Mob ia free essay sample

Conflict is a situation of competition in which the parties are aware of the incompatibility of potential future positions and in which each party wishes to occupy a position which is incompatible with the wishes of the other. In this study the researcher investigated the conflict management strategies used by Digicel, down town Kingston to improve the relationship between employees and management. The researcher focused on what causes conflict, strategies by management to reduce conflict and also how the strategies used affect the relationship between employees. In this study the researcher elaborated to the following objectives above. In most businesses conflict can be both constructive and also healthy in an organization but it also brings forth underlying issues that employees face in the organization and which can later cause either feud or tension between the employees. In every organization there are different reasons that can cause conflict among employees. According to Art Bell (2002) he gave six reasons for conflict in the workplace: conflicting needs, conflicting styles, conflicting perceptions, conflicting goals, conflicting pressures, and conflicting roles which are a few of the factors that cause conflict while Brett Hart (2002) discusses two addition causes of conflict which is different personal values and unpredictable policies. We will write a custom essay sample on Mob ia or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In a work place conflict can cause the employees to have distant relationships and segregation which can be bad according to (Hart 2002) Segregation in the workplace leads to gossiping, suspicion, and -ultimately, conflict. In the workplace can cause negative effect on the productivity on the manager and employees and it is also time consuming on the mangers part, according to Reynolds and Kalish (2002), organizational consultants in mediation, collaboration and conflict resolution, note that managers spend at least 25 percent of their time resolving workplace conflicts. This obviously affects the productivity of both managers and associates (employees) and can have a far-reaching impact on organizational performance. In several businesses today, a major problem that is ongoing is the amount of conflict that is present. The managers are finding several different strategies to approach the problem as to solve the conflict. Every business has different strategies to reduce crime in their workplace. It can also be said that the size of the organization comes with different strategies to resolve conflict than a smaller organization. According to Amy Raines (2007) large organizations strategies to resolve conflict is by mediation, incrementalism, which involves developing solutions over time, negotiating and effective communication. Both large and small business have conflict management strategies and according to rian Thomas (2002) strategies large and small businesses can use is facilitation, neutral conflict resolving sessions and conflict training and according to him by apply these strategies in the workplace the business will be able to continue the path of the businesses goal with less or no conflict to deal with. According to M. Afzalur Rahim (2002) a strategy used to resolve conflict is to attain and maintain a moderate amount of substantive conflict. According to him a substantive conflict occurs when two employees in the business disagree on their task or content issue. Groups that report this kind of conflict have higher performance because this kind of conflict can improve group performances through better understanding of different viewpoints and alternative solutions. According to Fleetwood (1987) there are five conflict management strategies and to him persons address themselves as if they are a strategy used to resolve conflict. He said the five conflict personality that a person is that they are the competitor, the collaborator, compromiser, the accommodator and lastly the avoider. It can be said that different business and people handle conflicts in different ways and the same way and this is because they are comfortable with it. When conflict arise persons often see as they are competing with someone for the same thing so conflict management strategies are a result of ones concern for accomplishing their goal and also being concerned about another accomplishing his or her goal. Inside the business world these days the ability to resolve conflict is an invaluable resource. There is a need for conflict resolution practices in all aspects of society for example business organizations. Conflict management strategies are designed to enhance peaceful cohesiveness, promote stability and improve performances, but its major purpose is to reduce and terminate conflict. Conflict cannot be prevented so the strategies to reduce it were created. The strategies may not be effective in all situations but they do work and in this research will prove if it is effective or not. According to Charles Mwanga and Mary Ragui (2013) a study was done by them and it proved that majority of the persons that were involved said that failure of management and the union to follow the recognition agreement in solving labor issues greatly affects their performances. Conflict not only affect the members relationship but it also affects groups, according to Rahim (2002) a strategy minimizing conflict and various levels is not always effective. According to him effective conflict strategies builds group loyalty, work group commitment, intent to stay in the present organization and job satisfaction. These result from high level of stress, anxiety and conflict escalation. The strategies that the manager used at the time can be beneficial to the employees. According J. H. Lim and R. Yazdanifard (2012) said if you can develop the internal capability to â€Å"mediate† conflicts, most issues can be resolve effectively. Research has suggested that when managers adopt a conflict management style that focus on