The article “5 Keys of Dealing with Workplace Conflict” by Mike Myatt discusses how strong leadership and effective conflict resolution is what separates bad leaders from good ones. Mike sets the stage for this article by asking the question “How many times over the years have you witnessed otherwise savvy professionals self-destruct because they wouldn’t engage out of a fear of conflict?” (Myatt, 2012) He discusses how attempting to hide from conflict, while hopping it passes you by is a very ineffective way of conflict resolution, because conflict very rarely resolves itself and escalates if not dealt with proactively. Mike goes on to describe how “every workplace is plagued with manipulative people who use emotion to create conflict in …show more content…
While Mike believes that conflict is a normal part of any organization, and the real challenge is how one deals with it. He then provides you with his “5 Keys of Dealing with Workplace Conflict,” (Myatt, 2012) which are: “Define Acceptable Behavior, Hit Conflict Head-on, Understanding the WIIFM Factor, The Importance Factor, and View Conflict as Opportunity.” (Myatt, 2012) What I have learned for this article is, that in order to be a good leader, you need to know how to deal with conflict, employ effective conflict resolution, while also avoided unnecessary …show more content…
In his first step of “Define Acceptable Behavior,” (Myatt, 2012) his advice of “creating a framework for decisioning, using a published delegation of authority statement, encouraging sound business practices in collaboration, team building, leadership development, and talent management will all help avoid conflicts,“ (Myatt, 2012) is very sound advice. I think it would really be a big help to everyone to have predefined rules and operating procedures to foster a good work environment. In step two, “Hit Conflict Head-on,” (Myatt, 2012) he advises to seek out conflict and “proactively intervening in a just and decisive fashion.” (Myatt, 2012) I believe that its fantastic advice, the quicker you can deal with conflict, the less time it will have to fester. I also completely agree with his statement “time spent identifying and understanding natural tensions will help to avoid unnecessary conflict.” (Myatt, 2012) By taking some time in the beginning to do this, you can save yourself time in the end. Step 3 “Understanding the WIIFM Factor,” (Myatt, 2012) for which WIIFM stands for “what’s in it for me.” (Myatt, 2012) I agree that it would be vital to understand other people’s motivations before weighing in and how helping people achieve their goals would help to avoid conflict. However, I could see a potential con to this advice and that being some people may feel slighted if they
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.
Conerly (2004), further states two things attribute to the way conflict is managed. One is the importance of meeting your own goals and the other is the importance you attribute to relationships and wanting to get along with others.
Introduction: The project is about my previous employer. I was Accountant for Rapid Consulting. Tech Company based in Irvine, California. Tech Company makes several apps for medical services. They have a consulting division as well. Thus the company has 25 staff and one outsourcing team in India. This company is administered and manage by founder and & President. Staff levels are CEO, Operation Director, CFO/Accountant, Project manager, Office Manager, Computer engineers and support staff.
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.
Conflicts situation can happen at any time. There are many different ways to handle conflict situations. To strengthen our skills in responding to conflicts situation we must understand the various conflict management style. The five styles of conflict management style include: Competing, Avoiding, Accommodating, Collaborating, and Compromising. The competing style is like a shark, a competitive approach to ensure only your views counts. Avoiding is like a turtle, avoiding every situation and giving up. Accommodating is like a teddy bear, working against your own goals to move forward. Collaborating is like an owl, working together with your partner to achieve both your goals. Compromising is like a fox, negotiating half your goals in order
Conflict Management can often be the toughest task for a leader to handle. It involves dealing with inter-personal and intra-personal conflict. As a team leader of a technical event called Pulse’09 at my university, I had to deal with conflicts on a regular basis. Conflicts usually arise either due to lack of effective communication, different ideologies, lack of resources or due to task interdependence [3]. It was by far my most life changing experience as it taught me the reason behind conflicts and the way to resolve them. In this paper, I will be talking about the way I dealt with conflicts and managed them, the impact they had on the team performance and what I could do to improve my leadership by contrasting my experience to the class readings.
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.
Thomas, K. W. (1992). Conflict and conflict management: Reflections and update. . Journal Of Organizational Behavior, 13(3), 265-274.
Huan, L. & Yazdanifard, R. (2012). The Differences of Conflict Management Styles and Conflict Resolution in Workplaces. Business & Entrepreneurship Journal. 1(1), 141-155.
Although there is a plethora of possible sources of conflict in any workplace, the ones in this case are rather explicit. These include personal differences, Informal deficiencies’, role incompatibility, environment stress, perceptions, and expectations. Personal differences could be related to personal values, physiognomies, family bonds or ties, and material belongings.
When working with a limited number of people, it can seem easy to have simple conversations about conflict with employees whether it was one on one or with a group of people. Unfortunately, there was no formal or informal training on how to effectively use a conflict management system. Based off of what we learned in this section of our interview, it is clear that Mrs. Harmon had to assume all responsibility when conflict arose in her office. Even if the boss did get involved, he tended to only make matters worse. Instead of having a laid out plan for effective confrontation, she was forced to improvise in almost all of the situations she encountered. Having developed her own informal system of conflict management, Mrs. Harmon had a basic idea of how to approach all conflicts directly and
People work in groups or teams everyday whether in their career, education, political organization, church, or any other social setting. Conflict while working in teams or groups is inevitable. When taking people of different backgrounds, personalities, moral, and ethical beliefs and putting them together in a group, conflict will arise. The key to achieving your team goals is to construct and conquer your goals with keeping the greater good of the team in mind. Conflict as it arises should be combated and abated through swift and thorough resolution techniques. When dealt with properly conflict resolution can give rise to a cohesive and productive team.
Interpersonal conflict is very common with many relationships. It occurs when two people can not meet in the middle or agree on a discussion. Cooperation is key to maintaining a healthy debate. More frequently; when dealing with members of your own family, issues arise that include conflict and resolution. During this process our true conflict management style appears “out of thin air”. (Steve A. Beebe, 2008, p. 191).
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.
Gross and Guerrero (2000) supported Rahim’s conflict management styles and identified that these styles are associated with organizational climate and culture, job satisfaction. Their research on 50 employees uncovered some facts include employees who were involved in unmanaged conflict end up in job dissatisfaction and subsequently their performance deters (p. 208). The competence-based model developed by Canary, Cupach and Serpe (2001) contrast with Rahim’s theory, where the effectiveness of conflict management styles is based on the situation and understanding of individuals (p. 81). They tried to find a resolution for the conflict instead of implementing the strategy to reduce tension by applying conflict management styles, resulting in inconsistent outcomes (p. 531).