Leadership and Management - Assignment Example

Leadership and Management Introduction: Leadership and management holds significant importance as far as business organizations are concerned. These factors are primarily essential to influence the behaviors of the organizational members towards positive performances and achievement of organizational goals (Josiah 2007). Conflict in business organizations is a common phenomenon that can arise from various reasons and in between different members of the organization, be it between the leaders and the employees, among the co-workers, or between the organizational members and the customers (Ingram 2013). Need for conflict management through effective leadership and management is thus highly essential for every business organization. The present study focuses on an understanding of conflict handling in business organizations through effective leadership and management, based on a scenario of conflict in a chosen business organization. Scenario: ABC Company Limited is a software company performing more than a decade and has successfully achieved its position in BPOs and software development companies. The financial and technical background of the company is very strong and the skilled manpower of the company is focused on to providing its customers with the best of software products and services. Thus commitment and goodwill are two essential factors that the management team of the company takes significant concern of. A, B, C, D and E are the members of the organization and hold different positions. The position and character of each of these five members are mentioned in the table below: Person Position Character A Director of the Company Strict, demanding, assertive in nature; focused on the benefits of the company more than anything else. B Project Head Disciplined, focused, outgoing, involves team as a whole. C HR Manager of the Company Soft natured, understanding, focused on finding solutions to problems benefitting all. D Project Member Talented, quick learner, and effective, but over confident and arrogant. E Project Member Motivated, disciplined, maintains all orders, and fulfills tasks on time; polite, but straightforward. A new software project has been initiated by the company of late. The conflict among these members arose particularly when E had severe complaints against D in the team. According to E, while B provided them with all instructions for the completion of the project they were working on, D was arrogant and acting as a boss when B was not around. E also complained that D treated E in a manner as if E was working under D and not as another team member. E was highly disappointed and wanted to get out of the particular project as he thought he was nothing less in capabilities than D, and that if B was the project head, E was only supposed to follow B. A found that the project should not get hindered for any such conflicts among the members, and asked B and C to immediately resolve all issues, such that the work on the project could continue. Since the completion of the project was very important, B and C decided to separate D and E, and put E on a different project, where the other member working was new in the company, and hence were expected not to create any issue. The interactions between the members are provided in Appendix A. Conflict Handling – Management Theories: Conflicts in business organizations, as the above mentioned scenario describes, occur when two or more individuals working together differ in their behavior and attitudes that are reflected in their opinions and actions, affecting the others. Conflicts in interpersonal relationships need to be handled strategically otherwise which the relations might be affected, affecting the organizational goals as a whole. It is extremely essential that organizational employees have respect for each other (Managing Conflict in Interpersonal Relationship at Workplace 2013). The Conflict Process: There are usually many stages that complete the conflict process. Sources lead to the conflict that is followed by different perceptions and emotions of the individuals involved in the process. The final outcomes of the process depend on the style of the conflict and the decisions that are eventually considered in the process. If the process lasts for a long period of time, particularly in case of a business organization, it can prove to be highly damaging for the performance of the organization as a whole. However, resolution to the conflict is achieved through implementation of strategic measures and the styles of conflict management followed within the organization (Mass 2010). Thus the process mainly consists of the five major steps – potential opposition or incompatibility, cognition and personalization, intentions, behavior, and outcomes. Incompatibility is the stage where difference of opinions occur being sources to the start of a conflict. Personal variables and communication may be the primary sources. If any of these sources affect any individual then cognition or personalization initiates involving tensions, anxiety, and frustration. Intentions depend on the perceptions and emotions of the individuals stating the decision making of the individuals. Behavior is the most important stage where the conflict becomes noticeable through the actions and reactions of the individuals involved in the conflict. Depending on these steps, the outcomes or consequences develop and result (The Conflict Process n.d.). Conflict Handling Styles and Management: There are five different management styles for managing interpersonal conflicts. These are: Integrating, Obliging, Dominating, Avoiding, and Compromising. The integrating style is suitable when the issue is complicated requiring commitment from either side, with solutions to involve synthesis of ideas. Obliging style is suitable when the issue is important to one party more than the other and one party is ready to be submissive believing that he might be wrong. The dominating style is suitable in situations where the issue is unimportant and a quick decision is necessary to be taken, particularly when the subordinates may not have the capability to take the correct decisions (Rahim 2001). The style of avoiding is suitable if the issue is not important at all and when confrontation would lead to more losses than benefits obtained from trying to resolve the conflict. Compromising style is suitable when both the conflicting parties are powerful