Office Situation Involving a Man Named John and His Boss, Bob - Case Study Example

Running header: Relation, what relation: Case Study Student’s name: Name of institution: Instructor’s name: Course code: Date of submission: Executive Summary It is often argued that living, working or relating with someone else is an art, regardless of the relationship one has with them. It is through learning this art that one is able to gain skills on flexibility, courtesy, respect and productive communication in a positive manner. In many cases, it has been noted that conflicts in the workplace are treated as a simple fact of life. They usually arise as a result of the workmates having different needs, beliefs, expectations, thoughts, goals and intentions. This case study has focused on an office situation involving a man named John and his boss, Bob. John was a protégé of his boss Bob and really looked up to him because of the way Bob had helped him develop his career. John was usually associated with Bob by the rest of his workmates. John and Bob have always been in good terms until recently when Bob was involved in an incident that has just put both their jobs on the line. This situation has brought about a lot of conflict between the two such that John is so angry at Bob to the extent of not being able to speak to him. The purpose of this case study is to present a conflict in the workplace so as to identify the possible conflict management strategies that can be used to manage and resolve similar workplace or organizational conflicts. In this case study, the conflict between John and Bob will be reviewed by classifying and discussing the type of conflict that the two have. The case study will also identify the key players in this conflict and discuss their roles as well as give their perspectives on the conflict. The case study will discuss the major issues in the conflict such as power imbalance, gender and high emotion which have led John to feel betrayed, humiliated and in trouble because of Bob’s actions. The recommended strategies in this case study have been proven to work well in the resolution of conflicts between workers of an organization. The ways in which these strategies can actually be implemented have been given in this case study. Introduction Any form of conflict in the workplace should be properly managed so that it can be a competitive source of collaboration and competitiveness. This is because when conflict is unmanaged, it can easily lead to the creation of divisions, chaos and low morale. According to Alper, Tjosvold and Law (2000), managers and executives ought to understand, learn and identify any form of conflict and manage it effectively. This entails the identification of both constructive and negative conflicts so as to come up with ways of dealing with them effectively. For conflict to be managed effectively by leaders, all its aspects must be understood well. It is therefore critical to identify the causes of conflicts and explore the effects so as to come up with effective resolutions (Behfar, Peterson, Mannis & Trochim 2008). Managers in any organization should not treat conflict between their workers as a small problem between individuals. This is because if two or more workers are in conflict, their overall output and performance in the organization may also be greatly affected. This means that conflicts between certain individuals in an organization should be treated as a problem of the entire organization and be resolved immediately because the wellbeing of the whole organization is compromised (Kellett 2007). The conflict between John and his boss Bob is an issue that will affect the entire organization if it is not resolved well and in time. Jehn, Northcraft and Neale (1999) argue that today, managers have models and theoretical approaches that can be used to effectively deal with conflict between their workers. These theoretical approaches and models of conflict management and resolution provide strategies of resolving conflict (Hersey, Blanchard & Johnson 2001). Conflict management is concerned with the implementation of strategies so as to increase the positive perspectives of conflict and decrease the negative aspects of conflict. In an organization setting such as this one, conflict management can be used to enhance the performance or effectiveness of the parties involved by increasing the positives of conflict and limiting the negatives (Kuhn & Poole 2000). This statement supports the purpose of this paper which includes examining the nature and process of conflict by analyzing a case study involving a worker and his boss. Analysis of the scenario In this scenario, John is seen to be very angry with his boss Bob. John has been working under Bob very well and they have been getting along very well over the years. John always felt comfortable and happy to work under Bob because they have known each other for long and the two have always been looking out for each other. However, one particular day, after Bob and John had carried out their recruitment duties at a nearby campus, Bob stayed out so late having drinks with a girl from the campus. Ethically, this is wrong. John tried to sit with Bob and this girl but was politely asked by Bob to go away and leave them alone. The girl filed a complaint against Bob and by association, the complaint also affected John who felt he had not done anything wrong. The two are now in conflict because of Bob’s actions which have put their jobs, especially John’s, on the line (Jehn, Northcraft & Neale 1999). The type of conflict between in this scenario is internal conflict because John is so angry at Bob and Bob does not even know what is going on. Internal conflict occurs within an individual. It occurs when an individual develops internal struggles between his ideas and thoughts (Kuhn & Poole 2000). This type of conflict occurs within the mind of an individual. In this type of conflict, there are internal battles in the minds of the individual. John is battling with his thoughts internally (Alper, Tjosvold & Law 2000). He is so angry such that he cannot talk to anyone about this situation. He can’t talk to Bob about this situation. He cannot bring himself to talk to his boss, his fiancée or his human resources. John is very humiliated and feels that this situation is very childish. He does not understand why he is involved in such as situation. This type of conflict may also be referred to as interdependence conflict. This is because John’s chances at his job are being determined by Bob (Rahim 2002). John’s job is dependent on the choices made by Bob. Bob’s involvement with the girl in the campus is putting John’s job on the line. John’s job depends on the activities that were committed by Bob (Moore 1986). This is because John cannot continue with his job since it is dependent on the actions that were done by Bob (Kozan 1997). In this case, John’s job depends on