Conflict Resolution: A Case Study of Two Departmental Heads
Added on 2019-09-20
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CONFLICT MANAGEMENT[Document subtitle][DATE][COMPANY NAME][Company address]
Conflict Management1SummaryConflict is all pervasive in nature (Rahim et al., 2018). The present study deals with interpersonal conflict in the private enterprise in Canada. There was a conflict between the head of the research and development, and the head of the production department over the allocation of company resources. This situation ascended because each of has them had a different objective, which was related to their particular division. I played the role of a negotiator among the members who were discussing resource allocation of the organization. Conflict among the Departmental HeadsConflict as PerceptionThe conflict between the head of the two departments at the workplace was due to the difference in perceptions. The head of the research and development wanted to allocate the resources of the company into research field so as to study the requirements and the needs of the customers as well as that of the workforce so as to meet the demand of the customers. On the other hand, the head of the production department wanted to allocate the resources into the production of additional units so as to fill up the sales quota as determined and anticipatedby the management for the period. The difference in perception and objectives always lead to such an interpersonal conflict among different departments (Tedeschi, 2017). Conflict as FeelingConflict as feeling can be illustrated as the impact of the conflict on the behaviour andactions of the people involved in the conflict. The fear and bitterness among the departmentalheads to lose the resources also signalled disagreement of opinions. Though the behavioural factor was minimal, however, the conflict was still very real to them as they experienced the feelings of fear and bitterness. The head of the research and development department feared about losing the resources to the production department, therefore having nothing left for them to conduct their research. His behaviour turned out to be adverse to the production head,thereby raising anger and bitterness.Conflict as an ActionConflict as the action can be conceptualized as the actions taken by the parties into conflict after a great deal of battle over the significant matter. The difference in perception a well as feelings of the departmental heads has led to conflicts between them. The head of R&D, out of anger submitted a written letter to the manager and the Board regarding the
Conflict Management2allocation of resources in research rather than in the production department. This, in turn, hadmade the managers more inclined towards this department rather than the production department. The rage and bitterness were higher than before. The conflict reached an advanced level. Negotiation Skills at Each StageThe first step was to encode the social indications in the situation, in terms of what actually is the reason for conflict (Webb et al., 2017). During this stage, I have found out that the primary reason behind such rage, anger, bitterness, and ruthlessness against each other was merely to show power. Neither the head of the research and development team nor that of the production team were in the position to lead each other because of the difference in their departments and work. Therefore, getting a common topic, i.e., resource allocation and argue over the matter was obvious. The behaviour of the departmental heads turned out to be hostile. Rahim et al. (2018) in their work contends that in order to collaborate between members with hostile behaviours against each other, it is necessary to consider the situation and generate possible ways to respond to the situation. The next stage was to interpret the cues and thereby forming mental preparations for dealing with the situation (Ness & Connelly, 2017). Interpreting the situation requires skills of understanding and communication which helps in overcoming the situation and resolve theconflict. Communicating with people involves discussion on the matter that is argued over (Ness & Connelly, 2017). Looking at the present situation, it has been found out that there were limited resources which were available for the organization. The work had to be carried out with the limited resources only, and this is why prioritizing the requirements were necessary for terms of cost-effective strategy as well as profit maximization. The interest of all the departments towards enhancing their scope was rising one by one, similarly as that of the research and development and production department. It was necessary to improve customer relationship by means of meeting their desired needs, which can only be known by conducting research in this field. This indicated that research was a vital course of action for the organization. On the other hand, producing the required number of finished goods so as to confirm the orders of the customers was equally important. Allocating the resources into one department only will make the other department deprived of the resources. This turned out to be the major reason for conflict among the 2 departmental heads.
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