Psychology: Susan, Molly, Joy, Dan and Mr. Davis - Research Paper Example

 Introduction In a workplace where several professionals with diverse cultural background, personality, and personal goals work together, conflict is inevitable not to happen. Conflict is known to cause poor productivity. Certain types of it are readily identified. However, others are not easily detected. It will only surface if there are employees who react to co worker’s negative behavior. In scenarios like this, the managerial skill of the supervisor is very much needed. In the case of Susan, Molly, Joy, Dan and Mr. Davis, problems involved to be driving each other’s behavior are related to promoting personal wellness, resolving workplace conflict, barriers to verbal and non verbal communication, cultural diversity, individual differences, and motivating the team which needs to be resolved adopting certain strategies and theories applicable. Case Study Discussion and Strategies Susan is displaying a behavior related to promoting personal wellness as reflected in her complaint of overweight that resulted in her fatigability. Although personal in nature, she is stressed which would affect her work as a call center agent. One strategy for her is to diet and work out. Experts suggest that dieting and exercise of any form are the secret of losing weight as they believe that what you eat and do is what you are. Susan’s behavior in discussing diet with Molly is a way of adjusting to her physical changes as a result of becoming over weight which is explained in Stress Adaptation theory. The theory states that any threat to a person’s equilibrium may cause the organism to find ways to return it back to normal balance (Billing & Stokes, 1987). The adequacy however of the individual depends on her environment and adaptive energies. Susan is observed to have the determination to lose weight because of her interest in diet discussion hence; it is not far that she may get back to her usual weight. Another strategy would be to have a positive outlook in life. Positive attitude may lead to positive result as you look at life in a more productive way. If Susan will adopt this, she may have a better physical and psychological well being. Solving problems is also obvious to be another underlying issue affecting the behavior of Joy and Dan. They both are experiencing dislikes of the behavior displayed by Susan and Molly in wasting time to gossip and despise other co-worker. Although it is at its starting level, it is potential to cause bigger conflict in the future. Thus, it is best to solve conflict earlier then to let it become bigger which would be more difficult to deal with. One strategy to resolve this is to set a formal meeting to bring both parties together. Start by asking each other to identify why there is a conflict and listen to each explanation. While employing active listening, the manager should deal with the causes of the conflict and not the people. Conflict should be separated from the personality of the individual. Doing so may avoid judgmental views. Most often, conflict results in a workplace as a triggered by intimidation of others, the demand of work or incompatible interests among employees. This is recognized in the conflict theory where it states that conflict arises when the role of the individual in the organization is threatened which is shown in Dan and Susan’s position where they need to take turns in eating to have a continuity in their work. However, Susan seems to pose as a threat for she does not comply as a backup. Although, proponents of conflict theory consider conflict to be a part of everyday life, it should be kept at a minimum. Back up strategy would be to establish guidelines in a workplace. However, guidelines should be explained so that employees understand its content and the goal of its implementation. For instance, all employees not following the break time set by the organization should be dealt with accordingly. Simple as it may appear but this method may direct the behavior of every employee. After implementing such strategyies it is likewise important to monitor if such methods are effective through self and peer- report. Reporting is a form of valid measurement test usually used to diagnose conflict management strategies (Carsten et al. 2001). The reaction of Joy to what she overheard from Susan and Molly and when she almost collided with Dan is an example of barriers to verbal and non verbal communication. Joy does not know how to intervene to stop the gossip going on between Susan and Molly showing her limited skill in verbal communication. Dan on the other hand misinterpreted Joy’s grim look and clenched teeth which is a form of non verbal communication as something related to the demand of work. The revelation of Susan that she cannot understand half of what karishima says is another barrier in communication among them. To resolve such barriers, the manager should initiate to contact his staff personally. With the popularity of electronic devices today, it would not be difficult to establish contacts with the involved staffs. This is to assess the situation. After which is to find time to have one-on-one meeting and eventually conduct staff meeting. However, resolving barriers in communication should not be the only concern or agenda. It should only be a part of what is to be discussed. Before the meeting though, staffs should be notified through board notice, email or verbal so that everybody will attend. Sometimes solution comes from the staffs just the same thus, it is best to let them talk and suggest solution that best works on both parties during the meeting. Solution however should be agreed upon by both sides. If there are gestures and body languages that are demonstrated, it should not be treated as something negative. This may escalate another problem while getting away from the real issue at hand just like what happened with the perceptual interpretation of Dan with Joy’s non verbal gestures. Such interpretation is demonstrated in attribution theory where there is drawing of inferences from the person’s action and immediately reaches a conclusion that goes beyond sensory information affecting not only communication but interpersonal relations (Martinko, Harvey, & Dasborough, 2001). The behavior of Susan and Molly demonstrates the need to handle their individual differences. Their extended lunch time because of insignificant chatting had caused Dan to remind Susan of her extended break. The way Susan treated Dan shows that she is unprofessional and displays behavior unbecoming causing Dan to locate for their supervisor to report. Since personality affects the way the staff behaves in the workplace, it is deem important to modify the personality. Such values and attitude could be gradually modified through trainings that may involve personality development. Although, it is not an immediate solution, it serves as a stepping stone if success of the organization