Contribution to Effective Decision-Making - Coursework Example

Table of Contents 1.0. Introduction 02 2.0. Conflicts and Decision-Making 02 3.0. Contribution towards Effective Decision-Making 03 4.0. Negative Consequences of Organisational Conflicts 05 5.0. Impact on Decision-Making and Quality of Decision 06 6.0. Conflict Management as a Strategic Advantage 07 7.0. Conclusion 08 8.0. References 10 1.0. Introduction There are many issues in an organisation and one such is the dichotomy between conflict and decision making. Conflicts are not always the result of bad decisions as it can arise from any disagreement over any decision and turn out to be either good or bad. Conflicts are often tied to the decision making process and are considered an integral part for running business without which the business shall lack the extra incentive or drive to move in a new direction. This does not state that they are encouraged to fight, instead it is regarded as a consequence of greater number of view point (Suliman and Abdulla, 2005). This assignment covers a detailed explanation of conflict and decision making and the “negatives” and “positives” of conflicts for an organisation. It also study’s the impact of conflicts on the decision making process and the quality of decision along with the strategic advantage that it adds through conflict management. 2.0. Conflict and Decision-Making Conflict is something that exists between individuals, groups and organisation’s and is an essential force in governing every aspect of life. Any conflict in an organisation directly or indirectly affects the decision making process and is considered as a major responsibility of the managers to manage conflicts, as evaluated under the concept of management of conflicts. Workplace fights, figurative and literal, seldom end well and are generally considered detrimental to decision making. Some basic types of conflicts are task conflict, interpersonal conflict and procedural conflict. The impact of any conflict may be either negative or positive and not all conflicts are considered to be harmful for an organisation. No firm can avoid conflicts as they are encountered on daily basis. They can be avoided to some extent but requires the management to recognize them on time (Kuhn and Poole, 2000). Decision-making is an integral part of the planning process for any organisation, and it is the beginning of any new process or existing production to sales process. Wrong decisions may very easily lead towards the downfall of any organisation and so the management pays great attention towards meeting the requirements of all aspects to keep the decisions clear and precise (Tidd, McIntyre and Friedman, 2004). 3.0. Contribution towards Effective Decision-Making Management of an organisation usually consider workplace conflicts in a negative light, but many human resource authorities say that it provides an opportunity for the organisation to improve. Some of the workplace productivity is discussed below: Presentation of new idea: Any fight in the workplace, over any competing idea, leads to analyze what shall work better for the company and what might not. Any decision that may lead to increase productivity, a better product or any cost saving option shall be presented. Such conflicts help in assisting decision-making by pointing out better alternative, another option, or pick the fact that has lead towards non-performance. It is required for the management to focus and find the proper resolution to conflicts for all parties to feel confident that they have contributed something to the solution. Encouragement of participation: It is the nature of many corporate cultures which doesn’t encourage employees to express their opinion. However, any employee who challenges the unpopular official policy might result in emboldening of other employees making them to speak up too. Thus, with the presentation of a more accurate scenario of employee sentiment may improve the corporate decision-making. Teaches management skills: Conflict between two major employees leads a manager to make decisions in a more equitable or thoughtful way. For example, when an employee is promoted for the expense of another skilled employee, by a manager, requires the manager to pay for the decision when the resentful employee creates any conflict. Conflict can also force an inexperienced manager to get acquainted with conflict resolving techniques and prevent the situation from getting worst (Strain, 2015). Opportunity for renewed teamwork: Workplace conflict can build a better teamwork when it is resolved appropriately and also decrease the level of disagreements. Inspires creativity: Some members within the organisation view such conflicts as an opportunity to find creative solutions for solving problems. It also may inspire the members of the organisation to brainstorm ideas in the process of solving the process from various perspectives. Share and respect opinions: The members within the organisation resolve conflicts and this leads towards sharing their opinion within the group. It also causes the members to actively listen to one another and completion of organisational goals. Bring change: Acceleration of changes take place due to conflicts, more in small businesses, where such conflicts result in formulation and implementation of new policies. It prompts modification of policies and other operational procedures within an organisation. Identification of new members: The members within an organisation actively participate among the several meetings and have personal opinion regarding each topic of discussion. Some members of the group observe more and talk less. Conflicts in the workplace may inspire typically silent members to step forward and take active participation in solving such conflicts through meaningful solution. The management should look towards solving conflicts of the organisation for improving organisational performance. The outcome is depicted in the figure below. 4.0. Negative Consequences of Organisational Conflicts Conflict is regarded as any disagreement between employees, departments, managers or any group of people within an organisation. Such conflicts have both positive and negative consequences. Having earlier discussed the positives from such conflicts we now look into the “negative” consequences of the same. Wastage of time and resources: The time’s of conflicts result in wastage of precious time and resources for the business as materialistic time is wasted in issues and there is less concentration on meeting objectives. Materials and funds are also wasted in the same process and such wrangles, stress and emotions result in lesser productivity of employees and thus the profitability. Sub-optimization: Sub-optimization is a result of engagement in extreme disagreements, when the pursuit of the employees is more on their own interest rather than that of the organisation. Distortion of goals takes place as a result of the conflicting parties undermining one another’s work (Adams, 2015). Violence and wrong decision-making: Conflicts may end up in violence between parties or members and leading to legal problems for the members and also possibly for the organisation. With the increase in