Conflict resolution and decision-making strategies in workplace dynamics

Organizational Bahavior: Conflict and Decision Making in the Workplace

Organizational Behavior: Conflict and Decision Making in the workplace

The workplace environment is quite dynamic in itself. This dynamicity comes as a result of the different skills, backgrounds, beliefs, views, ideologies and values that are borne by the employees of the companies or organizations, increasing consumer knowledge on the products and services being provided, increasing customer demand for quality goods and services. Other factors that make the workplace environment to be dynamic include increased competition from new market entrants or existing companies or organizations which shift their strategies to gain more competitive advantage. As a result, companies or organizations are finding themselves in the situation where they have to deal with conflict in the best way possible and to incorporate decision making methodologies which create the best way forward for the organization or company.

Conflict and conflict resolution

Conflicts are bound to arise in the workplace as a result of the diversity of the workers and their skills. Conflict also arises from the workers having different needs, values, ideas, goals and beliefs. It is inevitable and no matter how much is done to try to prevent the conflict from arising, conflict will always come up. Therefore, conflict resolution is an important process for giving a peaceful ending to each of the arising conflicts

Conflicts may escalate to extremely high levels that cause the employees to be nonproductive as a result of not feeling the workplace environment to be conducive for them. However, with effective conflict resolution, the conflict can be resolved in a mutually beneficial way and thus lead to productivity of very high quality. Therefore, in order to maintain a high performance team, the skill of managing conflict is quite important

The employees or team members do not go out of their way to look for conflict with others. However, conflict usually arises as a result of miscommunication when the difference between the ideologies, beliefs, values, goals or needs of the employees or team members are challenged. Therefore, through conflict resolution, the management is able to establish a structure for managing the conflict in the work environment

. There are five different modes of conflict resolution that can be used

The first mode is competing. The competing conflict mode refers to high assertiveness and low cooperation. This mode of conflict resolution is best applicable when there is need for a quick action to be undertaken. Another situation where this mode can be used is when there is need to make unpopular decisions or when there are vital issues that need to be handled. Alternatively, this mode of conflict resolution can be used when trying to protect the parties' self-interests. Competing skills include arguing, debating, standing one's ground, using one's rank or influence inappropriately, stating one's position clearly, and asserting one's opinions and positions

The second mode of conflict resolution is the avoidance mode. This mode refers to low assertiveness and cooperation. This mode of conflict resolution is based on people's avoidance of engaging in a conflict in the workplace as a result of fear or lack of confidence in their own conflict management skills. This mode is used when there are issues of low importance in order to reduce any tensions between the employees or to buy some more time or when the conflict resolution expert is in a position of lower power. The avoiding skills include the ability to withdraw the conflict, ability to leave things unresolved, ability to sidestep issues and sense of timing

The third mode of conflict resolution is the accommodating mode which is one of low assertiveness and very high cooperation. The accommodating mode is appropriate when there is a need to show some kind of reasonableness in the resolution, to develop performance of the employees, to create good will between the employees or to maintain peace. Some people use the accommodating mode of conflict resolution when the issue or outcome of the issue is of low importance in their opinion. This can at times prove to be problematic especially when one uses the mode to maintain a tally of the wrongs done. Accommodating skills include the ability to yield more, a person forgetting their own desires and turning to selflessness and obeying orders

The fourth mode is the compromising mode which is one of moderate assertiveness and cooperation. This employs the use of compromise. This is where a person may give up more than they actually want to. Others may deem compromise as a situation where both parties are winning. Compromise as a mode of conflict resolution is applicable when the issues being dealt with are of moderate importance and when the person resolving the conflict has equal power status with those in the conflict or when the resolver has a strong commitment toward resolving the conflict. This compromising mode can also be used temporarily as a solution when there isn't sufficient time to resolve the conflict in other ways. Compromising skills include negotiation, assessing of value, finding a middle ground for the people in the conflict and making concessions

