Conflict Management Model and Solutions - Case Study Example

Conflict Model Introduction Conflicts are a common occurrence in any environment and thus they should be regarded as part of the elements of life. Since people are prone to conflicts, elaborate measures need to be instituted to ensure, the conflicts are readily resolved whenever they occur. Conflict management models are techniques that will critically analyse conflict in particular situations and provide the relevant solutions to them (Furlong, 2005). This paper explores a conflict situation and then tries to identify the model, which can provide a resolution to the conflict. Description of the conflict Allan and Jessica are employees of a popular logistics company. The two have been working together for many years and thus, have developed an excellent professional team work relationship as well as friendship on a personal level. However, Jessica has worked for the company longer but she is still at the same as Allan who joined the organization long after her. Further, they share an open office together with other employees. Recently the assistant manager for the company resigned under medical grounds and thus, his position fell vacant and an incumbent is been sought to fill the vacancy. After conducting due diligence procedures and consultation, Allan has been promoted to take over the position as the new assistant manager; something that did not resonate well with Jessica who thought she was the one who deserved the promotion given that she has more experience in the job as well as served the company longest. That notwithstanding, Jessica thinks she is more qualified academically since Allan did not perform exemplary in his university education. This has created bad blood between Jessica and Allan as well as with the other staff members in the office who feel Allan did not deserve the position of the assistant manager. In addition, the management decided that Allan should retain his previous workstation in an open office but assume the new designation. In the office, he faces open rivalry and opposition from his old cronies and thus this has made him adopt a strict persona just to make sure his directives are implemented. Therefore, it has now becomes evident that Jessica who was once his best friend is now against him and is working to sabotage his efforts as the new assistant manager. The management in a bid to improve its services decided to implement a new policy meant to add extra work load on the employees. Allan as the assistant manager was tasked to implement the policy starting with the employees in his office (Noble, 2012). When he announced the new policy changes, there was a lot of resistance and negativity. The employees were against the new policy as it imposed additional workload to the already straining job they had. Since Allan was used to his office mates as colleagues, he found it had to compel them to adhere to the policy and sometimes had to resort to strict directives. This lead to Allan being maligned by his colleagues and who even started talking negatively about him in secret, while others like Jessica would make demeaning remarks about the new assistant manager in team meetings, which degraded the authority of Allan (Noble, 2012). Description of the social context and participants This particular conflict is a workplace conflict that involves personal level conflicts between the participants. Thus, just like in any other organization, conflicts are common because of the different nature in which people make decisions responding to situations. However, regardless of the many causes that may be behind workplace conflicts, the two major issues causing conflicts include; personality differences between employees and difference in ideas and strategy of working environment (Sagel-Grande et al., 2009). Conflicts that arise as a result of personality issues normally arise between employees who are working in the same level of the organization and thus, conflicts between senior employees and junior employees cannot be caused by personality difference. On the other hand, conflicts arising because of the differences in strategies and ideas are the most common workplace conflicts (Lussier & Achua, 2010). They normally affect all levels of the organization in the sense that, they may occur between junior employees and their seniors as well as among junior employees themselves. In our case the conflict that was evident between Jessica and Allan, as well as Allan and other employees, is basically as a result of differences of work strategies and ideas. The context in which the conflict occurs is at the workplace and to be precise, in the office of the assistant manager. The employees are unhappy with the new policy that the manager has implemented and thus have risen to resist change thus, culminating to the conflict (Sagel-Grande et al., 2009). Identification of antecedent conditions Prior to the conflict arising, the employees enjoyed a peaceful and friendly coexistence in the office. They worked as a team without any problems and always assisted each other whenever a problem arose. Jessica and Allan were best of friends in the workplace on top of being professional associates who encouraged and motivated the efforts of each other to ensure he/she succeeded in his/her endeavours. In a nutshell, the workplace conditions in the office were perfect and ideal just like any other office would be expected (Sagel-Grande et al., 2009). However, regardless of the challenges that occur in the course of duty it is imperative that they are noted/identified in the earliest opportunity so that they can be ironed out in the interest of every employee. However, in our case, the situation changed drastically from the moment the position of the assistant manager went vacant to the point when Allan was promoted and assumed duty as the new assistant manager of the company. The change of conditions was expected just like in any ideal environment where there is the notion of limited resources with unlimited demand (Lussier & Achua, 2010). In this particular workplace, there was only one vacancy that was supposed to be filled, but then the number of workers in the office who thought they had the pre-requisite qualification to take over the position was overwhelming. This was the main cause of rivalry between Jessica and Allan as she thought she was more competent and thus deserved the promotion than Allan (Behrends & AEGIS, 2014). Identification of the Behaviour Reflecting the Cognition and Personalization by the Individuals of the Conflict When the new policy came into effect the employees of the company felt the weight of the added job obligation accompanying it because it would subject them to additional workload thus, the need to spend more extra hours in the office to accomplish their assignments. Therefore, because this did not resonate well with them, they openly displayed their dissatisfaction as before the policy was implemented because Allan was one of them and they usually complained of the workload that their jobs presented (Behrends & AEGIS, 2014). Going on to implement a policy that increased the volume of work to his fellow employees was unjustifiable as they saw it as a manner of communicating to them that he was the new boss thus his directives had to be adhered to the letter. Therefore, owing to the policy’s negative impact on the employees, it was