What is Conflict?
Jeanty, J. (2011) Suggests that conflict is part of everyday life; everyone will at some point in their lifetime have conflict with another person which is mainly due to disagreement on a specific issue. Conflict occurs between two or more people and is common in businesses. Conflict in businesses can occur between anyone and it is highly important that conflict is sorted out so that it does not affect the daily running of the business.
Conflict however can be a good thing as a business which does not have conflict may not be good as conflicts can show commitment to the business as it shows the employee thinks of ways the business can improve. Conflict is particularly useful if managed properly for example, when presenting ideas an employee may feel strongly about their idea and this can create good arguments between ideas which allows the business to gather great detail of each idea as employees will back their idea up. However businesses much ensure that there is no hard feeling between employees if one idea is rejected by the other as this may cause conflict in the wrong way and can prove to be bad for the company. Other benefits of conflict would be personal growth, stronger relationship bonds and increased productivity.
Conflict that I have experienced
Conflict which I have experienced came during an assignment that had to be done. This was a group task and the aim was to organise an event to raise money for charity. Conflict occurred throughout the assignment. The first time conflict occurred was when we as the group discussed ideas on ways in which money could be raised. A number of ideas were put forward, however due to the lack of time all ideas would not be able to be conducted and only one would be used and this is where members of the group tried to back up their own idea and deciding on which idea would be used took time and each idea had its pros and cons. However after a small debate a football tournament was chosen as this were the most simple idea and proven idea. This conflict that occurred was not a bad thing but a good thing as it got us as a group together and communicating which each other which made us stronger as a group and more committed to get the event organised and successful. This conflict also made us as a group look at more ideas whereas if there was no conflict then any idea could have been used as the members of the group may have just wanted to do anything and just pass the assignment and if that happened the idea that may have been chosen could have be unsuccessful.
Sources of Power
Laurie J. Mullins (2010) states the sources of power were identified by two researchers called French and Raven. The five sources of power are:Reward power
Coercive power
Legitimate power
Referent power
Expert power
Reward power – this power is about rewards being given to employees for doing things right. It shows that leaders and managers have the power to give out rewards for people who have good performance and are achieving targets. Rewards are generally financial such as pay rise, bonuses, promotion and other perks. For example if an employee was to achieve targets and consistently do a good job for the company then the leaders or managers or other authorised people within the business who are authorised to give out rewards may give that employee an reward for their hard work.
Coercive power – this type of power is the opposite to the reward power as this power uses fear of the employees as leaders or managers would have the power to punish employees who do not abide by the rules or orders that are given. Punishment can be small such as prevent pay rise or drastic such as sacking the employee. For example the punishment would depend on the level of crime that may have occurred within the business which would determine the level of punishment to suit. Bad performances could lead to prevention of pay rise which can then be led to sacking of the employee if bad performances carry on.
Legitimate power – this power is based on a power that a leader or manager would get due to his or her position in the organisation. This leader or manager would be different compared to others as this leader would have more power as well as responsibilities and rights. An example of legitimate power would be in the armed forces as there are different ranks and people who are ranked generals have a lot more power than the lower ranks such as trainee’s and privates, etc... This is the same in a business organisation where directors have power over managers who have power over employees.
Referent power – this is when a workers believes that someone has qualities which they would also like to have as they admire it. This would lead to that member who idealises the person with the qualities and tries to be exactly like them. For example, this is done a lot with celebrities as many people would like to dress and act like their favourite celebrities and this can also happen in business but with skills and qualities.
Expert power – expert power is where a member of the team or a leader would have expert knowledge or skills required to do a job that is being done. This would mean that the person who has the expert knowledge or skill may get more pay as they would be working hard and doing a better job. For example someone who may have expert power in departments would be the managers of the departments as they would have more knowledge than the workers in the department such as the assistants.
5 Strategies organisations can use to overcome conflict
Park, E. (2010) suggests conflict is a regular part of the business and happens often due to change and uncertainty businesses must be aware on how to deal with conflict if it is having a negative effect on the business and the employees. Five ways businesses can overcome conflict is by:
Communicating frequently with employees
Setting goals and targets
Regular evaluation of employees work
Disciplinary procedures
Equality
Communicating frequently with employees can reduce confusion and the employees would know what they are doing which would lead to less conflict between the worker and the manager as the employee would have nothing to complain about should they know what is required from them. Communicating with employees also clarifies the job they need to do.
Setting goals and targets will keep employees aiming to something and they have something to achieve and aims and objectives should be kept similar for everyone so that everyone is working towards a goal which benefits the company. This also reduces confusion among the work force if everyone has a similar target.
Regular evaluation of employees work is important, this is an appraisal where the employee and the manager would sit down and have a conversation on the employees performance, this is useful to the employee as this will tell them whether they are doing the right thing and also will show that the company values the employee as new goals can be set.
Disciplinary procedures can also help as if there is a disciplinary procedure that is set then employees would be aware of what could happen if they do react out of hand and therefore they would think twice before taking a wrong step and this would make them do the sensible thing in seeking help from colleagues and seniors. Equality may be one of the most important factors which can lead to conflict, therefore a business must ensure that they treat all employees equal and pay between employees is similar and not judged by sex, age or beliefs as if they are doing the same job they should be paid equally.
Reference List
Laurie J. Mullins (2010) Management & organisational behaviour. 9th ed. Essex: Pearson Education Limited
Jeanty, J. (2011) What is conflict? [Online]
[Accessed 11 March 2011]
Park, E. (2010) How to overcome conflict at work [Online]
[Accessed 11 March 2011]
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