Essay Example on Conflict: When People Interact and Differ in Opinions and Values

Introduction

When people interact with each other in their day to day activities, they are bound to have conflicts. Different people have a difference in opinion, values, and priorities; hence these differences intertwine and create misunderstandings and miscommunications that eventually may result in a conflict. Thus conflict can be described as a difference between parties due to differences in ideas, attitudes, understanding, interests, and requirements and, to some extent, perception. Conflict can exist among individuals, countries, political parties, and also among states. Disputes can occur in various forms, such as verbal conflicts, passionate conflict, communal conflict, individual conflict, managerial conflict, civil conflict, among many other ways (Condliffe, 2008).

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Conflicts can lead to heated arguments, fights, financial loss, broken relationships, and ultimately loss of peace and harmony hence the need for conflict resolution. Conflicts can also result in a positive outcome such as stimulation of new facts and recommendations, an increase in cohesion among the parties involved, and disputes that can lead to an assessment of the parties involved' power or abilities. Conflict management is the practice of identifying and handling conflicts sensibly, reasonably, and efficiently. Conflict management encompasses the attainment of abilities connected to engagement resolution skills, communication skills, consciousness about conflict types, and the formation of an organization in managing the conflict. Conflict management involves five stages of collaboration, compromising, accommodating, competing, and avoiding.

While conflicts have since time immemorial existed as part of our daily lives activities, it has been more common in the streets and residential areas, but now conflicts have found its way behind closed doors. In particular, office conflicts have been on the increase; this is mainly due to the large number of workers that are employed by multinational companies. The workers are different in every sense, be it race, socio-economic background, creed, cultural background, religion, and beliefs. The daily interaction of these employees may not always be in harmony, and the differences might lead to quarrels and hostility among the employees. The strains may have a negative impact on the behavior, attitudes, psychological, and, ultimately, physiological results on the employees. Hence the need for the development of the right procedural approach in resolving conflicts and issues that arise in workplaces (Kindler, 2005).

Identification of the Conflict

Outline of the Conflict

Silver Tech Corp is a multinational technology company that deals with safety and security products and services. The corporation deals with an extensive variety of merchandise and services, ranging from the provision of facial technology software, CCTVs, access control security systems, crowd control equipment, and security consultancy. The company has segmented into different departments of Human resource, marketing, sales, accounting, software development, quality control, and product development. The company has experienced a conflict arising between the management of two of its departments, the quality control department, and the product development department.

Identifying the Subject that Instigated the Conflict

The conflict arose when Peter, the head of the quality control department, took staff belonging to the product development department without the approval of the head of the department, Joe. Peter, on his part, defends his action as he claims his department is doing more work while the product development department does less job and feels that Joe's department is overstaffed. Joe is not ready to let any of his staff assigned to him go as he argues that the proposed future projects would require more personnel as they are labor-intensive.

Identifying the Type of Conflict

The type of conflict the company faced was an inter-personal conflict the most common in an organization. Inter-personal conflicts in an organization occur between two colleagues that stem from causes extending from personality, values, interest, personal background, and work-style. In our context, the conflict was between two colleagues, Joe and Peter, who are in conflict due to their management style differences as they are incompatible.

The Severity of the Conflict

The conflict between the management of the two departments of product development and quality control can negatively affect the workplace in various ways. The conflict leads to decreased productivity as the firm spent more time trying to resolve the standoff while that time could have been put to more productive work. The conflict also posed a threat as it created work disruptions as employees' time was taken away. They focused more on gossiping and venting out their frustration than concentrating on achieving the core goals and objectives of their departments and, ultimately, the company. As productivity decreased, so is the revenue as the product delivery deadline failed to be met on time.

Initial Management of the Conflict

At the initial stages before the battle, Joe ignored the poaching activities of Peter by busying himself with his work, and he did not seem bothered. Joe, in dealing with the potential rising conflict, chose to employ the avoidance technique and to withdraw himself from the potential conflict. Joe's decision to stay clear of the conflict regardless of how serious it may seem was to observe Peter's action as he appeared aggressive by poaching his staff right under his nose. Joe also decided on avoidance as a method of conflict management to offer Peter time to approach him and gather enough evidence to confront him at the opportune moment (Corvette, 2007). On Peter's part in his conflict management technique, he employed the style of competing or forcing. Peter was ready to take any measures to ensure that he got every member of staff that he needed for his department from Joe's department as no one was stopping him. According to Peter, being forceful would have ended the conflict as he perceived Joe to be weak.

