9954 Conflict Management Assignment Sample

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• Subject Name : Conflict Management

Managerial Communication

Contents

Introduction.

Source of conflict

Perception of engaged parties in conflict

Conflict Resolution Strategy.

Techniques and Communication Methods.

Self-awareness.

Self-Management

Social Awareness

Relationship Management

Role of Non-Verbal Communication.

Managerial Listening Importance.

Conclusion.

References.

Introduction to Conflicts 

Conflicts are natural processes that result in a disorder of the anticipated state of coherence and constancy in a symbiotic world. These cannot be avoided in an organization due to the presence of diverse people with varied goals, outlooks, and personalities. In most of the cases in the workplace, the reason behind the occurrence of conflicts is poor communication, lack of professionalism, and respect for others. When there is a conflict between two people in an organization, it has an adverse impact on the entire business and on other people’s lives (Kfouri & Lee, 2019). However, there is no need to worry about as there are conflict management strategies that are used by managers to resolve conflicts between the employees. Conflict management usually indicates the notions and strategies designed for minimizing the negative influences of conflict and improve the positive consequences of the parties engaged in conflict. It is a tremendously essential concept to avoid conflicts and best in reinforcing the association among the employees. Managing the conflicts between employees at the workplace is necessary as a great level of adverse conflicts can cause worker discontent and exclusive turnover along with minimized productivity (Einarsen et al,2018). This report discusses the action plan adopted by the manager to resolve the conflict between employee A and employee B who both are subordinates at an identical level in the company. Moreover, this report entails the approaches to communication in order to resolve the issue.

Source of Conflict

The main sources of conflict from which it may stem up between employees within an organization are personality clashes, poor communication, diverse values & work styles, and unhealthy workplace competition (Kausalya & Abirami, 2016). In the case of the conflict between employee A and employee B, the major source of conflict is the lack of communication between both parties and both disagree with each other's management style.

Perception of Engaged Parties in Conflict

The parties involved in the conflict are two subordinates at the same level who are in charge of a team of four employees. They both perceive the conflict situation as a disagreement situation where both are complaining against each other with the manager. They perceive it as negative as both of them have contradictory statements as one is saying that she is being neglected by others in respect of communication regarding meetings and decision making. Moreover, the other employee is arguing that she is not interested in attending meetings and she is always invited to important discussions.

Conflict Resolution Strategy

In this situation where a conflict occurred between subordinates of a team, the best suitable strategy that a manager must adopt is to encourage & motivate both of them for effective teamwork. These are the powerful means of resolving conflicts between two employees by the manager. Strong teamwork is to be promoted so that both employee A and employee B can understand each other and discuss the work performance and aid each other whenever needed. Managers must also keep them engaged in the activities so that they do not get time to think about conflicts (Tjosvold, Wong & Feng Chen, 2014). Promoting robust communication means is also a strategy to resolve conflicts between them. Sometimes, diverse communication styles of the employees may lead to creating conflicts of interest. A manager must listen to the needs and viewpoints of both the conflicting parties and at the same time he must share his perspective also about the situation. This will encourage employees to always work in unity with each other to get positive results out of the team members. Encouragement and motivation for promoting teamwork is the best effective strategy for conflict resolution and this helps the employees to think of the relevance of working in a team.

Conflict management helps the manager to increase the morale of the employees, and enhance creativity. Furthermore, it reduces stress and conserves the integrity among each other. Furthermore, the suitable conflict resolution method for the given situation of conflict is mediation. This technique usually means the procedure of involving a mediator in this case manager to solve the conflicts between two employees. This method generates prompt decisions taken by the manager and is extremely flexible. This can be effective at letting parties escape their feelings and entirely explore their complaints. They help the parties to generate resolution that is supportable, controlled, and nonbinding. It is the process where the manager (mediator) aids with the communication and fosters reconciliation between conflicting parties that will enable them to each a mutually acceptable agreement. Negotiation is not a perfect method to solve the conflict as the conflicting parties are against each other and do not have any similarities. The concept and method of mediation for conflict resolution always result in a win-win situation. It promotes communication, collaboration, and reduces a sense of hostility between members and maintains constant relationships (Vandeputte, 2015).

Techniques and Communication Methods

In order to manage conflict, the first and foremost element is communication. Communication plays a vital role in the conflict resolution between two employees in the workplace. The conflict management skills required for effective communication are active listening, meditating, and leadership, meeting with parties, negotiating, open dialogue, positive behaviors, written communication, non-verbal communication, and more. The approach of communication that is suitable for conflict resolution is emotional intelligence. It is the best-suited method as the person who has good EQ (emotional intelligence) is more competent to stimulate, influence, and connect with others. Since communication is the only way conflict between the employees could be resolved thus a suitable approach is equally necessary that can support effective communication and may result in conflict resolution. In order to solve the conflicts, there is a requirement of robust arbitration skills, endurance, and a sense of emotional intelligence.