received with massive resistance that included employees not completing their assigned duties as directed by the assistant manager. The new assistant manager faced open antagonism from his fellow employees as they worked against him to ensure he did not succeed in implementing the new policy (Sagel-Grande et al., 2009). For instance, during the team meetings some employees like Jessica, could come out and make demeaning remarks that degraded the authority of an assistant manager also depicting how incompetent he was for his job assignment. Allan was left alone as all his friends deserted him as a result of his new position and for implementing the policy, which made the workplace demanding. In addition, some employees would make negative remarks about him in his absence and thus, made the environment in the workplace unconducive for him to undertake his duties effectively. Thus, because of the opposition and resistance from every angle, Allan developed a strict personality towards his employees. He assumed the friendly relationship they previously enjoyed and began treating them harshly as unexpected. The situation in the workplace was getting out of hand as it did not provide an ideal environment of working towards the company’s objectives (Lussier & Achua, 2010). Identification of the conflict management model Since this was a workplace conflict that involved a number of participants, elaborate measures have to be institute to ensure it is resolved and individuals affected get back to cooperating with each other to ensure collective actions are geared towards the achievement of the organization’s objectives (Behrends & AEGIS, 2014). There are a number of conflict management models that are available, however, the model that is chosen should be the one that best fits the situation at hand. The characteristics of those involved in the conflict need to be analysed so that a suitable model that will effectively incorporate such characteristics to help in finding a lasting solution to the conflict is identified. In this case, I identified the Thomas Kilmann conflict model instrument as the ideal model to solve the conflict situation that faced this particular company (Sagel-Grande et al., 2009). This model insists on embracing conflict as part of life occurring any time, which should, however, be viewed as an avenue for achieving growth and prosperity in the organization as opposed to being a stumbling block to success. This model implements a five style conflict management technique that include; accommodating, avoiding, collaborating, competing and compromising that all depict the best alternatives for solving the conflict in case situation of this company (Noble, 2012). Description of the research supporting the model The conflict that arose in the company was mainly due to two forces that were fighting against each other. There was that assertive force whereby people were fighting for what they want and also the co-operative force whereby the company management wanted cooperation from employees on working towards achieving its objectives. This prompted for a critical feasibility to be undertaken in order to come up with a conflict resolution model that will amicably resolve all the underlying issues (Sagel-Grande et al., 2009). Thus, Thomas Kilmann conflict mode instrument was identified as the preferred tool that would deal with the conflict in totality because the tool implements five management techniques which are very ideal for this particular conflict to ensure a resolution is made (Lussier & Achua, 2010). That notwithstanding it does an in-depth analysis of the personal characteristics of the participants of the conflict prior to managing the conflict a move that will ensure whatever resolution is made is for the best interest of all that are involved. Cultural and contextual characteristics are also analysed to ensure all the underlying issue that culminated to the conflict are fixed to ensure the same conflict does not occur again in future but if at all it does recur elaborate measures will be taken to solve it at the earliest opportunity possible (Behrends & AEGIS, 2014). Brief description of the conflict resolution techniques reflecting the model Thomas Kilmann instrument implements five management styles techniques to ensure the conflict at hand is solved, they include; compromising accommodation, competing, avoiding and collaborating. Accommodation is where the individuals embrace high degree cooperation with others even in the event where they are working against their objective (Lussier & Achua, 2010). The critical issue in this technique is to embrace teamwork and cooperation among the warring groups. Avoiding is the next technique which focuses on withdrawing in the event where you perceive taking a certain action would raise animosity or be of a negative impact to the other parties. Collaborating is where individuals pool skills together to work collectively in order to achieve certain goals. Thus, those involved have to abandon their individual objectives and pursue the common goal of the group. However in such situations issues of trust among the team members arise as some may not be genuinely working toward a common objective (Sagel-Grande et al., 2009). Competing will occur in a situation where individual members are not ready to abandon their goals and objectives. Thus, each person will assertively work to achieve his/her objectives but those goals should be in line with the general organizational objectives. Finally compromising is the other technique. This where each person will want to do it his/her way by end up not attaining whatever objectives they had in mind (Lussier & Achua, 2010). Anticipated outcome It is expected that all employees will agree to respect each other’s’ opinion in matters concerning the company. Jessica is also expected to commit not to make any defamatory comments concerning her assistant manager in the public and whenever any problems occur in future she should act as a link between the employees and Allan to ensure the matter is solve before it escalates. Allan on the other hand is expected to admit that at some instances he would act in a manner that is not expected of him thus commit to change and also since he is the new manager he should stay away from the rest of employees to ensure autonomy but at the same time he should offer them support whenever it is needed (Sagel-Grande et al, 2009). Conclusion Despite conflicts giving rise to animosity and unbearable working environments, they should be utilized in a manner that promotes the objectives of the organization. That notwithstanding elaborate conflict resolution models should be implemented to ensure the conflicts that arise are resolved amicably. References Furlong, G. T. (2005). The conflict resolution toolbox: Models & maps for analyzing, diagnosing, and resolving conflict. Mississauga, Ont: J. Wiley & Sons Canada. Lussier, R. N., & Achua, C. F. (2010). Leadership: Theory, application, skill development. Australia: SouthWestern/Cengage Learning. Behrends, A., & AEGIS. (2014). Travelling models in African conflict management: Translating technologies of social ordering. Leiden: Brill. Noble, C. (2012). Conflict management coaching: The CINERGY model. Toronto: CINERGY Coaching. Sagel-Grande, I., Polak, M. V., Bilsky, W., & E.M. Meijers Instituut. (2009). Models of conflict resolution. Antwerpen: Maklu. Read More