Managing Conflict and Promotion Strategies

This assignment examines a case study at Dependable Home Products, where conflict arises between the Marketing and Operations departments regarding the promotion of a new credit card scheme. The document requires students to analyze the situation, identify root causes of the conflict, and propose a comprehensive solution that fosters collaboration and improves the effectiveness of the promotion strategy. It emphasizes strategic management principles, communication, and conflict resolution techniques.

Running head: PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT
Principles of Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

Table of Contents
Synopsis:..........................................................................................................................................2
Symptoms........................................................................................................................................2
Problems..........................................................................................................................................3
Causes..............................................................................................................................................3
Alternatives......................................................................................................................................4
Proposed Solution............................................................................................................................4
Implementation................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................7

Synopsis:
In the concerned case, it is observed that there has been an emergence of an unpleasant situation
within the internal dynamics of the Dependable Home Products Organization as one of the
employee from the marketing department, Ray Patton have behaved roughly with the employees
of several of the company’s stores. The reason behind this behavior was the lack of enthusiasm
in the promotion of the newly launched credit card for the customers of their stores exclusively
(Pomerol & Barba-Romero, 2012). The event has led to dissatisfaction among the managers and
the staffs of those stores and has also reached to such a magnitude that the Vice President of the
Branch Operations of the company has sent a letter to the Vice President of Marketing
addressing this issue.
Symptoms
The symptoms of the problem, which have been discussed above are as follows:
 Since the implementation of the new personal credit card scheme of the store, which was
designed to compete with the rivals already having similar kind of mechanism, the sales
in the stores where expected to rise considerably as many privileges and discounts had
been designed in the scheme.
 However, the result was not close to what was expected (Sekaran & Bougie, 2016).
 Both the people in the marketing team and the Vice President of the team observed lack
of promotional activities and materials in the stores which they visited.

 There was an unpleasant situation cropping up between the Branch Operations
Department and the Marketing Department of the company as the players in these two
departments were not working in collusive terms.
Problems
The problems regarding the newly launched scheme of credit card by the D. H. P. Stores Inc.,
arose from the lack of coordination between the different relevant departments of the company
and the lack of proper implementation of the scheme in the outlets of the company. As was
observed after the launch the of the scheme of the credit card, it was seen that there was a
remarkable lack of enthusiasm on part of the stores and their employees in promoting the credit
card. There were also lack of materials regarding promotions of the same and the employees
were also not making it a point to directly approach the customers for selling the credit cards
(Berman et al., 2012).
Causes
The primary causes of the problems as has been discussed in the above section may have arose
due to the lack of coordination and robust implantation of the scheme with all the relevant
department working together. From the beginning of the discussions in the board meeting,
regarding how the scheme should be implemented and which department should take the
responsibility for the same (Hill, Jones & Schilling, 2014). While, the Vice President of
Marketing, who proposed the scheme, suggested that it should be better for the Finance team to

take up the project, the Operations department argued that the scheme can be better implemented
by them as they directly converse and interact with the customers and they have been keeping
good reputations with the customers over the years.
Alternatives
To address the situation, several strategies can be taken by the management of the company,
which are as follows:
a) The responsibility of implementing the scheme and a better promotion of the same can be
shifted from the Department of Operations to the Department of Marketing fully.
b) The concerned person, Ray Patton, who has apparently behaved rudely and criticized the
staffs and the managers of the stores can be called up and can be given a warning for not
repeating the same and to let them do their work the way they want to do it.
c) The departments of Marketing and of that of Operations can sort out their differences and
come together with the common objective of proper implementation of the credit card schemes
across all the stores of the company such that the errors and loopholes are properly addressed.
Proposed Solution
The three alternative solutions, which are suggested in the above section, have both positive as
well as negative implications. If the responsibility of promoting the newly launched credit card
scheme by the D. H. P. Stores is given to the Marketing Department then again there will be

tensions among the departments, which will in its turn make the outcome of the implementation
skewed and there will not be wholesome. The operations department may feel offended and may
stop cooperating in this case (Eden & Ackermann, 2013).
On the other hand only warning the concerned employee will temporarily reduce the tensions
between the employees of the stores and the marketing department, but this is not a long term
solution to the problem. This is because the main problems are the lack of proper promotion of
the new credit card scheme and the absence of required amount of efforts from the employees,
store staffs, managers and the departments as a whole.
In this context, the most optimum way of dealing with the problem will be to make a wholesome
strategy planning, involving all the relevant departments, especially the Marketing and the
Operations, such that both the departments can work together towards the attainment of the same
goals. The management should also intervene in this context to mitigate the newly emerged
unfair situations of conflicts in the method of operating of the Departments of Marketing and that
of Operations. The implementation of a more wholesome and inclusive promoting strategy can
prove to be beneficial for the company (Fayol, 2016).
Implementation
The strategy, as discussed to be the most optimum among the three different strategies, can be
appropriately implemented if the concerned departments of the company collaborates together.
This can be done by calling for a meeting with all the relevant staffs of all the relevant
departments such that they can talk about the pros and cons of each strategy and reach to a
mutual agreement regarding how the same can be done. Following the Plan, Organize, Lead and

Control Framework, a proper formation of a monitoring body, bestowed with the responsibility
to keep a vigilant eye on the implementation and result of the scheme and to intervene in case of
any discrepancies can also prove to be beneficial for the company (Heizer, 2016).

References
Berman, E. M., Bowman, J. S., West, J. P., & Van Wart, M. R. (2012). Human resource
management in public service: Paradoxes, processes, and problems. Sage.
Eden, C., & Ackermann, F. (2013). Making strategy: The journey of strategic management.
Sage.
Fayol, H. (2016). General and industrial management. Ravenio Books.
Heizer, J. (2016). Operations Management, 11/e. Pearson Education India.
Hill, C. W., Jones, G. R., & Schilling, M. A. (2014). Strategic management: theory: an
integrated approach. Cengage Learning.
Pomerol, J. C., & Barba-Romero, S. (2012). Multicriterion decision in management: principles
and practice (Vol. 25). Springer Science & Business Media.
Sekaran, U., & Bougie, R. (2016). Research methods for business: A skill building approach.
John Wiley & Sons.