Conflict and Cooperation - Example

Conflict and cooperation Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Executive Summary Conflict and cooperation are two interchangeable aspects in an organization. When there are no conflicts there is cooperation and when there is no cooperation there are conflicts. This essay discussed that there is room for both conflict and cooperation in the workplace. The sources of conflicts at workplace as discussed include differences in personality where employees clash with one another, aggressive human behavior where there is a clash among employees due to their differences in attitudes and the type of leadership in the organization. The sources of cooperation include participative style of leadership, effective organizational structure, good public relations and appropriate employee compensation. The benefits of conflict management and cooperation as discussed include improved performance of the organization, improve the corporate image of the organization, enable an organization to have a competitive advantage and enable an organization to attract and maintain quality skills. Therefore, conflicts and cooperation have room in workplaces. Introduction Conflict is when two or more people differ in opinions, ideas or objectives. In many workplaces the human resource managers are faced with hard times to settle disputes among the employees and other employees and employees with their employer. Therefore there is room for conflict in workplaces. This because people have different ideas and different personalities for handling issues thus at one point the employees differ leading to conflicts (Bingham 2004). In any workplace there has to be conflicts since they are inevitable. As a result, it is the responsibility of the management to ensure the conflicts have been solved if there is a need to improve the performance of the organization. Through conflict management, the employees will cooperate and share ideas which will enable them to improve their productivity. Cooperation on the other hand also has room in workplaces. An organization cannot succeed in the market nor have a competitive advantage if there is no cooperation among employees and all the stakeholders. Many organizations which are performing well in the market have clear strategies for improving cooperation among the employees so that they can work together in teamwork spirit to improve the performance of the organization (Blackard 2000). In this regard therefore, it can be said that there is room for both conflict and cooperation in the workplace. This essay will discuss the sources of conflicts at the workplace, the sources of cooperation and the importance of conflict management and cooperation. Sources of conflicts in workplace The first source of conflict is personality clash. This is when two or more employees of the same institution do not get well. For instance when there is a difference in opinions or ideas or objectives, the employees might clash leading to disputes. They all argue on whose idea they should adopt and if the management cannot be able to make a neutral decision, there could be conflict between the employees. Office romance on the other hand can lead to conflicts at workplace. If there are romance affairs by employees working at the same institution, there are high chances of conflicts arising. This is because there will be favors during promotions or task allocations (Blackard 2000). If for example a human resource manager is romantic affairs with a junior employee, he or she will have to favor the one party during promotions or transfers leading to conflicts between the management and other employees who deserved to get the privilege. This will lower the morale of the employees leading to low productivity and performance of the organization. Another source of conflict is the aggressive behavior among employees. In workplaces there is diversity and each employee has his or her own personality (Blackard 2000). When handling issues, some employees are not patient and can lose their temper which can lead to disagreement or opposition from other employees. This is due to their aggressive behavior and therefore conflicts can arise with the group members in case it was a team work activity. Personal problems can also lead to conflicts in the workplace. Personal problems can cause stress to an individual. When an employee is stressed up there will be little concentration in achieving the tasks allocated (Dina & Carolyn 2010). For example a stressed employee can be absent for sometime and may not accomplish the tasks allocated by the group members which may delay the achievement of the group. The other group members may blame the member for not completing the task in time. This can lead to conflicts between the employee and other group members. Furthermore, leadership style can cause conflicts in the workplace. When there is no clear span of control, there will be conflicting roles and responsibilities as the employees and the management do not know how many employees are under whose control (Dina & Carolyn 2010). For example when a supervisor allocates duties to some employees and another supervisor comes later and reassigns the work; the two supervisors can conflict and can have disputes as to who is responsibility to assign duties to that group of employees. In addition, poor performance of the organization can also lead to conflicts. When an organization performs poorly at the end of the financial year, there will be many blames among the management and the employees (Cloke & Joan 2000). The managers can blame themselves and some can even blame the employees. For instance, the marketing manager may blame the production manager while the production manager blames the procurement manager. This blames can lead to disagreements among the management thus there will be conflicts. Poor communication also can be a cause of conflict in the workplace. There should an effective communication system within the organization so that there will be no information distorted. Best form of communication is both upward and downward communication (Cloke & Joan 2000). The mission statement should be made clear to all employees so that they will understand the objectives to be achieved. Without a clear understanding of the mission statement, there will be conflicting objectives of the employees which can create misunderstanding between the employees and the management. On the other hand, there is room for cooperation in the workplace. Many organizations succeed in their operations and achieve their objectives because of the cooperation among the employees and the management. Cooperation comes in many forms in the workplace (Cloke & Joan 2000). Conflicts can be a source of cooperation in the workplace. For example, when an employee wants to avoid conflicts, he or she may cooperate with other members so as to avoid disagreements which can lead to conflicts. In this effect, conflicts can be a source of cooperation in the workplace. Moreover, cooperation has a room in the workplace when the employees are motivated. There are many ways through which employees can be motivated and can be through incentives such as bonus, rewards or better remunerations (Dina & Carolyn 2010). When the employees know that they will be rewarded after achieving the goals set, they will be motivated and work together with the aim of