Assessing Power Imbalances
Introduction
In today’s organizations conflict and power are important elements to the success of any company but can also create negative long term impacts if not addressed. Organizations require enough power within the leaders to get through conflict and enough conflict within individuals to create new innovations. Not all conflict is bad but when there is conflict individuals with power must assist in aligning conflict resolution to assist in understanding for everyone involved in the conflict. The need for successful conflict resolution is vital for employees so that they are capable of moving on and understanding why the conflict was overcome.
Conflict
In every organization there is a potential that there will be conflict between individuals. Conflict is a disagreement between two people. Conflicting perceptions and attitudes can be generally classed into five major styles: 1) avoidance, 2) accommodation, 3) competition, 4) compromise, and 5) collaboration, each of which is discussed in length by Engleberg, Wynn, and Schuttler (2003). Conflict can have both positive and negative influences on the people within the disagreement. The conflict in an organization can be destructive if the conflict is allowed to get out of control. Conflict is also a tool for success as it gives the organization the ability to see different viewpoints or perspectives. Its “positive or negative outcomes depend on the type of the conflict, the causes and number of people involved, attitudes of people in conflict, and other similar factors” (Rudani 2011, p. 632). Having diversity in the organization is the backbone of building a stronger organization through better problem solving and ideas.
Conflict can be competiti...
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Conflict is and will always be something that everyone has to experience, and they experience it because we are all-different and have different beliefs. Some of the sources of conflict that exist in Bridget’s organization is the differences over interpretation facts, behavioral expectation, and conflicts with the customers, customer’s satisfaction. The general manager such as Issa tends to interpret things wrong. When Bridget wishes to do the best for Pollo Campero Issa, always pinpoints to look like Bridget’s negotiation is always wrong. Bridget has always said that although Issa always makes her feel less of a person Bridget doesn’t allow it to affect her. Like Bridget said at least she has the support of employees. Many employees and other managers who know Bridget know that she is a calm person and someone to trust especially because she has demonstrated since the first day of employment. She explained that in order to manage conflict you have to be worthy within you and not letting anyone make you less will make you value and love yourself more. Bridget said “do not fear conflict rather embrace it”, different conflicts arise everyday for example the customer service conflict, but the ability to recognize and understand the nature of conflict and bring a swift of resolution makes Bridget a good
Look up the word conflict in the dictionary and you will see several negative responses. Descriptions such as: to come into collision or disagreement; be at variance or in opposition; clash; to contend; do battle; controversy; quarrel; antagonism or opposition between interests or principles Random House (1975). With the negative reputation associated with this word, no wonder people tend to shy away when they start to enter into the area of conflict. D. Jordan (1996) suggests that there are two types of conflict: good, which is defined as cognitive conflict (C-type conflict) and, detrimental, defined as affective conflict (A-type conflict). The C-type conflict allows for creativity, to pull together a group of people with different opinions or ideas, to combine and brain storm all thoughts to develop the best solution for the problem. The A-type conflict is the negative form when you have animosity, hostility, un-resolveable differences, and egos to deal with. The list citing negative conflicts could go on forever. We will be investigating these types of conflicts, what managers can do to recognize conflict early, and what strategies they can use to resolve conflicts once they have advanced.
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Whenever people unite to work as a team for anything more than a brief duration, some conflict is normal, and should be expected (Engleberg, Wynn & Schutter, 2003). Because of the inevitability of conflict, being able to recognize, address, and ultimately resolve it is vitally important, since unresolved conflict may have undesirable effects, including reduced morale, or increased turnover (De Janasz, Dowd & Schneider, 2001). Just as conflicts within team environments vary, so do methods for resolving it. In this paper, conflict, its effects, and some management and resolution strategies as they relate to team dynamics will be discussed. Understanding the various conflict resolution methods, including how and when to apply them, is of utmost importance. In teams, different types of conflict call for different solutions. Conflict resolution is certainly not an area in which one size fits all.
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As human beings, we experience conflict in our everyday lives. It is a natural phenomenon of our personal and professional existence, that it becomes an inevitable component of human activity. In today’s ever-changing business environment organizations, conflict resolution styles are seen as culturally defined event. The success and efficiency of channelling conflicts, whether in a positive or negative manner, can affect the nature of it as being beneficial or destructive to us. However, if it is properly managed, it can in fact ‘increase individuals innovativeness and productivity’ (Uline, Tschannen-moran & Perez, 2003) while offering ‘interpersonal relationship satisfaction, creative problem solving, the growth of a global workforce and domestic
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Organisations today face many challenges and threats in the rapidly changing and highly competitive global environment , one of these challenges is organisational conflict. Conflict is an inevitable and normal phenomenon between individuals and groups in each organization (OJO and ABOLADE,no date). There is growing recognition of the importance of conflict in the organization (Garcia-Prieto, Bellard, and Schneider, 2003) . According to Hocker and Wilmot in 1995,quoted by Henry(2008),said that not all conflicts can be easily regarded as good or bad. This essay will critically discuss both functional and dysfunctional organisational conflicts and their good or bad consequences. As a general rule, not all conflicts should be eliminated.
Conflict exists in every organization as a result of incompatible needs, goals, and objectives of two people while aligning to the overall business requirements. Though disagreement is linked with negative impact, the approach has healthy considerations (Leung, 2008). For instance, some conflicts create an avenue for the exchange of ideas and creativity to meet the set organizational purposes. However, damaging disagreement in organizations results in employee dissatisfaction, turnover, and poor services and reduced productivity. The paper establishes different types of interpersonal conflict and key resolution strategies used to address the problem. Human resource managers need to have the capacity to identify different levels of conflicts and the best methods to negate them.
Conflict is a “dynamic conversation between people that is ever changing, where people disagree about goals and motives” (Pathak, 2010). In any organization conflict is inevitable whether it is “personal, group, intraorganizational or interorganizational or a combination” (Pathak, 2010). It is often difficult to determine how to deal with these situations, especially if the person breaking the rules is a superior or an authority figure (Pathak, 2010). Furthermore, these situations can cause ethical and moral
(Asawo, 2011). Conflict can occur in any setting and as leaders in organizations guide and