is to be considered. Introduction of spirituality among staffs during trainings may also enhance their behavior to be positive. Spirituality is defined in general as a value, beliefs, attitude or emotion that affects the behavior of people. When these are inculcated to the person, it becomes natural for her to live with it. Equally important strategy is to be a good example to the subordinates. Although this strategy is more personal, it is still helpful for the good of the organization especially if the boss is always in authority. However, this might not be applied to all settings. Practicing good virtues such as punctuality, temperate, not gossiping, understanding, generous, and other good virtues may encourage other staffs to do the same. It is likened to the idea of following the leader. Such method is supported by the social learning theory. People learn from others through imitation and modeling. Since Susan and Molly display indifferent behavior, they should be exposed more to people who have good virtues for them to learn. To be more effective in this technique is to offer reinforcement. Such reinforcement could be in the form of points, recognition or promotion depending on the guidelines of the company. If employees receive satisfying result as a consequence of imitating, then they continue to practice the good virtues imitated. The way Karishima dresses and speaks shows the company where she works is open for diversity in their work force. Although cultural diversity is considered to be competitive advantage, other employees sometimes have difficulties embracing differences in a workplace. As a consequence, people who come from a diverse background are being discriminated. To overcome such difficulties, the manager should use trainings to incorporate the benefits of including staffs from different culture together with their skills and ideas that may not be familiar. This would slowly change the perception of the rest of the staffs regarding cultural diversity. The role of the manager as an agent of change in this regard is deemed important. If the environment practices the inclusion of diverse perspective, staffs are going to respect and accept diversity without so much prejudice. An alternative strategy would be to incorporate its importance in the company’s mission goals and objective. This is to cultivate awareness to differences not only in race but to social class and cultural orientation among the employees. Susan and Molly’s reaction to Karishima’s clothing is probably because they are not aware of other people’s culture where they have to dress themselves conservatively. Bringing sensitivity to other’s culture may result to empathy and perhaps broadening the mindset of closely minded staffs. Mr. Davis, being busy reviewing the low productivity of his employees indicates his need to motivate his team to enhance their performance. Since he tried to adopt delegation of responsibility through assigning people to decide in behalf of the group was a failure, it would be a better option to start motivating the team involving every employee. This is through increasing their morale. One unique way to do this is to praise them for their achievement whether it is small or big accomplishment. This may let them feel they are an important asset of the organization and in return may improve work performance without too much effort and money involved. However, the manager should recognize every effort equally and not only for selected few. Some managers find monetary reward to be effective too. It might be in the form of ticket for a vacation, increase in salary, bonus or gift to employees who satisfy the requirement of being “best achievers” of the organization. Adopting this kind of incentive though should be applied with caution as it is known to have a short term effect and it is not for everybody. Nevertheless, reward in the form of money is extrinsic which has shown to improve motivation and productivity. Professional development of staffs is yet another strategy to maintain the current level of motivation. This can be link to offering further studies like master’s and doctoral degrees, further trainings, and seminars. Such opportunities to empower staffs are inherent with the actualizing tendency of individuals. This is natural for human to maintain and enhance themselves. Staffs who are self “actualizers” are able to look at life objectively, problem centered rather than self centered, assumes responsibility, work hard and establish a deep satisfying interpersonal relationship with others. To be more effective though, it is still important for the manager to develop an environment where the staffs could motivate themselves (Duffy, 2007). This is by knowing the level of needs of the employees and be the basis to motivate them. Such method is the central point of Maslow’s theory. The cultural diversity issues involved in a conflict in this case is the discussion of the accent of Karishima. Although, she speaks English, her intonation or pronunciation might be the problem for her not to be fully understood. This point to the notion that she comes from another country whose first language is not English. Another is the way Karishima dress herself which seems indifferent from the American way of dressing. She might be dressed like an Arab, Indian or any other nationality apart from that of an American. This is an issue because it brings different interpretations to staffs who are not aware of diverse culture. For Karishima to survive discrimination and for Susan and Molly to be in harmony with other people, they must apply tolerance. Tolerance is the acceptance to consider ways of life of other people without bias. For example, they need to endure diverse customs, beliefs, and traditions to settle social distance. It should be understood that Conclusion Problems like personal wellness, workplace conflict, barriers to verbal and non verbal communication, cultural diversity, individual differences, and team motivation could be easily handled with proper strategies. Its implementation plays a critical role in achieving the organization’s goal and objectives. This is most important in a team based environment where every staff has to participate not only for self improvement but also to be in unison with the vision and mission of having quality work for higher productivity which is the end target of every company to survive. References Billing, D., & Stokes, L., (1987). Medical-surgical nursing. Mosby Company. St. Louis. Carsten, K., (2001). A theory- based measure of conflict management strategies in workplace. Journal of organizational behavior. 22. 645-668. Duffy, J., (2007). Work motivation: History, theory, research, and practice. Canadian Psychology. Vol. 48, Iss. 4; pg. 275, 2 pgs. Martinko, MJ., Harvey, P., & Dasborough, M., (2001). Attribution theory in the organizational sciences: A case of unrealized potential. Journal of organizational behavior. 32. 144-149. Read More