Organizational Conflict Project Analysis - Case Study Example

Overview First and foremost, it is important for Mr. Roberge to acknowledge that his organization is presently going through organizational conflict and that organizational conflicts are common with every other organization. The fact that there is an organizational conflict does not mean that the organization has gone out of control beyond amendment. According to the Glaring Facts (2011), organizational conflict constitutes “the process that occurs when one person, group, or organizational subunit frustrates the goal attainment of another.” Though generally seen as a bad thing, organizational conflict can actually lead to better times for the organization involved if the causes of the conflict are identified and due process followed to correct the problem causing the conflict. Against this backdrop, Ackroyd (1999, pp.2) observes that “conflict is constitutive of organizational and social systems and indeed a major source of whatever stability and dynamism such systems have” (Simmel, 1902). Indeed the organizational change intended by ABS Canada is such a massive one that there is no way it can be implemented without opposition from one area of the organization or the other. What makes the change more prone to conflict is the fact that it involves the positions and portfolios of people who have been at post for very long periods of time. By the mere suspicion that the intended change can affect their positions is likely to create dissatisfaction and acrimony among them the most important point should therefore be finding the causes of the problem and injecting the right remedies to them. Causes of the difficulties of the project A critical analysis of the problem at hand reveals that the problem at hand is transversal; meaning the problem cuts across all aspects of the organization. The cause of the problem could also be deemed as transversal as it may not be directly linked or related to just one person or one component of the company. Currently the problem involves Mr. Roberge in the sense that it has the potential of running his ambition of carrying out a successful long term strategic plan for the company. The problem also concerns the project manager in the sense that the lack of cooperation currently exhibited by the members of functional department may jeopardize the achievement of the aim for which he was brought there. Finally the problem concerns the members of functional department because if the responsibility assigned to the project manager does not succeed, the delivery of their duties is going to be compromised. In as much as the problem concerns all three parties stated above, the blame or more appropriately the cause of the problem can be linked to all them. First, the fact that Mr. Roberge consulted personnel outside ABS Canada on the recruitment of the project manager could be a major part of the cause of the problem. This is because if Mr. Roberge had involved all departmental heads or consultants within his immediate organization in the selection process, the departmental heads would have seen themselves as collaboratively responsible for the success of the project manager and would have therefore done a lot to ensure his success. It would have also afforded them to bring up more person specifications that would have match their expectations and addressed their fears and doubts in the selection of the candidate. Secondly, the project manager’s inability to fully involve the departmental heads in his strategic plan could be a cause of the problem. Due to this exemption, the departmental heads were finding it difficult to understand the initiatives being taken by the project manager. With such misunderstanding, it was going to be difficult for them to support him. Finally, the refusal of the departmental heads to follow due process in seeking for clarification could amount to a cause of the problem. In fact the heads could have used due process by contacting Mr. Roberge or any higher authority to resolve their misunderstanding with the project manager rather than opposing his actions in the name of not understanding his actions. Possible solutions and their respective advantages and disadvantages The good new for ABS Canada is that all is not lost yet and there is could be possible solutions to the problem. However considering the fact that the implementation of the IT functioning is crucial to the entire Integrated Management System and Processes, the solutions should be carried out as quickly as possible. The first solution will concern dealing with the lack of dependence on the functional heads. It is necessary to put this first because as noted by The Glaring Facts (2011), “if dependence is not mutual, but one way, the potential for conflict increases.” For this reason, Mr. Roberge must change the project manager as soon as possible because he does not seem ready to follow business process as compared to his desire to implement his duties. The advantage with this decision is that the way will be paved to start an entirely new recruitment and placement process that will be more open to the functional heads of the organization. Especially as the organization is working on getting fully merged in terms of structures and processes, it is important that the departmental heads; and not just those in the IT section bring up their input in the ideal person who should be a project manager. The disadvantage with this however is that the entire strategic plan may be retarded in terms of time of execution because the recruitment and placement process is likely to cause some halt in the process. The second solution will be to set up a project management team that will involve members from all departments of the organization. The advantage of this solution is that there will be more openness whereby the other departments who are not directly linked to the first point of call, which is the IT functions, will have an understanding of the impact of the whole process on their various departments. With such an understanding of the advantages that whole process has, there is every hope that the program will be supported. Again, there will be less pressure on the project manager on executing the task given to him. The project manager will not have to be doing everything all alone considering that by virtue of the merger, the organization is larger now and needs a lot of helping hands when it comes to the delivery of tasks and responsibilities. There may however be a disadvantage of this solution that will have to do with conflict of interest. Presently, ABS Canada has about three major departments that it is dealing with, which are financial management, human resource management and sales and marketing management departments. In the event of a whole team that will be onboard the project management, there is likely to be events where various representatives will seek the welfare of the departments and nothing more. Key elements that led to the success of the ABS project The success of the ABS project could be attributed a number of elements. In the first place, André Gagné who was hired to be in-charge of the project management had the required academic and professional knowledge in information system. With such an experience, it is likely that André Gagné understood in a more detailed way, the need for coordinated information dissemination. André Gagné did not just understand the need for a coordinated approach but also had the requisite knowhow on how to implement it. It is not surprising that he put measures in place to include the inputs of as many people from other departments as possible. In fact, that was the second major success element. Once André Gagné concerned himself with restoring the project’s credibility and winning the confidence of the project’s team members as well as of the users and management, he went ahead to tap their individual contributions for the success of the program. With a democratic leadership style that involved multidisciplinary teams in charge of formulating solutions for each of the problems identified by the project, the new project manager was hopeful of winning the support of all and sundry and indeed he did. To conclude, André Gagné should keep educating the members of the need for the new software implementation. With such an understanding, even if it happens that some people loss their positions eventually, they are more likely to accept this in good faith. REFERENCE Ackroyd S. Organizational Conflict. 1999. Web. September 26, 2011 Glaring Facts. Organizational Conflict, Origin and Resolution. 2011. Web. September 26, 2011. Read More