satisfying needs of parties involve in conflict situation, supervisors and subordinates tend to build a relationship based on trust and respect. According to Salami (2009) withdrawing strategy has a tendency engender counter productivity and work behavior. Conflict is known to be evident in all human interaction. In any organization there are different causes of conflict and role differentiation acquires different strategies to handle conflict. In some situation it is beneficial to the business and the employees but not all the time it comes with a few consequences and in the research that was don’t the researcher broke down the different types of conflict found in all kind of businesses and also strategies to reduce it because conflict cannot be avoided and also the effect of the strategies use, if it either positive or negative. Methodology The researcher chose to investigate the topic conflict management strategies used by digicel in downtown Kingston to improve the relationship between employees and management. The study investigated what causes conflict in an organization and also to determine the strategies used by management to reduce conflict among employees. The design of the study included the use of qualitative research method which aims to get a better understanding through firsthand experience, truthful reporting, and quotations of actual conversations. It aims to understand how the participants derive meaning from their surroundings, and how their meaning influences their behavior . The method used in the research is an interview and a questionnaire because it brings forth data that is easily analyzed because responses are usually one word answers and numbers. An interview was chosen because it allows the person being interviewed to express his/her view and it does not limit them as respondents can give added information. The person interviewed was the manager. A random sampling method was used. A random sampling method enables every member of the targeted population has an equal chance of being chosen for the study. The researcher selected the representatives’ sample using probability Participation in the research was voluntary. Respondents were informed of the purpose of the research and the reason for which the research will be used. The population of the organization was 650 employees and twenty (20) persons were chosen randomly to participate in the study and one manager. Recommendations The researcher advices that the following recommendations be taken to reduce conflict in organizations between employees and managers: Management can provide a system that provides the reporting of incidents of workplace conflict and deal with the reports fairly and efficiently. educate managers and staff in communication, as well as in conflict prevention and Management. Implement strategies to ease the impact of change and decrease stress among staff; situations before they escalate. Make conflict resolution a priority among all staff members; Empower staff members to resolve problems among colleagues. Foster positive relationships, trust and respect among staff members and promote a work environment in which conflict-creating forms of behavior (for example, exclusion or dysfunctional cliques) are not tolerated. Formulate new and effective strategies that allows for the organization to allocate scarce resources fairly rather than as an organization competing among Presentation of data Fig 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 6 Fig. 7 Fig 8 Fig. 9 Fig 10 Management avoiding conflict causes more conflict Responses frequency agree 4 strongly agree 18 disagree 5 strongly disagree 3 Fig. 11 Fig. 12 Interview Manager An interview was done with the manager of the Digicel in downtown Kingston so as to ascertain the forces responsible for the conflicts that the organization faces. The questions asked by the interviewer are presented in the appendix. The manager was assured by the interviewer that his identity would remain confidential. Questions Answers What is the main cause of conflict Competition for scarce resources How do you handle conflict? When resolving a problem between employees, I serve as a neutral third party. When needed, I establish rules of conduct. How do you cope with conflict in the workplace? I try to anticipate conflict and take steps to resolve this at the earliest possible stage as I know that most of the conflicts can be resolved with just reaching out the people involved and communicating tactfully. Give an instance wherein you had to settle a conflict between two individuals. In my team, there were two colleagues whose relationship deteriorated to such an extent that the atmosphere they created was terrible. Interpretation of data A research was done to investigate the conflict management strategies used by digicel, down town Kingston, to improve the relationship between employees and management and to find background on what causes conflict among employees in an organization, to determine the strategies used by management to reduce conflict among employees and to determine how the strategies used by management by affect employees between each other. Through use of questionnaires issued to workers at the organization, the researcher found 60% the participants think that clash of personalities causes conflict and this while 23% strongly agree and this only means that in the Digicel organization there are different types of personalities that share different views and they all think their way is right and none wants to compromise with the other. On the other hand some participants in the research think otherwise. This proves (Brett hart 2000)0 theory that personality differences causes conflict, the research also proved that poor communication is a cause conflict and 53% of the participants agreed to that also 20% says it rarely causes conflict this is because employees do communicate with their subordinates I a respectful way and from that conflict arises.. The researcher also found that there are different