Conflict resolution - Essay Example

RESOLUTION In this case, the team leader has the responsibility for the night shift, and the behavior of the aides. Michael has encountered a situation where his coworkers barely speak to him, only grudgingly assist him when asked, and often don’t even complete assignments that he asks them to do. They are having negative reactions of burnout in the work environment, but Michael is more motivated. Gender is not an issue for me in this scenario as a leader or a consultant, but I would name the cause of the conflict being motivational levels that are different, between Michael’s high motivation and other staff members having little or none.

Employees can at times become under-motivated due to workload, stress, and not getting a raise. For example, if a worker at a company is making three to five orders a day, and then the manager raises the quota to ten orders a day, they will eventually become burned-out if the pace is sustained for too long. The employee may then react by brining their personal stresses and worries into work, in process of emotional contagion that reflects on the entire workplace. Workers who are burnt out are also more likely to give up projects.

There are various coping strategies that employees who are stressed or burnt out can use to combat the problem of employee burn out on different levels of the organization. The professional requires a workplace that is free of emotional contagion, stress, and dissonance. And this is what Michael’s workplace seems to be trying to do with its employees by making more links between work, society, and the employee, as well as presenting a united front to management regarding goals of motivation and output.

However, Michael needs to make a decision. “From what has been theorized and inferred, it is understandable that job insecurity is highly threatening to employees given the prospect of losing the positive material, social, and psychological benefits associated with employment (De Witte, 1999)” (Reisel, 2007). Long term plans for the situation in which Michael finds himself must focus on stress and coping in the employee environment. The case of Michael shows how often an environment in which an integrated approach to work can reduce conflict, and allow managers to better meet the needs of all of their employees, rather than just some of them.

From one perspective, Michael could try performance-based rewards, if employees are not finding as much intrinsic rewards in their work as they could be. In other words, Michael should try offering rewards for projects rather than expecting employees to find projects rewarding. Many employees in the night shift who are under-motivated may even quit their jobs and decide to go after a new career. They may develop an attitude that is non productive in relation to their employers as well, because they don’t feel that they are being adequately rewarded, communicated with, or listened to in the workplace.

Sometimes there are employee and management roles and role conflicts that it takes real leadership to break down, so Michael should try some transformational leadership to make his employees more interested and motivated. Michael needs to balance issues of fairness and being able to communicate in a manner that is fair to all night shift employees Michael needs to realize that ethically, what the case seems to be saying is that by stressing more balance, the night shift may have the solution to this situation and a blueprint for more effective vertical communication in the organization.

Employees are going to want greater rewards, and people on the night shift who do not want to help Michael may be doing this because of job insecurity, which is based on their perception that the job position is an uncertain thing for them. “Job insecurity is an employees perception that his or her job is uncertain and may come to an end sooner than expected” (Reisel, 2007) ReferenceReisel, W (2007). The effects of job insecurity on satisfaction and perceived organizational performance.

Leadership & Organizational Studieshttp://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NXD/is_2_14/ai_n25014678/print