HR management. Lastly, implementation of plans to reduce conflicts in an organization should be carried out by keeping in mind the various stakeholders that are involved in the process. This is important since success or failure of such plans is largely associated to the interests of concerned individuals. A conflict of interest is likely to hinder the progress of such plans. It is therefore safe to assert that organizations like Acuity Insurance, that are willing to overcome the issue of work place conflict should work in collaboration with the various stakeholders involved, to make it possible for their plan to succeed. References Aamodt, M. G. (2010). Industrial: An applied approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Bardhan, P. K. (2005). Scarcity, conflicts, and cooperation: Essays in the political and institutional economics of development. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. Boonstra, J. (2004). Dynamics of organizational change and learning. West Essex: J. Wiley & Sons Inc. Carter, G. L., Byrnes, J. F., & American Management Association. (2006). How to manage conflict in the organization. Watertown, MA?: American Management Association. Conrad, C. R., & Poole, M. S. (2012). Strategic organizational communication: In a global economy. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. 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