Resolving Conflict in Work Teams - Literature review Example

Introduction In any organization, there are many goals and objectives to be achieved in order to gain success in the specific market. These goals and objectives are set by the management of the organizations and they are workers or employees who put up their efforts in achieving those goals and objectives for their organizations. Successful Achievement of the set objectives is dependent on the efficiency and working relationship of the employees of any specific organization. A scenario of conflict in an organization Let’s consider a scenario where there is an organization and a conflict has occurred between the employees and the management of that organization. Longmore (2005) states that ‘Conflict is an inevitable aspect of life’. Coming to the organization, the name of the organization is Greenland and it deals with developing and maintaining the structures of houses and other buildings. The working structure of the organization is that there are sub contractors who take orders from the management to get them completed in the time given by the management of that specific organization. There are three departments of the organization. First department is the information department which gathers information regarding presence of any contract opportunity in any specific area. The head of this department is information manager whose role is to supervise all work related to his department and submit the weekly report to the management department. The second department is the management department whose role is to analyze the weekly report given to them by the information department and assign different contracts to different sub contractors depending upon their experience and capabilities. The head of this department is executive manager who is responsible for all the acts not only related to the management department but also related to the whole organization as he is the head of the organization too. The third and the last department is of the selected sub contractors who take contracts from the management department and get them completed in the given time frame by the management. The head of this specific department is the chief contractor whose role is to manage all other sub contractors and submit their weekly efficiency report to the management department. The conflict Now, let’s come to the conflict which has occurred among some of the employees of the management and the sub contractors’ department. Bhushan (n.d.) said that ‘Conflicts are inevitable in ones organizational life and personal life’. Here, the conflict is that one of the sub contractors has challenged the weekly efficiency report submitted to the management by the chief contractor with the arguments that he, the chief contractor, is supporting the older employees of the sub contractors’ department and he writes favorable comments about them in the weekly efficiency report which is not only restricting the younger employees to get contracts but also demoralizing and demotivating them from working efficiently for the organization. Smith (2003) stated that ‘Real life is full of situations in which people -- intentionally or unintentionally -- pursue their own interests at the expense of others, leading to conflict or competition’. The employee, who challenged the report, also said that one member of the management department, the contract supervisor, is also taking side of the chief contractor as he knows that younger sub contractors work more efficiently and with full dedication on the contracts assigned to them but due to his old friendship and working relationship with the chief contractor, he ignores the younger employees’ efficiency and assigns the contracts to the older sub contractors on the basis of the efficiency report. Due to this conflict, the younger employees of the subcontractors’ department has gone on strike against the chief contractor and the supervisor as the result of which, various contracts are facing danger of not meeting the completion deadline. Now, the head of the management department is ready to take proper measures on the objection made by the younger sub contractor and he has started studying different theories to eradicate the conflict between the sub contractors and management department. One of these is Blake and Mouton’s conflict handling styles. Blake and Mouton’s conflict handling styles In 1964, Blake and Mouton’s conflict handling style was introduced which was named as ‘conflict grid’ and then it was reinterpreted by Thomas in 1976. The main purpose of this conflict handling style was to avoid or circumvent any possible win-lose situation by applying an appropriate win-win approach. Zban (n.d.) stated that ‘Handling conflict does not have to be confrontational in the classic sense’. Now let’s describe the five styles introduced for conflict resolution. The 1,1 style, also known as indifferent style, of conflict handling is also called avoidance approach towards any conflict. It may also be termed as hands-off approach towards some conflict in which managers try to maintain impartiality or refuse to take any one’s side. In this approach, the manager of any organization tries to take himself off of any sort of trouble in order to maintain job seniority. So the effect is a not getting a ground-breaking decision by the organization as the managers try to avoid to be the part of any kind of mistake. The 1,9 style, also known as accommodation, may be viewed as a person-oriented approach towards any conflict. Burleson (n.d.) said that ‘Each person is wired differently and responds to conflict differently’. The disagreements or differences are overlooked or not taken in notice in order to maintain harmony. In this approach, persons are highly taken into consideration instead of production. The main concentration is on safety, relief, liberation and security of the employees rather than the productions made by the organization. The 5,5 approach, also termed as middle of the road approach, characterizes motivation towards compromise and negotiation on any situation. The negotiations are taken into place in order to avoid any win-lose situation. Such arrangements are made so that neither of the conflicting party wins nor does any part lose. A perfect agreement is made on which both of the conflicting parties compromise. A suitable level of balance is maintained between people and the production. The 9,1 approach, also known as competing approach, may also be viewed