Managing Workplace Conflict A Case Study at Stradivarius

Introduction

This paper aims at expounding on the concept of conflict management, by creating a case scenario, involving a conflict at work place and this will be used to bring forth the concept of conflict management. The conflict scenario is as provided below:

I got involved in a conflict scenario when I was working as a sales assistant at Stradivarius. On one particular day, the sales director organized an outdoor promotion and thus, asked me to manage a team of my fellow employees, providing business dissertation help. Among the activities that we were to engage in, was transporting the company products from the company vehicle to the promotion venues. Owing to the fact that I was in charge, I knew that we had little time before beginning the day’s activity. As such, I assigned one particular employee, the activity of carrying certain kinds of products, unlike others, but he failed to and decided to rest instead. I got infuriated and decided to confront him, but when I did, he blew it all up at me and the entire team joined him against me. Everyone was throwing insults at me, whilst stressing that I was too authoritative on them. We decided to take the case to the sales director.

Analysis and Evaluation

Conflict refers to a collision or a disagreement between people or a group of people, which could be brought forth by contradiction, variance, opposition of opinions or while making decisions. There are different types of conflicts that can occur within organizational settings and they include interpersonal conflict, intragroup conflict, intergroup conflict, as well as interorganizational conflict. Interpersonal conflict refers to a conflict between individuals, which occurs because of their differing goals or values. Intrapersonal conflict is a conflict that occurs within a team or a group of individuals. Interpersonal conflict occurs between two or more groups or teams whilst interorganizational conflict occurs across different organizations (Folger et al., 2017). For instance, the managers of a given organization may feel that another organization does not behave ethically, thus bringing forth conflict. Whilst referring to the scenario I got involved in at Stradivarius, it is evident that we had an interpersonal conflict as the employee I assigned the particular task had a different goal and value, which differed with mine. This is owing to the fact that his goal was not to work, based on the limited time we had and did not value time. The second type of conflict we had was intragroup conflict, as the conflict happened within the team I was managing.

There are 6 stages of conflict and the first stage is trigger, whereby, it is concerned with a given issue that sparks a conflict. The given issue could either be said or done, but the ultimate consequence is that it causes harm, which could either be emotional or physical. Based on my scenario, we got at this stage when the employee failed to do the assignment I had given him and this poses as the issue of trigger, as he caused me emotional harm, which forced me to confront him. The second stage is assumption and labelling, whereby, it involved labelling others, and thus, making assumptions regarding them and their intentions (Aqqad et al., 2019). We reached this stage when I labelled the employee a disappointer and that he had the intention of letting the group down. The third stage is attack and blame, whereby, it is expected that whilst conflicting, humans have the nature of predisposing thus, behaving in two manners, either attack or withdraw. Based on my scenario, we reached this stage when I decided to confront the employee about him delaying to complete his work on time and neglecting the fact that we had limited time. That was like attacking him. The fourth stage is build alliance, whereby, after rounds of verbal exchanged or even counter attacking, the conflict is thus, taken to another stage. In this regard, anyone that prepares for the battle requires an army, to seek for alliances, either, in the office, at home or within the team. We reached this stage, when the employee gained the support of the rest of the team; they all ganged up against me. The fifth stage is entrenched, whereby, at the conflict gains momentum, the involved parties invest resources, as well as emotions, in order to maintain it on a downward direction (Young et al., 2016). We reached this stage when I could not handle the pressure that the entire team put on me, claiming that I was too authoritative on them. The last stage is collision, whereby, at this stage, much effort, as well as time has already been invested. In this regard, the involved parties are likely to go headlong into a thorough confrontation, and it could involve litigation or tribunal. As such, there could be a loser and a winner, alongside some casualties. We reached this stage when we decided to take the case to the sales director to act as the tribunal.

Conflict management refers to the use of significant techniques (sensibility, fairness and efficiency), as well as ideas in reducing the negative impacts of conflict and thus, enhancing the positive outcomes for the involved parties. In this regard, conflict management aims to enhance learning and group outcomes, and this includes effectiveness or even performance in a work or organizational setting. On the other hand, conflict escalation refers to increase in conflict intensity and it often makes a conflict situation unmanageable, and thus, difficult to resolve. This then calls for conflict resolution. Conflict resolution refers to the use of methods, as well as processes in facilitation of peaceful endings of a conflict. People who engage in a conflict need conflict resolution strategies, in order to bring forth a peaceful environment. Conflict management styles provide some strategies that bring forth conflict resolution (Broukhim et al., 2019). They include the following. The first is avoidance, which is could pose as a defective conflict management style, whereby, the manager is never assertive towards achieving set goals. In this regard, the manager would not purpose to assist the other staff members from reaching their goals. However, it is notable that this style works best, especially when the manager has not winning chance. The second is collaboration style, whereby, managers work collaboratively, with the aim of achieving set goals. This style could be assistive in breaking free, a win-lose situation, and purpose on establishing a win-win situation. Notably, the style is aimed for complex scenarios, especially when managers only obligate to finding a novel solution. The third is competing style, which is the adoption of a win-lose approach. The manager acts in an assertive way, with the aim of achieving his set goals without seeking cooperation with other employees, yet it may be at the expense of the employees (Helms & Oliver, 2015). Notably, this style is most effective when it is a matter of emergence and as such, time is treated as of essence. The fourth is compromising style, which entails a lose-lose situation whereby, neither of the involved parties wins, nor the manager achieves objectives or set goals. This style needs a moderate assertive and cooperation level and it is useful for a situation where only temporary solutions to problems are required.

