Category: Conflict

Introduction

Conflict comes up when two people share different opinions regarding the same topic. Taking an example of two staff members working in the same office, with one holding a higher rank than his counterpart, we may experience heightened levels of hostility from the lower-ranked employee, if he feels that his senior is overworking him unfairly.

This kind of situation occurs regularly in workplaces factoring in the enormous amounts of stress levels and exhaustion.

Controlling organizational conflict

To put an end to such misunderstanding in the office, the individual roles should be clearly established beforehand by the senior member of staff who overlooks the whole working body of staff members. This categorizes the duties that should be allocated to specific member on a specified level of practice.

However, if two staff members seem to disagree on their shared responsibilities working on the same deck, or in the same line of work, then the supervisor should intercept and consider each persons opinion on the task at hand.

Where possible, the task should be handled by both on equal capacity to enhance the level of understanding; the more the two work together, the higher the chances they will get to learn each others character.

Given a situation where there is query beyond understanding, the supervisor could put the employees on different schedules so that the first handles the current task and the other employee postpones his duty to enable the first to work at that time. It would however be advisable to separate two rival employees from the same working station.

Generally, employers and senior supervisors should do whatever they can to avoid employee conflict based on office politics. Any defiant employee who seeks to incite others should be advised to desist from negatively influencing the working staff.

However, some level of conflict is ok for competing employees. The managers in this situation cold use it to their advantage by allowing the competition to carry on while sustaining a high degree of behavioral management. A de-escalation strategy could work to harmonize the competing parties in case the conflict heats up to a hostile level (Lewicki et al, 2009).

It is quite fundamental to maintain clear communication lines within the organization as assumptions may build up and destroy employee relations from unmanaged conflict

The three conflict initializing factors include, office politics, assumptions that pass un-clarified, and healthy competition.

The different roles of the Executive director as compared to the Board Chairman

The Board chairman presides over the organizations corporate meetings with or without the presence of the executive officer. He can preside with the powers of the executive or just as the highest-ranked corporate board officer. He is usually the head of the board of directors, ad he determines the broader perspective of the company.

In short, he carries the organizations future vision and key criteria. He is different from the executive director at certain instances. For instance, the executive director can make decisions for the company acting as the director of marketing, finance or even the director of operations.

The director is also deemed liable by tax firms under their laws, and he is a fulltime member of the organizations employed staff. The director cannot supersede the Chairmans directives, but he can call for a consideration at the committees meetings in review of a conflicting idea (Black, 2011).

References

Black, K. (2011). What is a Chairman of the Board? Retrieved from Wisegeek: https://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-chairman-of-the-board.htm

Lewicki R. J., L. Roy, Barry B., D. Saunders. (2009). Negotiation: Readings, Exercises, and Cases. New York: McGraw Hill.

Introduction

Conflicts are disagreements in which the parties involved perceive a threat to their needs, interest, and/or concerns thus raising noticeable differences in positions of the involved parties. A conflict is more than a disagreement when based on the expected influence to human relationships.

Decision making is basically a process of the mind aimed at the selection of a desirable course of action from a variety of alternative solutions in response to a given problem at hand. For every decision making process there is a final choice that is either an action or an opinion (Monahan, 2000, pp.33-40).

An organization is a group of people working together towards a common achievement. Every organization has a structure and roles to be performed by every level in the structure; thus organizational design is the process of aligning the organizational structure, processes, rewards and capabilities in relation to the organizations strategy of performance.

It is a path to effective execution of organizational strategies through making trade-offs of one set of structural benefits against the other (Gibson et al., 2003, p. 90).

Conflicts are expected in a normal organizational environment because of the existence of different personalities with divergent approaches to various situations depending on their experiences and abilities (Monahan, 2000, pp.33-40).

Due to the fact that such disagreements may cause a delay or at times stagnation in organizational development, there is need for decision making geared towards solving such conflicts in more favorable approach to ensure harmony and improve the organizational design in service performance.

This paper will address various issues related to conflicts, decision making and organization design. Focus will specifically be on various ways through which organizations can solve conflicts especially with use of creative management techniques and evidence-based management.

Negotiation in Addressing Conflict in the Workplace

Various techniques are followed to address conflicts within in the workplace. Negotiation techniques are approaches of a third party that help the individuals or parties in a conflict to confer with the other party with an aim of arriving at an acceptable settlement.

Commonly, there are three approaches to negotiation; that is, soft negotiation that aims at making peace and thus readily arrives at concessions to resolve or avoid the conflict at hand, hard negotiation displays a conflict as a struggle in which one party takes the extreme stand and holds out fares better, while positional bargaining entails successive taking and giving up of positions to arrive at an agreement.

Irrespective of the selected negotiation approach to conflicts, the process of negotiation often leaves people dissatisfied and worn out. Positional bargaining is sometimes inefficient and fails to give a peaceable solution. This is because it makes negotiators narrow on the position at the expense of the original interests of either party.

It may also slug the whole process of conflict resolution in a situation where each individual maintains an extreme position rather than joining to give an acceptable solution effectively turning the whole thing into a battle. At times it also provides an agreement that may reflect a split of differences rather than careful and creative development of a solution of mutual benefit.

For efficiency in problem solving, there is need for the negotiator to adopt a stepwise strategy for creating a mutual agreement in conflicts. The four basic steps are separating the people from the problem, focusing on individual interest not positions, inventing options for mutual gain, and insisting on using objective criteria in evaluating a proposed solution.

The problem and the people should be treated separately because conflict are normally not due to personality limitations but due to differences in human perceptions, emotions, and communication. A distinction should be established between individual perceptions and realities and also between relationship of the intentions of the other conflicting party and ones fears.

This helps every party see the conflict from every side withholding judgments and later on making proposals consistent with accepted values (Shelton & Darling 2004, p.38). There is need to recognize and understand personal emotions from both sides and make them explicit which is followed by communication describing the problem in terms of the impact not the action committed.

Focusing on interests at the expense of positions is essential in achieving a wise and fair solution because behind opposed positions lie shared and compatible problems.

This is followed by the creation of a wide variety of options in the search of the best solution and choosing a solution that ensures mutual gain by use of shared interests (Shelton & Darling 2004, p. 30). The success of a negotiation process depends on its efficient, production of a wise and mutually beneficial agreement building a relationship of trust, respect and friendship making further negotiations even easier.

Evidence-based Management

Evidence-based management is a management movement that involves the adoption of best available scientific evidence in making managerial decisions and organizational practices for effective management (Rousseau & McCarthy, 2007, p. 104). Furthermore, it provides a consideration of the circumstances and ethical concerns that managerial decisions involve.

For effective application of evidence based management in a financial management there is need for educating both current and future managers in evidence-based initiatives (Kovner et al, 2000, p.3-26). Knowledge in such initiatives will help financial managers to effectively carry out management practices in a situation of theft of fraud.

For example, in a situation where an individuals bank account is accessed and debited in a manner different from the best known by the bank, there is need to retrieve the clients documents such as the credit card and reset all access practices for purposes of security.

EB Management enhances the overall quality of organizational decisions and practices through deliberative use of relevant and best available scientific evidence in with great care and following legal frameworks (Romme, 2003, p. 559).

Use of such practices has to be ethical, valid and reliable to business and organizational facts and considerable to their impacts to stakeholders. Despite the benefits of EBManagement, there are objections that it makes management an exercise of power and exploitative in nature (Learmonth & Harding, 2006, pp.245-266).

Creative Decision Making

Creative decision making entails a situation where the decision maker looks at choices as opportunities but not problems helping him work through difficult decisions with care and thus creating an understanding and confidence in the decisions made (Monahan, 2000, pp.33-40). This is because decisions are quite significant in the achievement of organizational objectives.

Creative decision making follows five basic chronological stages, namely; interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, and explanation (Shelton & Darling 2004, p.38).

Interpretation provides a comprehensive understanding of a problem; analysis helps in identifying the inferred relationships among concept; evaluation assesses the credibility of the concepts which are then inferred to secure elements needed to draw reasonable conclusions and lastly explanation is justifying the results of ones reasoning.

There are four basic, methods of decision making; use of command, consultation, voting and creation of consensus. Use of command entails absence of other peoples involvement by either outside forces placing demands on the organization or due to a laxity in involvement in decision making.

Consultation entails a situation where the decision maker invites to influence in the decision making process, this either the experts or a representative population. It is considered an efficient way of gaining supportive ideas. Use of voting is used when selecting from a variety of options in a situation where greater value is placed on efficiency.

Finally, consensus involves discussion of the problem at hand until an honestly agreed upon decision is made producing unity and high quality decisions. However, it is time wasting and thus only efficient in complex issues of high-stakes and issues where a collective agreement is basic.

