Conflict Management Issues - Essay Example

Part I Carly as a group leader should have assumed a more proactive role in keeping more in line with the allocated time budget. There could be a variety of reasons why Carly did not inform management delays to management in a timelier manner. If the reasons for the delays in completing the project stages on time were a result of miscalculations in initial project time estimates, it was her responsibility as competent a project leader to inform management immediately of her findings and provide management with a revised project schedule, time budget, and updated total project costs as well as outlining additional resource requirements for successful and timely project completion (Managementhelp). Of course we can agree that Carlys interpersonal conflict with Morris is destroying group cohesiveness and is solely based in her own personal bias, insecurities, mistrust and fear. Carly views Morris as a threat since Morris holds a higher college degree than her so she feels he is smarter than her (Schermerhorn & Hunt & Osborn, 2003). Carlys ability to become an effective group leader is definitely in question since according to the other team members she is the real reason for the conflict and not Morris as she claimed. I feel she was using Morris as an excuse to divert responsibility for not completing project tasks in a timely manner. As an individual Carly must work on improving her management and communications skills as well as improve her emotional intelligence since this situation was completely avoidable. I think her mistakes and dysfunctional emotional conflict with Morris might have been the main contributing factor for the project delays and lack of group cohesiveness. 2) I think Carly was being blinded by her own emotions and insecurities. From what the other team members mentioned they felt that she was treating Morris unfairly as compared to other team members. Since the other team members felt Morris was not causing any problems there was no real reason or excuse for her to confront. The reality was that Carly was the root of the conflict and not vice versa (Umsl). I think that Carly would benefit from having a one to one conversation with Morris in order to vent out her concerns and fears. As an individual Carly needs to figure out ways to better communicate her emotions without falling into destructive patterns or behaviors that only create unnecessary conflicts and misunderstandings. Morris would probably be shocked, but not necessarily surprised by some the fabrications or negative ideas that Carly probably harbors about him. He would probably be more open to keeping the lines of communication open between team members in order to resolve underlying conflicts that will continue to affect team performance if the underlying causes for the conflict are not addressed. 3) Overall there is a definite lack of group cohesiveness between all team members not just Carly and Morris. The lack of open lines of communication between team members is an overall symptom of the underlying tensions and climate of mistrust that Carly as a team project leader has created. Since the team members were aware of Carlys unfair treatment towards one of the team members, their responsibility as a group was to address the problem directly and not let an individual team members actions negatively affect the overall group performance. As a functional team all members are responsible for team performance, they as a functional group should have discussed ways to address the issue and resolve the underlying dysfunctional conflicts for the benefit of the whole. I think that the group would benefit from participating in a one day conflict management and effective communication seminar in order to empower, educate, and provide all team members with the knowledge and a set of tools to better deal with all types of functional and dysfunctional conflicts that are commonly encountered in group settings. During the seminar the expert speaker and psychologist could have a short 15 minute individual session with all team members and a longer 30 minute session with both Carly and Morris individually in order to better address their individual problems, concerns, and root causes for the dysfunctional emotional conflict between both parties involved. 4) I think that if Carly really has the potential to become an excellent manager and she deserves a second chance. After attending the seminar we will have a team meeting in order to re-establish and reinforce the lessons learned in the seminar and establish and delineate what the project priorities are. As a manager in dealing with the conflict she should use a confronting/collaboration style approach to conflict management. The goal for our organization is to create and promote self managed team approach to doing business. I will provide Carly with the opportunity to be redeemed and maintain her role as a group leader and be able to adapt, learn from her mistakes, and modify her thinking and behavior herself and achieve a healthy relationship with all her co-workers and peers. I will have Carly present me with a revised detailed project work plan, schedule, and budget for consideration. If it’s deemed to be adequate by management this template will analyze and approve as our revised project plan in order to achieve a successful and timely product launch. 5) Although Carly will continue to serve as project leader the group role dynamics will be different. We will emphasize the need for distributed leadership for the project outcomes (Schermerhorn, et. al., 2003). By making all team members accountable for the project decisions and results, the group efforts as whole become more focused towards achieving end goals and not whos responsible for what. By keeping Carry as a project leader it helps provide Carly the opportunity to develop herself as a valuable team member without creating a situation where resentment or underlying conflicts continue to linger unresolved (Foundationcoalition). We will hold weekly progress report meetings with all team members in order to address any potential conflicts, project delays, and unresolved issues dealing with the timely project completion. This weekly meeting will help group members address project issues in a timely manner to express their concerns in a dynamic constructive forum where it will help empower all team members and provide an environment where no one has more authority over decision making and foster a climate of group cohesiveness, high performance, and a mutual respect. Part II I was recently involved in helping a friend devise a plan to launch a new product to market. His family has been preparing an alcoholic fruit cocktail from their own family recipe called Sangria. His family was not in the alcoholic beverage business, but everybody that tried his version of the famous Sangria cocktail would say that his Sangria was the best they had ever tried. During his last year of college my friend decided to make a dozen bottles of his familys Sangria cocktail in order to earn a little extra cash. Well it turned out that he could not produce the Sangria fast enough for the demand. The drink became very popular with the college crowd of the area, but he was selling an alcoholic beverage without a license. Although it was tolerated by local authorities he did not possess a liquor license or the capital to create the manufacturing infrastructure and the complicated and expensive process of obtaining a large scale manufacturing license for alcoholic beverages. I suggested selling the exclusive formula to a local bottler for a royalty, but he had a dream of eventually producing the drink independently. I explained that if he had interest from local bottlers his most financially advantageous option was to sell the rights to a company and obtain royalty payments for the rest of his life, but he decided not to do it. Another option would be to produce just the sangria base, without the alcohol because by eliminating the alcohol from the manufacturing process the Sangria could be produced most cost defectively to retailers and authorized bottlers of the Sangria fruit cocktail. This option provided the maximum return on investment, but meetings with my friend always proved difficult due to his lack of vision and business experience. My friends lack of flexibility has hindered the development of a potentially huge market opportunity since his idea of becoming the sole provider and bottler of his famous Sangria drink is more related to his own personal pride and not with what makes the most sense business wise. References Foundationcoalition.org. Understanding Conflict and Conflict Management. Retrieved April 17, 2011 from http://www.foundationcoalition.org/publications/brochures/conflict.pdf Managementhelp.org. All About Project Management. Retrieved April 17, 2011 from http://managementhelp.org/plan_dec/project/project.htm#anchor2 Ohlendorf, A. Conflict Resolution in Conflict Management. Retrieved April 17, 2011 from http://www.umsl.edu/~sauterv/analysis/488_f01_papers/Ohlendorf.htm#uc Schermerhorn, J., Hunt, J., Osborn, R. (2003). Organizational Behavior (8th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. Read More