Organisational Conflict by Marketing Executives - Essay Example

ORGANIZATION IN THE UNIVERSITY: END TERM REFLECTION Organization in the University Name Institution Date of submission Organization in the University: End-Term Reflection Organizational power and politics In any organization the goal of the leaders is to set the pace for the people. The people being led trust that the leaders will ensure their needs are met. Power is a person’s ability to get things done by others according to his or her specification. In the university, exercise of power is evident in the different management levels. There are five major bases of power applied in any organization. In the university context, all the five power bases are applied in different level. The five power bases are reward power, legitimate power, reverent power, coercive power and expert power (French & Raven 1959). A manger must have certain skills to utilize reward power. This is the form of power where a leader offers intrinsic and extrinsic rewards to individuals so as to have things done his way or as a motivator for achieving set goal. In the university, reward power is applied where best performing workers are rewarded after auditing is done. The rewards take different forms including salary increment, gifts and promotions. This results to steep competitions among the workers hence improved performance at the institution level. Best performing students are rewarded through scholarship and gifts. Coercive power involves denying rewards and issuing threats to ensure that orders are followed. The university uses coercive power to prevent undesired behavior. For instant, poor performing workers are demoted or sacked from the jobs to ensure productivity. Student who do not perform well face a threat of being dismissed from the institution if they continuously perform badly. This means that they have to work hard and ensure production of own work in exams to avoid being expelled. The third power base applied in the institution is legitimate power where people offer commands which have to be followed because of the position they hold. For instance, the university chancellor is the overall boss whose orders must be followed by any one working under him. In the same case, departmental heads issue orders to both the lecturers and the students because they are in control. If one is demoted from this position, his or her authority seizes. A good example is when a student leader losses the elections. He is loses the authority to offer orders though he could previously do so. Referent power is the power that one possesses because of the material possession or personal characteristics. This kind of power is evident in selection of class representatives and student leaders in various religious groups. One is simply selected because of he or she is viewed to be responsible and capable of effectively carrying out the role. Expert power forms a major part in running the institution. Its main goal is to produce experts to the society who will be responsible in various fields. As a result, lecturers and tutors are selected on the basis of the skills they have acquired over time and experience in the field. For instance, a lecturer who has specialized in medicine cannot be employed to teach a business class. In the same case, a high school graduate cannot be appointed as a dean in the school even though they may have other desirable leadership characteristics. Politics are inevitable in the university. They dorm an important part in running the institution and acts as the means by which competing powers are brought together with the aim of contributing to the overall set goals (Osborne 1997). Personal characteristics determine a person’s success in politics. Measure are put in place in the institution to ensure that politics do not negatively affect the well run of the university. This is achieved through establishment of rules that govern the voting exercise and the procedure followed during campaigns. One of the major characteristics that assures one of success is the ability to influence others and self confidence. Though politics are perceived to be negative in any organization, practicing control over political events can result to positive outcomes where every one is challenged to work harder. The vice chancellor and student leaders are elected through democracy giving every one a chance to be involved in decision making. This ensures that every stakeholder is given hi/her due respect as an important part of the institution. Conflict and negotiation Conflict occurs when there is a disagreement on the institutional goals and how the process to ensure that this is achieved. It is characterized by blockage, scarcity and opposition. When two parties are in disagreement, then conflict occurs and a means to solve this is important to ensure the well run of the organization. In the institution, the main conflict is between the administration and the student’s body. Sometimes students do not understand why various steps are taken and they react to this by obstructing implementation of changes. For instance, when the senate settles on fee increment, the student will first object because it negatively affects them. Sometimes this can get out of control causing students to go on strike. Another form of conflict exists between the workers and the administration mainly concerning the tasks assigned and the pay received by the workers. The workers complain of being underpaid and neglected in the decision making process. Such a conclusion is made when one compares the work out put and expected returns. If the returns are too minimal for the work done, a means to bring the two parties to work together in unison must be put in place. Conflict in the university also results from student’s failing to comply with set rules. For instance, students are not allowed to reproduce another person’s work or destroy any property belonging to the university. If he or she does this, he is expelled from the university or face other forms of disciplinary actions. Difference how things should be done, by whom and when also result to conflict. Since students have paid their school fees, they expect to be taught and in the right time. Failure to do this can result to a conflict where they demand an explanation. To solve conflict in the institution, negotiation is very crucial. Inter-group and interpersonal conflicts are avoided during elections though negotiation. Negotiation is aimed at bringing the two groups together where one may compromise and agree with the other or the two come to a point of collaboration. It is important for the conflicting groups to collaborate with each other to achieve desired results. The conflict can be either a win-win conflict, win-lose conflict or lose-lose conflict. Who wins and who losses is dependant on agreement reached by the two parties. For instance, when school fees are increased, mainly lose to the administration after the necessity to increase fees is weighed. However, there are incidences where both parties have to compromise so as to accommodate each other. This is mainly seen when the university administration conflict with the other staff member over pay increase. The administration may not be in a position to give the full package of increment as requested but can opt to increase the salaries by a certain percentage. This is only achieved through negotiation. To enhance negotiation in the institution, various bodies and unions have been formed such as student unions and staff unions to