CONFLICT

Conflict is simply a dispute; disagreement about something important. Conflict arises when there is an incompatibility of goals arising from opposing behaviours whether in a group or at an organisational level. Above all, it can obstruct achievement of someone’s goals.

EXPERIENCE OF CONFLICT

During my time at high school, we had to carry out a group presentation as part of our assessment. Everyone had to work in groups of four (chosen by the teacher) and gather ideas as well as complete the presentation, which was to be presented in class after a couple of weeks. When I found out the members I was working with, I was not satisfied with having to work with one of the members. The reason behind this is that that individual hardly turned up to lessons and never used to listen in the class. Nevertheless, I did not complain and decided to give it a go. Initially, we had to elect a group leader, who would prioritise the tasks between each group member and what each of us would have to carry out. To save any arguments from taking place, we decided to vote on who best fits as a group leader. However, having casted the votes and gathered the results, we found out that everyone’s opinions were different. Some issues were raised and arguments broke out; this did not help as we had not elected a group leader as well as thought of any ideas of how we were going to go about carrying out the project. In the end, we decided to ask our teacher to choose a group leader as we had no other ways to choose a leader without inflicting conflict. Once the leader was chosen, we decided to carry out research individually and bring together the research we had gathered. When we met up, three of us had managed to carry out the research thoroughly whereas the fourth member had made no effort in getting it done. He was the one that I initially had doubts about. This led to further conflict as we argued about why he hadn’t managed to carry out the work. In the end, he managed to get his act together and get the work done as he realised this assessment would affect everyone’s final grade.

SOURCES OF POWER

The most common description of power is French and Raven (1960). This divides power into five different forms. They are as follows:

·         Reward power- it is the ability to give other people what they want and getting them to carry out something in return. Employees wish to maximise job satisfaction and by receiving a reward, this can be achieved. Having rewarded an employee for hard work, there will be no negative outcomes arising. An example of when reward power can take place in a working environment is when a manager presents an employee with commission for having made fair share of sales.

·         Coercive power- this is similar to reward power, except it relies on the use of threats and other punishments to achieve objectives. An example of when employers take advantage of coercive power is when an owner of a football team presents the team coach with an ultimatum. For example, the manager may get told to win certain amount of games or else face the risk of getting sacked.

·         Expert power- this is where one person has the most prowess compared to the rest of the team. This power is based on creditability and clear evidence of knowledge or expertise. For example, in a football team, a captain may be given the power to make decisions for others because he is an expert at the sport.

·         Legitimate power- this concerns the hierarchical structure in an organisation. This power is based on authority and related to a person’s position within an organisation. In other words, people higher up in the organisation tend to have power over those below them in the hierarchical structure. For example, in the army, a soldier of senior rank, who is a commanding officer, literally has absolute control over the soldiers under his command. This is a consequence of legitimate power that he possesses due to his rank in the chain of command.

·         Referent power- this is the power of fame and charisma. Employees in a workplace look up to someone in an organisation and wish to follow their footsteps. They admire the quality someone possesses and hope to acquire the qualities themselves. An example of this could be a young individual wanting to follow in the footsteps of a hero or someone they get an inspiration from.

STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME CONFLICT

Every organisation must try and overcome any conflict that may arise in the workplace. Conflict is one of the reasons which can lead to firms losing their reputation. Although conflict may be inevitable, there are various ways in which a firm can avoid what follows the conflict. Some of these are:

·         Clarification of goals and objectives- One of the ways in which conflict can be overcome is to make sure the employees are aware of what the business expects from them and what the company aims are. If they are clear on goals and objectives, there will be no issues or mix-ups taking place. Making those in conflict working together to achieve the targets may help diffuse unfriendliness and lead to more supportive behaviour.

·         Non monetary rewards- Job satisfaction is vital for workers and when financial resources are limited, non monetary rewards help employees to perform better at work and gain satisfaction. Some examples of non monetary rewards are: flexible working hours, unofficial perks and more interesting and challenging work.

·         Human resource management policies and procedures- Policies can be put in place to make sure the employees are treated with respect and everyone has equal opportunity to contribute at work. The policies can be set by HRM to help reduce conflict. One of the main policies is the grievance policy, which allows employees to have their say on any issues that may have taken place. By being able to raise the issue as soon as it comes about, the conflict will not stretch for longer periods; it will be solved fairly quickly.

·         Involvement in decision making- Employers can get advice on plans and other ideas from the employees and together they reach on an agreement. This makes the employees feel that they are a fundamental part of the organisation; they feel that their analyses are valued by the business.

·        Group activities- by carrying out group activities, the employees will bond together as a team, which improves their communication skills. Such activities help build morale, hence reducing conflict.

CONCLUSION

The idea of conflict is foreseeable as it is something that will always be present whether in an organisation, school or at home. Conflict is one of the main reasons why employees sometime become unsatisfied at work. In the modern world, there is more competition for roles within a business and those with the best jobs tend to have growing reputation within that organisation. Everyone would want to be that one person who has glowing presence and is seen as a leader in the organisation, hence having to compete to get to the top. This leads to confrontation and personality clashes, which could hamper their chances of being recognised as one of the superior employees. It is vital for the employees to raise any issues they have so that the organisation can solve them instantly. If the issues are not raised, they will carry on to create conflict within members of the organisation thus having negative impact. Having various procedures in place to deal with conflict allows the organisation to carry on normally without much hesitation. However, the employees must also be able to confident enough to speak up and let the manager of the conflict that may have taken place as well as own up if it is their fault why the clash started off  in the first place.

REFERENCES

Mullins, L. (2010) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 9^th ed. England: Prentice Hall

M.Simpson (2010) PowerPoint presentation.

ChangingMinds (2010). Sources of Power [online]. Available from: http://changingminds.org/explanations/power/french_and_raven.htm