The process of choosing a method for decision making entails identifying the individuals willing to participate, the individuals with the expatriate, those who are corporative and the maximum number of people who must participate in decision making (Andriopoulos, 2001, p.834).

For a financial institution, seeking for consultation from expatriate is very essential in decision making for it provides room for research in the best available financial practices. Thus the best method of decision making has to involve consultation.

Organizational Design

In determining the organizational design, various factors are put into consideration; these factors include organizational behavior, function, product or category, targeted customers or market, the geography of the market and the area coverage of the targeted market space. Organizational behavior describes individuals actions in an organization in carrying their functional duties.

The category of an organization is its specialization in service/product delivery in the market say financial services. The targeted customers for an organization refer to specific clients to whom the services and products are to be delivered; for example the public constitutes the major market for financial services of a bank (Kates & Galbraith, 2007, p.37).

Conclusion

Conflict management, decision making and organizational design are ongoing procedures in an organization. They involve continual communication and supervision of the organizational performance in relation to efficiency and effectiveness in business operation.

For maximum benefit to be realized from the above procedures there is need for ensuring organizational flexibility and constant evaluation of every business procedure adopted.

More importantly is the need for corporations and other workplaces in the 21^st century to explore and adopt scientific companies do whatever they can to retain their employees especially the experienced ones. That way, they will be able to retain a talented pool of employees able to deliver goals based on an entitys mission and vision.

Effective management based on creative approaches in decision making, evidence based management will go a long way in helping corporations based management methods in conflict management, decision making, and organizational design.

Because of scarcity of some skills in the job market and high turnover among human resources, it is necessary that in achieving their long-term plans in the markets they operate. Besides, effective conflict management ensures harmony among employees which is crucial to effective functioning of a business entity.

References

Andriopoulos, C. (2001). Determinants of organisational creativity: A literature review. Management Decision 39(10): p. 834.

Gibson, I.et al. (2003). Organizations: Behavior, Structure, and Processes. Boston: McGraw Hill.

Kates, A. & Galbraith, J. R. (2007). Designing Your Organization: Using the Star Model to Solve Five Critical Design Challenges. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Kovner, A. R. et al. (2000). Evidence-Based Management. Frontiers of Health Services Management. 16 (4): 326.

Learmonth, M. & Harding, N. (2006). Evidence-based Management: The very idea. Public Administration 84(2) 245- 266.

Monahan, G. (2000). Management Decision Making. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Romme, A.G.L. (2003). Making a difference: Organization as design. Organization Science, vol. 14: 558-573.

Rousseau, D.M. & McCarthy, S. (2007). Evidence-based Management: Educating managers from an evidence-based perspective. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 6, 94-101.

Shelton, C.D., and J.R. Darling. (2004). From Chaos to Order: Exploring New Frontiers in Conflict Management. Organization Development Journal 22, no. 3 p. 2241.

Introduction

Conflicts are unavoidable at the family level, as well as, within organizations that people depend up on to satisfy their needs and wants. Even though people who constitute an organization are bound together by common and shared goals, conflicts are inevitable in the course of working towards the realization of those goals.

In most cases, conflicts within an organization stem from disagreement between and among employees, as well as, with other stakeholders like customers, suppliers, authorities, shareholders, and competitors. Moreover, differences might stem from differences in personality, emotional stability/intelligence, and cultural intelligence (Robbins & Judge 2009, p.165).

Contrary to the popular thinking, conflicts are not entirely disruptive or destructive to an organizations performance, productivity, and focus. When handled properly and professionally with an open mind that is not unnecessarily clouded by emotions of the parties involved, conflicts can be the origin of positive change in an organization that leads to another level of better organizational performance and productivity (Alper, Tjosvold, & Law 2000, p. 627).

Thus, depending on how conflicts are dealt with, they can inspire positive progress within an organization. In short, from a given perspective conflicts are significant and a central feature of a functional organization. This paper is a case study report on conflict in Seatcor Manufacturing Company.

Classification of the conflict

A conflict is a difference involving at least two individuals or groups who interact with each in a given way and who see some incongruity between themselves (Rahim 1992, p.120). In other words, it is a situation whereby, in the process of interaction, one party feels that its interests are being contested or adversely affected by another partner party (Wall & Callister 1995, p.517).

From a systems approach to conflict management in an organization, one main form of conflict is visible in the Seatcor Manufacturing Company within the largest desk assembly plant (Jackson 2000, p.358). It encompasses an intra-organizational conflict that is mainly inter-group and to some extent inter-personal.

An inter-personal conflict refers to an individual to individual conflict. It is the most common form of conflict in various organizations. On the other hand, an intra-organizational conflict occurs among the various formal, as well as, informal groups in an organization (Nicotera 1995, p.46).

In this case, there is an inter-personal conflict between Joe, the vice president and general manager of the desk assembly plant and Amanda Stewart, assistant vice president and Joes second in command. Amanda is aggrieved because Joe did not involve her in the drafting of a five-year plan for their plant.

Conventionally, being the second in command to Joe, she should have been the pioneer champion of the plan. Instead, Joe chose two junior managers, working under her, to complete and popularize the plan. Furthermore, Joe does not support her in dealing with disobedient junior managers. Mainly, there is an intra-organizational conflict between two groups, that is, Joe and his loyalist smokers on one hand and Amanda and the non-smokers, on the other hand.

Players in this conflict

Players in this conflict include Joe the vice president and general manager of the plant, his loyalists Mitchell and Ken, Amanda assistant vice president and Joes second in command, smokers and non-smokers. Joes role in the conflict includes causing disharmony and indiscipline among members of his department.

For example, while it is expected that he should work closely with his assistant Amanda in dealing with disobedience from junior managers, he does not. In fact, his loyalists Mitchell and Ken defy job-related instructions from Amanda with impunity because Joe would protect them from being disciplined.

While Amanda would obviously want pleas from non-smoking members heeded in keeping with public health requirements and safe working conditions, Joe does not care about non-smokers health and possible turn over. He also does not respect the chain of command within the plant; thus, he chooses junior managers at the expense of his assistant to spearhead drafting of the plants five year plan.

Amanda plays the role of an aggrieved party and a justified whistleblower due to the turn of events within the plant since her appointment to the post of assistant vice president, and an apparent heir of Joes position. Her perspective is that of a genuinely concerned employee who would like to be part of an organization, and give back for what s/he takes home at the end of the day.

Mitchell and Ken, together with others especially smokers, play the role of loyalists to Joe who in their perspective is always right and final. Non-smokers are neutral parties who would like to work in an organization where their safety is fully guarded, and where rules and regulations are the foundation of operations and not individual or group whims.

Major issues in this conflict

Intra-organizational conflict includes role based, line-staff, horizontal and vertical conflicts or issues (Kondalkar 2003, p.343). Major issues in this conflict include differences occurring at various levels of managerial hierarchy in the plant. There is a conflict between the newly recruited assistant vice president Amanda and junior managers and other subordinates (Kondalkar 2003, p.343).

For example, Mitchell and Ken openly defy job-related instructions from Amanda. In addition, there are issues between Joe who is the vice president and general manager the plant and his assistant and second in command to him Amanda. For instance, Joe appoints junior managers to spearhead the drafting and championing of a five-year-plan and overlooks her.

He also does not support Amanda in dealing accordingly with cases of indiscipline from junior managers. This aspect of an intra-organizational conflict is referred to as a vertical conflict (Kondalkar 2003, p.344). It is caused by differences in insight, personal value system, goals that an individual employee has been assigned, cognition and variation in personal behaviour (Kondalkar 2003, p.344). Sometimes it is caused by ineffective communication between employees at two different levels of hierarchy (Kondalkar 2003, p.344).

There are certainly issues between Amanda who is an extremely determined, bright, and well-trained business graduate and junior managers in terms of perception, goals assigned to each, cognition and personal behaviour. There are also considerable differences between Joe and Amanda from the above mentioned perspectives.

For example, while Amanda appears to know the importance of honouring the managerial chain of command in relation to maintenance of organizational harmony in shunning conflict of interests, Joe and his sycophants do not understand its importance. Joe ignores his assistant in chief departmental matters and instead involves junior managers who are probably far much lesser qualified than Amanda.

This automatically results to role issues raised by Amanda to the CEO. Behaviour wise, Amanda is a law abiding person who would like to see others respect set organizational rules and regulations while Joe and his lieutenants lack in respect for law. There are also issues between non-smoking employees and smoking workers.

On one hand, non-smokers are concerned about their health, which is endangered by secondary smoke and would like the organization to enforce a non-smoking policy at the work place or else they will leave. On the other hand, smokers with the support of Joe break the policy with impunity especially his lead loyalists Mitchell and Ken who continue smoking at the work place irrespective complains from others.

