Managing Research: Analysis of Workplace Conflict in Retail Sector

This report delves into the complexities of managing workplace conflict, particularly within the retail sector, using Woolworths as a case study. It begins with an introduction to the problem of workplace conflict and its impact on organizational productivity and reputation. The report defines the problem, outlining research questions and objectives focused on the causes, effects, and resolution of workplace conflict. A comprehensive literature review explores the causes of employee conflict, including differing opinions, communication issues, cultural diversity, personal values, competition, and resource conflicts. The review also examines workplace conflict within the retail sector, highlighting the challenges of managing conflict and the importance of effective communication and customer service. The report then discusses conflict resolution in the Australian retail sector, focusing on the legal and institutional frameworks, and the strategies employed by Woolworths to manage diversity and resolve internal conflicts, including the implementation of sustainability strategies and stakeholder consultation. The report concludes by providing a time schedule and budget for the research, and includes a list of references.

Running head: MANAGING RESEARCH
Managing Research
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Notes

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Table of Contents
Introduction and Background..........................................................................................................2
Problem Definition..........................................................................................................................3
Literature Review:...........................................................................................................................3
Cause of Employee Conflict........................................................................................................3
Workplace conflict in the retail sector.........................................................................................5
Workplace conflict resolution in Australian retail sector............................................................7
Gaps in the existing literature......................................................................................................9
Research Design and Methodology.................................................................................................9
Research Design...........................................................................................................................9
Research philosophy..................................................................................................................10
Data Collection procedure.........................................................................................................10
Sampling techniques..................................................................................................................11
Data Analysis Plan.....................................................................................................................11
Ethical Issues.................................................................................................................................11
Limitations.....................................................................................................................................12
Time Schedule...............................................................................................................................12
Budget............................................................................................................................................13
Reference.......................................................................................................................................14

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Introduction and Background
Workplace internal conflict is believed to be one of the unavoidable circumstances due to
high level of diversity within an organisation. With the fast growing chain of retail sector,
workplace conflict can occur at various level due mainly due to the difference in personal level
of opinions of the workers. According to Gilin Oore et al. (2015), internal workplace conflict at
various level that mainly occurs due to poor interpersonal relationship between employees, is
believed to be one of the major factors that compromise upon the overall organisational
productivity. It is also not possible for the workers to achieve their individual target as they
participate in teamwork. Reputation of the organisation will also be at stake due to the fact that
they will not be able to provide high quality of customer service.
For large scale retail business organisation like Woolworths Limited, who is also one of
the largest private sector employers in Australia, it is necessary to deal with the workplace
challenges. This is also a major part of the corporate social responsibility that can help them to
maintain high reputation of workplace environment. The aim of the current research work in this
context will be to analyse all the underlying causes of internal workplace conflict. Research work
will also investigate upon the various type of internal conflict that can ultimately compromise
upon the reputation and performance level. With the help of the result of this research work it is
possible for companies like Woolworths to implement proper intervention strategies to improve
the level of coordination among their employees, thereby reducing the chance of internal conflict
within the management.

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Problem Definition
Workplace conflict can be defined as a major disagreement between employees within an
organisation. There are several types of internal conflict that can occur between workers of
different level in the organisation, which will ultimately disrupt the environment at the
workplace. This one of the major management problem for large scale companies like
Woolworths. The purpose of the research work is to address the following Research question,
which will help the management of the company to improve the condition of the workplace:
 What are the effects of organisational conflict within the workplace?
 What are the underlying causes that cause organisational conflict within the workers?
 What are the steps that can be taken by the management in order to minimise the effect of
organisational conflict?
The objective of the research work is to address the issues that are encountered by the
company due to internal organisational conflict:
 To determine the effect of organisational conflict upon the workplace performance of the
employees.
 To determine the underlying that cause organisational conflict.
 To implement strategies that can help to resolve the issues related to organisational
conflict.

