Strategies to Examine Conflict Management in Work Teams: A Tesco Study

This report explores the critical topic of conflict management within work teams, focusing on strategies to mitigate negative aspects and enhance positive outcomes. The introduction defines conflict management and its significance in organizational settings, highlighting its role in improving relationships and boosting productivity. The report uses Tesco, a multinational retailer, as a case study to investigate real-world conflict scenarios, research aims and questions, and objectives related to identifying conflict causes, manager-related issues, and effective management strategies. The literature review delves into the causes of team conflict, including communication barriers, personal differences, and resource constraints, while also addressing issues faced by managers, such as the impact on employee morale and productivity. The report further discusses various conflict management strategies, such as disciplinary action, improved communication, and organizational development. Finally, the methodology section outlines the research design, methods, data collection, and ethical considerations, along with a project plan, to ensure a structured and comprehensive analysis of the topic.

Research methods

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION, SPECIFICATION AND DEFINITION OF THE PROJECT.......................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................................................4
METHODOLOGY......................................................................................................................................8
PROJECT PLAN.........................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................12

Title: To examine the ways for managing conflict in work team.
INTRODUCTION, SPECIFICATION AND DEFINITION OF THE
PROJECT
Introduction
Conflict management is process of the limiting negative conflict aspect while enhancing
positive conflict aspect. Its main aim is to increase group and learning outcomes consisting
effectiveness in organizational setting. Conflict resolution leads to improving relationships
between workers and benefits everyone. Relationships are changing and people are inspired to
work together to produce the best results. Nobody wants to bring stress home feeling overlooked
on job. Tesco is British multinational groceries retailer and the general merchandise in United
Kingdom. This was established in year 1919 and deal in the books, home products, clothing,
furniture etc. In Tesco, Workers faced the possibility of working when they were sick or earning
a significantly smaller wage while deciding to reduce their sick pay (Al‐Hamdan and et. al.,
2019). At the other hand, firm managed to accomplish the desired objective of raising unplanned
workers absence.
Research Aim
The aim of this research is “To examine the strategies used by firm for managing conflict
in work team.” A study on Tesco.
Research Question
What are strategies used by firm for managing the conflict in the work team?
Research Objectives
 To examine the causes of conflict in a team.
 To determine issues faced by the managers from arising the conflict.
 To identify strategies through which conflict can be managed in work team.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Causes of conflict in a team
According to Marie Verity (2018), Team conflicts are general incidents that are hard to
deal with. Conflict itself would be not only normal but can also be interpreted as a very natural
phenomenon and logical result of inherent differences among people. Many also think that if
individuals and groups work together, conflict is inevitable. Conflict itself could be described as
interactions in which one party attempts to obstruct another party's actions or decisions. Conflicts
are a vital part of the team leader or management role when they are opened up so they can be
resolved. On the other hand, Conflict also happens when team members concentrate on personal
(emotional), rather than working (substantial) issues. Staff members rely on resources and
facilities access, like technology, conference rooms and meeting rooms. However, everybody
can not at all periods access services they want. If someone else cannot use the services, then this
can lead to conflict because another person can use them. A manager will then determine who
has access to a resource and how this will in future be distributed. Communication is an
important analysis. Some conflict is caused by communication barriers. When the two way of
communication are hindered, another individual or community may easily be confused. Time
pressure, like deadlines, may improve an individual's output or decrease performance through a
negative emotional reaction. Such assumptions influence employee efficiency. Thus managers
must recognize and consider the skill and capacity of an employee to reach the specified goals
when setting deadlines (Choi and Ha, 2018).
Stephanie Faris (2020) stated that Firm recruit employees because they believe like these
employees are qualified or skilled, not simply because they are getting along with others.
Personal differences will increase as businesses employ a multitude of people. It's sometimes
because workers have particular characteristics, others because they have common beliefs.
Whatever is the problem, conflicts should be resolved. It can lead to conflicts. To
achieve activities quickly and successfully, each workplace relies on communications.
Nevertheless, there's so many various ways to connect, cables can be crossed quickly and
messages can be delayed or unread. Someone has been given a mission, for example. This
mission is never done due to a mistake in communication. In order to ensure that the time limits

