Ron Young
Organizational
Behavior
May 13, 2014
Organization Conflict
Traditional view of conflict was that
conflict is considered to be bad and
needed to be resolved as soon as possible. Conflict was considered to be
negative viewed by bad attitudes destructive actions and irate actions that
made organizations dysfunctional. According to Robbins, Stephen P. & Judge, Timothy A., Organized
Behavior 15th edition,” Conflict was a dysfunctional outcome resulting from poor
communication, a lack of openness and trust between people, and the failure of
managers to be responsive to the needs and aspirations of their employees”,
this means that a lack of corporate intervention causes conflict. Conflicts can
end up in dangerous interactions such as fights, threats, public disorder and
all other kinds of trouble. When faced with conflict the Management should be
included in the problem, this way you have a mediator who can solve your
problems. Conflict is difficult to avoid, in most cases when there is a
situation that cannot be resolved both parties are removed from their area of
work and placed at different time schedules or in different areas of the work
place. Conflict causes people in the workforce to become uneasy and uptight
with each other. In specific instances the employees click up into a team that
goes against the other employee or manager that they dislike. In extreme instances,
people are fired and then they have to find a place of employment. Improved
group and organization performance may help against traditional conflict in the
work place Robins & Judge (2013).Poorly paid employees may have more
problems with conflict than employees that are paid more.
Human Relations Conflict involves
relations between humans. The environment can produce personnel conflict that
effect the corporation as a whole. An example of human relations conflict would
be the conflict between a high ranked Police Officer who works nights and a
lower ranked Police Officer works days. The high ranked Corporal Police Officer
asked the lower ranked PFC Police Officer to change shifts. The lower ranked
PFC told the higher ranked Corporal that he was not willing to change shifts.
This made the higher ranked Corporal Police Officer angry at the lower ranked
PFC Police Officer. In return for not exchanging shifts, the Corporal poured
bleach into the lower PFC’s locker and ruined his uniform. The two knew who did
it, but the Police Officers at the Police station thought that the Corporal
took the correct choice of action. The PFC thought this was not the proper way
for the higher ranked Corporal to display his anger at him so he broke the
Corporals window to his SUV. Yesterday they saw each other in the locker room
and got into a pushing match. The Chief saw them get into it with each other
and called them in the office for counseling.
According to Robbins,
Stephen P. & Judge, Timothy A., Organized Behavior 15th edition,” The Interactionist view that conflict
can stimulate active discussion without spilling over into negative, disruptive
emotions is incomplete”, p.448, p. 449.This theory assumes that all conflict is
good and produces a positive outcome after the parties involved have settled
their differences.
An example of interaction conflict is a
Police trainer the shows the Police Officers the best way to handle a house
check. Jimmy the SWAT team leader warned Jay about teaching the cadets to first
look through a window to find out where sealants would be in the house. Jimmy
used to follow that process and look through the window first. One time a gun
man was at the window and Jimmy got stuck under the window ceil while the sealant fired at the other two
SWAT members Jimmy said he was never so embarrassed in his life. Jay called a
conference with Jimmy and they are talking over new procedures for handling
house checks for sealants. After talking
to Jimmy now the SWAT team keeps a person at the rear of the house just in case
a back door is involved. The other change, which was the one that Jimmy wanted
was no looking through windows during a house entry.
A functional conflict is one where
everyone profits from the conflict. A the Police Chief named Paul finds out that the Police squad car that is being bought next month has only 1/8
inch thick steel and it needs to be 4/8 inch thick to protect against gun shots.
They figure that the Police Officer that is requesting the change is the Chief
but the Commander is the head of the department that purchases vehicles for
Annandale County Police department. The Captain said he would not buy the 4/8
inch thick steel vehicles because it is 3 square feet larger and has a higher
grade engine, with a larger wheel base. The 4/8 inch thick medal will cost the
department 3 million more dollars to maintain and buy. The Captain also
complained about the fact if he buys a bigger Police cruiser it would cost 1.2
million dollars more in gas alone. The Police cruisers are sold from Chevy so
the Commander called a meeting with the auto dealer Fitzgerald Chevy in
Annandale County. They made a deal for five years 12 million dollars Chevy
gives them the 4/8 thick steel and V8 engine for 3 million less than cost.
An example of a dysfunctional conflict
is one where a vest maker named Marksmanship Corporation they make nylon teflon bulletproof vests but
have a problem merchandising them to hunters. They only sold them at gun shops
when the Marksmanship Corporation stock went to an all time low the corporate
manager Robert Dewy started to hire instead of fire employees. Robert Dewy
owner of the corporation hired merchandising experts to push his product to
retail stores, Police forces, and Government contractors. After making changes
to the vest to including velcro name and badge information placers they
reconstructed the bullet-proofed jackets to possibly have sappy plates
installed to stop high powered rifles. This hiring of marketing professionals
was a major conflict with the executives because the corporation was losing
money at the time they were hired. They thought this would make the corporation
loss more money but instead Marksmanship Corporation has become one of the
largest tactical corporations in the world.
References
Robbins, Stephen P. & Judge, Timothy A. (2013). Organized
Behavior 15th edition, p. 379, p. 382 Pearson Education,
Inc. Published as Prentice Hall, One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, New
Jersey, 07458
Jones, Med (2005). International
Institute of Management (IIM), Executive White Paper retrieved from http://www.iim-du.org/dysfunctionalleadershipdysfunctionalorganizations/index.htm
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