Leadership Strategies: Conflict Management & Corporate Politics Forum

This discussion forum post delves into various aspects of conflict management and corporate politics within organizations. It addresses internal conflicts arising from leadership clashes, personal differences, cultural disparities, interdependencies, and varying work styles, emphasizing the prevalence of cultural conflicts due to diverse employee backgrounds and approaches. Effective conflict management steps for managers include intervention, active listening, consideration of operational impact, and solution development that benefits both the company and involved parties. The post highlights how coordination within work units fosters productivity, teamwork, and efficiency, ultimately enhancing the quality of goods and services and benefiting the entire organization. Best practices for controlling conflicts, such as avoiding the notion of being always right, focusing on root causes rather than blame, and prioritizing goal-oriented communication, are discussed. Practical application scenarios demonstrate resource allocation based on merit, policy implementation for consistent leadership, and personnel reshuffling to mitigate personal conflicts. The document concludes by emphasizing the importance of managing conflict effectively for overall organizational success and refers to conflict resolution strategies during new service development.

Running head: DISCUSSION FORUM 1
Discussion Forum
Student’s Name
Institution
Date

DISCUSSION FORUM 2
Discussion Forum 3.1
Internal conflicts that must be managed between key work units
The internal conflicts that need to be managed are leadership conflicts, personal conflicts,
cultural conflicts, interdependency-based conflicts, and work style differences. In my experience,
the most common conflict is cultural conflict.
Why such conflicts exist
The conflicts exist because employees come from different backgrounds (Helms & Oliver,
2015). At the same time, the employees have different ways of dealing with issues and managing
the operations in a company. From my experience, most of these conflicts come into place
because most people want things to be done their way which is impossible.
The best steps a manager might take in the middle of a conflict and corporate politics
The managers should intervene, listen to all parties, look into the relation of the conflicts with the
operations of the company, and come up with a solution that favors the company and also ends
the disagreement between the involved parties (Rahim, 2017).
How coordination within work units can benefit the entire organization
Coordination promotes productivity in an organization, and this is because it brings law and
order. At the same time, it fosters teamwork, and when people work in teams, efficiency is
promoted. Efficiency affects the quality of goods and services, and that ends up affecting the
entire organization. During my internship, I realized that the only way an organization can attain
its desired goals is through coordination.

DISCUSSION FORUM 3
DropBox 3.1
Best practices for controlling conflicts between workgroups, personal conflicts, and corporate
politics
1. Exclude the notion of being right and always winning. The reason why conflicts escalate
is that each person considers his or her argument to be the right one and to be the only
one winning.
2. Look for a root cause instead of looking for people to blame.
3. Try to eliminate emotions while dealing with issues.
4. Work with others when looking for solutions to an issue (De Dreu, 2015).
5. Conversations should be goal-oriented, and this means that issues that do not help in
solving the conflict should be avoided.
6. Establish an engaging conversation while dealing with conflicts and this is because
communication is essential in the whole process.
7. Factor in the feelings of other involved parties (Prause & Mujtaba, 2015).
8. Focus on behavior rather than personality.
9. Create an engaging environment.
10. Know and understand the issues that need to be addressed privately and the issues that
need to be dealt with in public.
DropBox 3.2: Practical Application
Situation 1
The best way to deal with situation is to audit the responsibilities of the Vice Presidents. After
doing so, it would be justified and fair to allocate the money in line with the needs of each of the

DISCUSSION FORUM 4
vice presidents. The experience that I have gained in the employment sector has helped me to
understand that the use of merits to allocate resources can eliminate the conflicts that are
associated with the distribution of resources.
Situation 2
The best way to deal with the second situation is by coming up with a policy that dictates the
type of leadership that should be exercised in the company (Boukis, Chatzipanagioti, Gounaris,
& Kostopoulos, 2016). Considering that each of the mentioned professionals is submissive to the
organization, having one way of leadership would discourage others to exercise different types of
leadership. I am of the opinion that a policy is the only way to bring law and order in an
organization and I have seen that in the field of business.
Situation 3
A reshuffle would be the best way to deal with the third situation. Personal conflicts are present
because there are professionals who know each other at a personal level (Dyer & Song, 2015).
Therefore, it would be appropriate to make sure that during their business activities, they are not
placed under the same dockets. In my experience, when two or more conflicting parties are
separated, the problem is eliminated once and for all.

DISCUSSION FORUM 5
References
Boukis, A., Chatzipanagioti, K., Gounaris, S., & Kostopoulos, G. (2016, May). Applying a fuzzy
set qualitative comparative analysis for conflict resolution during new service
development. In Academy of Marketing Science 44th Annual Conference.
De Dreu, C. K. (2015). Conflict and conflict management. Wiley Encyclopedia of Management,
1-4.
Dyer, B., & Song, X. M. (2015). The relationship between strategy and conflict management: A
Japanese perspective. In Proceedings of the 1995 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS)
Annual Conference (pp. 126-132). Springer, Cham.
Helms, W. S., & Oliver, C. (2015). Radical settlements to conflict: Conflict management and its
implications for institutional change. Journal of Management & Organization, 21(4),
471-494.
Prause, D., & Mujtaba, B. G. (2015). Conflict management practices for diverse
workplaces. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 6(3), 13.
Rahim, M. A. (2017). Managing conflict in organizations. London: Routledge.