are met, supervisors must delegate the job to another worker. It can generate bad feelings among
all parties that the manager has because employee has missed deadline, because initial worker is
accused of something for which he or she is not guilty, and other employee is guilty.
Issues faced by the managers from arising the conflict
Andra Picincu ( 2020) stated that In workplace, conflicts may exist. If remain untreated,
it may influence the moral and efficiency of the employees. It can, in the long run, affect the
credibility and bottom line of company and contribute to loss of sales. Managers must consider
the consequences of disputes at work and take measures required to resolve this before they
escalate. Conflict impacts on job results go further than missed time limits. Conflicts in
workplace raise uncertainty and stress, possibly leading to mistakes, bad planning and conflicts.
They can create a hostile atmosphere for workers that hinder success and motivation over time.
That will put the business at risk. Some other issue is that disputes also require a great deal of
time to debate, talk and take sides. Otherwise, team members should have focused on new tasks
or brainstorming ideas this time. Instead, they clash and neglect each other's duties. Conflicts in
the workplace can influence morality and job satisfaction. Workers and those in charge can take
some time to reduce conflict. They can feel overwhelmed and emotionally exhausted, leading to
higher absenteeism and turnover (Einarsen and et. al., 2018). On the other hand, Staff members
involved in conflicts has a higher risk of fear, depression, poor sleep and physical symptoms
such as chronic problems or migraines. These problems are caused by stress in the workplace.
High blood pressure as well as heart problems and injuries can lead to a hostile work
environment. Conflicts are not the only cause for occupational stress; they can have adverse
effects on the safety and values of employees.
Strategies through which conflict can be managed in work team
On the basis of Asma Niaz (2020) Conflicts at work could be one of main sources of
tension in workers. Stress of workers and other associated concerns about safety, bullying and
wages for staff can be avoided if managers move quickly to address problems among employees
and to ensure a safe working atmosphere. Human resources are one of the organization's main
divisions. Disputes that are occur when people don't know regarding their respective authorities
and responsibilities and one person feels that another tries to undermine his authority and duty.

Conflict may arise in some circumstances if two working groups have inconsistent goals. It is
necessary for managing conflict at workplace. There are the effective strategies mentions below
for managing the conflict in work team:
Taking disciplinary action- Every company needs its workers to meet standards of
excellence and to be performing professionally at work. Disciplinary or punitive steps are way to
warn employee about his or her actions and performance. Disciplinary action can be taken if
other approaches to resolve a dispute have not succeeded, for example mediation, performance
assessment, etc. management can, however, decide to move straight into disciplinary action in
significant cases of fraud (Foy and et. al., 2019). Management will understand the very intent of
the discipline before determining which disciplinary steps to take. The purpose of disciplinary
action would be to direct employee towards improved results or behavior. The method should
not be structured to discipline employee, but should be proactive.
Communication between co- workers- Relationship among management and
employees is influenced through motivation and performance. Managers will communicate to
employees. Conflict is unavoidable if there is no communication and employees are reluctant to
focus management on cost reductions and efficiency improvement. In trying to solve conflicts
and dealing with the other similar issues, managers should play role of "handler of
disturbance managers." Therefore, management should develop as well as apply 'people' skills' to
motivate their employees. Managers must connect with their employees more to get more
recognition from their employees. It would boost employee morale and increase productivity.
Organizational development- Organizational development is strategy and systemic
method for the sustainable success of companies through participation of their workers.
The Human Resources of Tesco identified the advantages of organizational development. These
include working people's minds, enhancing the performance and speed of decision-making and
making conflict constructive and not destructive. It can be accomplished through team building,
professional development, staff and workforce planning, creativity, talent management, change
management, organizational assessment and the growth of coaching and leadership (McKibben,
2017).

Establish job role and responsibilities- Conflicts can occur because of employee
inconsistencies. To order to overcome disagreements between group members, certain and fixed
work roles and responsibilities must be established. The best approach is by congratulating the
workers and other acts etc. It is always the case in companies with motivated workers who want
to be productive within a short period of time. These conflicts may be reduced to a minimum if
the job descriptions were also set and if a worker leaves for another person, he or she must be
credited.

