Management
Management
The first thing must be done in this situation is talk to the team members. It is important that the reason for the merger be explained to them so that they will understand why there is a need for the organizational change. After explaining the merger to the employees, it is essential that the employees’ new roles in the merged company are discussed with them. It must be emphasized that each member in the team is important and that the company believes that each one has something to contribute to the company.
As division head, one has to meet separately with the employee complaining and listen to her grievances. After hearing her complaints, one will meet with each member of the team and get each one’s side of the story. It is necessary to meet with each member of the team separately to get a clearer view of the situation and to prevent any member from influencing another’s view. After hearing all sides of the story, one can try to evaluate the problem and determine what brought about it. In assessing the conflict, one has to get to the deep-rooted causes of the misunderstanding and try to weigh the arguments of both sides. A meeting can be scheduled between the employee who feels left out and the other members of the team so that each one can air their sides. During the meeting, as division head, one must preside over the meeting and discuss possible solutions to the problem. One can probably say to the rest of the team to give the grieving employee a chance to be heard because if they were in her position, they too would not like to feel left out. One can also explain to the employee complaining that what she feels is probably just a misinterpretation of how the other team members behave. On the other hand, one can suggest to the other team members to show more compassion and understanding to the other employee since she is just new to the team. One can also ask for suggestions from both sides on how they think they can help resolve the problem. One has to emphasize to the team that due to the merger, each one should learn to adapt to the changes in the organization including adjusting to new employees. It would also be good to schedule an out-of-office informal get-together among the team members so that they can get to know each other better.
References
Ingram, D. (2013). Ways of managing conflict in organizations. Retrieved from smallbusiness.chron.com: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/ways-managing-conflict-organizations-2655.html
