Report on managing conflict

Many people have dealt with conflict at some point in their lives, according to the data available. Therefore, a variety of organizational challenges lead to disputes among coworkers, which sometimes even turn into animosity. There are individuals who even take the unpleasant effects of the confrontations home, which has a greater impact on them and their families. The more the disagreement spreads within the company, the worse it will get and create a bad working atmosphere for everyone there. When I read this scenario with a woman named Kate, I was able to relate to her struggles and consider how many conditions facing every experience were.

As per the scenario is given by the paper, discrimination is very evident. Discrimination in the workplace is something that is common in the workplaces whereby promotion is not awarded as per the performance of individuals, but it is awarded consideration of other factors which might not even be work related. This story of Kate reminded me of an occurrence that I experienced in my previous occupation when I was employed in a warehouse. When I came into this particular job, I did set big prospect with the intentions of proving that my previous warehouse know-how had developed me into being capable of hanging and also adapting with employees at this particular organization. I did manage to introduce myself to my manager by then who name was Jeff who was in the first instances very polite and kind and did like that I was determined and also aggravated to do better in the firm. That storehouse happened to be separated into three portions which included the cooler, freezer and also the dryer. Every part was being allocated the workers on shifts which went in the order superiority or some incidences how well a worker operated. Me being new in the firm I commenced with the dry part.

In my first quarter, I was able to catch the manager’s attention with my work ethics and also the rate of production for it was similar to that of the people in the senior position. It would have been safe to say he did take a liking to me and what took nearly a year to be done by others, I managed to achieve this in the first quarter which was a big achievement in the freezer part. I continued working hard with the aim of getting a promotion as per my fellow colleagues who were in the higher ranks, but this never happened. Despite that manager was happy with my work, there was no any consideration of me being promoted and awarded a bigger position.

This made me feel being discriminated and not being treated in a fair manner as my efforts went unrecognized. It did demoralize my interest in continuing to work in that particular firm which resulted in me exiting the firm. I could not bear it anymore working in a place that my work was no put into consideration. This is similar to what Kate has been experiencing she seems to be so patient in her work, and that is the reason she has waited for more than 12 years without getting irritated unlike myself where I could not stand the mistreatment even for five years.



Looking at the two managers, that is my manager and Kate’s manager, they tend not to have a big difference in the actions they take. Both of them have fallen into a trap whereby they tend to favor certain individuals and ignore others, and we can say they are unaware of the possible consequence that might be realized later. This form of sub-management behavior is in almost all organizations whereby favoritism, nepotism are being seen in them thus there is the development of a preferential group.

Preferential groups develop as a result of what is called the circles of influence. Circles of influence exist where there are people who are treated specially and when they are considered close to the top management thus influencing the decisions of the management and the behavior of various people in the workplace.

The ethical breach observed with these two managers is favoritism. The two managers tend to favor some of the employees, and this is the reason as to why merit in these two particular firms does not apply when promotions are being awarded. Favoritism is considered as a form of discrimination where managers tend to make decision o the basis of certain employees protected characteristic. This is a practice whereby certain people are treated differently or in better ways than others. This form of treatment is not because the person has better qualifications regarding skill requirement, but there are other aspects used that are not even related to job performance (Benner, 2016). This is what Kate’s manager and also my manager did because they never considered both as good performers. If the promotion was by performance, then a person like Kate was required to be a top manager.

Garicano et al, (2005) did identify various forms of favoritism in the organizations which included cronyism, nepotism, patronage and sexual favors. This where family members, friends, and other people are hired in various workplaces due to the connection they have with the top managers or the benefit they offer to those top managers.

A legal breach that the two managers could have committed is discrimination. The two did discriminate both of us, and that is why we could not get any promotion. The favoritism that was in these organization made sure that there were certain employees who were awarded good positions and others denied open chances regardless of their performance. Discrimination either against gender, ethnic group, color or anything is a legal offense which can even result in imprisonment. Discrimination is a problem being experienced in many organizations whereby even in the United States discrimination especially against color has been a major problem.

