Communication
Introduction
Conflicts are disagreements between two or more groups of people. The parties could disagree on principles, interests or responsibilities. Conflict is very ordinary and expected when people with different values and ideas work together. Due to the inevitability of discord, it is important to recognize the conflict, address it and resolve it sufficiently. When conflicts are not resolved appropriately, undesired effects may arise. When conflicts are handled appropriately, it strengthens the relationship and trust between the involved parties. There are many different methods of resolving conflicts. Choosing the best conflict resolution method initially is crucial to resolving the conflict. In solving conflict, no one strategy fits all. This study will examine the various conflict management methods and leadership strategies to be applied in a conflict between opposing groups of the same organization (Ramsbotham, et al., 2011).
There are different types of conflict. Conflicts can be classified into interpersonal, intrapersonal intergroup and intragroup. Interpersonal conflicts are disagreements between persons. They occur because of the differences in interests, choices, perceptions, values and ideas between the individuals. Interpersonal conflicts can easily be solved by the two individuals. If the conflict escalates, a mediator can be called in to resolve disagreement. Intrapersonal conflicts are within an individual. Such conflicts occur within an individual’s conscience. The conflict is essentially psychological. It brings into conflict the person’s values, morality, interests, and emotions. Intrapersonal conflicts vary in magnitude. They can be as insignificant as choosing what socks to wear to choosing a profession. Such conflicts can be hard to solve if one doesn’t understand and embrace their emotions and thoughts.
Intergroup conflicts occur between disagreements occur between different groups in one company. Conflicts arise because of different group goals, objectives or responsibilities. Other causes can be disagreement over shared resources or boundaries set between the groups. Clashes in responsibility are very common between groups in the same organization. One group could also try to dominate over the other group causing a clash in authority. Different leadership strategies can applied to resolve intergroup conflicts(Deutsch, et al., 2011). Intragroup conflicts occur within a group. Intragroup conflicts occur mainly due to differences in personality between persons working together. Differences in ideas, opinion, interests and responsibilities create disagreements. Intragroup conflicts are useful when people disagree over ideas. This creates healthy competition between the individuals. However, when such conflicts cause discord and disrupt the working of the group then guidance from outside is necessary. The disagreement in our situation is an intergroup conflict.
The conflict in our study sets the U.S. office of Global Network Administrators Group against the Indian office. The U.S. office has little direct supervision. The U.S. office does not respond to network issues on time, does not resolve network connectivity issues within 24 hours and do not document, categorize and put issues in web-accessible FAQs to aid in future troubleshooting. This has caused a breach in network, slow connectivity and slow response from the U.S. office when problems arise. Due to this, the Indian office has been overloaded by requests to help with network issues in the U.S. office. The Indian office has found it impossible to respond to their hitches appropriately. The two offices come into conflict due to neglect in responsibility. This conflict has hurt the firm’s customers, employees and shareholders. As team leader, solving the conflict appropriately and in good time will enhance the organization’s harmony and success.
Leadership Strategy
Global Network Administrators Group currently has a conflict between the U.S. office and the India office. The root of the problem is the irresponsibility on the side of the U.S. office due to lack of supervision. This conflict has created discord between the two groups. As the group leader, I will adopt an affiliative strategy. This strategy is most important when the organization has conflict between different stakeholders that needs quick resolution. In our study, there is discord between the U.S. and Indian offices because customer needs are not being met appropriately. Teamwork and coordination between the two offices is crucial. Both offices will be required to work together to meet organizational goals on time. Division of responsibilities will ensure that both offices do enough work without overloading one side with duties.
Affiliative strategy targets to create innovative solutions to the challenges facing the firm. Creative solutions solve problems in the quickest and best way. Affiliative strategy fosters harmony between all stakeholders. Harmony between customers, shareholders and employees is vital to success of the organization. Affiliative methods improves communication within the organization. Good communications ensures exchange of ideas and trust within the organization. With good communication, the problems ailing the U.S. office will be solved. Good work is acknowledged and rewarded. Affiliative strategy builds the bonds between different organs of the firm. Strong bonds create cohesion within the organization and goals are met with ease.
The group leader should share a vision with both teams. The vision should be precise and clear so that all the employees can follow it. The vision must also be in line with the firm’s goals and objectives. The team leader will rally all stakeholders behind this vision. Having a vision creates cooperation and determination to work. A vision will reduce the conflict between the U.S. and India offices. The vision will be to offer customers with quick and satisfactory solutions. Customer oriented visions will differentiate the company’s from other companies. It improves customer attitude regarding the company and builds customer loyalty.
Conflict Management Strategies
There are five conflict resolution strategies. These are avoidance, collaboration, compromising, competing and accommodating. Avoidance strategy aims to postpone the conflict. In avoidance, the leader hopes that with time the problem will solve itself amicably. Avoidance is recommended when the conflict is of small magnitude or when more information is required before resolving the conflict. Compromising strategy aims at persuading both sides of the conflict to cede ground on some of their demands in order to find and agreeable resolution. It is recommended when groups of equal status are in conflict. Collaborative strategy integrates concepts suggested by different parties. The goal is find a solution acceptable to both parties. Collaborating takes a lot of time. Competing strategy has a definite winner and loser. It is used when one team is right. Sometimes, competing increases the conflict. Accommodating strategy lets one side get what they desire. Accommodating is recommended when the issue is not very important to the other group. The conflict management strategies that will be applied in our study are collaborative and competing(Deutsch, Coleman, & Marcus, 2011).
