Business Management 1: Conflict Management in a Work Team at M&S

This report, titled "Conflict management in a work team," investigates the significance of conflict management and its impact on workplace productivity, using Marks & Spencer as a case study. The introduction establishes the background, aim, objectives, and research questions, emphasizing the importance of resolving conflicts in organizations due to diverse employee backgrounds and working styles. The literature review explores the concept of conflict management, highlighting its importance for organizations, and discusses different strategies such as avoiding conflict, active listening, and providing proper guidance. It also examines the impact of conflict management on workplace productivity, acknowledging that conflicts can harm productivity and create an unhealthy culture. The proposed methodology outlines the research philosophy (positivism), approach (deductive), strategy (quantitative survey), and choice (quantitative). Data collection and analysis methods, including primary and secondary data collection and quantitative analysis, are described, along with the use of probability sampling. The conclusion reiterates the importance of conflict management for maintaining a healthy workplace culture and improving employee productivity. The report utilizes various sources to support its findings and recommendations. This report is available on Desklib, a platform providing AI-based study tools for students.

Business Management
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Contents
Title: “Conflict management in a work team.”................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Background of research..........................................................................................................3
Aim of research project..........................................................................................................3
Objectives of research project................................................................................................3
Questions of research.............................................................................................................3
Significance of research.........................................................................................................4
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................4
Concept of conflict management and its significance for organisation.................................4
Different strategies that help in managing conflicts in the workplace...................................5
Impact of conflict management on productivity of workplace..............................................5
PROPOSED METHODOLOGY.....................................................................................................6
Research Philosophy..............................................................................................................6
Research Approach.................................................................................................................6
Research Strategy...................................................................................................................6
Research Choice.....................................................................................................................7
PROPOSED ANALYSIS................................................................................................................7
Data collection and analysis...................................................................................................7
Sampling.................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
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Title: “Conflict management in a work team.”
INTRODUCTION
Background of research
Conflict management is a significant process through which the conflicts are resolved,
there negative outcomes are reduced and positive outcomes are privatised. In every organisation,
conflicts are evident as there are many employees working in the organisation who belongs to
different cultures and background and have diverse skills and knowledge (Caputo, Marzi,
Pellegrini, and Rialti, 2018). The working style of each individual is different which increases
the chances of conflicts in the workplace. It is very necessary for the management of
organisation to resolve the conflicts appropriately so that healthy culture will be maintained. In
this study, the chosen organisation is Marks and Spencer which is one of the leading organisation
of United Kingdom which deals in clothing and food and home products. The company was
established in year 1884 and is headquartered in London, England, United Kingdom. Conflicts
are very common in the organisation and proper management of it is very necessary. This report
aims to assess the importance of conflict management as well as its impact on productivity of
organisation.
Aim of research project
The aim associated with this particular research project is "To assess the significance of
conflict management and its impact on workplace productivity. A case study on Marks &
Spencer"
Objectives of research project
The key objectives associated with this particular project are as follows:
1. To understand the concept of conflict management and its significance for organisation.
2. To determine different strategies that help in managing conflicts in the workplace.
3. To assess the impact of conflict management on productivity of workplace.
Questions of research
The questions in relation to this specific research are as follows:
1. What is the concept of conflict management and its significance for organisation?
2. What are the different strategies that help in managing conflicts in the workplace?
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3. What is the impact of conflict management on productivity of workplace?
Significance of research
The report aims to assess the significance of conflict management and its impact on
workplace productivity. Performing this research is very significant as it assists in gaining deep
insights on the topic, i.e., conflict management. This research assist in understanding the concept
of conflict management along with its significance for company (Chatterji, Arlosoroff, and
Guha, 2017). Apart from this, it also helps in determining different strategies let assist in
managing the conflicts effectively in workplace. Moreover, this research also helps the
investigator in assessing the impact of conflict management on workplace productivity so that a
healthy workplace environment can be maintain.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Concept of conflict management and its significance for organisation
As per the view point of Alison Doyle, (2020), Conflict management includes having a
work place that precludes conflict as well as a management team which successfully handle the
issues arise at workplace and resolve them. It is a practice of being able to determine as well as
handle the conflicts efficiently, fairly and sensibly. Since, conflicts are the part of business and it
is very important for the management to understand the conflicts and know the ways to resolve
them. In today's competitive environment, it is very important for the organisation to manage
conflicts in an appropriate way and develop healthy environment and culture at workplace.
