Conflict between Workers - Essay Example

A lot of factors can contribute to a conflict. They may originate at a personal level between workers or between various departments. The origin of a conflict isn’t instantaneous. There are five stages in a conflict episode. They are –
1- Latent conflict – the reasons contributing to it are scarcity of resources, drives for autonomy, and divergence of sub-units goals.
2- Perceived conflict – biases are carried by people and this colors their perception about other people. A conflict can be perceived not because of an actual event but by perceptions that are colored by biases.
3- Felt conflict – the perception of conflict is then personalized and this plants the seeds of disharmony in the organization.
4- Manifest conflict – the seed of conflict manifests itself in form of overt or covert behavior by the workers.
5- Conflict aftermath – this takes place after the contributing factors to the conflict such as (scarce resources, drives for autonomy, and divergent subunit goals) are dealt with satisfactorily.

HITDA – High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area is a criminal justice organization that works because of regular inputs from local, state, and federal agencies. For the smooth functioning of HITDA, it is very necessary that these different agencies cooperate and that there is no conflict. The seeds of latent conflict are removed by the formulation of a clear operational strategy by an executive board where each government agency has an equal representation. This reduces the instances of conflict as the director of HITDA focus on conflict management and resolution.
Question Two.
There are many features of conflict management. The two most vital measures are process intervention and structural intervention.
Process intervention attempts to tackle the sequence of events in a very direct manner. It consists of using changes in the following features to tackle conflict –
1- Personal Characteristics
2- Informal rules
3- Consistent pressure
4- Power and status
5- Organizational policy
Structural interventions aim at making structural changes in the criminal institution. The two major classifications are –
1- Selection and training interventions.
2- Contextual-modification interventions.
Despite massive efforts in the field of conflict management, experts believe that conflict in criminal justice organizations is a normal process, and eliminating it is both unrealistic and counterproductive to the long-term health of the organization. This is because a conflict can be a healing process where many issues are raised and solved whereas, in a no-conflict scenario, there can be a blind surrender to rules which can harm the human side of the organization.
Question Three.
Power is a factor that controls various elements in an organization. It is vital for discipline and the smooth functioning of different departments. There are five types of power –
1- Reward power
2- Coercive power
3- Legitimate power
4- Referent power
5- Expert power
Power is a vital instrument for the conformity of workers to the rules. This conformity can be of two types –
1- Behavioral conformity (conformity without internalization of norms)
2- Attitudinal conformity (internalization of norms) Read More