This phenomenon has led to what is referred to as horizontal conflict within the assembly plant because of incompatibility of personal value system and individual interests (Kondalkar 2003, p.343). This has led to misunderstanding, frustration, and tension on the two sides and the non-smokers have already warned that they are on exit if the non-smoking policy is not implemented with immediate effect (Kondalkar 2003, p.343).

There are also similar issues between Joe and Amanda his assistant based on differences in goals, variation in time orientation and differences in expertise and skills (Kondalkar 2003, p.344). Joe ignores outright the value that Amanda can bring on board in the drafting of the five-year plan, as well as, her efforts in instilling discipline among junior managers.

This has in turn led to role issues because of variation in expectations in duties assigned to each employee in accordance to his or her rank. Traditionally for instance, Joe should be supportive of Amandas efforts in whatever she does provided it is within her powers yet this is not the case. In fact, Joe is keen to frustrate any effort by Amanda.

This has led to tension and frustration between the two parties. Other clear outstanding issues in this conflict include power imbalance and gender conflict (Kondalkar 2003, p.344). Joe is all-powerful and does not recognize the authority of Amanda his senior assistant even in serious departmental issues. Consequently, junior managers and subordinates have emulated him. They neither recognize nor respect Amandas authority.

This has distressed Amanda and is negatively affecting her performance. There are also gender issues as indicate by the rumours that Joe has vowed to ensure that a male counterpart takes up his position after retiring. This partly explains his decision to leave out Amanda in the main assembly plant issues and determination to frustrate her efforts.

Most appropriate Strategies for effective management of this conflict

Effective management of this conflict should encompass implementing strategies that limit its adverse aspects and promote its positive aspects at the level where it is occurring, and higher than that.

The aim of conflict management is to facilitate learning and performance or effectiveness of the parties and groups involved in a conflict within an organization (Rahim 2002, p. 208; Alper, Tjosvold, & Law 2000, p. 627; Bodtker & Jameson 2001, p.260). Conflict management does not entail avoiding or eliminating conflicts because, as pointed out earlier, conflict can be valuable to organizations and groups when handled properly.

The most appropriate Strategy for effective management of this conflict is Collaboration because there is a clear drifting apart of employees at various levels in the assembly plant (Omika 2007, p.87). Collaborating conflict management style is characterized by evident mutual and assertive behaviour (Omika 2007, p.87).

It is an effective and practical conflict management strategy that is earmarked by deliberate attempts towards coming up with solutions that meet the needs of all parties involved. This approach involves the use integration and problem-solving methods. Collaboration is appropriate because it has numerous advantages, which will ensure that all parties to the conflict come out fairly and satisfied. First, using this strategy will enable parties to work together so that everyone can win (Omika 2007, p.88).

Importantly, selecting the style guarantees that individuals endeavour to identify an elucidation that will assists all parties apprehend their interests and help everyone maintain a healthy relationship (Omika 2007, p.88). Its ability to enable parties maintain healthy, long-term, and beneficial relationships make up its core strength, which makes it suitable for various conflicting situations involving groups within the assembly plant.

Collaboration will be effective in managing this conflict because it will enable parties to treat conflict as natural, and see its potential in helping and leading to a more creative solution if handled properly. It will ensure satisfaction for all thus increasing chances of loyalty and commitment to the solutions arrived at, as well as, its implementation (Omika 2007, p.88).

How to implement chosen conflict management strategies

Collaboration management strategy should be put in to practice by all the parties involved in this conflict. Parties should be loyal to all the solutions arrived at. In fact, its implementation calls for team work in order to facilitate flourishing of the desired long-term beneficial relationships among all employees in the assembly plant.

In short, every party should be an active implementer of the solutions arrived at in accordance to individual abilities and without minding ones rank. For purposes of successful implementation, parties should ignore prestige and status of their ranks so that they may operate from a similar level. This will enhance integration in the long run.

Conclusion

Conflicts are part and parcel of daily activities within individuals, romantic relationships, at the family level and places of work, as well as, the general wider society. Conflict is usually valuable to individuals, organizations and groups when managed properly. They can be an impetus of improved individual and group performance and productivity within an organization and personal life.

Therefore, the chosen conflict management strategy in this conflict should encompass implementing strategies that minimize its adverse aspects and promote its positive aspects at the level where it is taking place and higher. Collaboration is an effective approach to this conflict because it enables individuals using it to treat conflict as natural, and see its potential in helping and leading to a more creative solution if handled properly. It ensures satisfaction for all thus increasing chances of loyalty and commitment to the solutions arrived at.

References

Alper, S., Tjosvold, D., & Law, K. S., 2000 Conflict management, efficacy, and Performance in organizational teams. Personnel Psychology, 53, pp. 625-642.

Bodtker, A. M., & Jameson, J. K., 2001. Emotion in conflict formation and its Transformation: Application to organizational conflict management. The International Journal of Conflict Management, 3, pp. 259-275.

Jackson, M. C., 2000. Systems approaches to management. New York, NY: Springer.

Kondalkar, M., 2003. Organization Effectiveness and Change Management. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.

Nicotera, A. M., 1995. Conflict and organizations: communicative processes. New York, NY: SUNY Press.

Omika, R., 2007. Corporate Conflict Management: Concepts and Skills. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.

Rahim, M. A., 1992. Managing conflict in organizations. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Rahim, M. A., 2002. Towards a theory of managing organizational conflict. The International Journal of Conflict Management, 13(6), pp. 206-235.

Robbins, P., & Judge, A., 2009. Organizational Behaviour. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc.

Wall, J. A., & Callister, R., 1995. Conflict and its management. Journal of Management, 21(8), pp. 515-558.

Stages of development of conflict resolution field

Stage one

Failure to control the eruption of the First World War led to people coming up with ways to avert reemergence of wars in the future. The first stage of development of conflict resolution modalities started in 1918 and went on until 1945. Idealistic views characterized this phase and individual states played a critical role in conflict resolution. One feature that makes this phase noteworthy is the attempt by the countries to resolve conflicts using a non-violent approach. Moreover, the phase marked the establishment of international relations.

Stage two

The second stage is also referred to as the second generation, which lasted between 1945 and 1965. Introduction of nuclear weapons led to the need for urgent conflict resolution management. Conflict resolution approaches used in this stage were state centered and every state strived to stem out the cause of the conflict. The feature that makes this stage noteworthy is the societys endeavor to come up with conflict resolution methods using numerous institutions.

Stage three

The third stage of development of conflict resolution field started in 1965 and lasted until 1985. The cold war marked this period. Civil society sought to manage conflicts through mediation. They endeavored to nurture expertise in the community, promote labor intercession, and advocate for family conciliation. This phase is essential as it marked the establishment of an empirical interpretation of destructive conflict from interstate level aimed at attaining win-win accords between the superpowers.

Stage four

The fourth stage began after the end of the cold war in 1985 and lasted until 2005. In this phase, there was a need to introduce new world order of conflict resolution. Individuals adopted the virtue of complementarity and contingency to help in conflict management. Dialogue took the centre stage of conflict resolution with a belief that soft forms of conflict resolution would help to restore trust between conflicting parties. This phase is crucial since it saw the involvement of non-governmental organizations in conflict resolution programs.

Stage five

The fifth stage of development of conflict resolution field started in 2005 and it is currently evolving. The struggle by countries to curb terrorism characterizes this stage. Countries strive to establish a peaceful regime by respecting cultures and advocating for democracy.

Besides, they encourage inter-country trade as one of the approaches of establishing peaceful coexistence between countries. This phase is noteworthy since it led to international cooperation between countries. Moreover, it led to many countries attaining their sovereignty as developed countries sought to promote democracy.

Definition of culture

One of the hardest concepts to elucidate is culture. Every day, people talk about culture. Nevertheless, when asked to describe what culture is all about, they become dumb.

Based on LeBaron, Avruch and Ramsbothams perceptions of culture, one may define culture as the collective deposit of beliefs, knowledge, meanings, hierarchies, spatial relations, experience, and religion that people borrow from contemporaries or their ancestors. In most cases, people accept these practices without questioning. Culture is figurative, and symbols are passed from one generation to another.

There are clear similarities and differences in LeBaron, Avruch, and Ramsbothams explanation of how culture contributes to conflict and conflict resolution. LeBaron alleges that culture plays a significant role in conflict and conflict resolution. He asserts that culture determines how individuals interpret things.

Besides, it tells people what they need to do. LeBaron accepts that culture is a key contributor to conflicts, especially in areas that entail development of personal values and identity.

Ramsbotham refutes claims that culture contributes to conflict. He claims that cultural variation does not contribute to conflicts, and they should not be factored in when coming up with conflict resolution policies. On the other hand, Avruch warns against application of inadequate ideas when dealing with conflict. Avruch claims that culture is possibly genetically rooted and locally changed.