Collaborative Strategy
First the team leader should listen to both sides of the conflict. This is an important step towards understanding the differences between the dissenting groups. In listening to both groups, the leader will understand the differences in motivation, needs and interests between the groups. The Indian team will voice their issues fists. The Indian group will be expected to state why they have conflict with the U.S. group and the problems that have arisen from the conflict. The U.S. office will then state their grievances. The U.S. group will express their principles, interests and responsibilities. In this phase, the team leader’s listening skills will be implemented. Being a good listener will increase the comprehension of the problem. The team leader should discern both the verbal and non-verbal cues from team members from different groups. This will help understand the emotions of the two teams involved in the conflict. At the end this stage, the leader should understand the causes of the conflict and the conflict itself (Ramsbotham, et al., 2011).
The next phase should be gathering the groups together. The team leader should organize for a meeting between the groups in a neutral location such as a hotel. The meeting should be away from the organization to make the groups feel calm. The leader will allow the team leaders from the U.S. team and the Indian office to air their views publicly. The team leaders will express their opinion about all the issues and what how they expect the disagreements to be resolved. The tem leaders should moderate over the discussions making sure that they do not become personal. The focus of the discussions should be the source of conflict and not the person raising the issue. The facts of the conflict should be written down. After that, the assumptions are listed. The team leader will be able gauge the magnitude of the conflict. The issues will then be tackled objectively with the two groups offering solutions to the issues specified.
After the issues and suggestions have been aired, the next step is to find the solution. In order to reach agreement, the two teams will be encouraged to be open-minded. This is to prevent emotions and bias interfering with the resolution process. All the issues will be viewed from different perspectives to acquire a comprehensive understanding of the conflict. Changing attitudes will help both parties interpret the points of conflict. Emphasis on the groups’ similarities rather than differences is paramount to making the groups work together. The differences however need to be clarified. The group leader must be impartial when making resolutions. Taking sides will only increase the conflict because of the perception of favoritism.
If the group leader will have a challenge being neutral, they should engage a facilitator. A facilitator takes an impartial perspective and is better positioned to handle explosive discussions. Facilitators will diffuse the high emotions enable quicker conflict resolution. When the solution is reached, group leader should acknowledge the contribution of both parties towards getting the solution. A good solution will be accepted by both teams. The solution will take into account the views and suggestions of both teams. This conflict management strategy will improves teamwork and cohesion between the U.S. team and India team. The solutions will improve the relationship and cooperation between the two groups. With the conflict out of the way, both teams will work towards meeting organizational goal thus pleasing involved stakeholders.
Competing Strategy
Competing strategy is used when a quick solution is needed and the outcome is crucial to the organization. . It is also used hen one side is right and the other wrong. In our case, the customers, stakeholders and shareholders need to be satisfied hence justifying the need to applying a competing strategy. First, the U.S. group will air their opinions. The group leader will note down their position of the conflict. Next the team leader will listen to the concerns of the India group. The objective at this stage is to know the cause of the conflict. The group leader will repeat all the grievances stated by both sides to ensure he understands the nature of the conflict (Ramsbotham, et al., 2011).
The next step is to establish the attitudes, behaviors and structure of the teams in conflict. Attitudes define the orientations of the team members in the different groups. Attitudes characterize and shape how team members acts towards one another. The group leader will have several questions to explore. How interdependent are the members and how aware are they of the reliance? What stereotypes do the groups have of the other groups? What interests and opinions do the members share and are there are differences in opinion. Broad differences in emotion and opinion bring about conflict between groups. Behaviours are the ways in which group members act towards each other. It explores the levels of cohesion within the group and the strategies of the group leaders. High levels of cohesion and conformity within one group are likely to cause conflict with other groups because one group aims to assert authority over the other. Highly aggressive groups tend to disagree more often. Structures define the aspects that influence interaction within the group. Structures include the mechanisms that link the groups, interests and group boundaries. Loosely linked groups are more likely to fall into conflict. The group leader should study the structures of both the U.S. and India teams to determine how they relate in the larger organization ecosystem.
The next step is to determine which side is on the wrong. Using the information gathered from the two groups and the study of structures, behaviors and attitude, the leader will make a decision. In our study, the U.S. group has ignored their duties due to lack of supervision causing a work overload for the India office. The U.S. office does not follow company principles leading to dissatisfaction by consumers. The network is slow and it has been breached severally. Therefore, the U.S. office is in the wrong. The team leader will decide to include supervision for the U.S. team to ensure responsibilities are met adequately. The U.S. team will be required to respond to network problems within 4 hours and resolve connectivity problems in a day. The U.S. office will also have to document, categorize and add solutions to a web-accessible FAQ. In this way, the conflict will be resolved swiftly. Solving the problem quickly will guarantee that the organizational goals are met quickly and all teams are responsible. Reducing the burden on the India office will increase their productivity. In applying this strategy, the organization will maximize results for the all stakeholders(Deutsch, Coleman, & Marcus, 2011).