strategies to resolve conflict or reduce it and it is shown in fig 6 that 57% of the participants believe that withdrawing from conflict situation reduces it and this can be because if individuals walk away from conflict and be the bigger person the conflict will either subside of eventually go away also she found out that collaboration between employees resolves conflict and in fig 9 50% of the participants strongly agree that it resolves conflict and this is because if employees are able to put their differences aside and look at the bigger picture which is meeting the goal of a project are the business then there will be no conflict between them. The study also found out that management cannot avoid conflict it only causes problem and out of the total participant 18 of them said they strongly agree and this is because management is the person that is supposed to come up with a solution and if they avoid the conflict there will be no structure and all hell may break lose so management should be there to take hold of the situation and bring structure to it and this proves the research also found that mediation is often used in conflict situation to resolve it and 50% of the participants said that and it is shown in fig 12 . With mediation the both parties involved are able to come to a concise and agreed decision that they both agree on. This proves Amy Raines (2007) is proven by which she said that mediation is strategy uses to reduce conflict in the work place. The researcher was blso able tro find out the effectiveness of the strategies that organizations used by management to reduce conflict in the wokplace. according to the fig 10 33% of the participants at digicel said that negotaition is the most effective methood used by mangement to reduce conflict and this is because if both parties involved in the conflict can negotaite and come to an agreement then the conflict is resolve with no problems. According J. H. Lim and R. Yazdanifard (2012) he said if you can develop the internal capability to â€Å"mediate† conflicts, most issues can be resolve effectively. Which he is saying that if individuals are able to deal with conflict on their own then conflict will be resolve in the benefit of both parties. The research also suggests that if style used by management is effective and it satisfies the needs of both parties involved then the supervisors and subordinates tend to build a relationship on trust on loyalty that in the end will benefit the business in a positive way. According to Salami (2009) withdrawing strategy has a tendency engender counter productivity work behavior. He means that employee behavior go against the legitimate interests of an organization. These behaviors can harm organizations or people in organizations including employees and clients, customers, or patients. Reference Bell, Art Ph. D. (2002). Six ways to resolve workplace conflicts. McLaren School of Business, University of San Francisco website. Salami, S. O. (2007). Moderating effect of trait EI on the relationship between emotional labor and organizational citizenship behavior. European Journal of Social Sciences 5(2), 142-150. Reynolds, Stephanie, and Eryn Kalish. (2002). Managing collaborative conflict resolution. McDowell, M. , Coleman, K. , Raines, Amy W. , Seay, and Sullivan, S. (2007). Management Models for Resolving Conflict in the Workplace. Thomas, Rian. (2002). Conflict Management Systems: A Methodology for Addressing the Cost of Conflict in the Workplace. Rahim, M. Afzalur. (2002). Toward a Theory of Managing Organizational Conflict: The International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 206-235. Fleetwood, L. Karen. (1987). The Conflict Management Styles and Strategies of Educational Managers. Mwangi, C. , Ragui, M. (2013). Effects of Workplace Conflicts on Employee Performance in the Air Transport Industry in Kenya. Lim J. H. , R. Yazdanifard (2012). The Difference of Conflict Management Styles and Conflict Resolution in Workplace: Business Entrepreneurship Journal, vol. 1, no. 1, 2012, 141-155. Introduction The researcher chose to investigate the topic. The main objective was to investigate the strategies used by management to deal with conflict between employees and management in Digicel. From the research main object she wanted to find the causes of conflict, also the strategies used to minimize the conflict in Digicel and also the effectiveness of the strategies used by management in Digicel. Digicel is a business that is in the private sector and owned by private individuals. Digicel is a tertiary business which provides services for residential and commercial consumers such as telephone services and also wireless internet to the residential and commercial consumers. Management of Business Internal Assessment Name: Collette fiddler School: Camperdown High School Territory: Jamaica Registration #: Teacher: Ms. Peterkin Centre #: 100115 Date of exam: May 2014 Conclusion The researcher was able to her objective and also justify her aims. She investigated three aims in which they all proved different results but in some way link back to each other. In her first aim she wanted to find out that causes of crime evident in workplaces and in that she found out that there are different causes like poor communication, personality differences, competition for scarce resources and many more. Most of the participants in the research agree with the findings. She also found the strategies that management used in digicel to reduce conflict varies. There were different answers coming from other researchers as well as the employees from digicel. Among the answers were collaboration, mediation, compromising and many more. All of the participants in the research agree with the findings. The researcher also proved the effectiveness of the strategies used and she found out that not all the time the result are positive they also bring negative effects some off the positive effects is that it builds trust between employees and managers. The businesses goal is met with ease on the employee’s part and also it make for a positive environment in the work place. With those positive effects there is negative effects which are high level5 of stress, anxiety and conflict escalation if the employees don’t agree with the strategy used by management Analysis of data Fig 1 On the graph above it shows a cause of conflict which is clash of personalities. Most of the participants in the research agree that it is a cause of conflict in digicel. 