What Does Conflict Mean - Research Paper Example

Introduction Conflict is basically a misunderstanding between two or more parties over an issue, an object or even an individual (Rahim, 2001). Conflicts are a common occurrence in organizations between employees or a manager and employees and in this case students as well. There are many issues that can cause conflicts such as over salaries and benefits, allocation of duties which may be deemed unfair, over management of resources or even leadership among various other reasons. Conflicts also have positive effects even though they are mostly overshadowed by the extent of the negative effects as will be explained in detail below (Bercovitch, Kremenyuk and Zartman, 2008). The case is based on department of Mass Communication in Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Management (which is the departmental head) should be wary of conflict and try to avoid them or resolve them as early and quickly as possible as their dire consequences are something that may cause not only physical damages but emotional ones and above all financial damages to the department crippling it. Causes of conflict One of the most common causes of conflict is poor communication (Pfanner, 2012). This is especially so between the management and the employees or students. If important departmental information is wrongly passed around or misinterpreted, then tensions are bound to rise within the department which if not quelled down quickly escalate to full blown conflict. Poor communication caused by grapevine channels is usually misquoted or embellished with wrong details and is bound to cause unnecessary and avoidable conflict and hence are quick to correct and resolve. The other cause is competition over resources within the department. This is especially the case if the organization is organized into groups and they have to share the resources (Confessore and Chozick, 2013). The resources in this case may include departmental assets such as cars, students’ accounts or even financial grants. Competition may also be over the monetary resources especially salaries and benefits. This type of conflict leads to enormity, destruction of property and may even cause parties to leave the department and seek more peaceful service elsewhere. Lack of following the norms set in place by a team or management is also another cause of conflict within the department. Each team has its own established norm such as time management and allocation of duties within the team members. If any member goes against these norms, it is bound to cause conflict. Such conflicts mostly escalate because mini teams are formed as allies within the team start taking sides and ganging up against the rest of the members. This type of conflict mainly happens during the group storming face and if detected early may still be resolved and teams go back to working together. Performance deficiency is another cause of conflict in organizations (Ramshaw and Murphy, 2011). People are different when it comes to their performance in the work place. There are the hard workers who struggle through each and every challenge to not only complete their work but perform excellently. Then there are those who are naturally lazy and do not like to work. Any encounter of a challenge is enough cause to stop working and let the others handle the problem. Such people do not only waste the department’s resource but are the cause of conflict within the employees, students or with their own supervisors and managers. If such people work in a team for example, they neglect their work to be tackled by the rest of the group members. They do not make any contributions to the group other than just occasional physical appearance. The rest of the hard working employees are bound to soon raise complaints about the performance of the individual and if nothing is done, a conflict arises. Effects of conflict One of the positive effects of conflicts within the department is goal congruence. Conflict leads to attainment of the goals set (Miller, 2012). An example is about the performance deficiency of a team member as mentioned above. The conflict will result to the employee changing their performance for the better. Departments that were in conflict learn to co-share or become interdependent and hence getting more work done and increasing the overall performance. Positive effects provide good reviews to a manager. The other positive effects are that conflict leads to change and innovation. Conflict over management of resources leads to a different way to manage resources and hence the results will be for the better. The changes such as of distribution of resources, proper benefits being provides or even of organizational culture and norms are also positive effects arising from the conflicts (Kraatz and Zajac, 2001). There are negative effects and which the manager should be wary about and try to avoid. One of these effects is the waste of time and resources. When there is an argument, all work ceases to continue until a resolution is arrived at. This is precious department’s time being wasted and which translates to money being wasted all of which cause burden to a manager (Scott, 2001). Resources will be wasted during the conflict and especially if it turns physical leading to damages or even during the conflict resolution where arbitrators may have to be called and paid for their time and effort. The other negative effect is emotional problems which may lead to mental health problems. Employees and students as well as the manager may be frustrated as a result of the conflict or the lack of its resolution. This frustration leads to stress which in turn start affecting their state of mental health and emotions. The spiraling effects lead to poor performance in the workplace, lack of sleep, loss of appetite, constant headaches among other negative health concerns. The other negative effect and which the manager is concerned about is the decrease in productivity. As mentioned above, during conflict as well as conflict resolution stages, conflicting parties do not work and this affects the productivity negatively