Conflict
Conflict is an integral part of organization life. The reason why conflict occurs is for the reason that disagreements arises as well as incompatibilities between different individual, or within groups and entire organizations. [Organizational Behavior and Change – Joseph W.Weiss]
Conflict is a struggle between two or more people forces that creates a tension that must be resolved but in some cases, it doesn’t usually get resolved.
[http://aliscot.com/ensenanza/1302/conflict.htm]
There are a variety of different reasons why conflict may occur, they can simply be;
· Interdependence Conflicts
· Differences in Style
· Differences in Background or Gender
· Differences in Leadership
· Personality Clashes
Whilst I was working at Marks and Spencers I faced a variety of conflict within the workplace. One prime example I had of the conflict I faced was some of my colleague’s style for completing a job. I was tend to be the sort of person who was task oriented and would like the task to be completed as soon as possible whereas some of my other colleagues liked to complete tasks in a specific way which was usually time consuming. As a result we were not able to complete the task set. The way the team try to overcome the problem that kept occurring we were all allocated tasks that we had to complete individually and the managers usually timed how long each person would take. Therefore the managers wee able to see who exactly was delaying the team to complete the tasks allocated.
In organizations there are at least five types of conflict: structural, intrapersonal, interpersonal and intergroup and interorganizational. Structural conflicts take place because of cross-functional departmental differences over goals, rewards, and line and staff activities.
At Mark and Spencers’ one common conflict we used to face was the conflict between the food hall and shop floor where all the clothes were. We used to have customers who used to pay and return items of clothing as well as food on the shop floor for the clothes. Although this wasn’t the main issue, it was then the food hall responsibility to ensure that all the food that had been returned were in correct place at the right time. In the store I used to work in, the staff who were responsible for this never used to handle all the food stock on time which was irritating. On some days the staff that worked in the clothes section had to bring all the food stock to the food hall at the end of the day which was again time consuming.
Sources of Power
Legitimate power is an agreement among organizational members that people in certain roles can request certain behaviours of others. Legitimate power depends on more than job descriptions it also depends on mutual agreement from those expected to abide by this authority. An employee’s manager power to make them work overtime will partly depend on their agreement to this power. An example of this is a supervisor subordinate relationship, where the supervisor (say in the military) is of a higher rank (legitimately more powerful). However, that supervisor in that same relationship may or may not have referent power, if the subordinate does not respect his authority.
Reward power is derived from the person’s ability to control the allocation of reward valued by others and to remove negative sanctions for example negative reinforcement. Managers have formal authority that will give them the power to distribute rewards such as pay, promotions, time off all over the organisation. An example of reward power is when employees work hard for the reason that they know they are going to get paid. So they try and complete tasks to the best of their ability.
There are a variety of strategies in which organisations can use to overcome conflicts at work. Different organisations can look at different areas of a business to think of a way to reduce conflict within the work place.
For example organisations can design different types of objectives keeping the needs of the employees in mind as this will be beneficial for the employees. The first approach that a business can use to reduce conflict within the company is ensuring that all communication is done effectively for the reason that this is one of the reasons why conflicts arise within a business. They can also provide suggestion boxes where employees can leave their suggestions on how to decrease conflicts in the business.
Another strategy a business can use is by having appraisal interviews, where managers are able to recognize their achievements and inform them where they may have been lacking
References
Organizational Behavior and Change – Joseph W.Weiss
Mullins J, (2010) Management & Organisational Behaviour. 9th ed. Essex: Laurie
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