Conflicts in the Development of new Products - Term Paper Example

Summary Conflict within organization is an inevitable reality. One of the major reasons of conflict is ineffective communication or inability to transmit a message properly. Nonetheless research shows that conflict is positive until it brings learning to the organization and for conflict to bring learning it is important to deal with it effectively. In order to deal effectively with the conflicts arising in communication, the management needs to build a positive communication environment within organizations which is encouraging but not defensive. Besides proper conflict resolution techniques, one must also develop communication skills which suggest improving listening and comprehension skills. In addition to this, cooperation and being less critical are other skills important to resolve conflicts arising in communication among individuals and groups in an organization. Communication Issues and SHRM Practice Every organization is faced with communication issues on a day to day basis. In order to work effectively there is a need to ensure smooth communication. Spaho (103) stated that in order to strengthen external communication the organizations must pay attention to internal communication. The author linked organizational communication to conflict management while stating that conflict within an organization is inevitable because of the fact that people working together have different opinions and not everyone has the tolerance to accept other’s opinions. The author further explained that to resolve conflicts, communication is important yet no communication is possible without conflict. Gary (697) identified conflict management as one of the personal competencies required to solve HR issues. The author defined conflict management as a competency that it is an ability to device strategies to resolve disagreements productively within organizations. This paper takes communication issues as problem faced by organizations on a regular basis whereas conflict management as a competency or practice to resolve communication issues faced by the organization. There are different directions of communication within an organization identified by Lunenburg (2) as upward communication, downward communication and horizontal communication. The author presented these directions as shown in the below given figure; Figure I - Directions of Communication (Source: Lunenburg, 2010, p. 2) Conflict can take place in any direction while communicating with the supervisor, subordinates or co-workers. Ikeda, Veludo-de-Oliveira, and Campomar (22), in their research found communication is a major source of conflict yet it can be resolved with effective communication. It is due to this dual effect it can be said that conflict arises mainly due to lack of communication skills and conflict can be resolved with effective communication; hence both these concepts are linked to each other tightly. HR knowledge and theory also identifies reasons of communication problems within organizations. One of the reasons identified in research is emotions and emotional communication within groups. Kelly and Barsade (101) in their study found that when individual moods and emotions mismatch the group emotions there are problems in communication resulting in conflict. The solution to this problem arising due to mismatching emotions is emotional intelligence. The ability to listen to each other and appreciate the differences while being emotionally intelligent can help resolve conflict in teams arising due to ineffective communication. In another study Hinds and Bailey (615) found that ‘distributed teams’ is another reason of ineffective communication and conflict. The authors stated that when there is no or less connection and communication among team members, understanding what is expected and how to keep in sync becomes difficult. Distributed teams have fewer opportunities to interact and hence understanding among them declines resulting in conflict. Lovelace et al (779) also found that due to technology advancement reliance on functionally diverse teams has raised resulting in lack of communication. This leads to team disagreement and lack of performance. To lessen the gap it is important to escalate negotiation and move from disagreement to agreement to improve innovativeness and efficiency. HR practice suggests different conflict resolution styles as discussed by Slabbert (83) there are five distinct styles suggested in Thomas Killman Conflict resolution model. These styles are “avoiding, competing, collaborating, accommodating and compromising”, divided into two categories, assertive and cooperative. In the research to study the styles adopted by middle management and junior level staff the author found that middle managers normally use assertive styles of resolving conflicts that include competing and collaborating whereas junior level staff prefers avoiding style which is neither cooperative nor assertive. This study suggests that how well a conflict is resolved will depend upon the style of conflict resolution. To resolve the issue of ineffective communication and for managing the conflict arising thereof, the employees can use any of the five conflict resolution styles. Research also shows that there is a process of conflict management that helps identify the conflict and manage it in an effective manner. Rahim (207) in the research found that there is a difference in resolving and managing conflict; management of organizational conflict results in conflict reduction, conflict resolution or conflict minimization. In either case conflict has to be identified properly before any remedy could be reached. Rahim (222) presented conflict management process as follows; Figure II – Conflict Management Process (Source: Rahim, 2002, p. 222) In this process, it is suggested that problem recognition is the first step to conflict management. Once the conflict is diagnosed along with its reasons the author suggested identifying a proper intervention to manage the conflict. This intervention could be leadership or the culture of the organization or any provision from the organization structure or design. Intervention will help resolve conflict depending upon the intensity of the conflict and the style selected to resolve the conflict. According to the author, conflict resolution will depend upon whether the conflict is a sort of