Ramsbotham claims that culture plays a significant role in conflict resolution. He gives the example of religion, as one of the cultural factors that people ought to consider when developing conflict resolution mechanisms. LeBaron alleges that culture seeps into conflict despite the situation.

Consequently, to come up with viable conflict resolution mechanisms, it is imperative to understand the shared and unspoken beliefs of the conflicting parties. Ramsbotham and LeBaron believe that individuals contain inherent cultural aspects, which make them exhibit either positive or negative behaviors.

LeBaron, Avruch, and Ramsbotham share similar views with respect to culture and behavior. They all agree that culture influences the behavior of every society. Hence, they posit that it is rational to analyze the behaviors of the conflicting parties in line with their cultures prior to solving the conflict.

It is risky to communicate with people who are invisible, and the organization has to take precaution of its internal marketing information in order to remain within legal realms of doing business. As opined in the article, marketing channel conflicts management, the enterprise should meet all the legal and ethical consideration while using the internet to reach out to the target population.

The organization should not use any offensive or abusive words because this can reduce the volume of sales (Brian, 2012). Reflectively, the fashion industry is very sensitive and the internet can help reach out to the market effectively. The advantage of internet communication is that it has no geographical barriers.

In FUBU Company, customers use blogs to express their ideas, thoughts, and conflict with the Company. For instance, as indicated in the article, a customer in Dallas reported the company to the marketing regulatory authority over confidentiality lapse. Upon ordering and paying a pair of suit online, the customer received the wrong size of the suit.

Though he has since received the right size, his complaint was the time wasted by the company. Thus, speak out loud is a forum that enables members to share their knowledge and views on a particular subject. Finally, your opinion matters are used by web based stores to give potential clients an opportunity of reading user reviews before consuming a specific product while ensuring legality in trade (Koufaris, 2002).

Creation of content is extremely essential when dealing with internet marketing communication within the fashion industry. It is necessary to determine the online behavior of the target market before selecting the best channel for internet marketing to minimize issues of illegality in trade. The fashion industry web content may be in the form of press releases and articles among other internet content platforms as indicated in the article.

Most customers of high fashion brands are aware of pace in the industry and enterprises should be careful with their content. The content should be given time to enhance its online presence by constantly updating information on current product trends as indicated at the FUBU Store in America.

There are various types of internet communication technology applied by the FUBU Store. These include social networking, online phone calls, blogs and Vlogs, emails, speak out loud and your opinion matters among others. This means that all users who are part of the browse site have access to all communication. The main provider of online phone calls is the skype.com website, and users download the software for communication purposes.

There is no way an individual can understand the concept of online branding without having an understanding of a brand. This comes up by identifying the design, slogan, logo of the parent company. FUBU Store utilizes the internet while undertaking online branding activities. The internet is an integral part of online branding within the fashion industry (Bert, 2011).

There are a few tips that are vital during the design of an effective online branding strategy. The first thing is that the online branding strategy has to be consistent. It is important to reach out to internet visitors through multiple channels of online communication. Consistency should be evident in terms of the treatment given to the viewers, the message and approach through all the channels.

The second thing is that online branding should be appealing to the target market. The message should be communicated in a precise and clear manner, and focus on a large segment of consumers. Finally, the process of online branding on the internet should be highly innovative. The enterprise should understand what their target market likes or dislikes before engaging in online branding in order to operate within legal domains of trade.

References

Bert, R. (2011). Marketing Channels: A Management View. Sydney: Thompson South- Western.

Brian, F. (2012). Marketing channel conflict management. Web.

Koufaris, M. (2002). Applying the technology acceptance model and flow theory to online consumer behavior, Information System Research, 13 (2): 205-223.

A conflict in any organization occurs when there is an involvement of many parties in duty performance. This happens because the parties concerned have different goals and interests to accomplish. In many organizational structures, different conflicts may arise such as fund allocation, terms of employment, retrenchments and promotions.

This mostly occurs when one business is liable to another, such as the government or business partners. The directors and stakeholders of the firm are in charge of decision-making. The employees implement the decision with the help of supervisors or departmental heads.

This usually depends on the organizational structure of the individual entity. The structure divides the firm into elements of similar abilities and skills. These elements may include accounts, human resource, and production departments. Firms must always avoid conflict of interest since they cause operational problems (Learmonth, 2006).

A conflict may arise when a given department performs better than the others in service delivery to their customers regardless of the underlying drivers. The management will put more effort into this department, and allocate more funds to improve its performance. This creates a conflict of resource allocation since more reflects towards the most delivering department and management may overstate the allocations.

More personnel shift to this department and may bring about the conflict among the employees and management, caused by allocation through relations and nepotism. Employees expect the management to give promotions to personnel within the organization. Conflicts arise when a person from outside the business entity takes a position at top management levels (Ury & Fisher, 1998).

Businesses also lay off employees in order to decrease expenses. A conflict arises as to which employees to send off. Conflicts of interest also arise from the employee and management duties, where each of them requires jobs to meet deadlines as well as fairness to the employee, so as not to overload them and maintain timing.

The organization at which I work is the Carolina Center for Behavioral Health. This institution has conflicts between physicians and clients because it is necessary for numerous interactions to occur between the patient and doctor for better service delivery. This, in turn, causes conflicts to arise from differences in personal expectations, responsibilities and insufficient resources, which are scarce.

Conflicts in this institution also arise from among the physicians, the management team and physicians and between other professionals and the physicians (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2010).

There arises competition for the scarce resources in the entity, and as to whether personal physicians can act as referrals or which would be the best source of their decision-making. This deteriorates the trust among physicians in resource allocation since the most salient issues is not aligned.

Conflict resolution occurs through the correction of differences between the parties involved. A conflict may be positive or negative. Negotiation as a method of conflict resolution involves creating a gap between people and the problem, generation of ideas that give options, following interests, laying out of goals and objectives, and using gains to define success.

An integrative approach allows the discovery of mutual gains and fair standards for decision making on challenging issues. It uses several stages to resolve conflict between the parties. First, the parties lay down their similar goals that led to the conflict. They then remove the personalization of the problem and make it professional as per the situation.

A study on the driving factor occurs in the demand brought in by an interest. The parties then use creativity to bring mutual gain options that bring satisfaction to all that improves the situation. This happens using the facts and data analysis as the nature of the physician profession (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2010).

In order to implement the negotiation strategy to resolve a conflict, the physicians have to put into consideration various factors.

The committee formed has to be free of conflicts by ensuring that all members are aware of their roles and to whom the decision-making role lays. The parties whom the conflict concerns should be the sole members of the committee and it should involve physicians with rich information on the issue at hand.

In any medical institution, Evidence based management should be instituted since it deals with facts for decision-making. This arose since there are many differences between physicians such as culture and decision making processes used. Managers and students in health care institutions receive education on evidence based management practices.

Managers are diverse and dynamic because of their wide scope of knowledge that enables them to be reliable in making judgments. Evidence based management requires careful and thorough analysis of data used for decision-making that staff record on the organizational functioning.

It requires managers to share and record problems through a wide range of research and experiments before making decisions. This gives them time to discuss the problem related facts and a choice on the best research analysis by managers and employees.

Evidence based management should be instituted at all levels of the organization structure. All new and old members of staff should be trained on how to use massive research to come up with decisions. This will ensure that the whole institution at large embraces the use of evidence-based management.

Physicians should use facts from previous research to administer drugs to their patients and make new experiments before giving prescriptions on new cases. This will boost the overall credibility of the institution to its clients and stakeholders.

The staff in the organization move into the community of concern for their patients come from and collects data on issues affecting them. This can be conducted using cheap experiments that the organization can afford. It also requires that the institution acquire a license granting it permission to collect public data.

The management should be flexible to accept junior staff facts that will assist the institution to deliver quality services to its clients. When a decision takes position, experiments occur to prove the decisions efficiency to work. This practice ensures that decisions made are effective and that only the best methods used in conducting a given activity.

It also removes the use of believers to administer professional services and reduces the risk of drawbacks from work done by the use of latest experiment results. Physicians should ensure that the cure to a given problem is appropriate and that it has minimal side effects (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2010).

The management should institute evidence-based management by demanding evidence from the physicians on decisions made. The physicians should be discouraged from using experience knowledge to administer drugs and prescriptions to patients. This goes hand in hand with the use of personal information from own ideologies that emanate from own experiences or those of close relatives.

The staff and management should also eliminate their personal preferences that market drugs from companies believed to be the best. The experiments should prove which drugs are best for a given ailment. The market forces of demand and supply should neither be a factor in making a choice in the administration of services nor the desire to follow known professionals decisions.

The managers should embrace originality from all staff members regardless of their rank. This ensures that promotions rewarded to personnel create equality, thus promoting equity in the firm and preventing conflict opportunities.

