Individuals deal with disagreements on a regular basis in the existing relationships for instance family, community, and work. Through the conflict resolution abilities, they manage to acquire a profound personal understanding and create trusting relations. Policy conflict in the workplace is a common thing as shown by the examples presented in the paper; however, management styles are a requirement to help resolve personal considerations in case there lacks a common ground. Policy conflict is one of the types of interpersonal conflict which refers to disparities involving the ideal course of action or plan (Verderber and Verderber 359). Since in policy conflict, there are disagreements over an individual’s opinion, the only solution is coming to a common ground whereby both parties are in agreement which is what defines the best policy.
Scenarios
There are no two similar policy conflicts in the workplace however they make the involved parties undergo the same emotions and rely on related fundamental factors. In the workplace, conflicts may arise between two employees, project team, a manager with a staff, or between two departments.
Falconer and Bagshawstate(14) states that conflict can arise between a manager and a subordinate in different contexts such as allocation of tasks. One of the significant obligations of the manager is to oversee the daily activities performed by the employees. The managers expect the subordinates to execute the given tasks and hand over before the set deadline. The subordinate and the manager might have different views when it comes to the due period. The supervisor might consider receiving the work one hour before the deadline so he or she can have enough time to go through the work(Liddle 29). On the other hand, the employee might consider taking his time to do the job and hand it on the exact time given. The different opinions about the right time to submit the work might raise an issue between the involved parties which also might affect their work relation whereby the manager might avoid allocating duties to that particular employee.
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Another example of a conflict that might arise in the workplace is a communication breakdown between two departments (Falconer and Bashaw 14). In an organization, departments must work together to meet the common goal of the entire company and keep a healthy communication between the units is a significant requirement to enhance a good flow of information. For instance, the finance department must be in contact with the human resource department since they are in charge of records and they need to have a list of employees on the payroll. If there is a communication breakdown between the two sectors, it will slow things down in the organization (Liddle 35). Communication breakdown might arise due to something that the HR sector did without consulting the Finance department which is an indication that that one sector fails to appreciate the efforts of the other. Communication problems between the two departments might create tensions in the organization which may result in poor performance of the business.
Conflict management styles
Collaborating
It is the best method to use to solve the conflict between the HR and Finance sector which merely means using problem-solving to arrive at a conclusion that meets the interests of the involved parties. Collaborative management has two characteristics; cooperative since the parties work hand in hand to come up with a solution assertive because the two sides air their issues. Collaborative provides a win/win scenario since it satisfies the needs of the two parties. Additionally, it is also favorable from a relational satisfaction view since the involved groups feel content which ultimately strengthens the relationship (Verderber and Verderber 364). Problem-solving as a way to collaborate requires the use of precise language to air one’s feelings and opinions, and on the other hand, one needs to listen to the other individual’s ideas. There are five steps involved in problem-solving which include defining the problem whereby the two parties should spot the issue at hand which is a communication breakdown. Secondly analyzing the problem where the two sectors identify the origin and symptoms of communication problems. Thirdly, the parties need to create commonly preferred methods for coming up with solutions which should have the goals intended by having a good solution. Another step is creating solutions and their substitutes whereby the parties should have approaches to the ideas and their alternatives. Lastly, they should pick the best solutions which they both agree with since they appear to be the most realistic.
Accommodating
The best way to manage the conflict between the supervisors and subordinate whereby the lesser neglects his personal views to satisfy the manager’s ideas .The scenario is cooperative because it maintains the relationship while it is unassertive since it violates the employee’s personal opinions. The subordinate has to accommodate the supervisor’s view to preserve their work relationship (Liddle 45). The style offers a lose/win situation as observed from a relational satisfaction viewpoint. The employee can draw credits such as promotion by using accommodating as a style of managing conflict since it is not only suitable but also useful in this particular relationship. In turn, the supervisor might also allocate more duties to the employee.
Conclusively, it ends up ensuring a good working relationship with other people requires the involved parties to set aside their differences regarding goals, views, or interests and work together towards a particular thing. However hard it may be, the individuals should come to a common ground with shared opinions and views. Policy conflict, when handled in the right way gives the individuals a chance for growth and development.Use of management styles such as collaborating and accommodating helps in restoring relationships in the workplace.
- Falconer, Heather and Bagshaw, Mike. irs Managing Conflict in the Workplace. Routledge, 2009. Print
- Liddle, David. Managing Conflict: A Practical Guide to Resolution in the Workplace. London, United Kingdom: Kogan Page, 2017. Print.
- Verderber, Rudolph and Verderber, Kathleen. Inter-Act: Interpersonal Communication Concepts, Skills, and Contexts -Chapter 12. Oxford University Press, 2003.Pront
