Managing conflicts assessment - Essay Example

Assessment score: Assessor: Internal Verifier: Internal Verifier’s score 1 Identify any five causes of conflict at work /5 Conflict can occur at work for a variety of reasons. Conflict is very damaging because it hurts the corporate culture and cooperation among co-workers. Five causes of conflict at work are:Tensions due to interpersonal issues Overworked and underappreciated staffPoor compensationDeteriorating corporate cultureIntense competition among the co-workers1.

2Describe in your own words the seven stages in the development of conflict /7 The seven stages of the development of conflict are illustrated below:1. Latent conflict – friction and tension exists and it starts to manifest itself within two parties or a group of people.2. Conflict emergence – Issues become defined and friction turns into verbal accusations. 3. Conflict escalation – a lack of trust, anger, and fighting occurs. 4. Hurting – The parties involved in the conflict feel emotionally hurt.5. Negotiation – the people involved in the conflict begin to analyze the situation and realize it might not be as bad as originally thought.

Start looking for solutions.6. Dispute settlement – formal offers are provided by both parties on how to resolve the situation and a solution is achieved. 7. Post-conflict – The parties start rebuilding their relationship. 1.3As a potential line manager explain the effects of conflict on individual oryour teams performance at work. Include a minimum of two effects. /2Conflict can be very damaging to an organization or to the performance of a work team.

One of the effects of conflict is that it damages the morale of the employees. A lower morale occurs because conflict raises work tensions and disrupts the cooperation among the team members. Another detrimental effect conflict has on a team is that it lowers the productivity and performance of a team. Conflict causes inefficiencies and as a consequence the team leader has to dedicate time to resolve the conflict. Time is wasted due to the emergence of conflict. Companies have to dedicate resources such as the intervention of the human resource department or hiring a mediator in order to resolve conflicts. 1.4Explain any recognised techniques you would use as a manager to minimise and resolve conflict in the workplace /6 When conflict occurs finding a resolution is imperative because conflict can disrupt the work environment of an organization.

Five recognized techniques that line managers can utilize to resolve conflict are accommodation, collaboration, compromise, avoidance, and authoritative command. Accommodation involves playing down the differences and finding areas of agreement among the parties. Collaboration allows the parties to recognize that something is wrong and the problem needs immediate attention. The underlying problem is the root of the conflict. A compromise is a good method to find a resolution because each party gives up something of value to the other in order to end the conflict.

Avoidance pretends that the problem does not exist. The assumption is that the problem will play itself down through time. Authoritative command uses formal authority to end the conflict. 1.5Describe how you could create harmony at work and engender a positive atmosphere in order to minimise the adverse effects of conflict. /5As a manager I would create harmony at work and engender a positive atmosphere by focusing on building a strong corporate culture.

The corporate culture of the company should bring the employees closer to each other. A second technique that I would use to build a better workplace is by empowering my employees. Employees that feel they are valued by their supervisors are more likely to achieve job satisfaction. A third technique I would use to create harmony is teamwork.