HR Issues and Solutions: Interpersonal Skills and Conflict Resolution

This report addresses various HR-related issues and proposes effective solutions. It begins by exploring the knowledge management life cycle, detailing its phases and benefits, such as improved decision-making and faster problem-solving. The report then delves into interpersonal skills, specifically focusing on the 'listening funnel' and its application in handling customer conflicts, emphasizing empathy and conflict management. Furthermore, it analyzes a case of interpersonal conflict between two individuals, Marco and Jim, identifying their concerns and needs, and suggesting strategies for conflict resolution. The report also highlights the essential communication skills required of a project manager, including goal communication, motivation, and stakeholder coordination. The report references various sources to support its arguments, providing a well-rounded analysis of the subject matter.

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Running head: HR ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS
HR ISSUES AND SOLUTION
NAME OF THE STUDENT
NAME OF THE UNIVERSITY
AUTHOR NOTE

1HR ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS
Q2. Knowledge management has 3 phases, which is also called the knowledge management
life cycle. The first phase is the knowledge creation, in which knowledge is gained through
either explicit or tactic storage. In the former, it is documented, while in the latter, it is simply
kept in mind. The knowledge that has been acquired have to be checked against its
credibility, to make sure that the knowledge or the information is reliable. The knowledge
also has to be relevant and be able to make sure that it can be applied when a certain situation
does arise. The knowledge is then refined, which could be either physical refinement, or
logical refinement. The next stage is to store the knowledge in an organized manner, in a
repository. The third stage is to let others access the knowledge which is also called
knowledge sharing. In this stage, the main thing that has to be considered is the fact that there
is a proper medium of communication through which relevant stakeholders of a given
situation can be able to gain access to a knowledge, for the purpose of making sure that this
knowledge is brought to fruition when the time is right for it. Finally, it is important to put it
into use. Any knowledge is in vain if it is not used at all at a given situation to get the most
out of it and utilize it in a proper manner. It has to be ensured that knowledge is utilized in a
rather efficient manner in its full potential. For this reason, a sense of timing of when the
knowledge has to be applied is crucial (Evans, Dalkir & Bidian, 2015).
The benefits of knowledge management are as follows:
 Improved decision making agility: Knowledge management helps in making a
decision from a versatile perspective, and hence, can enable the decision maker to
come up with a range of alternatives to a problem.
 Faster problem solving: An organized knowledge set can help a person apply the
knowledge instantly when a certain situation arises.
 Enhanced work processes: Improved decision making agility and faster problem
solving give way to an improved work process.
 Better scope for communication.
 Accuracy in problem solving.
Q4. A) The listening funnel is a visual representation for an ideal process model to be able to
effectively listen and accurately draw out required information. The funnel starts with the
wide open question, which gives the respondent the widest scope possible to be able to come
up with an explanation or description of the issue or the situation. Narrowing down the
funnel, are the probing questions that are aimed at drawing out further information on the
related subject. Followed by that, there is a closed question, which is aimed at drawing out
any specific information that may be required for the matter. Finally, the idea is to check and
clarify the information with the speaker, to be sure that every information recorded has been
accurate (Harro-Loit & Ugur, 2018).
4B) The first interpersonal skill that the team can apply to be able to deal with the angry
customers is to apply empathy. Empathy is the act of feeling with someone, in which, it
would make the angry customers feel that their problems are indeed being understood well by
the listener. Conflict management is another interpersonal skill that the team can apply. This
refers to the ability to manage a situation of conflict and be able to clear the heat out with a

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proper resolution. This requires for the ability to be able to have accuracy in problem
understanding, and properly give feedbacks to the customer accordingly, to perfectly address
the problem.
Q5. A) The level of conflict that is being experienced by Marco and Jim is that of an
interpersonal conflict. This is the second level of conflict. In this, the conflict that takes place
is between two individuals (Rahim, 2017), which is exactly the case in this context. This is
because of the fact that Jim has a problem with Marco for not meeting the budget over a
period of time, and Marco claims that Jim always favors the others instead of him. Therefore,
it is clear that the conflict is clearly taking place between these two individuals and does not
involve any other entity.
5 B) Marco’s current concern is the fact that he has not been able to sell the products, and
also the fact that he feels that Jim always favors the others, and has been unsupportive of him.
His need includes that Jim takes a look at the current product range, since Marco cannot sell
some of the lower end products to the bigger companies.
Jim’s concern is that Marco has not been able to meet the sales budget over a period of time.
He needs Marco to be more efficient in his job and be able to sell products desirably for the
profitability of the company.
5 C) Jim has to be able to come up with the benefits of the Galcore and the unique selling
proposition of it, that could help Marco sell it to more companies than he can at the moment.
Jim also has to be able to justify himself regarding the accusation that Marco had earlier
made about favoring others, and make Marco feel equal to others by making sure that he
encourages Marco to always feel comfortable in visiting his office whenever he needs to. Jim
also has to be able to point out a few tactics of sales that are being practiced by other senior
accounts manager for meeting their targets.
5 D) The first thing that Marco has to do is to list out the numerous reasons as to why he has
not been able to meet his targets. He has to be authoritative and constructive at the same time.
He has to prepare questions based on these reasons to be able to seek help from Jim himself
and draw out information on how he could tackle those situations. The main thing that Marco
has to do is to have a positive and gentle attitude to this conflict, letting his ego aside, as
being too much authoritative would only escalate the conflict, which would not be good for
Marco’s job and reputation.
Q 6. A project manager is tasked with the responsibility of being able to communicate goals,
performance, responsibilities, feedbacks and expectations. He is also responsible for making
sure that he is able to motivate his team during the lows and keep them moving forward when
they are at their highs. He is also required to be able to make sure that he gets permissions to
certain requirements during the project, and is responsible for identifying how information
has to be conveyed to relevant stakeholders and keep coordination intact. These are the
reasons why a project manager must have good communication skills.

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References
Evans, M., Dalkir, K., & Bidian, C. (2015). A holistic view of the knowledge life cycle: the
knowledge management cycle (KMC) model. The Electronic Journal of Knowledge
Management, 12(1), 47.
Harro-Loit, H., & Ugur, K. (2018). Training Methods of Listening-Based Journalistic
Questioning. Journalism Practice, 12(7), 918-934.
Rahim, M. A. (2017). Managing conflict in organizations. Routledge.