Creative decision-making involves selection of an action plan from many alternatives to arrive at a solution through generation of many ideas. It makes use of critical thinking, open mindedness and the desire to explore new discoveries from any source. It involves laying out objectives systematically, evaluation of alternative course of action and selection of the best action plan.

It prevents the management from bias by their personal interests in a given issue that physicians are handling. This process is difficult since it is time consuming to come up with a solution. This may cause the managerial team not to exhaust all the merits and demerits of the proposed solutions thus, the best alternative is implemented.

Creative decision-making process involves a series of processes. The first step is lying out of goals and objectives. This presents a focus on the expected outcome to the managerial team. The institution secretary makes the records in the minutes of the meeting. The decision makers then gather data through collection methods such as questionnaires, observation and sampling.

This involves using supervisors and departmental heads to issue out the questionnaires or observes the employees, depending on the preferred data collection method chosen. The third step involves bringing the collected data together. Solutions emanate from the data to increase the scope from which to choose. An analysis of each solution and the merits and demerits of each follows.

In the next step, the managers choose the solution that has the most merits and lay off those that have more demerits than merits. The management thus makes a decision follow the best alternative. An action takes place through implementing the chosen solution into the problem.

It involves communication of the procedures to follow to the members of staff, directions and guidelines. The management then observes the effect of implementing the chosen solution through demanding of reports from the members of staff (Cummings, 2009).

Creative decision-making involves the use of several methods to arrive at the solution. The consensus method uses group work to project the most preferred solution to an organizational problem. It is the best fit for use by institutions and organizations. The systematic method involves the detailed evaluation of all possible action plans one at a time to arrive at the best.

The individualistic method of decision-making occurs when only an individual comes up with the solution. The limited procrastination method uses time to sharpen its facts. The decision occurs after a long time has expired, so that all facts pop out and the situation analyzed for effective decision-making.

The intuitive method of making decisions occurs immediately after problem identification. Professions such as physicians use it in development of an immediate and urgent solution.

The health institution environment does not have a highly competitive market for being a private firm. The private firm values its customers by providing the best services to them in exchange of high profit returns. This ensures that there is a stable environment to the market forces from competitors and suppliers. The customers needs and availability of resources to cater for the will influence the organization structure.

The best structure to the health institution would be formal, since flexibility limits occur through the physicians responsibility to the client. A more horizontal organization design or matrix structure would be useful according to the health institutional business strategy. This is because the staff in the health center divides according to the skills they have to tackle their clients.

References

Cummings, T. (2009). Organization Development and Change. London: Routledge.

Hellriegel, D., & Slocum, J. W. (2007). Organizational behavior. New York: Cengage Learning.

Learmonth M. (2006). Evidence-Based Management: The very idea. Journal of Public Administration. 84 (2), 245- 266.

Ury, W. & Fisher, R. (1998). Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. New York: Penguin Books.

Introduction

Changes normally disrupt the normal work process of an organization. Such changes are likely to remain permanent. Changes result from both internal and external factors, which relate with an organization. Therefore, organizations must find ways of adapting to such changes.

In most cases, we experience conflicts because of changes that occur from both internal and outside the organization. As a result, organizations must adjust their management and communication strategies in order to cope with changes.

Conflicts and their challenges have become major sources of concern in many organizations. Conflicts are responsible for massive wastage of resources within organizations. In most cases, people only focus on negative impacts of conflicts. However, we can rely on conflicts to achieve good results.

Feedback from conflicts can be source of opportunities to improve communication and relationships within the work team.

Conflicts provide opportunities for organizations to formulate effective means of communication, address challenges within the group, and change workplace strategies. Specific conceptual frameworks and theoretical models can address conflicts with an organization.

In this case, the organization must understand the concept of workplace dynamics. As a result, an organization can continue to work in an optimal manner and achieve best results.

The purpose of this report is to address the issue of work team problems, perform group diagnostics, and analyze results relative to the ideal of conflict management and workplace dynamics.

Overview of the Workplace Group (Committee): Rup Landscape Company

Rup Landscape Company has served its clients and gained national recognition based on the quality of its landscape and management services it provided in the United Arab Emirates. The company has over 30 years in landscape management.

The management has transformed the company and created a complete commercial landscape company with both construction and management services. The drives for this reentry were to enhance the growth of the company and provide customers with complete range of landscape services and management.

Throughout the history of the company, Rup has provided services with cutting-edge practices and has attracted contracts from various prestigious organizations like the government agencies, Dubai Police, City Center, Dragon Mart, Union Properties, GEMS, and Rotana among others.

Most members of the management team have served the company for more than 20 years. They have continued to ensure that Rup remains the industry leader in the UAE landscape industry.

The company has dedicated itself to excellent services. It also offers opportunities to excel and grow their careers. The company has unique work values, culture, and practices.

The company has various committees with various duties. The organizational committee on focus deals with project development processes. The roles of the committee include:

• Providing information to the company on maintenance and repair needs
• Reporting landscaping needs in the area
• Making recommendations to the management for seasonal improvements
• Recommending and deciding on the company to award contracts
• Approving projects for action

Conflict Resolution

In all organizations, there are conflicts. Hence, we have to accept conflict as a part of group dynamics within the organization. Elements of conflicts reflect such ideas of antagonism and undesirability within the committee. However, we have to note that not all forms conflicts are dysfunctional.

Depending on how a firm handles its conflict, there are productive aspects of conflict that can bring in new solutions to a situation, clarify roles and power relationships within committee members, bring irrational aspects of conflicts into the open, and provide a way of solving conflicts.

If a group engages in destructive conflict, then the outcomes can result in loss of the main objectives in the quest for sub-group interests, encourage the committee members to be defensive, and may results in a collapse of the committee.

According to Condliffe, Conflict has three vital components, which include interests, emotions, and values. Conflict processes go through stages of perception, realization, avoidance, flashpoint, intervention, strategy, and evaluation (Condliffe, 2002).

Conflict models allow people to understand what conflicts are, their root causes, and avoidance strategies. However, such models cannot provide all the solutions to conflicts. Rather, they provide us with better ways of understanding conflicts and resolution methods.

We shall use the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Model (Swinton, 2006) in an attempt to understand the conflict within the committee of Rup Landscape Company.

The committee has been involved in conflict on several occasions. In few cases, the results have been unsatisfactory and cause disharmony, fallout, and distractions from the core duties of the committee. In addition, the organization also experiences losses attributed to productivity (Tillett and French, 2006).

The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument

Conceptual Frameworks and Group Diagnostics

Rup is a formal organization that promotes landscape services and management in Dubai. The committee shares common goals and values. Consequently, Rup has beliefs, values, and norms for its group members.

Such values, norms, and beliefs rest on the ideology of developing and promoting success of the organization and career growth of members. Therefore, collaboration within the committee is paramount. The belief system consists of a strong belief in the development and use of best practices within the organization.

The organization instills the value of collaboration and community of practice (Hislop, 2005). It has formal work systems, which members interact through open communication systems.

Conflicts usually occur due to differences in decision-making on awarding contracts and allocating scarce resources to projects, values, and goals. Such conflicts have repercussions for the organization.

The organization has used opportunities from conflict resolutions to build a strong community, reinforce its beliefs, values, and norms. In addition, it has strengthened teamwork within the committee.

Conceptual Framework for Rup

Belief in Best Practices, Values, Norms, and Goals

Rup believes in promoting best practices, values, norms, and goals in the landscape industry. The committee members believe in using Rups goals and practices for guidance. Therefore, members can collect, organize, recommend, and award tenders to other stakeholders.

The organization aims to promote develop such values, practices, and achieve its goals through its committee. However, the belief in using, developing, and promoting the use of formal practices varies among members.

There are members with strong beliefs in developing and promoting best practices while other have moderate view about formal practices of the organization. This was according to some of the responses from members of the committee.

Members who had a strong belief in promoting best practices, values, and norms in order to achieve organizational goals did not express conflicts.

On the other hand, members who had moderate views about formal practices in the committee had conflicts with other members of the committee. These divergent views led to conflicts among members.

Achieving Goals

The committee members worked together in order to achieve the organizational strategic goals. Goals had two aims, which were to promote the growth of the company and its employees. Such goals enhanced formal approaches to tasks. However, roles and desire to achieve goals differ based on what different members prefer.

The organization had fix deadlines and assigned projects to its members. At the same time, members had the freedom to select the best formal practices of accomplishing tasks.

Most members believed that the committee had to use both formal and informal practices when allocating resources, awarding tenders, and reporting on the progress of various tasks while other members insisted on the use of formal practices in order to enhance the image of the organization.

Collaboration Among Members

In most cases, the committee had to collaborate in most projects. This was the only formal way to grow the organization and achieve both personal and organizational goals. Therefore, the committee had to develop a strong sense of collaboration because of its belief in best practices within the industry.