The conflict style that the sales director used in resolving our conflict was collaboration, whereby, he worked in collaboration with all of us whilst aiming for us to meet the set goal of meeting the set time deadline for the transportation of the products in time. Notably, our conflict had reached a complex stage and all was required of the sales director was to come up with a novel solution to the problem. Collaboration style was effective, owing to the fact had had I lost, I was going to lose the moral of managing the group and even when I could be asked to continue doing it, I could not do it to a perfection. On the other hand, had my team members lost, they could not be collaborative enough, to enable us meet the set goals. Overall, it is worth noting that collaboration style posed as the best style.

Coaching refers to a form of development that aims at improving the performance of a learner towards achieving a specific professional or even a personal goal through the provision of training, as well as guidance. On the other hand, mentoring refers to a semi-structured guidance system, in which case, an individual shares his or her knowledge, skills, as well as experience towards assisting others towards progressing their lives or careers. Coaching and mentoring are often used simultaneously. However, they differ, based on the following (Currie et al., 2017). First, coaching does not require the direct experience of an individual’s role in formal occupation unless the coaching focuses on certain skills and is specific, whereas in mentoring, individual follow the footsteps of experienced colleagues, who pass the knowledge, and also share significant experiences. Secondly, coaching entails no advice, but purposes to assist coaches to uncover their own knowledge, whereas mentoring enhances close support and also provides sufficient support. Finally, coaching assist in creating balance between the fulfillment of organizational objectives whilst taking into account individual development needs, whereas mentoring assists in opening doors for various opportunities, which would otherwise be considered to be unreachable (Dineva et al., 2017).

There are different coaching techniques, which include listening, questioning, clarifying, and giving feedback. On listening, the coach should listen to the weaknesses of the learner and thus, identify various ways that a given employee can be assisted. On clarifying, the coach is required to explain certain concepts, whilst clarifying certain significant concepts that aid in solving a problem. On questioning, the coach should provide the learner/ employee with a chance of questioning certain facts, which may not be well understood, in order to enhance clarify and understanding, the last is giving feedback, whereby, the coach provides sufficient feedback, which assesses whether the learner has learnt basic, and complex concept of what is required of him or her. Overall, it is significant to note that coaching techniques are significant in organization, towards improving performances of employees. This is owing to the following facts (Dyer & Song, 2015). First, it enhances personal, as well as organizational performance, secondly, it provides a significant work life balance, thirdly, it enhances higher motivation, fourthly, it enhances self-reflection, and finally, it optimizes significant decision-making.

The GROW Framework Model is a type of coaching model, which aids in enhancing personal, as well as organizational development. In this regard, it is a robust framework that aids in project planning, and also encourages significant conversations between the coach and the coachee. G.R.O.W stands for goal, reality, options and will. At the goal stage, it is worth noting that the coaching session should have a particular goal or objective that needs to be achieved. In this regard, it should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely (SMART) (Lee et al., 2017). On the reality stage, awareness of the present situation needs be established. In this regard, the coach and the coacheee need to describe the situation whilst prioritizing its objectivity. On the option stage, the coach and the coachee need to explore all the available options and come up with one that is most feasible and has a possibility of being successful. On the will stage, the coach, and the coachee should come up with a clear plan for the subsequent steps that can overcome any obstacle that may come by. Overall, my organization needed to incorporate the GROW model in order to enhance sufficient coaching for employees. The GROW Model is as presented in the figure below:

Overall, based on my scenario, it is evident that it passed through all the stages of a conflict and that then created the need for conflict resolution, in order for us to continue with the work of promoting Stradivarius’ products. The sales director opted for collaboration style, as it brings forth a win-win situation, in order for us to continue working in a peaceful environment. Coaching and mentoring are significant concepts, which ensure personal organization of individuals, as well as organizational development. The GROW model was significant for my scenario as it could enhance sufficient coaching for employees.

References

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