improving their performance so that they can be rewarded. This will help to improve cooperation among the employees at the workplace. Organizational policy can also be a source of cooperation at the workplace. The organizational policies and structure clearly show the span of control and the responsibilities assigned to each internal stakeholder of the organization (Elizabeth 2006). For example when the managers across different departments understand their duties and responsibilities clearly, they will work hard to achieve the departmental objectives so that they will not be blamed the poor performance. No manager will want to take responsibility when there is failure in achieving the goals of the organization. This will promote cooperation among various departments in the workplace for example finance and procurement departments. Employee development is another source of cooperation in the workplace. Employees’ skills can be developed through training and orientation (Roderick 2006). When there are clear procedures which will enable the organization to develop the skills of its employees, they will acquire better ways of completing their tasks which will lead to job satisfaction. Through job satisfaction, the employees will cooperate because they all have same competitive skills which will improve their productivity in the workplace. Therefore, an employee development can lead to cooperation among employees in the workplace. Cooperation can also have a room at the workplace as a result of the style of leadership. Through the participative style of leadership at workplace, the employees will feel that they are part of the organization (Roderick 2006). They should be involved in the decision making process by taking their opinions for assessment. Through participation in the decision making process, the employees will be motivated to implement the change to be made resulting in cooperation in the implementation process. Cooperation can be further achieved through policies for public relations. The relationship between employees and other stakeholders greatly influences the extent of cooperation in the workplace (Roderick 2006). Good public relations will improve cooperation at workplace as there will be less complains from the customers which can lead to lack of responsibility among employees. Good public relations enable the employees to develop a favorable working atmosphere resulting in cooperation. Furthermore, good compensation policies can also enable the employees to cooperate at the workplace. Compensation can lead to conflicts if the policies are not set out clear so as to avoid favors (Elizabeth 2006). The employees should be compensated according to their efforts and experience. Through good remuneration, the employees will cooperate and work together as a team because there will be less conflicts arising due to effective policies for compensation which avoid favors. Importance of conflict management and cooperation Through conflict management and improving cooperation among the employees at workplace, there will be improved performance of the organization (Blackard 2000). The employees will offer their best skills which will in turn improve their personal productivity and that of the organization as a whole. Therefore, the output of the organization will improve leading to better customer demand satisfaction. For example, through cooperation, the employees can work overtime to accomplish their objectives. Conflict management and cooperation at the workplace can improve the corporate image of an organization. Each employee could want to work in an environment with no conflicts because conflicts lower their potentials and cannot offer their best skills (Blackard 2000). If the organization is able to manage conflicts and promote cooperation, the reputation of the organization will be good. The products and services of the organization will be readily accepted by the customers due to the good reputation of the organization. Therefore conflict management and cooperation improves the revenues of the company through good corporate image. In addition, conflict management and cooperation can lead to competitive advantage to an organization. When employees at workplace work together as a team, they improve the quality of their products and services they offer to customers (Roderick 2006). They will also focus better needs of the customers and develop products which will meet their demands than the competitors thus leading to competitive advantage. The employees will be motivated and add valuable features to the products leading to better customer satisfaction in terms of variety and product features. Furthermore, conflict management and cooperation will lead to good public relations. The employees will relate well with other employees as well as other stakeholders. This will enable the organization to share information with the customers so as to understand their demands (Roderick 2006). Public relations will also lead to long term relationships between the employees and other stakeholders like the suppliers thus there will be constant and continues supply of materials for the organization. This will also ensure continues production to meet the customers’ demands. In this regard therefore and considering the above literature, it can be concluded that there is room for both conflict and cooperation at workplace (Elizabeth 2006). Conflicts are inevitable because at any workplace there is diversity and different personalities which could otherwise lead to conflicts if not well managed. Therefore conflicts have room at the workplace although they can be managed. Cooperation is also an important aspect of the workplace. The management of any organization aims at improving cooperation among the employees so that the performance of the organization will improve. In brief, conflicts and cooperation both have room at the workplace. Conclusion Conflicts and cooperation have room in the workplace. The causes of conflicts at the workplace include personality clash, office romance, aggressive behavior, poor performance, leadership and poor communication. The factors that drive cooperation at workplace include organizational policy, employee development and training, good public relations and good employee compensation. Conflict management and cooperation is important because it helps to improve performance of the organization, improve the reputation of the organization and enables the organization to have a competitive advantage. References Bingham, L.B. (2004). "Employment Dispute Resolution: The Case for Mediation." Conflict Resolution Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 145-174. Blackard, K. (2000). Managing Change in a Unionized Workplace: Countervailing Collaboration. Westport, Connecticut: Quorum Books. Cloke, K & Joan, G. (2000). Resolving Conflicts at Work: A Complete Guide for Everyone on the Job. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Dina, B. & Carolyn C. P. (2010). Job satisfaction: Impact of gender, race, worker qualifications, and work context. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Elizabeth, A. H. (2006). Dispute Resolution in Cooperative and Hierarchical Worksites. London: Emerald publishing group. Roderick M. K. (2006). Social capital and cooperative behavior in the workplace: a Social identity perspective. London: Emerald publishing group. Read More