Introduction
In any organization or setting where people are working together, a conflict is inevitable and for healthy relations among workers there has to be a certain measure of disagreements. However, the conflict is not a problem although how we deal with it makes the difference. Therefore, the success of any organization is not depended on the lack of conflicts but on the process applied to resolve them.
While resolving employees’ grievances, it is important to give unlimited attention to their grievances and address the conflict effectively.
This ensures that every employee is satisfied and comfortable with their job hence better productivity. This paper seeks to address the sources of the clashes, cultural issues contributing to the conflict, information required to deal with the disagreements as well as the best method of addressing the same.
Sources of conflict
In the case of the XYZ-Company, it is possible that the interpersonal squabble that is seen among the employees is caused by prejudice. The company has just merged with another foreign company in an attempt to access the global market. The conflict could be arising due to differences in cultural and organizational behaviors since the organizations had different working settings.
Employees from the foreign country may feel like they are being sidelined in the decision making process for the management of their company has been taken over by the XYZ-company. Equally, the latter could be undermining employees of the acquired company by enforcing their rules and organizational.
Cultural issues contributing to the conflict
In such a case where two companies have merged to form a single company, there are a number of things that must be considered in order to have a harmonious transition. To avoid conflicts, the management must learn and respect the other company’s way of doing things. Acquiring a company along with its employees means taking over an existing social setting.
Effecting change in the way people interact is quite a challenge. Employees from either of the two companies may want to feel superior to the each other hence giving rise to a supremacy contest. Another underlying issue could arise from the remuneration procedure. The two companies may have different strategies with regards to wages and salaries and a change in the pay package may affect the workers of the acquired company.
The conflict may have been influenced by organizational differences either small or large. The employees may be disagreeing over their different cultural or organizational values, motivations, perceptions, idea or desires (Segal & Smith, 2013). Humans have a natural urge of seeking to feel needed since everyone wants to feel nurtured, supported and understood (Masters & Albright, 2002).
Professional and personal relationships can therefore be greatly affected by how much we feel safe and comfortable in our place of work. Different cultural settings express someone’s worth in different ways. Some of the cultural aspects that could be affecting the merged company could be a language barrier. This creates an “us /them” situation hence causing isolation which can be detrimental to the company.
Information needed to solve the problem
In order to effectively address the conflict issues in the XYZ-company, a conflict consultant will require some amount of information. Most of the conflicts in an organization arise from lack of equity in company’s resource allocations (Masters & Albright, 2002). Therefore, it would be of great importance to interrogate how the company distributes its resources among its workers.
Another aspect that needs to be examined is the manner in which the company governs its employees. Employees will rebel if the management is not treating them in a manner that assures their security and safety. As a conflict consultant, I would try and identify the ethnic differences between the employees of the two companies. This will assist me in dealing with the two parties’ identity crisis.
The most effective method of addressing the problem
To deal with the conflicts arising in the XYZ-company, my best recommendation would be the emotional awareness conflict resolution skill. In an organization, people of different personalities are interacting and expected to work together in harmony. The same people have different ideas and perceptions on everything they do together or individually.
The emotional awareness skill helps individuals to understand themselves and also understand others (Segal & Smith, 2013). This creates the conducing environment for harmony where mutual understanding is the common factor. By understanding how a person feels and why he feels that way enables him or her to communicate effectively and resolve disagreements in a sober perspective.
Conclusion
This paper has discussed some of the possible underlying sources of the conflicts arising in the XYZ Company as influenced by its merging with a foreign company. Prejudice and cultural diversity have been mentioned as the most prominent causes of the conflict. The paper also goes ahead to discuss the cultural issues that may be causing or contributing to the conflict.
Organizational behaviors, values and perceptions have been cited as the greatest contributors to the cultural difference between the workers. This assumption is drawn from the fact that the company acquired a foreign company hence merging with foreign workers.
In addition, this essay has identified some the information required in order to thoroughly address the conflict in the company. Emotional awareness has been recommended as the most effective method of addressing the conflict issue in XYZ.
References
Masters, M., F. & Albright, R., R. (2002). The Complete Guide to Conflict Resolution in the Workplace. New York, NY: AMACOM.
Segal, J. & smith, M. (2013). Conflict Resolution Skills. Web.