Introduction
Conflicts in the workplace settings have become inevitable, and they have heavily arise between the co-workers, and between the supervisors and the subordinates (Bingham, 2004). Conflicts can also occur among the employees themselves, and between the employees and external stakeholders, which include the customers, suppliers, as well as the regulatory agencies (Bingham, 2004). Managing conflicts at the workplace has become a key management competency, and it is advisable that all the small business owners make sure that they study and acquire effective managements skills in conflict management in order to maintain a positive workplace environment (Bingham, 2004). Reviewing conflicts, as well as resolving them at the workplace would definitely help one in gaining ideas on what to expect whenever conflicts arise at their workplaces. In most scenarios, conflicts at the workplace have become a fact in life. Today, we can all see instances where employees have contradicted due to conflict of interests. In this case, the paper intends to discuss on how to address a conflict
Conflict scenario
One day there was a case of crisis within the organization that took several hours to be resolved; however, since I was the purchasing manager, I was capable of handling that problem where I managed to resolve it within the shortest time possible. Jerry one of my suppliers, who was also known to be a slow paced talker, called me to confirm the particulars of the proposal. He wanted me to add more details into a proposal that I had already spent days preparing. On the other hand, I was in a hurry to make up for the lost time in my department. However, Jerry wanted to thoroughly understand what he will be bidding on, and he therefore, thought that there was ambiguity. At first we were both angry t one another and we could make no progress in addressing the situation. The decision I made to solve my problem was to kindly ask Jerry if we could postpone the conversation since we were both defensive. I thought that this could give Jerry an idea that my impatience would be more prevalent if we continue with our conversation. The fact that conflicts occurs among others in the workplace does not necessarily look as a bad thing as long as the conflict can be resolved effectively and lead to personal and professional growth.
Listening is a good instrument of conflict resolution. One ought to listen to others as they express their ideas. Based on our interactions, I noticed that we could not make progress if I continued talking without allowing Jerry to express his opinion. I am quite talkative, and this made Jerry feel that I was not giving him time to share his side of the story. He felt that I was patronizing him, even as I tried to speak slowly. Hence, the more I continued speaking with him, the more he became so defensive and stubborn. I could notice that by the change of his tone. When I realized that he was becoming defensive, I also tried to become defensive to safeguard the interests of the organization. Nevertheless, this did not help us since it all ended in an acrimonious states. We agreed to give each other some time to identify our conflicting interests, since they were the ones leading to disagreements.
Steps taken to make the decision
There are various processes that should be taken when one is making a decision. The first process or step is to define the problem (Edelman, Erlanger & Lande, 2006). It is true that one cannot make decision when there is no problem. A person, therefore, needs to state the problem that needs to be solved as well as state the outcome that the person may desire to accomplish after making the decision. Problem statement helps one evaluate the various approaches that one can use to address the problem. The second process is developing the alternatives (Edelman, Erlanger & Lande,2006). To arrive to an agreement with Jerry, we agreed to identify the different options that would help in solving the problem without affecting both the company and the supplier. Since the conflict was arising from the transportation cost, we had to look for alternatives to help us address the challenge.
The third step in decision-making process is evaluating the alternatives. This process of decision making is very significant since it allows the parties locked in a conflict to analyze each of the alternatives that they both have come up with (Jordan & Troth, 2004). The options stated has to have advantages as well as disadvantages to both parties. Hence, the parties can only reach to an agreement through compromising on some of their demands. After tabling our alternatives, we agreed to select the alternative that would suit both of us. Jerry was requesting that the company pays for transportation cost else, it allows him to include the cost in the price of his supplies. Conversely, I demanded that Jerry caters for transportation cost since he was selling his products at a high price. Once all the alternatives are evaluated, the decision-making process then ensues. In this process, the parties ought to set aside their interests and identify an option that would favor all of them. Eventually we agreed to share the cost incurred in transporting the products from Jerry’s warehouse to the company.
After identifying the most appropriate alternative among all the available options, the last step in decision-making process entails implementing the alternative agreed upon by all parties (Tinsley & Brett, 2001). This process is very crucial because the people involved in the solution implementation should make sure that they know about the implications of not following the recommendations to the letter. Failure to honor the agreement might affect the relationship between the parties, making it hard for the two to engage in other transactions in future. Besides implementing the alternatives identified in during the negotiation plan, both parties ought to monitor the implementation process to make sure that nothing goes wrong (Tinsley & Brett, 2001). Together with Jerry, we ensured that the staff involved in transporting and receiving the supplies did not violate our agreements.
References
Bingham, L. (2004). Employment dispute resolution: the case for mediation. Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 22(2), 145-174.
Edelman, L., Erlanger, H. & Lande, J. (2006). Internal dispute resolution: the transformation of civil rights in the workplace. Law & Society Review, 27(3), 497-534.
Jordan, P. & Troth, A. (2004). Managing emotions during team problem solving: emotional intelligence and conflict resolution. Human Performance, 17(2), 195-218.
Tinsley, C. & Brett, J. (2001). Managing workplace conflict in the United States and Hong Kong. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 85(2), 360-381.