The key to positively nullifying the conflict situation is open communication by managers and he must be able to listen actively, motivate employees, and willing to speak with conflicting parties. Emotional intelligence can be defined as the capability to know the feelings of one and another and handle those feelings at the same time. It is a fact that individuals that have higher EQ are good at recognizing and fulfilling the desires of others while taking accountability for their individual desires and emotions. There are certain skills required for the effective use of emotional intelligence to solve the conflict. These skills entail compromising, identifying triggers, analytical, adaptable, helping others, identifying improvements, optimism, respect, self-awareness, self-regulation, and more. It is the personal attribute that is extremely helpful for easing conflict as the people who carry these skills are empathetic and sensitive to the feelings of others (Chan, Sit & Lau, 2014). The four important aspects of emotional intelligence are as follows:

Self-Awareness

This component is the basis of all other aspects of emotional intelligence. Self-awareness means knowing one’s own capabilities, objectives, moods, attitude, communication styles, and role understanding in an organization. The individuals who are in proximity to their feelings are indeed better capable to direct their own life. Likewise, members of the team must be in closeness with their feelings to connect effectively and appreciate feelings in others. Furthermore, the advanced level of self-awareness helps the manager to learn to believe their gut feelings and bring about valuable information needed for solving hard issues. The manager must be properly self-aware while dealing with two employees as he will be better able to be contented with his strengths and does not cripple by his faults. While communicating with the conflicting parties, he will be better able to separate the insights, partialities, and prejudices from the actual situation.

Self-Management

It is the component of EQ that entails regulating the emotions and instincts of an individual along with adjusting to changing situations. After having awareness of one’s own feelings, one must have to regulate the same in order to effectively communicate the decisions. Usually, it is a skill set that allows one to apply mindful control over his behavior in a state where his reaction could interrupt the result he wants to attain. Self-management further entails certain aspects like self-control, adaptability, initiative, trustworthiness, attainment focused, conscientiousness. It is necessary as those who have the ability to manage their own emotions are better to be able to perform better due to the clarity of their thinking.

Social Awareness

This component generally means that one understands how to react to diverse social conditions and effectively improve one’s interactions with others to attain improved outcomes. It mainly means understanding the attitudes, moods, emotions, motivation, feelings, of others. The aspects included in the social awareness component of emotional intelligence are organizational awareness, service orientation, and empathy. Managers must have the ability to sense the emotions of employees while resolving conflict situations and take an active interest in their concerns. Moreover, social awareness or knowing others requires attention to non-verbal communication aspects like body language, gestures, eye-contact, and environmental factors.

Relationship Management

Relationship management refers to the capability to inspire, motivate, and establish others while managing the conflicts. It further entails being able to have an intense impact on peers to advance the association. This component is having numerous aspects and skills that managers must have to be successful in resolving conflict. These skills are change catalysts, conflict management, influence, unrealistic leadership, teamwork, building association, and more. It enables the manager to foster robust relations, influence, and connect with others. Furthermore, it entails the identification, analysis, and management of relationships with people and focuses on their development. It is also useful in exchanging effectively, solving conflicts, and working with others to a goalmouth (Buzdar, Ali & Tariq, 2016).

A skilled communicator can help in solving conflicts between the employees as good communication skills helps in improving relationships and teamwork in the company. Moreover, it can better solve the problems effectively; nurture an open and creative environment. Leadership skills are equally essential as a communication method for resolving conflicts in an efficient manner (Yang, 2014).

Role of Non-Verbal Communication

Non-verbal communication can be defined as the art of giving devotion not only to vocal words but also to all stages of communication like kinesis, and tone and its impact on others (Phutela, 2015). There is a rule 7/28/55 that shows seven percent of the meaning of communication stem from the words, 38 % of how words are expressed, and 55% from the body language. Hence, it can be said that understanding the impact of nonverbal communication while dealing with two employees is serious in order to have effectiveness. Nonverbal communication refers to the language that is utilized to demonstrate emotions, interest, inquisitiveness, worry, sorrow, anger, desire, hope, and more. It is a fact that both verbal and non-verbal communication occur simultaneously. Therefore, while dealing with two employees, a manager must use both in order to express his feelings and emotions to them. It is necessary that while resolving conflict, empathy plays an important role, thus manager must show empathy with his non-verbal communication via his gestures and body language. Moreover, using this form of communication by a manager, employees can better understand the messages.