Escalation

The first method of conflict management failed as Peter kept on poaching Joe's staff. The conflict escalated further when employees in Joe's department started writing letters to the administration, asking to be transferred out of Joe's department. The letters were the tipping point for Joe and decided to confront Peter by raising the matter with the company's director Daniel. Peter and Joe were both summoned to the director's office to seek guidance and resolution. At the office, both Peter and Joe engaged in a bitterly spat in front of Daniel that lead to pushing and shoveling up to a point they had to be separated by the director. Joe puts it forth that Peter keeps interfering with his duties, while Peter feels that Joe will do just fine with a much less workforce. Joe suggests that if Peter thinks that he needs more staff, then he should outsource or seek the workforce somewhere else apart from his department. Peter sees himself as a very confident manager and views Joe as being incompetent as per the way he has not to be able to execute his new assignments efficiently. In his defense, Joe quickly reminds the director of Brian, the former head of his department, who had similar issues with Peter, who chose not to confront Peter directly but to quit his job. They both exchange accusations and counter-accusations without proposing a significant judgment that may aid in resolving the matter.

Outcomes

Evaluating the Possible Outcomes of the Conflict after Escalation

A likely consequence resulting from the conflict escalation is that the conflict is bound to grow in size as more and more people will be drawn into the conflict. As the conflict develops in dimension, the number of concerns raised are likely to increase, with the parties devoting more time and resources to the conflict. In this case, the conflict is already attracting more people like Dennis. The director is already involved, and he is bound to involve more people in the hierarchy if the conflict persists without being resolved (Antonioni, 2006).

After the conflict escalation, another possible outcome could result in the deterioration of the relationship between them. The worsening of the relationship is fueled by both parties moving from specific issues to the general issues and perceiving the other as evil and unfit for their respective roles. The ties also worsen as both parties after escalation shift from using light tactics such as persuasive arguments and promises to more massive tactics such as threats, power plays, and to some extent, may result in violence.

After the conflict has escalated, the top hierarchy of the organization may decide that both Joe and Peter acted in an unprofessional manner and may result in their termination. The termination may later result in litigation by either one of them against the company. The lawsuit may prove costly for the organization if it's ruled against the firm and may lead to an expensive settlement.

Possible Outcomes for the Three Scenarios of Win-win, Win-lose, and Lose-lose

Win-win, win-lose, and lose-lose refer to the promising outcomes of an argument comprising two parties and how the party views their issue in relation to their initial position before the argument. For instance, a negotiation resulting in a "win" is an outcome better than anticipated, while a "loss" is when a result is not as good as anticipated. In summary, in determining a possible outcome, the parties involved expectations solely depends on the parties' opinion of any given effect.

Win-win Outcome

A win-win outcome result occurs when each party involved in the quarrel feels that they have won. In a win-win situation, both wings benefit from such a case, and any determinations to the encounter are likely to be acknowledged by both sides voluntarily. In a win-win situation, the process of integrative bargaining with co-operation is used to achieve a win-win situation. In the situation between Joe and Peter, a potential win-win outcome would involve the hiring of more employees needed for Peter's department. The move would ensure that the quality control department gets enough employees hence eliminating the need for raiding the product development department for more personnel. On the other hand, Joe would retain his original number of employees under his department for future work (Ting-Toomey & Gao, 1991).

Win-lose Result

A win-lose outcome occurs when a single side of the divide perceive the results as a positive outcome. Hence a win-lose situation is less likely to be acknowledged willingly. To achieve a win-lose position, the process of distributive bargaining is employed, accompanied by competition between the participants. The outcome may result in a scenario where both parties get a piece of what they initially desired. In our case, a win-lose outcome will only result if one of them either Joe or Peter perceives to have won and the other to view the outcome of deliberation as a loss. A likely win-lose result can be achieved through letting Peter acquire as many personnel as his department requires from Joe’s department, thus Peter claiming a win and Joe a loss. A possible win-lose outcome can also be achieved by letting each department retain its original number of employees without having to acquire extra help from the other department, in this case, Joe would win by having a department that is overstaffed. A conceivable win-lose situation can also be achieved by letting employees from both departments decide wh...