Interpersonal tension and poor communication can lead to disagreements which creates conflicts
(Zhang, Chen, and Sun, 2015). The conflicts which are enable to fester and grow will have
diminished productivity as well as damage the morale of staff members. With the help of conflict
management process, the negative aspects of conflicts can be reduced while increasing the
positive aspects. The main aim of managing conflict is to improve the learning and outcomes of
team, involving performance and effectiveness in organisational settings (Conflict Management:
Definition, Skills, and Examples, 2020). Managing conflicts in the workplace is important as it
assist in finding out creative solutions to intrinsic relationship issues as well as can assist in
preventing environments which breeds negativity, demotivation, stress and general employee
unrest.
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Different strategies that help in managing conflicts in the workplace
As per the opinions presented by Cathy Habas, (2019), there are some strategies which
help in managing the conflicts in an effective manner in workplace. Some of the strategies are
discussed below:
 Avoiding the conflict: It involves walking away as well as ignore the conflict completely
which is not good. Proper management of the conflicts will lead to creation of a healthy
environment where all the employees work collaboratively to accomplish the goals of
company. If the conflict is left unaddressed, then the issue might even more worsen so, it
is very necessary for the management of organisation to address the issue appropriately
and timely (5 Conflict Management Strategies, 2019).
 Active listening: It is a technique to become a better listener and can assist with daily
work. This technique is very effective in resolving the conflict effectively. Use of small
encouragement to depict that a person is listening and giving feedback and restating the
problems can be the effectively to let someone know that you are engaged and listening.
It is very necessary for the management of company to provide a complete attention to an
individual who is talking and interrupt.
 Provide proper guidance: it is very necessary for the management of organisation to
provide guidance to the employees on what is right and what is wrong. Employees must
be provided with healthy workplace so that they can work effectively and conflicts can be
eliminated from the workplace (Chatterji, Arlosoroff, and Guha, 2017).
Impact of conflict management on productivity of workplace
As per the view point of Einarsen, and et. al., 2018, when employees with diverse
backgrounds and distinct are bought collectively for shared purpose of business, then workplace
conflict is inevitable which can harm the productivity of company. There are many causes due to
which the conflicts at workplace arise including personality differences, poor communication,
unmet needs in workplace, unclarified roles, mismanagement of organisational change etc. If
conflict arises at workplace, then it creates an unhealthy culture due to which a sense of
dissatisfaction is created among employees and they get demotivated. This ultimately harm the
productivity of employees as well as organisation as employees are not able to perform well in
an unhealthy workplace environment (Mello, and Delise, 2015). So, this makes it necessary for
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the management of organisation to ensure that conflicts must be managed properly and
employees are provided with a healthy culture so that they can work effectively towards
accomplishing organisational goals.
PROPOSED METHODOLOGY
Research Philosophy
Research philosophy can be defined as a belief regarding the way data regarding
phenomena must be collected and used. Positivism and interpretivism are two main philosophies
utilize in research. The positivism believes that reality is stable as well as can be observed from
objective viewpoint. And the interpretivist contend that only by subjective interpretation an
intervention in reality, that reality can be fully understood (Mackey, and Gass, 2015). This study
makes use of positivism research philosophy as it is based on factual knowledge which is gained
through observation.
Research Approach
Research approach can be referred as a plan or procedure which includes steps of broad
assumptions to data collection and interpretation methods. The deductive approach is associated
with development of hypothesis and emphasis on casualty. On the other hand, inductive
approach uses the questions of research to narrow down the study scope an emphasis on
exploring new phenomena. In this study, deductive approach will be considering to use it is
related to quantitative research and help researcher in collecting and analysing data to test the
hypothesis.