METHODOLOGY
The direction of research methodologies is important for a successful research project in
order to perform everything in the study correctly so as to generate useful results. This section
essentially covers a variety of resources that can support the entire company in the right
direction, so the collection of applications is necessary in order to decide strategies used by firm
for managing conflict in work team (Nash and Hann, 2020).
Research Design
Essentially, there are three kinds of descriptive, experimental and exploratory research
design. These all research design styles are important, but descriptive design is applied as per
current study. Around same time it helps to more effectively define the research issue. This
design helps to gather accurate and precise data on the subject. However, as per quantitative
analysis experimental or exploratory designs really aren't useful because this requires longer and
more time.
Research methods
The research method is to convey quality or quantitative aspects, so that the wok is
chosen so that relevant information is gathered in the appropriate direction. Quantitative and
Qualitative are two different research methods. In consideration of current study, quantitative
analysis would be best method to conduct comprehensive analyzes on the strategies used by firm
for managing conflict in work team. This would be humane in collecting data through the
examination of people and providing data with real data (Raines, 2019).
Data collection
Data collection includes data collection or knowledge collection process in particular
field of research. There are many two primary and secondary sources of data collection. The
questionnaire is a more effective way of gathering primary information on the strategies used by
firm for managing conflict in work team. On other hand, there are many numerous sources
required to collect secondary data, including papers, newspapers, journals, magazines and

several other related sources. Therefore, both methods of data collection will be used for the
current the strategies used by firm for managing conflict in work team (Ritter and et. al., 2018).
Ethical issues
In any operation that person carries out when working for others, ethics are important. In
terms of study, researchers must concentrate on the execution of all research activities in ethical
manner, such that they are free in near future from any legal obligations whatsoever. The
research investigator has employed both primary and secondary data collection methods for the
purposes of collecting maximal information on subject within the time frame given (Saundry,
2016).
PROJECT PLAN
Gantt chart

Feasibility and relevance of project plan
The present research report is related to examine the strategies through which the conflict
in a team can be managed at workplace. For collection of information, there have been secondary
sources used in literature review such as books, articles, magazines, internet sources and others.
In the literature review part, there has been discussed about the causes of the conflict in a team
and the effective ways for managing them for developing the positive working environment and
employees can able to sustain and workplace for longer period of time. In context to this,
research methodology plays a necessary role (Saundry, Latreille and Ashman, 2016). In the
research methodology part, there has been discussed about the Research Design, research
method, data collection and ethical consideration. Under this, the descriptive Research Design
has been used because it provides the detailed information in an effective manner. Other than
this, there has been quantitative research method used because its main focus on providing the
specific information regarding the particular area.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Al‐Hamdan, Z. and et. al., 2019. The impact of emotional intelligence on conflict management
styles used by jordanian nurse managers. Journal of nursing management. 27(3). pp.560-
566.
Choi, Y. and Ha, J., 2018. Job satisfaction and work productivity: The role of conflict-
management culture. Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal. 46(7).
pp.1101-1110.
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.
Foy, T. and et. al., 2019. Managing job performance, social support and work-life conflict to
reduce workplace stress. International Journal of Productivity and Performance
Management.
McKibben, L., 2017. Conflict management: importance and implications. British Journal of
Nursing. 26(2). pp.100-103.
Nash, D. and Hann, D., 2020. Strategic Conflict Management? A Study of Workplace Dispute
Resolution in Wales. ILR Review. 73(2). pp.411-430.
Raines, S.S., 2019. Conflict management for managers: Resolving workplace, client, and policy
disputes. Rowman & Littlefield.
Ritter, B.A. and et. al., 2018. Designing management curriculum for workplace readiness:
Developing students’ soft skills. Journal of Management Education. 42(1). pp.80-103.
Saundry, R., 2016. Conceptualizing Workplace Conflict and Conflict Management. In Reframing
Resolution (pp. 13-33). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Saundry, R., Latreille, P. and Ashman, I. eds., 2016. Reframing Resolution: Innovation and
Change in the Management of Workplace Conflict. Springer.
Online
Niaz, A., 2020. 10 Successful Ways to Deal With Conflicts When There is No HR. [Online].
Available through: < https://www.wethetalent.co/experience-at-work/10-successful-
ways-deal-conflicts-no-hr/>.

Picincu, A., 2020. The Effects of Workplace Conflict. [Online]. Available through: <
https://bizfluent.com/list-5896846-effects-workplace-conflict.html>.
Verity, M., 2018. 6 Common Causes of Workplace Conflict and How to Avoid Them. [Online].
Available through: < https://www.vital-learning.com/blog/causes-of-workplace-conflict>.