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Literature Review:
Cause of Employee Conflict
According to Sonnentag et al. (2013), the main underlying cause for employee conflict is
mainly due to the fact that most of the employees have their own opinion and suggestion in the
workplace. This is mainly due to the difference in the personal value of every employee. Liu et
al. (2017), have added in this context that inability of the managers to understand the personal
need of every employee is believed to be one of the major cause that give Rise to internal
conflict. In most cases, the managers are not able to understand the cause for internal conflict due
to the fact that they are not able to properly communicate with the workers. Prior interpersonal
communication between the workers mainly occurs due to difference in the communication
style, which according to Ayoko and Ayoko (2016), mainly occurs due to cultural diversity that
is common in large-scale multinational corporations. As the employee fail to properly
communicate with the management, it is not possible for them to share the workplace issues that
can hamper the motivation level of employees at their individual level.
In large scale multinational corporations, the employees come from different experience
and cultural backgrounds. The background experiences that are encountered by different
employees have a significant impact on their personal behaviour and values. According to Price
et al. (2014), the difference in the personal values and behaviour in the workplace environment
can also be regarded as a major cause for internal conflict. It can be saved in this context that
interpersonal behaviour of an employee may not be in favour with the co-worker. Due to the
difference of this interpersonal value and behaviour, it may not be possible for a worker
communicate properly with their colleague.

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Brett and Brett (2017), have mentioned about the fact that the difference in personal
values of the employees is mainly due to the difference in the age and generation gap. As the
employees fail to understand the perspective of your co-workers, it can generally give rise to
personal conflict within the workplace. There is also the case of internal competition between the
employees, which can result in adopting unethical practices. There are many industries, which
foster competitive environment within the workplace in order to improve the overall
productivity. This internal competition between the employees can often lead to unhealthy
situation within the workplace due to the fact that it can sabotage the interpersonal relationship
between workers within an organisation (Saundry et al. 2014). Unhealthy level of workplace
competition can be a major cause of demotivation among several groups of employees.
The conflicting resources mainly occur due to the fact that all the employees within an
organisation are not able to get proper access to all necessities. This can also be a major source
of internal personal conflict between employees. The conflicting style can also be one of the
major issues, which can comprise up on the overall teamwork. It can also be added that the
working capability of individual workers can definitely depending upon their experience level.
This can also be one of the major sources of internal conflict between workers as they will not be
successfully able to complete a particular task within the same deadline. Different employees
working within the same department often are given diverse types of individual target. It is also
hampering upon the individual working capability due to the fact that the working pattern will
vary hugely (Lipsky et al. 2016).

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Workplace conflict in the retail sector
Managing of workplace conflict is one of the major challenges that are encountered by
large scale retail sectors. Conflict can occur at different level between all types of workers and
leaders, who are employed within the retail sector (Upchurch and Grassman 2016). The areas of
conflict within the retail sector can revolve around personal issues, change in policies or unable
to provide high quality of customer service. The extra work pressures that are encountered by
workers in the retail sector are also one of the causes of conflict, which can seriously effect on
the level of motivation. It has been often seen that leaders in the retail sector or not able to
communicate properly with the workers. This lack of communication can raise the chance of
misunderstanding within the workers. Teague et al. (2015), have mentioned about the top level
of competition within the retail sector, which creates extra work burden among the employees. It
is also important to mention that with the high growing demand of customer service, which is
one of the major causes of concerns for the workers, can also cause issues within the workplace
due the fact that the workers are not able to meet up with the growing demand.
According to Johansson (2016), high level of management commitment is required in the
cases related to managing internal conflict within the retail sector industry. Due to lack of
effective communication between the stakeholders, it is often not possible to maintain healthy
relationship within the vast network of retail chain.
Saundry et al. (2016) have highlighted about the fact related to providing better level of
customer service that can help in effective ways to deal with the issues of internal conflict. As
the voters are able to fulfil the demand of the customer, they are able to reduce the total number
of escalation that ultimately results in internal conflict between the stakeholders. It is also