Research Strategy
The strategy of research is one of the main component in the study. the different strategies
include case study, qualitative interviews, action oriented research, quantitative survey,
experimental research, systematic literature review etc. Among all these strategies, the researcher
will use quantitative survey strategy in this research as this method is used widely and allow
access to high number of participants (Flick, 2015). In this strategy, questionnaire will use for
collecting information through respondents. The survey will have performed online through
sending the questionnaire to the participants through email.
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Research Choice
The research choice seeks to inform the researcher regarding what data is gathered from
respondents. There are two types of research choices including quantitative research choice and
qualitative research choice. The quantitative research choices based on collection of numerical
data whereas the qualitative choice of research is based on acquisition of non-numerical data. In
this particular study, researcher will make use of quantitative research choice as this assists
researcher in gathering more accurate data and drawing valid outcomes of research (Wiek,. and
Lang, 2016).
PROPOSED ANALYSIS
Data collection and analysis
The two methods of collecting data includes primary and secondary data collection
method. In primary method of collecting data, a new and fresh information will be gather by
researcher. This is information which is never collected before and is collected through using
questionnaire, interviews etc. On the other hand, in secondary data collection method, the data
which is collected by the researcher is second hand and is already collected before. this type of
data can be gathered through previously published articles, journals, books etc. In this study,
both the methods of collecting data will use as this will assist the researcher in collecting huge
amount of information so that valid outcomes of research can be drawn. Secondary data will be
collected by using books and journals and articles available online and the primary data will be
collected by the use of questionnaire (Dodds and Hess, 2020). Apart from this, qualitative and
quantitative are the two types of analysis method in research. In relation to this research,
quantitative data analysis method will be used and the data will be collected in statistical form.
Sampling
Sampling is the method through which a sample size from large population is collected.
Probability and nonprobability sampling are the two types of methods which can be used to
select sample size. In this study, probability sampling method will be used in which simple
random probability sampling method will use. The main reason behind using this method is that
it helps in eliminating the biasness and performing research in ethically valid manner (Cope,
2015).
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CONCLUSION
As per the above mentioned report, it has been concluded that Conflict management is a
crucial aspect of organisation which is necessary for the manager to consider so that a healthy
culture at workplace remains maintain and all the employees are work productively towards
accomplishment of organisational goals. Apart from this, conflict management impacts
positively on the productivity of workplace. If these are not managed properly by the managers,
then it hampers the productivity and performance of employees and organisation also. In addition
to this, there are some strategies which can be employed by manager to resolve the conflict in the
workplace in an effective and efficient manner.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Caputo, A., Marzi, G., Pellegrini, M.M. and Rialti, R., 2018. Conflict management in family
businesses. International Journal of Conflict Management.
Einarsen, S., and et. al., 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), pp.549-570.
Zhang, S.J., Chen, Y.Q. and Sun, H., 2015. Emotional intelligence, conflict management styles,
and innovation performance. International Journal of Conflict Management.
Chatterji, M., Arlosoroff, S. and Guha, G. eds., 2017. Conflict management of water resources.
Routledge.
Mello, A.L. and Delise, L.A., 2015. Cognitive diversity to team outcomes: The roles of cohesion
and conflict management. Small Group Research, 46(2), pp.204-226.
Mackey, A. and Gass, S.M., 2015. Second language research: Methodology and design.
Routledge.
Flick, U., 2015. Introducing research methodology: A beginner's guide to doing a research
project. Sage.
Wiek, A. and Lang, D.J., 2016. Transformational sustainability research methodology.
In Sustainability science (pp. 31-41). Springer, Dordrecht.
Dodds, S. and Hess, A.C., 2020. Adapting research methodology during COVID-19: lessons for
transformative service research. Journal of Service Management.
Cope, D.G., 2015, November. Case study research methodology in nursing research.
In Oncology nursing forum(Vol. 42, No. 6, pp. 681-682). Oncology Nursing Society.
Online
Conflict Management: Definition, Skills, and Examples, 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.thebalancecareers.com/conflict-management-skills-2059687>
5 Conflict Management Strategies, 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://smallbusiness.chron.com/5-conflict-management-strategies-16131.html>
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