as a production-oriented approach towards a problem. Production is the main point of concern in this approach instead of human element. Money plays an important role in this style as the desired production level is tried to be achieved by providing the employees with money so that they work harder. In the 9,9 style, known as collaboration, the point of concern is on both; people and production. Neither of the elements is sidelined. Encouragement and appreciation plays a vital role in this approach because the employees feel importance thus try to become more productive for the organization. Application of Blake and Mouton’s theory on conflict based scenario Messina (2007) stated that ‘You will gain more in resolving a conflict by showing respect (honey), than by showing disrespect (vinegar)’. Let’s apply the above described theory of conflict handling on our conflict based scenario. If we see our scenario on 1,1 perspective of Blake and Mouton’s theory, it doesn’t seem to be much effective because in this case the manager will try to avoid the situation which will not produce any good results. As the employees of the organization have gone on strike, so it will not be productive that the manager sidelines the issue or tries to avoid it. Avoidance will not be the solution for this situation. Tull (n.d.) states that ‘The very first step in dealing with any problem is to acknowledge that there is a problem’. If we see our scenario from accommodation perspective, it can be said productive but can not be said as the most productive way to handle the conflict as the main focus of this approach is on people’s security and safety rather resolving the conflicts between them. When the proper arrangements will not be made for negotiations, it will be not be productive to apply this approach. The conflicts of the employees will be overlooked or may not be taken into consideration. The most productive approach towards our scenario will be the middle of the road approach as in this approach; negotiations take place in order to remove any conflict among employees. View of all sides, that are young sub contractors, the chief of sub contractors’ department and the supervisor from the management department will be given attention to describe the issue and after proper talks between all of them, a suitable solution will be found that will be in favor of all parties involved in the conflict. If we talk about the competing approach towards this conflict, it will not be appropriate to be applied. As in this approach, money plays a vital role to motivate employees to produce the desired results for the organization. In this authority obedience approach, if the head of the management uses his authority make the employees obey him by providing them with money, then the workers will not pay much attention to their work, rather they will more concentrate on money being provided to them which will result in lost concentration from the goals. Another productive approach towards the issue will be the collaborating style as in this style the issues of employees and production will be heard. None of these will be sidelined. Employees will be given importance and their case will be heard in order to provide them with justice and as the result of which productions will be raised. Conclusion Summing it up, all techniques or conflict resolution styles are appropriate depending on the circumstances of the conflict. Different styles can be implemented on different conflicts and almost every conflict has a suitable solution in some of these five styles of conflict handling demonstrated by Blake and Mouton’s conflict handling styles. Recommendation In our case, I will recommend the middle of the road, that is 5,5 approach, as the perfect solution to handle this conflict as it focuses on negotiations and negotiations are the best tool to resolve any issue. Manning (2004) and Robertson (2004) stated that negotiation is best seen as an aspect of influencing. It can be implemented in Greenland construction organization very effectively by arranging the negotiations between the young sub contractors, the chief of sub contractors and the supervisor of the management department headed by the head of the organization. There is no need for restructuring the Greenland organization as townsley states that ‘As more and more organizations restructure to work teams the need for training in conflict resolution will continue to grow’. So, the proper solution is applying 5,5 approach of Blake and Moutons theory .The objective can be achieved by making the chief of sub contractors to deliver valid reports to the management without any favorable comments for the older sub contractors in order to assign contracts based on merit. In this case the conflict will be resolved and the strike may come to an end. References Zban, Gregg, n.d. 5 Tips for Handling Conflict. ezinearticles.com. Available at: http://ezinearticles.com/?5-Tips-For-Handling-Conflict&id=1690295 [Accessed 7 December 2009]. Burleson, Wayne, n.d. 21 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Responding to Conflict. Available at: http://www.pasturemanagement.com/21mistakes.htm [Accessed 7 December 2009]. Bhushan, Amarendra, n.d. Conflict Behavior In An Organisation. Conflict911.com. Available at: http://conflict911.com/guestconflict/conflictinorgs.htm [Accessed 7 December 2009]. Longmore, Christine, 2005. Conflict Resolution in the Workplace. Black-collegian.com. Available at: http://www.black-collegian.com/news/special-reports/conflict2000-2nd.shtml [Accessed 7 December 2009]. Manning, T. & Robertson, B., 2004. Influencing, negotiating skills and conflict-handling: some additional research and reflections. Available at: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do?contentType=Article&contentId=838377 [Accessed 7 December 2009]. Smith, M. 2003. Game Theory. beyondintractability.org. Available at: http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/prisoners_dilemma [Accessed 7 December 2009]. Messina, J. 2007. Handling Conflict. Livestrong.com. Retrieved from http://www.livestrong.com/article/14683-handling-conflict [Accessed 7 December 2009]. Tull, Elizabeth n.d.. How to Apply the 12 Steps for Management Conflict and Resolution. Enzinearticles.com. Available at: http://conflict911.com/guestconflict/conflict12step.htm [Accessed 7 December 2009]. Townsley, C. n.d. Resolving Conflict in Work Teams. Available at: http://www.innovativeteambuilding.co.uk/pages/articles/conflicts.htm Read More