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possible to resolve all type of minor issues with the help of the customer care department. This
step is believed to be one of the major elements of bottom line in resolving issues related to
internal conflict.
Workplace conflict resolution in Australian retail sector
Purcell (2014), has mentioned about the importance of legal and institutional framework,
which are often implemented in Australian retail sector thereby helping them to resolve all type
of internal conflict. The government had set up the body of Fair Work Australia, which is one of
the major governing body that help to deal with all types of labour related issues. The Fair Work
Act 2009 was also implemented to deal with the issues related to that of internal conflict.
Dissatisfaction that in many cases turns out to be major disagreements between the stakeholders
due to the difference in interpersonal nature has often win the cause of internal conflict for large
scale retail units like Woolworths Limited.
One of the major names of the management in Woolworths is to effectively manage the
diversity within their workforce. Being one of the largest private sector employees of Australia,
the company has to maintain a fixed protocol of corporate social responsibility. One of the major
organisational objectives of the company is to create a lively and inclusive workplace condition
for all categories of working staffs. The workplace policy will be implemented irrespective of an
individual’s gender, caste, ethnic background or religion believes. The company or has also
taken special initiative ensure that there is enough representative of women within the leadership
role of the company. This is believed to be one of the effective strategies to resolve gender

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confliction within the workplace. Currently 33% of the leadership role in Woolworths is fulfilled
by women managers (Choi 2013).
The material issues that have been identified by the company are due to various factors
such as poor relationship with their suppliers and Communication barriers. The company is also
not able to maintain end to end reduction. Theses range of issues the customer care affect the
overall supply chain of labour within the company is believed to cause various internal conflicts
between the workers and stakeholders. The company has initiated the process of Global
Reporting Initiative, which can identify all the material related issues. It is important to consult
all the major stakeholders of the company implementing any important managerial decisions in
practice. This will help ensure that all the workers within the organisation are able to express
upon their personal viewpoint. This is believed to significantly reduce the chance of internal
conflict within the later period due to the fact that the management can bring about changes
within new company policies according to the personal opinions. In other words it can be said
that with the help of this policy, it is possible for the management to resolve personal issues in
the workplace, which is believed to be one of the effective techniques who deal with
interpersonal conflict.
The implementation of sustainability strategy is implemented by the management of
Woolworths, which is believed to be used to deal with resources conflict. The management of
the company also encourages providing wide range of information about the internal matters
with stakeholders at various level. This can help them to maintain high level of clarity with the
workers, thereby reducing the chance of internal conflict.

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According to Estlund (2013), there are various strategies that can be implemented to
encourage the practice of workplace diversity. It is important for large scale organisations like
Woolworths to engage to maintain age diversity. This can be possible by ensuring better job
opportunities for the workers with high level of experience. Company also need to ensure that
there is good level of coordination between workers of different age category, which will help
them in the matter of dealing with effective coordination. It is also one of the crucial necessary to
ensure to support of workers with less capability. This can help to provide them extra level of
motivation, which is necessary to improve the level of coordination among the team members.
Gaps in the existing literature
Existing literature related to the effect and cause of workplace conflict has been able to
describe the overall effect within the internal performance of an organisation. The literature also
focused up on the effect of workplace conflict within the retail sectors. Nevertheless the existing
gap of the Literature is due to the fact that it is not discussed about the effect and intervention
measures for future internal conflict within the workplace that can compromise upon the
sustainability of an organisation.
Research Design and Methodology
This chapter will suggest appropriate Research Design and methods that can be
implemented for data collection procedure. This will help in the matter of conducting
investigation in matter related to effect of internal conflict in the retail sector.

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Research Design
Taylor et al. (2015), have suggested about three types of Research Design that can be
implemented depending upon the subject and need of investigation. In exploratory Research
Design, ladies watches consider the previous findings or collected information for all future
studies. There is also the hypothesis mode of testing which verifies, the existing theories related
to the subject and also suggest new level of hypothesis after conclusion of existing.
The current study will apply there with descriptive mode of Research Design, which willing to
deal with detailed level of Investigation with the help of existing information related to case
study of internal workplace conflict.
Research philosophy
Research philosophy provides a basic protocol, which is used by the investigators to
gather and analyse relevant data. In positivism Philosophy, the investigators often manipulate the
reality or the data that are collected in order to discover different variables related to the subject
area of study (Vaioleti 2016). For the existing research work it is important to use interpretivism
philosophy. This mode will help to interpret the reality behind internal work place conflict
between the employees within all Woolworths any other retail sectors.
Data Collection procedure
The step of Data Collection is believed to be one of the important parts of all types of
research, which is needed to collect relevant information from various relevant sources. With the
help of information at various levels it is possible for the investigators to reach out to a definite