Conflicts arise when other members of the committee preferred informal aspects of managing certain roles of the committee. Ultimately, the committee worked as a team in order to resolve conflicts in belief systems and strengthen its membership.

Collaboration Creates Value for the Committee

The committee collaborates in order to provide best services to clients and ensure the growth of the organization. Committee aims to create a strong community because of its collaborative approach to issues.

Members can make their contributions and expect positive criticism on the best methods to adopt towards a given projects. The committee hopes that collaborative approach will allow all members to contribute and enhance teamwork.

This is a way of reducing cases of conflicts within the committee. The committee leadership promotes collaborative approach towards issues.

Open Systems

The committee encourages open systems in communications among members. Committee members have the freedom to express their opinions about some decisions about projects. The committee keeps records of important decisions that members make about tasks.

This enables members to track their decisions and improve on areas with faults. The committee encourages its members to refer and report any failures in the decision-making processes that can lead to failure in a project. It encourages open criticism in project management.

Some members believe that the organization can use both formal and informal approaches when making decisions in order to facilitate processes and eliminate bureaucratic tendencies, which cause delays in project completion.

On the other hand, some members promote formal approach for accountability of processes in decision-making.

Formal Management System

The leadership of the committee relies on formal management systems. The committee has developed from a community of practice because of organizational shared goals. There are no formal contracts within the organization. The committee aims to create formal systems in the company.

The committee can only realize this goal through collaboration among members with divergent views. Thus, it can integrate different ideas in order to strengthen formal processes within the organization.

Formal processes aim to instill accountability within the organization. Thus, committee members can feel that they have personal responsibility for organizational goals.

Group Diagnostic

Developing the Committee

Hislop (2005) notes how a community of practice evolves among members, and such shared interests can create a strong committee. Members usually share common goals, values, and similar outcomes. In such communities, members should resolve their differences without any external interference.

The committee has been able to solve its disputes as they arise, and members can trace resolutions in the communication log and archive. The committee may have constant conflicts, but its leadership must resolve such conflicts in collaborative ways in order to strengthen the committee.

Conflict Resolution

The committee uses a collaborative approach to solve all conflicts it experiences. Conflicts emanate from different views on decision-making processes. Collaboration allows members to adopt moderate views in projects for a win-win situation for the organization and its clients.

In the end, the committee aims to achieve formal processes in decision-making.

Conflicts occur because the committee considers formal processes as bureaucratic and time-consuming. Therefore, some members prefer informal processes of decision-making. The resulting conflicts take a great amount of time to solve because the process must account for views all members of the committee.

It is important to note that solutions usually result in a strong committee with a reinforced belief in organizational values and goals.

The committee also displays elements of group dynamics just like in any other group. Committee members have diverse behaviors and attitudes. Concepts of group dynamics relate to both formal and informal organizations (Luthans, 2005).

The group dynamics enable us to understand how the committee co-ordinates its structures, functions, process, and conflict resolution mechanism.

The committee works together with the aim of achieving a common goal of developing and promoting the best practices. However, informal processes interfere with the progress achieved and affect choices of projects and periods of completion.

The formal nature of the process requires members to have specific duties based on their expertise and competence. Some members do not observe formal organizational practices in decision-making and distribution of resources, which result in conflicts within the committee.

However, the committee resolves such conflicts through a collaborative process in which all committee members express their views. The aim of conflict resolution is to strengthen teamwork and belief in organizational best practices and formal approach to processes.

Developing Teamwork

Effective conflict resolution within the committee encourages teamwork. Members look for various solutions to their problems by expressing their ideas in an open system. Opinions on whether the committee should still depend on its old informal practices or implement changes that focus on formal processes differ.

Collaboration has formed the basis of resolving such conflicts within the organization. The committee promotes teamwork by inviting contributions from all members in problem-solving.

Changes for Improvement

Landscape services and management industry has become competitive in UAE. Many companies have emerged to compete for the same clients. Therefore, only organizations with best practices shall succeed. This is the aim of Rup.

A collaborative approach in conflict resolution has created a strong team that aims to promote best practices within the organization. In addition, it has reinforced the belief in organizational values and goals. Conflicts will emerge as Rup finds the best ways of providing services through effective decision-making processes.

However, some conflicts take a lot of time to resolve. Therefore, the committee should improve on time management when resolving conflicts. It should adopt gradual change processes to ensure that members adopt formal practices within the organization.

Members satisfaction varies based on the adoption of formal practices within the committee. Some members promote the use of both formal and informal processes in decision-making, reporting, and awarding tenders. On the other hand, some members advocate for formal processes.

However, the committee aims to solve such problems by adopting a collaborative model. This has ensured that the committee considers contributions from all members and makes decisions on the best interests of all stakeholders.

The committee must understand its own weaknesses in order to improve on adopting changes and decision-making process. The committee leadership should rely on scenario-based models in order to choose appropriate conflict resolution model that can serve the organization under time pressure.

The committee should not overuse the collaborative model to the extent that leads to compromise of goals, values, and long-term goals of Rup.

Conclusion

Changes in the modern industries are responsible for many conflicts. Therefore, conflicts are inevitable in such organizations. Rup shows that conflict can be favorable for creating effective outcomes, teamwork, and a strong community.

The organization has been able to achieve such results because of a collaborative approach to conflict resolution.

However, the committee must improve on change and time management because members are reluctant to adopt best practices and values. As a result, conflict resolution is time-consuming processes that delay other projects.

References

Condliffe, P. (2002). Conflict management: a practical guide. Sydney: Nexis Butterworths.

Hislop, D. (2005). knowledge management in organizations: A critical introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press Inc.

Luthans, F. (2005). Organizational Behavior (10th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Swinton, L. (2006). Workplace Conflict Management: Strategy for Successful Resolution. Web.

Tillett, G., and French, B. (2006). Resolving conflict: a practical approach, 3rd edition. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to discuss the conflicts that are likely to arise within and between the departments of Hotel Fortina. Conflicts often occur in organizations when employees are not able to tolerate their colleagues influence. Organizational conflict is usually undesirable since it can cause low morale and productivity, as well as, high labor turnover.

The factors that are likely to cause conflicts at the hotel include motivation, group work, organizational structure, and leadership style. The forms of conflicts that are likely to occur at the hotel include interpersonal conflicts, role conflicts, and intrapersonal conflicts.

These forms of conflicts can occur within departments and between departments. The management of the hotel should focus on implementing preventive measures in order to avoid the occurrence of these conflicts.

Introduction

In order to overcome competition in the hospitality industry, hotels must focus on generating high revenue and improving their efficiency. In most cases, hotels fail to achieve their financial growth targets due to internal organizational conflicts. Conflict refers to all forms of intolerance, which results from an incompatible influence between individuals, groups, and organizations (Griffin & Moorhead 2011, p. 112).

Employees and managers normally face interpersonal and intrapersonal conflicts at their workplaces. The confusion and frustration associated with these conflicts often cause stress, low productivity, job dissatisfaction, and burnout among employees (Luthans 2006, p. 324). Conflicts usually occur in organizations because employees have different opinions, priorities, interests, and beliefs.

Additionally, conflicts can occur due to organizational structure, leadership style, motivation, and poor teamwork (Phillips & Gully 2011, p. 79). This paper will focus on organizational conflict by analyzing Hotel Fortina. Concisely, it will shed light on the conflicts, which may arise within and between the departments of the hotel.

Hotel Fortina

Hotel Fortina is a leading firm in the United Kingdoms hospitality industry. It is located in Sliema town in the island of Malta (Hotel Fortina 2013). The hotel started with 65 rooms, but has since developed into a 4-stars hotel with 200 rooms and over 5 restaurants.

The hotels organizational structure consists of a general manager and five line-managers that are in charge of various departments. The departments include rooms; food and beverage; human resources; marketing and sales; and accounting. The conflicts that can occur in the departments and their causes include the following.

Motivation

The level of employee motivation at the hotel can be a major source of conflict. According to Rollinson (2008, pp. 34-123), motivation refers to a state that arises due to internal and external occurrences that prompt a person to engage in an act that leads to the achievement of a specific goal.

Motivation is important because it energizes employees, thereby facilitating achievement of organizational goals (Yammarino & Danserau 2009, p. 245). Concisely, it influences the performance of the organization by determining the persistence of employees in their pursuit of organizational goals, as well as, the direction and intensity of their behaviors.

At the department level, motivation can lead to role conflict among employees. Role conflict occurs due to situations that are related to the duties assigned to different employees in the same department. For example, in the food and beverages department, the manager can instruct a steward to work for extra hours in order to serve all customers.

However, the steward might lack the motivation to work for a longer shift since she also has a duty to attend to her children at home. In this case, the employee will have to decide on whether to obey the manager or to return home at the end of her shift. Similarly, a conflict can result between the manger and stewards due to the differences in the goals associated with their roles.