represent their need to the managers and other relevant authorities. Organization Culture This refers to the various characteristics within an organization that define it. These characteristics include the values, norms and artifacts held by the members within that particular organization. In the case of a university, the values, norms and artifacts are academic oriented. The staff in the administration offices has different values from the ground staff. They interact and communicate in different way (Ikeda 2005). Similarly, there lecturers have their norms and values which they share among themselves and which change when they are interacting with other university staff. Different organizations have different cultures due to the existing difference in their core values; these are the values that are upheld throughout the organization. For instance, university has different core values from a steel manufacturing company. In the first case, the core values are mainly academic and student oriented while in the second case, they are customer oriented. In addition, there are subcultures that exist within an organization. This is due to the different levels of interaction within and between the existing departments. In the university, there different faculties and each faculty has its own departments which have different cultures. Any organizational culture is vital since it distinguishes it from others and gives members a sense of identity and belonging. In the case of a university, the culture within distinguishes it from any other organization and also gives the members a sense of belonging. In addition, it makes them focus with commitment on the common goals within the organization rather than their personal interest. In a university, the members in the finance department for instance, are committed to ensuring that the students’ fee structures are prepared on time so as to facilitate easy admission and registration instead of them focusing on how they would maybe start up a business for their own benefit (Ikeda 2005). Despite these benefits of culture to an organization, it also has its disadvantages. To begin with, it hinders change and diversification since the members within the organization are used to doing things in a particular way. Culture is introduced in an organization by the pioneers. The also help in maintaining it through teaching or socializing new members into it. For instance, in the university, there is the culture that already exists which may include particular attitudes directed to particular persons especially the seniors; lectures and deans. Any new member who joins the particular department quickly picks up these attitudes; these attitudes may contrast the particular employee’s expectations and anticipations. These new employee may learn the culture through hearing stories and comments within the office or even through body language among the other staff. For instance, a lecturer may walk in and every secretary’s mood changes from being jovial to silent. That does communicate something to the new member. Organizational Structure Organization structure is the arrangement put in place by an organization to mobilize various resources in the organizations including finances, human, information and physical. In the university, there are arrangements that made to ensure these resources are well mobilized. There is the finance department which deals exclusively with financial matters like handling the fees paid by students and staff payment. There is also the human resource department which deals with manpower within the institution. This may include sourcing for personnel to fill in open posts, firing inefficient staff or training them so as to make them effective. The university also controls the flow of information through ways like release of memos to the targeted recipient(s). Moreover, it is the university’s responsibility to monitor and direct the physical development of the institution like acquisition of new property. All this is achieved through use of work specialization, formation of departments, establishment of a mode of governance which can be either centralized or decentralized and having a well defined chain of command. For instance, in the finance department, the people are individuals who have skills specifically in finance matters. In addition, there are various departments like the human resource which deals with manpower, the finance department which deals with finance matters and the public relations which deals with ensuring mutual understanding within the organization and between the organization and the public. There is in addition, a well established chain of command right from the chancellor who is at the top. Below him/her is a vice that in turn has subordinates. Moreover, there head of each department and they also have subordinates. There are also students’ organizations which also share the same characteristics. The importance of having a structure in any organization is to ensure that the decision making process in well established and efficient (Bingham 1997). This will in turn lead to proper and clear communication which contributes to achievement of the organization’s goals. The process of decision making within the university is centralized. Each department has the freedom to make its own decision on what to teach though there is a certain body appointed to regulate this so as to ensure that the institution’s goals, which are built on providing quality education, are achieved. Any decision by a department that is not in harmony with the institution’s decision is normally not approved. There are different types of structures. One is a simple structure and the other is a complex structure. A simple structure mainly has one person at the top and the span of control is wide. A complex structure has a number of individuals at the top. A university is an excellent example of a bureaucratic design. Normally, there is specialization, a formal set of rules to be adhered to and well established departments. Also, there is a pattern that directs the decision making process. There are other designs, like the matrix design, that are used by different organizations depending on their structure. This is especially so with the new designs that are being created every day due to need brought about by developmental changes. Structures also differ among organizations depending on their size, strategy, environment and technology. In conclusion, it is important to note that a structure has a great influence on the organization’s performance. An organization is made up of different organs which must work together in unity if the organization has to maintain competitive advantage. Bibliography Ikeda, A, November 2005, Organisational conflict by marketing executives, Electronic journal of business organization studies. Blake, R, and Mouton, S, 1984, Solving Costly Organizational Conflicts, Achieving Intergroup Trust, Cooperation, and Teamwork, San Francisco, Jossey Bass. Bingham, L,A, 1997, Mediating Employment Disputes, Perceptions of Redress at the United States Postal Service, Review of Public Personnel Administration, Spring. Osborne, S. 1997, The System Made Me Do It! A Life Changing Approach to Office Politics, Newark, Life Thread Publications. Roger, F, and Brown, S, 1989, Getting Together, Building Relationships as We Negotiate, New York, Penguin Books. French, J, and Raven, B, 1959 "The Bases of Social Power," In Studies in Social Power, Dorwin Cartwright, ed, Ann Arbor, MI, University of Michigan Press. Read More