60% of them agreed. Right behind is strongly agree which 23% agreed. While 10% strongly disagree that clash of personality is a cause of conflict and 3% of the recipients disagree. Fig 2 In the pie chart above it shows another cause of conflict which poor communication. Majority of the participants in the research which was 53% said that is only sometimes poor communication causes conflict while 20% of them said that poor communication rarely causes conflict. The percentage remaining recipients wasn’t far apart. 17% said that poor communication causes conflict and 10% said it never causes conflict. Fig3 On the bar graph above it shows that the management style digicel uses which is autocratic contributes to conflict in the organization. The percentages of the responses weren’t far apart, there isn’t a far separation between the responses. 43% of the recipients agreed that the management style sometime contributes to conflict while 30% agreed that it always causes conflict but it isn’t that far from the highest percentage. 17% also agreed that management style rarely contributes to conflict while 10% said never Fig 4 On the graph above it shows cause of conflict that is evident in most organizations which is the competition for scarce resources. Half of the participants which is 50% stated that they strongly agree that competition for scarce resources causes conflict in digicel and the other half of the participants think otherwise. 23% just agree that it causes conflict also 17% just disagree that competition for scarce resources doesn’t cause conflict and also 10% strongly disagree that it does not cause conflict. Fig 5 In the graph above it shows some cause of conflict that most workplace. 47% of the participants from Digicel said that personality differences is main cause of conflict at Digicel. They also said competition for scarce resources is also a cause of conflict. 23% agree with that statement. 17% also said that competition for scarce resources causes conflict. The minority of the Participants said that stress also causes conflict. Fig 6 On the graph above it shows a means of reducing conflict in the workplace which is withdrawing from conflict situations. Not all the participants share the same view. More than half of the participants which is 57% said that they strongly agree that withdrawing from conflict situations reduces conflict also 13% just agree with the statement. Some the participants said otherwise. 20% disagree with the statement saying that it does not reduces conflict and also10% strongly disagree with the statement. Fig 7 On the graph above it shows s strategy used by management to resolve conflict which is compromising. More than half of the participants which is 53% said that they strongly agree that compromising is way of resolving conflict and also 27 just agree with the statement. There were some participants who felt differently about the statement. 13% said that they disagree that compromising is not a way of reducing conflict in Digicel and also 3% said that they strongly disagree with the statement. Fig 8 On the graph above it shows a cause of conflict which is the competition between employees. Half of the participants which is 50% stated strongly agree that completion between employees causes conflict also 27% just agree that it does causes conflict. Not all the participants agreed with the statement a few of them had a different opinion. 13% said that they disagree that competition between employees causes conflict and 10% said that strongly disagree with the statement that it does not cause conflict. Fig 9 On the graph above it shows a strategy used by management to reduce conflict between employees which is collaboration. There is difference of opinions from the participants. Half of the participants which is 50 said that they strongly agree that collaboration reduces conflict between employees and also 27% just agree with the statement but there were participants who thought different. 13% said that disagree. They believe that collaboration between employees does not reduce conflict and also 10 % strongly disagree that collaboration does not reduce conflict. Fig 10 On the graph above it shows strategies used by management to reduce crime. The percentages of the responses are not far apart. 33% of the participants said that negotiation is the most effective strategy used by management to reduce crime at Digicel and not too far back is accommodation that 30% of the participants agree that it is effective. Also collaboration is also said by a few recipients that it is effective and lastly 10% also said that compromising is effective in the workplace. Fig 11 On the graph above it shows that management avoiding conflict causes more conflict in the organization. 50% said that they strongly agree that when management avoids conflict it causes more conflict while 23% just agree that it causes more conflict nut out of the participants you have individuals with a different view on the situation. 17 strongly disagree that management avoiding conflict does not causes conflict and 10% disagree that it doesn’t causes more conflict. Fig 12 On the graph above it shows strategy that management can use to resolve conflict which is mediation. Out of all the participants in the research 50% said that mediation is often used to resolve conflict in digicel and other fifty percent is split up according. 27% of the participants at Digicel said that mediation is sometimes used also 17% said mediation is never used and finally 7% said it’s rarely used.