and a common decision cannot be attained, thus requiring a temporary solution to the problem (Rahim 2001). In order to resolve an interpersonal conflict, it is essential to get into the causes that lead to the conflict. Following that, a positive perspective and approach needs to be considered to handle the issue properly. A grievance procedure often allows employees to clearly express their complaints thus giving equal importance to everyone to have their opinions. Involvement of all conflicting parties is essential in the process of the resolution as well (Ingram 2013). Application of Theory and Analysis: Considering the present scenario in the ABC Company and the styles and management of conflicts available, it can be said that the dominating conflict handling style has been considered by the management team to resolve the issue. The director of the company considered the issue to be trivial since the completion of the project on time was more important to him, and hence a quick decision was undertaken that resulted in separation of the two project members in conflict. Such a decision also reflects on the fact that the project members did not have the capabilities or were not in a state to solve their problems by themselves. Thus the involvement of the management team was needed. However, what can also be noted at this decision is the fact that the director, being focused only on the completion of the project, actually ignored the complaint that E raised against D. Instead a quick decision was taken. This could mean that D could further create problems in other areas of work and for other organizational members as well unless he is monitored. As far as management of conflict is concerned, it is essential for managerial teams to welcome and handle conflicts properly and not ignore or avoid the issues. Encouraging, maintaining, reducing, and preventing further conflicts are the major tasks of conflict management (Rudani 2011), that can be said to have not been followed in case of ABC Company. It can thus be said that although the step considered by the company led to a solution to the problem thereby allowing the work to continue; however, this particular decision would only provide a temporary solution. Conclusion and Recommendation: From the conflict scenario of the company considered and the theories and application of the conflict management, it can be concluded that the management team of the company could very well resolve the issue considering the need to focus more on the continuation of the project work, as demanded by the director of the company. With a need for a quick decision, the dominating style of conflict handling can be said to have worked well in such a situation. However, it can also be recommended that the management team needed to focus and get more into the depth of the problem. This is primarily because if a particular individual (like D) is arrogant and treats other employees as subordinates instead of team members, it is likely that he will treat every other member similarly, leading to further conflicts. Thus the management team needs to find a solution that may permanently end the problem, such as talking to the individual, or make him understand how he should behave. In case he does not realize, a strict warning could also prove to be effective. References Ingram, D. (2013) Ways of Managing Conflict in Organizations. Chron. [Online]. Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/ways-managing-conflict-organizations-2655.html [Accessed 9 August 2013]. Josiah, D.S. (2007) The Interconnectedness Between Efficient and Effective Models of Leadership for Organizations in the Midst of Change. Michigan: ProQuest. Managing Conflict in Interpersonal Relationship at Workplace (2013) Managementstudyguide. [Online]. Available at: http://www.managementstudyguide.com/conflict-management-interpersonal-relationship.htm [Accessed 9 August 2013]. Mass, H. (2010) Conflict! – Reality of Management and Organizational Behavior. Germany: GRIN Verlag. Rahim, M.A. (2001) Managing Conflict in Organizations. Untag-smd. [Online]. Available at: http://www.untag-smd.ac.id/files/Perpustakaan_Digital_1/CONFLICT%20MANAGEMENT%20Managing%20conflict%20in%20organizations.pdf [Accessed 10 August 2013]. Rudani, R.B. (2011) Management & Organizational Behaviour. India: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. The Conflict Process (n.d.) Prenhall. [Online]. Available at: http://www.prenhall.com/behindthebook/0132431521/pdf/Robbins_Feature4_Practicality.pdf [Accessed 10 August 2013]. Appendices Appendix A: Interactions between the organizational members on the conflict Person Interactions A Reports have come to me of late stating that both of you (D and E) are not cooperating with each other in the completion of the tasks of the project. Could you be kind enough to explain what the matter is? B I do not know why both of you (D and E) are having problems with each other, but let me make it clear that today we are having this meeting to put an end to the problem you. So tell us what the problem is. The project cannot be delayed for you guys. D I do not have any problem. It is E who always has problems. I just follow the instructions and work. E Sir, I am sorry to say but D does not treat me like a team member when our project head is not around. Instead he behaves as if he is the boss and treats me like a subordinate. Moreover, he behaves very badly and uses slangs as well. It is becoming difficult for me to work with him. A Is that all? B and C, I want both of you to quickly end this matter. Take whatever decisions you want but I do not want the project to delay any further owing to such silly issues. Give me your decision to me by the end of the day. B C, what do you think we should do? C Considering the complaint that E has and also considering the fact that the boss needs a quick decision, I think it is better to separate both of them. Let us put D on another project and put another employee in here to continue with the work. B Okay, then let us do that. This is really an important project and cannot be delayed. Okay, D and E, stop fighting among yourselves now. You are no more working together on the project. E, you are staying, and D you will work for another project which I shall allocate to you soon. Wait for my instructions till then. E Thank you so much Sir. I am really grateful to you all. D I do not care. I will do well wherever I am placed. Let me know which project to join. Read More