Organization Culture to Solve Conflict
Organization culture is personality of the company. It is a system of common principles, beliefs, norms and ideas that determine how people act within the organization. Organization culture regulates how people do their work, dress and relate. Each organization creates and maintains a distinctive culture, which gives guidelines and borders for the conduct of the members of the firm. The culture of the organization should be in line with meeting organizational objectives. The characteristics of organization culture are: devotion to detail; innovation; emphasis on outcome; emphasis on people; cooperation; aggressiveness and stability.Organizational culture is also influenced by the norms, ethics and values of the society.
Global Network Administrators Group has an organization culture of meeting customer needs quickly. Network connectivity issues should be responded to in less than four hours and network connectivity issues are resolved within 24 hours. This culture demands that customer problems are dealt with quickly and the customer is made happy. Customer needs are the central focus. One scenario in Global Network Administrators Group is that the U.S. office does not respond to network connectivity issues in less than four hours causing the network to be slow therefore causing an overload of work for the India office. By stressing emphasis on customers, the U.S. office will resolve issues that arise quickly and therefore avert any conflict with the India office. Adhering to organizational culture will ensure that organizational goals are met and all stakeholders are gratified (Ramsbotham, et al., 2011).
Being customer centric will ensure that customer feedback is given prominence. Having regular communication with customers will help Global network Administrators Group to know what the customers require. Keeping open communication channels with customers will improve customer care and remote support. Customers will have their problems addressed quickly whenever they call or email the firm. With regular feedback, the groups will have enough time to tackle network problems. It will be possible to respond to network connectivity issues under 4 hours and restore connectivity in less than 24 hours. Documenting customer problems will aid in understanding network problem patterns and solve them before they happen. Having a web-accessible FAQ will enable customers to solve simple networking problems whenever they encounter them. This will reduce the workload present for both offices and ensure that no conflict occurs.
Strategies for Collaboration
Creating a solid foundation for the organization by establishing values and ethics for the firm. Clarifying what the organization stands for is a necessary criterion to building strong bonds between customers, employees and shareholders. The organization must decide what it stands for and what conduct it expects from all involved stakeholders. Following the stated ethics and values will mutual understanding which will foster strong relationships and trust among stakeholders. A set of values and ethics will guide employees on the dos and don’ts of the organization. The organization should encourage customers to openly give opinion and suggestions. Taking the outlook of the customer will help to improve how problems are handled. Customer input helps build strategies that will satisfy all stakeholders involved. Good communication with the customer creates loyalty and strong bonds. Leaders must also be ready to accept failure and learn from it.
Promoting interpersonal relationships between employees. Employees work better when they know each other. Social bonds within the organization create harmony and great relationships. When employees are bonded, problems are solved faster and creativity is multiplied. Team-building activities are one way to improve employee relationships. It is in the process of interaction that knowledge is transferred and weaknesses overcame. The leader can introduce incentives for collaborative work. Identifying common goals is another way to build stronger connections. The leader should always strive to emphasize similarities between diverse groups instead of their differences. Focusing on similarities creates a sense of oneness and nurtures the determination to meet organization goals. Employees are also encouraged to meet and socialize outside the wok environment. Conflict resolution is easier when there are solid social relationships between different groups. Leaders must be at the forefront in creating good relationships in the organization. Conflicting leaders set a bad example for employees.
The organization ought to be flexible. A flexible firm is able to find solutions to problems easily. When strategies don’t work, leaders are expected to change tact and adopt different solutions. Creativity and innovation should have a conspicuous emphasis within the organization. Innovative solutions to network problems should be appreciated and rewarded. Creativity can be achieved in the organization by grouping employees with different ideas and expertise into working units. Removing all barriers to flow of information within the organization among customers, shareholders and employees with create flexibility and mutual understanding. Transferring employees between the U.S. and India will create diversity. Diversity is good for the organization because it promotes exchange of ideas and solution. Diversity makes individuals perceive situations in ways they had never explored before. This creates innovation and flexibility within the organization.
Conclusion
Conflicts are disagreements between two or more parties arising from difference in opinion, interest or responsibilities. It is crucial to recognize conflict within the workplace and resolve it early. Conflicts are classified into intrapersonal, interpersonal, intergroup and intragroup. The leadership strategy fosters good relationships between all groups, improved communication, increased bonding and establishing a vision. Conflict management strategies avoidance, collaboration, compromising, competing and accommodating. This study applied the collaborative and competing strategies to resolve the conflict. Organization culture is character of the company. It is a system of common principles, beliefs, norms and ideas that determine how people act within the organization. Promoting organizational can help resolve the conflicts that arise in the company. In order to enhance collaboration, leaders should establish values and ethics for the firm; take customer input; encourage interpersonal relationships and embrace flexibility. The conflicts between the U.S. and India offices should be resolved quickly in order to concentrate on maximizing results for stakeholders.
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