For instance, the manger can instruct the stewards to take the least time possible to serve food to customers. The rationale of this strategy is that it will enable the hotel to serve many customers in order to meet its revenue targets. However, the stewards might not increase the speed with which they serve customers.

This is because quick services might limit their ability to pay attention to customers needs, thereby causing customer dissatisfaction. In this case, conflict will arise because the manager and the stewards are pursuing different goals (Islam, Zaki & Ismail 2008, pp. 344-362).

Role conflicts usually occur because employees have different needs. According to the expectancy theory, employees decide on what to do based on the expected outcome of their actions (Bacon & Blyton 1999, pp. 638-654). Since the employees at Hotel Fortina are aware of the consequences of their behaviors, they will only engage in actions that are beneficial to them.

Consequently, there will always be conflicts between line-managers and members of their departments if they do not have a common goal or if they disagree on the strategies for achieving the goals (Rahim 2010, p. 55). Motivation can also lead to conflicts between the departments of the hotel. According to Herzbergs two-factor theory, motivators and hygiene factors determine employees morale (Hellriegel & Slocum 2007, p. 67).

Hygiene factors include salaries, job security, and working conditions. Motivators, on the other hand, include the application of company policy, quality of supervision, and interpersonal relationships (Miner 2007, p 97). The distribution of hygiene factors such as salaries in different departments can be a source of conflict.

According to the equity theory, employees in different departments will always compare their salaries, working conditions and other rewards in order to determine the level of fairness in the organization (Stringer, Didham & Theivananthampillai 2011, pp. 161-179).

For instance, employees in the sales and marketing department might be working for the same amount of hours and completing tasks of comparable difficulty or complexity as their counterparts in the accounting department. However, employees in the accounting department might be paid more than their colleagues in the sales and marketing department.

In this case, sales and marketing officers will feel that they are not treated fairly. Thus, lack of fairness will lead to dissatisfaction, thereby causing a conflict between the marketing department and the human resources department (Garg & Rastogi 2006, pp. 65-78).

Leadership Style

Witcher & Chau (2010, p. 89), define leadership as a process in which an individual exerts his or her influence on other group members in order to attain defined group or organizational goals and objectives. According to Kotter (1988, pp. 76-120), leadership is a process that involves formulating a vision for a group or an organization, as well as, being able to achieve and to sustain it.

The leadership style used in an organization can be a source of conflict since it determines the relationships and interactions between employees and the management (Adair 1984, pp. 47-160). According to the contingency theory, effective leadership should enable members of a group to achieve high performance (Fiedler 1978, pp. 12-45).

Consequently, Hotel Fortina uses transformational leadership to achieve the highest level of motivation and productivity among its employees. This leadership style involves effective delegation of tasks, staff development, easy access to leaders, and challenging conventional approaches (Fiedler & Chemers 1984, pp. 82-114). Even though this style of leadership seems to be effective, it can also lead to conflicts at the hotel in the following ways.

First, it can cause interpersonal conflicts, especially, between the managers or supervisors and their juniors. This is because, not all managers and supervisors are transformational leaders. Transformational leadership depends on the values and personality orientation of the leader (Hunger & Wheelen 2000, p. 117).

Thus, individuals who lack charisma, as well as, inspirational and communication skills are not likely to use it (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson 2009, p. 278). At the department level, poor communication skills can lead to a conflict between the managers or supervisors and their juniors. Concisely, it can lead to misunderstanding of information, thereby causing a conflict between the managers and the employees.

For instance, cooks in the food and beverages department can misunderstand instructions from the head chef if the instructions are not clear. Consequently, they will make mistakes when preparing meals and beverages. The persistence of these mistakes will always cause interpersonal conflicts between the head chef and his juniors. Similarly, poor communication skills can be a source of conflict between the departments.

Communication breakdown can occur if one department fails to provide the information that is required by another department. For instance, the accounting department depends on the information generated by the marketing and sales department to prepare its revenue reports. Consequently, when one department fails to provide the other with adequate information in time, conflicts and tensions will arise.

This type of conflict is destructive and, thus, should be resolved through mediation or managerial interventions. The interventions should focus on improving communication between the departments in order to eliminate the conflict (Bodtker & Jameson 2001, pp. 259-275).

Second, conflict of interest is likely to arise if some managers are not able to use the transformational leadership style. Transformational leaders are expected to incorporate the opinions of their juniors in their decisions (Knights & Willmott 2007, pp. 341-367). Furthermore, junior employees are allowed to challenge the decisions made by their seniors in order to improve the productivity of the organization (Morgan & Zeffane 2003, pp. 55-75).

However, non-transformational leaders might not be willing to accept any challenge, especially, from their juniors. According to McClellands theory of learned needs, individuals have three needs namely, achievement, affiliation and power (Bucic, Robinson & Ramburuth 2010, pp. 228-248). Thus, non-transformational leaders in the hotel will focus on attaining personal achievements such as promotions and power.

However, these interests might conflict with those of the hotel and other employees. For instance, the sales manager might set very high targets for her sales team in order to improve performance. She is likely to be promoted to a higher position if the high sales targets are met. However, the stress associated with meeting the targets can lead to dissatisfaction among the employees and high labor turnover.

This is against the hotels interest or objective of retaining its employees. In this regard, the conflict of interest between the sales manager and the sales team will be destructive. This conflict should be resolved through measures that align employees goals to those of the company, as well as, using intrinsic rewards to augment performance-based rewards (Wilhelmson 2006, pp. 495-507).

Group work

Group work is an important tool for enhancing productivity in the service industry. A typical group involves at least two people who interact, cooperate, and depend on each other in order to achieve a common goal (Lantz 2011, pp. 75-96). Hotel Fortina has organized its employees into groups in order to improve efficiency and productivity.

Each department has a team of employees who are responsible for a specific task. For example, the reservation team is responsible for managing room booking activities. Group work can lead to the following conflicts within the hotel. To begin with, group work usually leads to role conflict. A typical group consists of members who are responsible for performing specific roles.

These roles include the chair, shaper, plant, monitor-evaluator, resource investigator, and company worker (Belbin 2010, pp. 10-150). The chair is the equivalent of a supervisor who leads various teams within each department. The shaper is the employee who leads others in the execution of a given task, whereas the plant is the member who generates ideas for the group (Belbin 2010, pp. 10-150).

Monitor-evaluators assess the effectiveness of ideas, while resource investigators work with outsiders to acquire new ideas and resources for the group (Belbin 2010, pp. 10-150). The company workers are responsible for transforming ideas into tasks. Role conflict can arise when the duties of the group members are not clear (Houle, Chiocchio, Favreau & Villeneuve 2009, pp. 270-285).

In this case, the members are likely to compete for the opportunity to perform some duties and avoid others, thereby conflicting with each other. For example, the beverage manager and the head chef can have different opinions concerning the quality of the beverages that are served to customers. In this regard, a conflict will arise between them if their job descriptions do not define the person who has the final say on beverage quality.

Role conflict can also occur when some members duties are too difficult to be performed (Tidd & Friedman 2002, pp. 236-257). Conflict of interest can arise if the group members have different goals and objectives (Marjosola & Takala 2000, pp. 146-158). For example, the laundry team usually performs routine tasks such as cleaning visitors clothes.

Since these tasks are monotonous, some members will always avoid them at the expense of the group. The hotel uses a performance-based reward system to promote high productivity among group members of each department. The problem with this strategy is that underperformers are always punished through negative rewards such as little or no bonuses (Bagher 2008, pp. 51-75).

This worsens their dissatisfaction, and intensifies the conflict concerning the distribution of rewards among the employees (Milne 2007, pp. 28-38). Intrapersonal conflict will also arise in the groups in various departments if members have different values. For example, a housekeeper might not be allowed by the hotel to provide extra services such as carrying visitors luggage.

However, this might be against his personal values concerning his obligations to customers. According to Bagher (2008, pp. 116-120), the value-expressive function enables individuals to obtain satisfaction by expressing attitudes, which reveal their core values. This means that the housekeeper will prefer to assist the guest in order to achieve high satisfaction.

Consequently, the housekeeper will find it difficult to choose between helping the client with the luggage and observing the rules of his team. Finally, conflicts can arise due to unfair distribution of resources (Cortes, Saez & Ortega 2007, pp. 45-57). This can happen when the same task has to be done by groups from different departments.

For example, designing tasks and training cooks has to be done by groups of employees from the food and beverages department in conjunction with their counterparts from the human resources department. In particular, on-the-job training has to be done by the food and beverages department, while off-the-job training has to be facilitated by the human resources department.

In this regard, unfair distribution of training resources between these departments will lead to conflicts. According to McCray and Palmer (2009, pp. 465-476), conflicts within groups can be resolved by enhancing trust among the members. Additionally, rewards must be shared equitably, and the members should have a common goal in order to avoid conflict of interest (Clements & Washbush 1999, pp. 170-176).