The last mode of conflict resolution is the collaborating mode which is one of high assertiveness and cooperation. Collaboration can be described as putting one idea on top of another and then another on top of another in order to find the best way to resolve the conflict. In this case, the best solution for the conflict is usually a creative solution to the conflict which would not have been generated by one single person. With this in mind, many people believe that collaboration is the best mode of conflict resolution

The disadvantage of collaboration is that it uses quite a great deal of energy and time to come up with the final solution to the problem. Therefore, this mode should only be used when there is sufficient energy and time to find the best solution for the conflict. It can also be used when the modes described above have failed on the first attempt. The collaboration mode of conflict resolution can be best applied when people are trying to construct an all-round solution to the conflict, when trying to merge the opinions and views of the parties in the conflict, when trying to improve relationships existing between certain individuals or when learning. Collaboration skills include active listening, nonthreatening confrontation, analyzing input and identifying concerns of the parties involved in the conflict

Contingency model of strategic decision making

The contingency model of strategic decision making makes an assumption that there is no way that can be thought to be the best way of the strategic decision making process

. However, according to this model, what can be termed as the best way is defined by how the decision made marries with the content and context of the matter at hand. The contingency model establishes that a decision that is made for a particular context may not be applicable in another, even though the contexts may be similar. It also establishes that a unified role is played by the managers who have the decision making capacity. When faced with a particular issue, the managers must find the best way to deal with the situation and they have to create an effective decision process which minimizes conflict. Whatever the situation, the management has the obligation to analyze it and evaluate the assumption that need to be drawn to align the organization with the changed environment. The conclusion must be evaluated on the basis of the effectiveness, efficiency and the solution it provides for the situation.

The contingency model is based on the organization's theory contingency approach. This approach assumes that there is no one way which is uniquely useful in organizing. The theory states that there is no perfect fit which is contingent upon the performance of the organization. What might be feasible in one organization or condition may backfire terribly in another. According to the model, each decision should be unique and circumstantial.

Dimensions of strategic decision making

There are three dimensions which affect or characterize the decisions to be made. These are the customer's needs, access to the customer and service or program variants. All decisions made must take into consideration the customer's needs and give access to the customer. The customer is the reason why the organizations and companies are there in the first place. Without the customer, there would be no need for the organizations or companies. Therefore, the customer's needs must be considered first. On this front, the customer needs is to receive quality goods and services. Therefore, in this, the decisions made should always have the motive of improving the provision of products and services to the customer. The second dimension is that of access to the customer. The customer has a right to information. This is a fundamental right that needs to be established by all organizations. Therefore, the customer should be well informed about any product or service being delivered, its side effects, advantages, disadvantages and any other pertinent information. Lastly is the dimension of the product or service variant. Since strategic decisions must be connected to the situation, the product or service in question must be considered. In this case, the strategic decision formulated should be feasible for the particular product or service

Strategic, operational and tactical decision making

Strategic decisions are said to be so when their implementation is foreseen to create an enormous impact to the future of the institution or organization. Therefore, it is safe to attach an assumption that these factors also affect the process of making strategic decisions. The only significant difference is that strategic decisions are situational

Tactical decisions, on the other hand, are derived from strategic decisions. Once a strategic decision is made, these are broken down into tactical decisions. For whatever strategic decision, the tactical decision will need to be aligned to the previous strategic decision. In essence, tactical decisions are the answer to or the means to achieving the strategic decisions. In the process of tactical decision making, first the areas of interest need to be outlined. It is from these areas of interest that the solutions are assessed and implemented

Operational decisions are the outcome of the process of tactical decision making. They are the ultimate hands on operations that the organization performs to achieve the strategic decisions. When implementing the operational decisions, the activities should favorably relate to the strategic decision, the foundation of the operational decision making process

Conclusion

Conflict resolution is a process that the management and especially human resource managers need to understand. This is because this helps to resolve conflict before it makes the employees feel that the workplace environment is not conducive for them and thus result in low productivity of the employees. By having in depth knowledge on how conflicts arise and the modes of conflict resolution and their applicability, the resolvers can be able to know which mode can be applied to best resolve the conflict.

The organization needs to design a decision making process that comes up with strategic decisions that must be tailored for a particular situation. They should be made to