Practical Conflict Resolution Strategies - Case Study Example

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT Any setting that people interact is bound to experience some conflict, whether small scale or intensive. Prominent with such occurrences is a work place setup. Given the heterogeneity of work place departments and character of individuals, office settings occasionally experience conflicts ranging from discrimination issues to leadership issues, customer-related conflicts to those arising from performance reviews, to name but a few. Having been an employee previously, I was entangled in a form of discrimination conflict whereby a compatriot felt that he was continually assigned larger workload compared to the amount I was being given, though we serving under the same department. The said colleague therefore started showing signs of resentment towards our supervisor, and continually expressed his dissatisfaction by blurting at me regarding the same whenever his output fell short of expectation. However, the management soon realized that the conflict was not only affecting the daily output from our department, but that it was slowly becoming malignant as the said worker started imputing improper motives into the minds of other workers. It therefore became imperative for the management through the supervisor and the overall coordinator to institute a resolution process in order to restore normalcy. To that effect, this paper presents an analysis of the resolution process adopted, its efficacy under the given circumstance, and the probable alternative approach that in my personal view could provide equally good or even better results. Practical conflict resolution strategies are those that amicably settle the fracas by addressing the core issues underlying the situation. Hynes (2011) notes that such a method should entail an in-depth understanding of the usually implicit, theoretical presupposition framework that is characteristic of conflicts. To this end, the resolution of the management to first explore the underlying issues behind the conflict, followed by convening an inclusive meeting to discuss the way forward proved effectual. The management set the stage towards resolution by acknowledging that the emergence of a conflict implies the existence of interdependence, hence the need to restore normalcy for the benefit of the organization. More specifically, this is also important for the success of the individuals involved, psychologically and career wise, a fact that Deutsch, Coleman and Marcus (2011) espouse as being critical to conflict resolution. During the meeting, the panel understood the necessity for incorporating such principles as mutuality and sustainability in order to reach a rational and long lasting solution. Through this, both the intervener and the conflicting parties embraced a solution with the potential of delivering good results both in the short-term and long-term. To that end, the intervening team espoused the importance of re-evaluating task assignment procedures. The proposed way forward incorporated an equitable task assignment procedure, team working and constant consultation among individual team members, as well as between members and the supervisor. Furthermore, the team handled emotional responses that are essential to restoring trust, confidence and mutual respect for each member involved. The team further provided a detailed description of the potential negative and positive impacts of emotional responses, an endeavor aimed at laying ground for future good interpersonal relationship within the office setup. Another critical stage in conflict resolution is how to handle repercussions of responsibility burden. As noted by Ramsbotham, Woodhouse and Miall (2011), a good conflict resolution approach that is ideal for conflicts emanating from work relations in office setup should embrace the principle of universality. To this effect, the principle advances that the method employed should attempt in all manners possible to avoid victimization of any individual. This requires that the approach reiterate the importance and value of individual input to the organization, and hence any failure or dissatisfaction be observed from the point that it is the system’s failure or inappropriateness, hence the need to make favorable adjustments. Finally, the approach also involved allowing the parties involved vent their concerns and expectations, a practice that allowed that interveners to establish a turning point for the conflict. Through this, the team was able establish the cause(s) of the conflict, the supposed victim’s perspective regarding the conflict, and factors that may have led to its escalation. Once this was established, the team built their reconciliation strategy by capitalizing on the mentioned aspects, thereby turning the otherwise destructive process into a constructive one, potent with sustainability effect. How I would change my approach to the situation To begin with, I would like to register my approval to the above-mentioned approach as it proved efficient, and took a very short duration to execute. Furthermore, the method made use of the necessary steps in handling the conflict. The method ensured that the parties involved had the opportunity to articulate their concerns clearly, enable the interveners to reiterate the importance of resolving the conflict and held a face-to-face meeting in a non-partisan manner. However, there are aspects that I feel should have been included in the approach, solely to enhance its efficacy and to make it adaptable to future situations. One such aspect is that while the method ensured that it increased understanding of the situation by giving an elaborate insight into it, it failed to improve self-knowledge of the parties involved. While it is apparent that one characteristic of conflict is that it exposes ones weaknesses in relation to their objectives, the method failed to address this. Consequently, I am of the opinion that resolution approach in such a scenario should help the individuals involve develop a deeper understanding of what is important to them in the work context and enable them understand their goals better, but without compromising those of the organization. To this end, the resolution, way forward and resulting advices should sharpen their focus and enhance their effectiveness. Secondly, while the method used achieved the crucial objective of increasing group cohesion, it did not define future behavioral expectation objectively. Through cohesion, team members were able to resume work with a rejuvenated attitude, but the failure to define future expectation proved a costly omission. Changes soon came in the organization and the disgruntled employee, by virtue of being the more experienced, assumed the supervisory role. Describing what followed as a misuse of power would suffer misconception effects, but the truth is that the same issue resurfaced. The new team members showed signs of dissatisfaction by the leadership style. If there had been clear guidelines of tackling such a situation, e.g. by introducing the matrix organizational management structure that could allow multiple reporting options to the junior-most employees would have been an amazing achievement. Managing conflict in any organization is a skill that is very important, and which ought to be dynamic enough to accommodate the ever-evolving work place setups. Notwithstanding the fact that I have accorded great approbation to the method applied in my case study, the improvements suggested are equally important. In-depth exploration of the underlying issues in a conflict, integrating such concepts as mutuality and sustainability, as well as professional handling of the potential repercussions of victimization or completely avoiding the latter scenario are crucial to the success of the method. Nonetheless, better efficiency with such a method is achievable through improving individual awareness of what each perceives as most important, as well as incorporating the overall expectation on future behavior tendencies. References Deutsch, M., Coleman, P. T., & Marcus, E. C. (2011). The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons. Hynes, G. E. (2011). Managerial communication: strategies and applications. New York, McGraw-Hill. Ramsbotham, O., Woodhouse, T., & Miall, H. (2011). Contemporary conflict resolution: The prevention, management and transformation of deadly conflicts. Cambridge, UK: Polity. Read More