disagreement in a function or is based on emotional and interpersonal issues. Both aspects are said to have different affects in the workplace and a different conflict resolution style and intervention will have to be selected to resolve each of them. The author further elaborated that resolution of every conflict brings learning to the organization to enhance their future functions. There is learning on individual level, on group level or on organization level which leads to generation of feedback that enhances overall effectiveness of the organization. Another HR theme that helps resolve ineffective communication issues is the communication climate. HR theory suggests that in order to manage conflicts arising due to ineffective communication, it is important to pay attention to the communication climate of the organization. Research carried out by Nordin et al (1046) suggests that communication climate influences overall environment and working culture of the organization. The authors suggested that if the communication climate in an organization is defensive, it will demotivate employees to share their views and they remain cautious whereas supportive environment encourage exchange of ideas and employees feel motivated to participate actively in communication and constructive conflict resolution. The authors further clarified that positive communication environment requires effective conflict management which is mostly a function of dealing with the conflict and confronting it rather than avoiding and compromising on it. Avoiding conflict leads to a bigger issue at a later time which affects the communication climate of the organization negatively. Yet other strategies presented in HR literature to deal with communication issues within organizations include open communication that requires encouraging and understanding other’s opinions and have mutual participation in conflict resolution or any matter under discussion (Deutsch, 22). Coleman (110) argued that lack of communication and a bossy approach towards employees suppresses employees’ ability and willingness to share their opinions. It is therefore the author suggested that rather than exercising power it is a better option to encourage open communication where employees not only share their opinions but also listens to other’s perspectives and embrace their views (Coleman, 110). Krauss and Morsella (138) also make a few suggestions to resolve conflicts arising during communication. The first suggestion is reducing noise; the authors suggested that when there is more noise the receiver will get undesired signals along with the main message which creates distortion. Hence it is suggested that in order to get the message conveyed properly the sender must try to get the message through with minimum possible noise. Next suggestion is to take listeners perspective to see how well the message will be absorbed; this will ensure there is less misunderstanding. Another suggestion is to pay attention to the intended meaning while listening to any message and this is possible by being an active listener. And last suggestion is to be cooperative and not too critical. Cooperation among parties will lead to the development of good understanding and hence the message will get through effectively. These suggestions will help make communication effective while helping resolve conflicts in communication. Concluding the discussion it can be said that for any business, communication is the key to success; however, there are always issues in communication and often conflicts arise due to misunderstanding in communication. To ensure effective communication and resolve conflicts in communication the organization must focus on tactics suggested by the HR theory and practice. These strategies include proper conflict identification and then intervening in the situation with proper tactic to resolve the issue. Other strategies include being an active listener, being cooperative, being less critical, being less emotional and more practical and encouraging open communication. Works Cited Coleman, Peter T. Power and conflict. In Deutsch, Morton & Peter T. Coleman (Eds.). The handbook of conflict resolution: Theory and practice (pp. 108-130). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000. Deutsch, Morton. Cooperation and competition. In Deutsch, Morton & Peter T. Coleman (Eds.). The handbook of conflict resolution: Theory and practice (pp. 21-40). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000. Gary, Dessler. Human Resource Management. India: Pearson Education India, 2011. Ikeda, Ana Akemi, Tânia Modesto Veludo-de-Oliveira, and Marcos Cortez Campomar. “Organizational Conflicts Perceived by Marketing Executives.” Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies. 10.1 (2005): 22-28. Hinds, Pamela J., and Diane E. Bailey. Out of sight, out of synch: Understanding conflict in distributed teams. Organization Science.14.6 (2003): 615–632. Kelly, Janice R., and Sigal G. Barsade. “Mood and Emotions in Small Groups and Work Teams.” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 86.1 (2001): 99–130. Krauss, Robert M. and Ezequiel Morsella. Communication and Conflict. In Deutsch, Morton & Peter T. Coleman (Eds.). The handbook of conflict resolution: Theory and practice (pp. 131-143). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000. Lovelace, Kay., Debra L. Shapiro, and Laurie R. Weingart. “Maximizing cross-functional new product teams’ innovativeness and constraint adherence: A conflict communications perspective.” Academy of Management Journal. 44.4 (2001): 779-793. Lunenburg, Fred C. “Formal Communication Channels: Upward, Downward, Horizontal, and External.” Focus On Colleges, Universities, and Schools. 4.1 (2010): 1-7. Nordin, Shahrina., Subarna Sivapalan, Ena Bhattacharyya, Hezlina Hashim Wan Fatimah Wan Ahmad, and Azrai Abdullah. “Organizational Communication Climate and Conflict Management: Communications Management in an Oil and Gas Company.” Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 109 (2014): 1046–1058. Rahim, M. Afzalur. “Toward theory of managing organizational conflict.” The International Journal of Conflict Management. 13.3 (2002): 206-235. Slabbert, A. D. “Conflict management styles in traditional organizations.” The Social Science Journal 41. (2004): 83-92. Spaho, Kenan. “Organizational Communication and Conflict Management.” Management. 18.1 (2013): 103-118. Read More