To manage the negative risk both professionally and personally Kate, first it is important for Kate to watch for any form of rationalization that may arise because whenever one has a feeling in his or her gut that something dodgy is happening, there are many preemptive rationalizations that come in. Before coming up with any solution, it is important for her to consider what is really at risk when she takes that particular action. She might be risking even her job thinking that she is doing the right thing. Another thing is that she has to understand why the top managers are acting the way they are, this is the perspective taking. This is when she gets to understand the reasons behind their actions and whether they have any firm basis. After this, it is important for Kate to talk to the perpetrator first even before involving the top managers. Whenever one suspect that a certain person is behaving unethically, it is important to talk to them first. And when talking to them, one should try to ask questions and not accuse them. This perspective of asking questions help someone to gain insight on to the main reasons making these managers in such ways.

Once all this has been done, and Kate has clear reason as to why she is being discriminated, she can go ahead and report the matter to the top management is at all the perpetrators are not willing to change. Sometimes reporting to the top managers is not enough. Thus one can even file a court case where discrimination is evident and legal actions are taken.

The advice that Kate has been offered by her colleagues on reporting her immediate manager to the top managers is not bad if proper channels are followed. It is important for Kate to understand the consequences of her actions, and to ensure that she has firm clear and evident accusations to her immediate manager. The reason to this is that most of the managers tend to know than we do about the organizational rules. So it is possible that you report him or her to the top management, he or she can convince them that no offense on whichever decision take was done and he or she comes out clean. But what follows later, a grudge between you and that immediate manager and obviously the working environment worsen to the employee (Way et al, 2016).

The best way of resolving Kate conflict in this particular situation was y recognizing the value of the conflict. This is what could ensure that Kate was relieved and also her colleagues. This was a problem that had been noted by many people, and it reached to the point that Kate was being advised by her fellow colleagues meant that it was not just a small issue to ignore. If Kate could ignore the problem, it might end up affecting her in future thus demoralizing even her efforts. So it was crucial for her to recognize the conflict and find the best way to resolve it.

In the last five years, this is how I can rate conflict resolution skills

a. Avoiding the disagreement

b. Suppressing the disagreement

c. Accepting the disagreement

d. Managing the disagreement

e. Recognizing the value of the disagreement

I have been trying to avoid conflicts thinking that it is the best way to resolve them. But it has dawned on me that conflicts will always arise especially when one is involved with a person who has diverse ideas. A plan to improve on this:

Stages

Action

Stage A

Assessment of the conflicts which arise

Stage B

Identification of areas for improvement; determining how well I can manage the conflicts that arise



Stage C

Development of options for actions and if it is possible I present them to the decision makers



Stage D

Come up with a plan to implement the improvements

Stage E

Implement the improvements



Stage F

Evaluates the success of interventions





Mediation is considered to be an informal and dispute resolution process which is flexible. This process in conflict resolution always helps in guiding the parties towards their resolution. It is mainly done through joint sessions and also separate caucuses with the parties involved where the mediator help those involved parties in defining those issue clearly and understand the position of each other so that they can all move closer to the solution (Bühring-Uhle et al, 2006).

Arbitration is a process of dispute resolution where the disputing parties’ presents the case they have to the third party who is the intermediary and this individual or body evaluates all the proof and then makes a verdict for the parties. This has helped in resolving conflicts because the resolution that is realized is always obligatory (Bühring-Uhle et al, 2006).

The plan I developed to helps me improve my conflict management skills have enabled me to change and develop good conflict management skills. I have been able to accept the reality that conflicts are part of our daily life, and different people have diverse arguments. With this knowledge I have learnt to accept that reality and developed a way through which I can resolve these conflicts ensuring that I retain good relationship with my colleagues. I have learned first to analyze the perception of each that pertains his or her acts, and this is helping me get insight into the main reason that the conflicts are arising. This is what has been helping me in resolving conflicts because the actions I take I ensure that they are the most appropriate.



References

Benner, P. W. (2016). Corporate Conflict Management 4.0: Reflections on How to Get There from Here. Browser Download This Paper.

Bühring-Uhle, C., Kirchhoff, L., & Scherer, G. (2006). Arbitration and mediation in international business. Kluwer Law International.

Garicano, L., Palacios-Huerta, I., & Prendergast, C. (2005). Favoritism under social pressure. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 87(2), 208-216.

Way, K. A., Jimmieson, N. L., & Bordia, P. (2016). Shared perceptions of supervisor conflict management style: A cross-level moderator of relationship conflict and employee outcomes. International Journal of Conflict Management, 27(1), 25-49.