Organizational Structure

Organizational structure refers to the formal system of interactions and coordination that is used to synchronize the tasks assigned to individuals or groups of employees in order to achieve a predetermined goal (Stacy 2003, pp. 34-171). It is a means of distributing responsibilities and authority, as well as, determining the reporting structure in an organization (Griffin & Moorhead 2011, p. 451).

Organizational structure is important because it is the legitimate source of authority. Similarly, it is a means of identifying the employees who have the authority to make decisions for the organization (Schein 1980, pp. 149-151). In this regard, lack of a clear organizational structure can lead to conflicts. Hotel Fortinas organizational structure has two levels of reporting in which employees report to their respective heads of departments (managers) who in turn report to the general manager.

The hotels organizational structure can lead to the following conflicts. To begin with, Interpersonal conflicts can arise within various departments due to the quality of supervision (Gerard 75, pp. 475-488). In particular, ineffective supervision can lead to a conflict between the managers and their employees.

The appraisal system used by the managers to measure the performance of employees can be a source of conflict if it is not fair (Iverson 1996, pp. 122-149). Employees will be dissatisfied if they believe that the appraisal system is not taking into account some aspects of their productivity and contributions to the organization (Benligiray & Sonmez 2012, pp. 3890-3905).

Similarly, conflicts will arise between the managers and the employees if the appraisal system benefits some staff at the expense of the rest of the organization. The reporting structure can also be a source of conflict if the managers fail to take into account the feedback of the employees in their decisions. Front line employees usually interact with customers on a daily basis.

Thus, they play a fundamental leadership role by channeling customers feedback to the top management. However, the front line employees can be demoralized if their opinions are not taken into account by the management (Cruz, Perez & Cantero 2009, pp. 478-490). Most employees are likely to believe that their efforts are not appreciated by the hotel.

Thus, they will develop apathy and low motivation (Cruz, Perez & Cantero 2009, pp. 478-490). In some cases, the employees will rebel against the organization. Interdepartmental conflicts can also arise if one department tries to impose its decisions on the others (Cruz, Perez & Cantero 2009, pp. 478-490). For example, the human resources department might formulate new administrative policies without consulting other departments.

The other departments are likely to reject these policies since they were not consulted. This is a destructive conflict since it can jeopardize the achievement of the organizations goals. Thus, the organizational structure should be strengthened so that the reporting system and terms of interaction between departments is clear to all employees.

Conclusion

The aim of this paper was to discuss the conflicts that are likely to arise within and between the departments of Hotel Fortina. Conflict refers to any form of intolerance that may be experienced in an organization due to the incompatible influences between its members. The factors that are likely to cause conflicts at the hotel include motivation, group work, organizational structure, and leadership style.

The forms of conflicts that are likely to occur at the hotel include interpersonal conflicts, role conflicts, and intrapersonal conflicts. These forms of conflicts can occur within departments and between departments. The management should focus on implementing effective preventive measures in order to avoid these conflicts and to improve the competitiveness of the hotel.

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The organisational conflict is the opposition of goals and interests within the organisation or between organisations. This opposition can lead to developing new creative ideas to resolve the conflicting situation and to creating the negative atmosphere at the workplace which prevents the conflicting parties from achieving the concrete organisational goal (Nelson & Quick, 2012, p. 112).

The organisational conflict occurs because of a range of structural and personal factors which influence the development of the relationships within the organisation. From this point, the conflict can become the result of ineffective authority relationships or differences in the teams goals. Furthermore, the conflict is often the result of inability to communicate effectively, of cultural differences between the employees, and of differences in values (Nelson & Quick, 2012, p. 112-114).

The conflict worsens the result of the organisations work, and it can be resolved with the help of such techniques as the focus on completing the organisational goal, provision of more resources for working, changes in the structure and personnel, and negotiation. In this case, non-action and secrecy will lead to negative results.

To resolve the conflict, it is also possible to refer to avoiding, accommodating, competing, compromising, and collaborating styles. Avoiding and competing styles do not directly lead to resolving the conflict (Conflict resolution tips, 2008; Nelson & Quick, 2012, p. 112-114).

For instance, there is a conflict between teams working at the same project within the organisation. The teams are oriented to different approaches to complete the projects, and their conflict is based on the choice of approaches to follow.

To resolve such a conflict, it is important to note that two teams work to accomplish one organisational goal. The conflict is intergroup, and the teams should focus on cooperative strategy to resolve it. They should openly negotiate on the goal and ways to accomplish it while focusing on integrative negotiation. Thus, the teams should collaborate to achieve the goal.

The Response to the First Post

While answering the proposed questions, the student is good at providing the material from the textbook accurately and according to the asked question. However, the student focuses more on presenting the factual information from the textbook rather than on integrating the learned concepts and materials from the book and video.

The types of conflicts are discussed effectively, but the effective techniques of the conflict resolution are not stated and explained clearly. The provided example is good to demonstrate the role of concentrating on the goals which can address the interests of both the parties.

The Response to the Second Post

The answers to the questions reflect the concepts learned during the course, and they are correlated with the textbooks material. The answers to the first two questions are good. The answer to the question about the methods of the conflict resolution can be discussed as incomplete because the student focuses only on methods used to resolve the intrapersonal conflicts.

The discussion of the situation to answer the fourth question is appropriate, and it is associated with the learned concepts and materials presented during the course, but the concrete example is not provided. Thus, the answers to some questions seem to lack the details. However, the students discussion of the important points of conflict resolution can be discussed as appropriate because the concepts and ideas are effectively integrated and rethought in relation to the proposed situations.

References

Conflict resolution tips. (2008). Web.

Nelson, D., & Quick, J. (2012). Organizational behavior: Science, the real world, and you. USA: Cengage Learning.

Introduction

In a workplace setting, employees and employers are faced with ethical, legal and moral dilemmas, which at times conflict with their personal values. As such, it is always important to ascertain what one would do in situations whereby company policies and protocols conflict with personal values. This paper shall set out to address this issue by applying various ethical theories that provide viable solutions to this dilemma.

Literature Review

David (2006), states that personal values play a pivotal role in shaping ones character. However, since these personal values govern how individuals behave in various situations, a conflict between such values and organizational protocols may pose a serious threat to the overall well being of the organization. In order to avoid such conflicts, Chappell (2006) asserts that if faced with this type of conflict, one may leave the workplace (quit), do what is required, or come up with a strategy that addresses the issue within the organization.

Unfortunately, making such a decision is not always easy because such choices have the ability to shake ones core values. As such, ethical theories may be applied to facilitate effective decision making in such cases. The utilitarianism theory focuses on majority versus minority interests. According to Shafer-Landau (2012), this theory states that an action is good if its yields are beneficial to many people. This theory advocates for the end justify the means concept. As such, personal values bear no weight under this theory. A utilitarian will focus on what is best for the organization because it is the only way to benefit the majority even though the task is unethical, immoral or in some cases illegal.

On the other hand, the deontological theory places more emphasis on duty. This means that personal values play a pivotal role in the decision-making process (Chappell, 2006). An individual applying this theory will quit rather than conform to protocols that may cause harm, are unfair, or deny others the justice they rightfully deserve (Shafer-Landau, 2012). With the above facts in mind, the answer to the question What do you do if your personal values are in conflict with organizational/interpersonal business protocols? depends on an individual. Crane and Matten (2007), state that the ability to follow organizational protocols and standards depends on the willingness and morality of the workforce.

Discussion

Personally, I would take the third option and try to solve the issue using the prescribed code of conduct adopted by the organization. Organizations hire people so that they can work towards attaining the set organizational goals. This means that employees are expected to do what they are told without question. As such, if organizational protocol conflicts with my personal values, I would use the set reporting procedures to voice my position on the issue. Codes of conduct act as guidelines to what is considered to be ethical or unethical practice within a given organization. Consequently, such standards can be used to form a legal or ethical argument in situations whereby a set protocol seems illegal or unethical. In addition, these ethical codes can be used to influence positive change and efficient conflict resolution mechanisms within the organization.

Conclusion

Conflicts are a part of our lives and should be viewed as such. Establishing codes of conduct ensure that organizational and interpersonal conflicts are effectively resolved within an organization. While personal values play a pivotal role in character building, their role in organizational decision making should be minimal. By following the set codes of conduct, the conflict between personal values and organizational protocols would be minimal.

References

Chappell, T. (2006). Values and virtues: Aristotelianism in contemporary ethics. London: Oxford University Press.

Crane, A., & Matten, D. (2007). Business ethics: managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. London: Oxford University Press.

David, F. (2006). Strategic management: concepts and cases, (10^th Ed.). Chicago: Prentice Hall.

Shafer-Landau, R. (2012). Ethical Theory: An Anthology. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.