as it decreases. This burden is loaded on the manager as he will have to be answerable as to the decrease in productivity and conflict and may even cost him his job (Scott, 2001). Lastly is the effect of high turnover rate from the employees or students to other departments. If the conflict escalates or the conflict resolution delays in being successful, then the affected parties will start leaving the department for other better more peaceful and fair employment or departments. This is also bound to decrease productivity, reduce confidence in that department as well as affect negatively the financial status of the department all of which will be affecting the manager as well (Lublin, 2014). Conflict management strategies There are numerous ways the conflicts mentioned above can be managed. One way is through accommodating where one party will neglect their own concerns and agree with those of the conflicting party (Zweig, 2012). In this case for example, if the conflict is between management and employees or students, then the management might try to accommodate the employees by neglecting their own concerns and satisfy those of the employees or students just in a bid to end the conflict and reduce further negative effects to productivity. The conflict is likely to recur in future from the party which neglected their own concerns. The other type is compromising where both parties try to look for a solution that will end the conflict even though no party will be completely satisfied over the other in the long run. This type of conflict management technique is carried out where both parties want to end the conflict as quickly as possible but none is willing to neglect their concerns or even address the real cause of the conflict. This is usually time bound and may be as a result of ultimatum by higher power or authority figure such as the university vice chancellor. Since the real problem was not addressed, then the conflict is bound to arise at a later date (Dana, 2001). There is also the best conflict management strategy which is collaborating which is also sometimes known as confrontation. In this strategy, each party addresses its own problems and grievances and tries to find a solution from all this information. This is the best strategy because the root cause of the problem is addressed and by the end of the discussion, each party is satisfied. This is usually a win-win solution that is not only long lasting but permanent as well. The downside to this strategy is that it takes longer to be accomplished (Nguyen and Yang, 2012). Collaboration may sometimes require the presence or an arbitrator or mediator if both parties are not able to solve the root cause of the problem amicably. Both of these people act as intercessors and since they are neutral parties, they are non-judgment and offer no favoritism to any party (Deutsch, Coleman and Marcus, 2011). The manager should seek them if he fails to be able to solve the problem on his own. Conclusion The damages and negative effects of conflict in the department are way more than a departmental head may want to handle. These conflicts may even cost the head of department his job most are articulated to poor leadership and management. In order to avoid reaching to that extent, it is better for leader to constantly engage in peace talks with the employees as well as students and try to resolve conflicts when they are still in their early stages before they escalate to unmanageable levels and lead to all the above mentioned negative effects (Watson and Papamarcos, 2002). On the other hand, positive conflicts are welcome as they lead to enforcement of changes that are long overdue though this aspect should not be dwelt with for long (Talley, 2014). References Bercovitch, J., Kremenyuk, V. and Zartman, W. (2008). The SAGE Handbook of Conflict Resolution. London: SAGE. Confessore, N. and Chozick, A. (2013, August 13th). Unease at Clinton Foundation over Finances and Ambitions. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/14/us/politics/unease-at-clinton-foundation-over- finances-and-ambitions.html?pagewanted=all Dana, D. (2001). Conflict Resolution. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional. Deutsch, M., Coleman, P. and Marcus, E. (2011). The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Kraatz, M. and Zajac, E. (2001). How organizational resources affect strategic change and performance in turbulent environments: Theory and evidence. Organization Science, 12(5): 632-657. Lublin, J. (2014, February 14th). The High Cost of Avoiding Conflict at Work. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304315004579382780060647804 Miller, K. (2012). Organizational communications: approaches and processes. New York: Wadsworth. Nguyen, H. and Yang, J. (2012). Chinese employees' interpersonal conflict management strategies. International Journal of Conflict Management, 23(4), pp. 382 – 412. Pfanner, E. (2012, March 18th). Ethics Fight Over Domain Names Intensifies. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/19/technology/private-fight-at- internet-naming-firm-goes-public.html?_r=0 Rahim, M. (2001). Managing Conflict in Organizations. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group. Ramshaw, E. and Murphy, R. (2011, November 24th). Payments to Doctors by Pharmaceutical Companies Raise Issues of Conflicts. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/us/payments-to-doctors-by-pharmaceutical- companies-raise-issues-of-conflicts.html Scott, W. (2001). Institutions and organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Talley, I. (2014, July 29th). IMF Chief: Ukraine May Need New Bailout Strategy If Conflict Not Resolved Soon. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/articles/imf-chief-ukraine-may-need-new-bailout-strategy-if- conflict-not-resolved-soon-1406655285 Watson, G. and Papamarcos, S. (2002). A Social Capital Approach to Organizational Commitment, Journal of Business and Psychology, 16(4), 537-552. Zweig, J. (2012, October 5th). Conflict of Interest? Moi? The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390443493304578038811945287932 Read More