Bob’s actions. His chances of survival at his job depend on the input, output and cooperation (Walton 1986). Key players’ roles and perspectives The key players in this scenario are Bob, John, the campus girl and the investment bank. These are the key players because each of them has a stake in this conflict. Bob is a key player because a complaint has been filed against him by a girl from the campus that they were seeking to recruit from. He is the reason why John has internal conflicts because his actions have put John in the trouble he is in. John is a key player because he has a lot of anger towards Bob and the whole situation which he feels is very childish. The campus girl is a key player because she also has conflict with Bob for allegedly sending out the wrong signals to the students by staying out so late for drinks. The investment bank that John and Bob work for is also a key player because its workers have been involved in an incident that has had someone complain about. John’s perspective of this case is that it is childish and humiliating. He feels betrayed and feels that he should not be involved in such a case. Bob may not even be aware of the conflict that John is having with him as a result of his actions. The campus girl thinks that the entire recruitment team was wrong to have sent the wrong messages to the students by staying up so late with them to have drinks if the team had no intentions of hiring them. Conflict management strategies Research has shown that there have been several styles and models used to manage conflicts in organizations (Alper, Tjosvold & Law 2000). One early researcher in the field of conflict management, Mary Parker (1926), showed that individuals manage conflict in three major ways. These include compromise, domination and collaboration or integration. According to Mary (1926), some organizations were also known to use suppression and avoidance to handle and manage conflict. Other scholars in later years came up with more contemporary models to manage conflicts. For example, Khun and Poole (2001) came up with a model that uses two approaches to manage conflicts. These approaches are distributive and integrative. Later, DeChurch and Mark (2001) came up with the meta-taxonomy model of conflict management. Kellett (2007) noted that scholars have agreed in the past that there is no single conflict management strategy that can be said to be perfect. He concluded that out of all the proposed conflict management strategies, there are five conflict management approaches that arise. These are compromising, avoiding, dominating, obliging and integrating. One possible conflict management strategy that can be used to handle the conflict that John has with Bob is compromise. Compromise can be used by ensuring that John and Bob get along well through getting John to open up and share what he feels about the entire situation (Jehn, Northcraft & Neale 1999). This can be achieved through a series of steps which entail a trained facilitator. The first step would be to have John inform Bob and all the other relevant parties about his anger caused by this situation. John should come out in the open and state his position clearly, explaining how the situation has affected him. All the involved parties should be ready to listen to each side and avoid accusations, name calling or finding faults in others. No matter how aggrieved each party may feel, it is important to meet halfway by giving up something so as to achieve something else. In this case, John should give up his pride that cannot bring him to talk to anyone about what he is going through. He should do this so that he can manage the conflicts that he is battling with internally (Alper, Tjosvold & Law 2000). Compromise can be achieved by first identifying the problem. All the concerned parties should openly discuss the problem so as to get an understanding of each other’s views, opinions and feelings. The things that are both agreed on and those that are not should then be defined so as to know the possible methods to deal with the problem (Alper, Tjosvold & Law 2000). Once this is done, possible solutions should be proposed and communicated so that everyone can have the chance to evaluate the alternatives by considering the pros and cons. The best solution is then determined when each party is mutually encouraged to accept the solution (Jehn, Northcraft & Neale 1999). Integration may also be used to resolve the conflict between the two by bringing them together and combining their thoughts so as to know exactly what each one of them is going through. The parties in conflict need to have their concerns integrated so that each one of them can understand the concerns of the other (Alper, Tjosvold & Law 2000). Conclusion In conclusion, conflict is said to be inevitable as long as people continue interacting. It therefore has to be managed well so as to promote meaningful coexistence. Conflict that is managed well can in fact be constructive. This is because it can strengthen relationships and promote further teamwork. Open communication can be encouraged through conflict management and this can lead to cooperative problem sharing whenever problems arise. References Alper, S, Tjosvold, D & Law, KS 2000, ‘Conflict management, efficacy, and performance in organizational teams’ Personnel Psychology, vol. 53, pp. 625-642. Behfar, KJ, Peterson, RS, Mannis, EA & Trochim, WMK 2008, ‘The critical role of conflict resolution in teams: a close look at the links between conflict type, conflict management strategies, and team outcomes’, Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 93, pp. 170-188. Hersey, P, Blanchard, KH & Johnson, DE 2001, Management of Organizational Behavior, Prentice Hall: New Jersey. Jehn, KA 1997, ‘A qualitative analysis of conflict types and dimensions of organizational groups’, Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 42, pp. 530-557. Jehn, KA, Northcraft, GB & Neale, MA 1999, ‘Why differences make a difference: a field study of diversity, conflict, and performance in workgroups’, Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 44, pp. 741-763. Kellett, PM 2007, Conflict Dialogue, Sage Publications, London. Kozan, MK 1997, ‘Culture and conflict management: a theoretical framework’, The International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 8, pp. 338-360. Kuhn, T & Poole, MS 2000, ‘Do conflict management styles affect group decision making?’, Human Communication Research, vol. 26, pp. 558-590. Moore, CW 1986, Sphere of conflict-causes and interventions: the mediation process-practical strategies for resolving conflict, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. Rahim, MA 2002, ‘Toward a theory of managing organizational conflict’, The International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 13, no. 206-235. Walton, M 1986,  The Deming Management Method, Berkley, New York. Read More