Conflict can arise when an individual that is part of a party, feels as though a particular interest or concern has not been compromised and frustration occurs. It will become apparent if one or more member or the party identifies that the conflict exists.
During my time at secondary school, I was fortunate enough to be able to join a drama society. Throughout the time I spent in the club, I was part of the cast of several shows and performances, including Les Miserables.
The performance caused many areas of conflicts including differences in perception, role conflict, individual conflict and environmental change.
Unfortunately for the members involved in the club, the teacher who was involved had fallen ill and very rarely was another teacher able to step in and fulfil the authoritative figure. This meant that the elder students involved in year 13 of sixth form took it upon themselves to fill in and take the weight of the performance on their shoulders. This causes a lot of role conflict within the group as no one really understood who was in charge or which member of the year 13 team had what specific roles.
This is where the difference in perception played its part in the tale. As no one knew exactly who had been told to do what, several people ended up doing the right thing and several people ended up doing the wrong thing and everyone thought they were doing the right thing.
Due to the fact that no authoritative figure were able to organise a set time and available free space in which all members of the team could meet up in order to practise, several compromises needed to be made. This ended in the elder student’s organising several smaller places in which groups could rehearse in. The year 13 team took it upon themselves to divide the cast up into sections and select a team leader for each group, they would then be divided up sections of the script to learn and rehearse and at the end of each session all groups would come together and put all the work together as one. The individual conflict clashes of personality were quite obvious when looking at the different leadership styles of the year 13 team. Trying to work out who should take on which role no doubt caused some conflict and exasperation from some members but on the whole the team successfully worked out how to conquer the mission of filling in for our ill teacher.
Sources of Power are described as how a leader gains his or her power. There are five different types of sources; ‘Expert’, ‘Positional’, ‘Reward’, ‘Coercive’ and ‘Personal’.
‘Expert Power’ is when a person with great experience at a particular job shows a less experienced person how the job should be done. An example of this is a plumber showing his apprentice exactly how each task is performed and showing him tips and tricks he has picked up along the way.
‘Positional Power’ comes to an individual when they have held a position of authority. This could be seen when looking at a Managing Director of a company. His power has come to him through years of holding the title.
‘Rewarding Power’ is looked at as when an individual in charge is able to award or take away employee’s bonus or incentive perks. The person in charge can influence the follower’s decisions and behaviour by using his/her power of awarding or taking away certain perks. Any boss or employer is in the authority to do so within their business.
‘Coercive Power’ is mainly dominant when the individual in charge creates and manifests perception of a threat. This then leads to the employees feeling on edge waiting for disciplinary action to follow. This may be seen in a business if the threat of role conflict is involved.
Finally, ‘Personal Power’ is seen in managers when they rely on the good willing nature of people to do tasks for them. Simple manners may determine whether a task is done and completed or left incomplete. This could be seen in the restaurant business and when extra tasks need to be done around the restaurant in order to keep the flow of the company going.
Morgan (1996) also suggested several other further sources of power. These included things such as;
- Control of budgets
- Control of rewards
- Persuasion
- Rules and procedures
- Physical presence or threat
- Charisma
These factors need to be thought about for future development within businesses.
To conclude, it is clear the steps that need to be taken in order to minimise conflict within the Business environment. In order to minimise and hopefully overcome conflict within the workplace, strategies must be undertaken in order to do so. For instance, the people in power should ensure that equal pay and opportunities are available for their staff.
Also, the management team must ensure that good communications are held throughout the organisation. This will lead to good consultations and ensure plenty participation in decision making throughout the company.
The organisation of the staff must as well be followed by ensuring that each individual knows exactly what their goals and objectives are and to clarify what is expected of them and their role within the business. This will lead to a clear and direct vision of what each individual has to offer the business. The chance for employees to air their problems and feel relaxed at the knowledge that there is a grievance policy and procedure in place for them to act is vital. This will hopefully overcome the problem of the individual feeling isolated and unable to talk about any problems that they may have. And finally, the managers should be clear in stating the rules and disciplinary procedure that should be in place which all staff should be made aware of. When all these issues are solved and put in place, the conflict will hopefully be resolved.
Referencing:
L. J Mullins. Management & Organisational Behaviour (2010) 9th Edition.
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