conflict, the decision that the management takes is very much influenced by the end effects of it and is not just a sole decision of the management resulting is delay or failure of organisational goals. Mental health concerns and leaving organisation: Conflicts may result in making the member or the employee mentally stressed when their opinion goes unrecognised by others. Increased levels of frustration may even lead the employees or members to quit their jobs. This makes decisions tougher for the organisation to recruit new employees and appoint acting board members (Brookins, 2015). The management or any organisation cannot ignore the positives and negatives coming out of conflicts as they directly or indirectly influence the strategic and day to day decision making of the organisation. Conflicts are very much detrimental in the decision making process and no organisation can prosper without its consideration, as it works in both directions but depends on the organisation to adapt the right path. 5.0. Impact on Decision-making and Quality of Decision The concept of team based work structure’s are creeping and becoming more common in the organisational structure of today’s world. Researchers have proved that working in teams have produced better results in comparison to the individuals working for the same. Conflicts, being inevitable for any organisation, have directly affected the productivity and the quality of decision-making of the firms. Decisions are made at the top level and also the goals are set accordingly with due consideration of the scenario within an organisation in terms of better cooperation and teamwork. The existence of conflicts has certain impact on decision-making and the quality of the decision. It can disrupt the exchange of information amongst the decision makers and lower the quality of decision taken. It also reduces the satisfaction levels and the affective acceptance among employees which threatens the prospects of future decisions. Conflicts are usually taken in negative light but many organisations and their management have even gained through improved quality of decision. As any conflict over the competing ideas result in popping of some new idea which the management would otherwise wouldn’t have thought about. It may promote employee participation process and create opportunities for rewarding teamwork which will directly impact the quality of the decision (Long, Zhong-Ming and Wei, 2011). So conflicts cannot be just considered as being detrimental in the decision making process for any organisation as they tend to present the new opportunities and scope for better for the organisation, not only in terms of decision making but also the quality of the decision being taken. 6.0. Conflict Management as a Strategic Advantage Conflict has major effect on the productivity, decision making and retention within any organisation. In regard to productivity, the considerable amount of time spent on conflict is taken into account. Previously, a huge amount of time and resources were spent on dealing with conflicts, depending on the organisational level. The huge investment of time and resources could be improved through any significant improvement in the effectiveness of conflict management by encountering conflicts quickly and cleanly. The concept of conflict management is beyond mere saving of time. Maximum number of organisational conflicts involves disagreement over task, diverse perspective of different employees and people, information and expertise for bearing an issue. Very often some major inputs are suppressed or ignored or even lead to deadlock and inaction. With conflicts being handled constructively, such inputs are more likely to be considered on their merits and incorporated into better and innovative decision-making. Accurate feedback on the decision taken and on the results is expected by the decision makers. Such benefits are vital for an organisation on important and non-routine issues. Such conflict management helps the new organisations to compete on the basis of rapid adaptation and innovation and take only the good decisions. Conflicts also effects the retention and turnover for the organisation, as poorly managed task based conflicts very easily become personal creating resentment, antagonism and hostility. They create stress and polarise teams causing major absenteeism and voluntary turnover leading towards grievances and legal actions. With proper conflict management the organisation can not only determine better turnover and reduced absenteeism but also is a financial saving for them (DeChurch and Marks, 2001). With proper conflict management, improvement of the decision comes into account and thus, we can easily arrive at a conclusion that conflicts are detrimental to decision-making and so all organisations should adapt conflict management for resolving issues and better operating and functioning of the organisation. 7.0. Conclusion The scarce amount of resources and the need for the employees to compete for the same, results in organisational conflicts. Keeping into knowledge the negatives and positives that arise out conflicts, proper conflict management should be employed by the management to cater such situations and turn them into favourable ones for the organisation. Conflicts build the spirit of teamwork and cooperation as a result of solving conflicts and so the organisations should take the same as a learning situation and accept the fact that no firm is free of conflicts and their effects on decision making. Better participation of employees and other members and time to time reviews shall result is lesser number of conflicts and increased opportunities for the organisation to achieve its goals and growth. 8.0. References Adams, D. 2015. Positive & Negative Consequences of Conflict in Organizations. Retrieved on 05/11/15 http://smallbusiness.chron.com/positive-negative-consequences-conflict-organizations-10254.html Brookins, M. 2015. The Effects of Conflict Within an Organization. Retrieved on 04/11/15 http://smallbusiness.chron.com/effects-conflict-within-organization-164.html DeChurch, L. A., and Marks, M. A. 2001. Maximizing the benefits of task conflict: The role of conflict management. International Journal of Conflict Management, 12: 4-22 Kuhn, T and Poole, M.S. 2000. ‘Do conflict management styles affect group decision-making? Evidence from a longitudinal field study’, Human Communication Research, 26, 558-590. Long, C., Zhong-Ming, W. and Wei, Z. 2011. The effects of conflict on team decision making. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 39(2), 189-198. Suliman, A.M. and M.H. Abdulla, 2005. Towards a high-performance workplace: Managing corporate climate and conflict. J. Manage. Decision, 43: 720-733. Strain, M. 2015. Does Conflict Contribute to Effective Decision-Making in the Workplace? Retrieved on 04/11/15 http://smallbusiness.chron.com/conflict-contribute-effective-decisionmaking-workplace-36195.html Tidd, S. T., McIntyre, H. H. and Friedman, R. A. 2004. The importance of role ambiguity and trust in conflict perception: unpacking the task conflict to relationship conflict linkage International Journal of Conflict Management, 15 (4), 364-380. Read More