Eye contact and facial expressions are important in this form of communication that helps employees to get the message of the sender more appropriately. Moreover, non-verbal communication plays an essential role helps in fostering a strong association between each other, however; it must be kept in mind that there must be positive non-verbal communication as the negative may lead to enhance conflicts rather than resolving it. The strong relationships formed from non-verbal communication further helps in increasing collaboration with team members that increase productivity, increase company culture, and improve commitment. Moreover, dealing with two employees, a manager must maintain an eye-contact with each employee that shows that management is interested in listening to the concerns of conflicting parties (Njoku, 2017).

Managerial Listening Importance

Listening is an important component of communication as it enables one to hear the accurate information said by others so that the accurate decisions could be taken. Managerial listening can be related to the situation of conflict occurred between two employees as active listening to concerns of employees can nurture an open environment. Moreover, it is an essential skill that managers must have to resolve conflict aroused due to poorer communication. Managerial listening is important as it enables a manager to think creatively and take decisions based on the information accessible to him. Generally, active listening can be defined as the technique of communication utilized in conflict resolution, training, and advising that requires the manager (the listener) to feedback what he hears to the speaker (employees) (Jonsdottir & Fridriksdottir, 2019). In managerial listening, there must be the preservation of silence not due to lack of contact but as the symbol of sympathy. It usually suggests living the capability of one who is talking and trying to attain access to this person’s innermost feelings.

Conclusion on Conflict Management

From the above strategic action plan for conflict resolution between two employees within an organization, it can be concluded that the major source of conflict in the given case scenario is a lack of communication between both parties and both disagree with each other's management style. Both the conflicting parties perceive the conflict situation as a disagreement situation where both are complaining against each other with the manager. It can be also be concluded that mediation is the best-suited conflict resolution strategy or method that helps the employees to reach consensus and avoid the conflicting condition where the manager plays the role of mediator. Furthermore, it can be concluded that the best suitable strategy that a manager must adopt is to encourage & motivate both of them for effective teamwork.

Strong teamwork is to be promoted so that both employee A and employee B can understand each other and discuss the work performance and aid each other whenever needed. Communication plays a vital role in the conflict resolution between two employees in the workplace. The conflict management skills required for effective communication are active listening, meditating, and leadership, meeting with parties, negotiating, open dialogue, positive behaviors, written communication, non-verbal communication, and more. The essential method of communication that is required to resolve conflict is emotional intelligence. Furthermore, it can be inferred that for effective communication strategy, there are four aspects of emotional intelligence namely social awareness, self-awareness, self-regulation, and relationship management. Moreover, it can be concluded that active managerial listening and non-verbal communication plays an extremely important role in resolving conflicts effectively.

References for Conflict Management

Buzdar, M. A., Ali, A., & Tariq, R. U. H. (2016). Emotional intelligence as a determinant of readiness for online learning. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 17(1), 148-158.

Chan, J. C., Sit, E. N., & Lau, W. M. (2014). Conflict management styles, emotional intelligence, and implicit theories of personality of nursing students: A cross-sectional study. Nurse Education Today, 34(6), 934-939.

Einarsen, S., Skogstad, A., Rørvik, E., Lande, Å. B., & Nielsen, M. B. (2018). Climate for conflict management, exposure to workplace bullying, and work engagement: a moderated mediation analysis. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 29(3), 549-570.

Jonsdottir, I. J., & Fridriksdottir, K. (2019). Active listening: is it the forgotten dimension in managerial communication?. International Journal of Listening, 1-11.

Kausalya, R., & Abirami, A. (2016). A Descriptive Study on the Causes and Effects of Work Place Conflict and Present-Day Strategies to Curb IT. International Journal of Engineering and Management Research (IJEMR), 6(1), 253-255.

Kfouri, J., & Lee, P. E. (2019). Conflict Among Colleagues: Health Care Providers Feel Undertrained and Unprepared to Manage Inevitable Workplace Conflict. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada, 41(1), 15-20.

Njoku, I. A. (2017). The role of communication in conflict resolution. International Journal of Communication: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Communication Studies, 5(1).

Phutela, D. (2015). The importance of non-verbal communication. IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 9(4), 43.

Tjosvold, D., Wong, A. S., & Feng Chen, N. Y. (2014). Constructively managing conflicts in organizations. Annu. Rev. Organ. Psychol. Organ. Behav., 1(1), 545-568.

Vandeputte, P. (2015). Mediation and negotiation in business conflicts. Business, Ethics, and Peace, 24, 315-331.

Yang, Y. F. (2014). Transformational leadership in the consumer service workgroup: Competing models of job satisfaction, change commitment, and cooperative conflict resolution. Psychological Reports, 114(1), 33-49.

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