Organizational Behavior and Human Resources Case Study

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Summary of OBHR Issues

Teamwork denotes every aspect of the adage that two heads are better than one. Individuals within a team utilize its benefits, including amalgamated capabilities, expertise, and experience. It also means that teams have varying strategies, processes, and opinions on approaching a task, an issue that leads to conflict (Clegg et al., 2019). Traditional notions of conflict at the workplace deem it taboo, with most individuals avoiding it to prevent tension and hurt feelings. The ironic nature of this relationship is that avoidance breeds toxicity, an issue that managers fear. When an organization does not tolerate the conflict, it does not have a mechanism to aid team members in dealing with their problems. Team members cannot bring problems, concerns, or comments to light in such a situation. These issues fester and are discussed in informal groups as gossip. This form of address is toxic and leads to unproductivity compared to the minor matters a corporation would face if it dealt with the issues directly.

Relationship conflict arises due to interaction style, personality, thinking, and taste differences. In this business environment, individuals who may not typically interact and converse are thrust together on teams and are required to get along (Clegg et al., 2019). One could expect that these people would see eye to eye. Task conflict involves differing disagreements on solutions, decisions, or problems concerning factual matters at work as job assignments, policies, resources, and objective interpretations. These differences in interaction result in relationship conflict due to the varying nature of human interaction (Ogolsky & Monk, 2019). In most instances, these organizations experience misattribution of their teams’ intentions. Some of these issues are present in the case study in companies such as Elite.

Nonetheless, organizational conflict is alleviated if individuals develop mechanisms to deal with the perceived problem. Conflicting individuals are unlikely to know they contribute to the issue without being told. In such a situation, most people change their stance to a friendly tone to illustrate their commitment to the company’s development. It shows that conflict is a natural part of organizational behavior and should be monitored instead of ignored to motivate growth.

Critical Analysis of OBHR Issues

Task conflict involves workplace disagreements on the optimal ways to conduct particular duties. It may arise due to varying needs, attitudes, or behaviors within the business entity. Task conflict could stem from issues related to resource allocation, as members have differing concerns over effective resource distribution. Individuals may also conflict over the division of labor as people do not agree on an optimal way to distribute work among the company’s employees (Parris & Ferrand, 2020). In some instances, team members may illustrate variations in their expectations. If a subordinate is unclear or conducts a task incorrectly, they may have conflicting interests with others within the group (Vilas-Boas, 2018). Finally, as illustrated in the Elite case, individuals may have incompatible ways of interpreting facts (Salas et al., 2020). As people understand issues differently concerning their job, they may perform duties differently, resulting in friction with others that do not agree with the tenets used to conduct these tasks.

In one instance that could posit a task conflict, a3M Canada sought to determine the opportunities and challenges of altering its Industrial Business Division (IBD). The organization determined it would be necessary to change its customer base to Maintenance, Repairs, and Overhaul (MRO) from the previous Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) clients (Craft, 2022). In this instance, the company’s management could experience task conflicts as its sales model needs to change for 3M Canada to communicate with its national distributors. Individuals could have varying ways they determine the task that should be conducted. Some managers could also argue that the company’s success necessitates a continuation of its current business model. However, some managers may discern the importance of this change to take advantage of a growing market niche unfilled by its competitors, such as Corning (Zacks Equity Research, 2019). The latter company is one of 3M main competitors.

Industry Comparison

Corning is 3M Canada’s main competitor in the manufacturing and industrial sector. The former company seeks to use its market leadership to boost shareholder value and provide continual growth. It utilizes investment benefits, adopts technologies related to critical industry trends, and takes advantage of its product portfolio. Corning’s market strategy differs from 3M Canada’s new focus as it continues developing original products (Zacks Equity Research, 2019). The company’s decision to return billions to capital shareholders and increase its investment capital elicited task conflicts that resulted in relationship conflicts as with its competitor, 3M (Zacks Equity Research, 2019). These companies exhibit a similar nature as they both resolved these varying forms of conflict without damaging internal relations.

Recommendations

Organizations should identify the conflict and discern the potential for evolving into a relationship conflict. This instance would foster healthy competition as individuals would be rewarded for improvements (Salas et al., 2020). If the management, repair, and overhaul (MRO) business is successful, it will carve out a niche for 3M alleviating significant competitors such as Corning. The company should also address the conflict by requiring every individual to provide their concerns with the proposed plans. Furthermore, 3M should discern available strategies to resolve the conflict. In this manner, individuals should communicate the most effective ways each party is concerned about the plan (Salas, Rico Ramón, Passmore, 2020). Each person should be objective and disclose every issue to manage the conflict before it escalates. Finally, the business entity should resolve the conflict between team members. Ignoring a conflict or demonizing such issues leads to resentment and lower problem-solving skills. Varying opinions are the basis of teamwork, allowing individuals to develop new mechanisms for dealing with organizational problems.

References

Clegg, S., Pitsis, T., & Mount, M. (2019). Managing and organizations: An introduction to theory and Practice. SAGE.

Craft. (2022). 3M company profile . Craft. Web.

Ogolsky, B. G., & Monk, J. K. (2019). Relationship maintenance: Theory, process, and context. Cambridge University Press.

Parris, B. A., & Ferrand, L. (2020). In M. Augustinova (Ed.), The Locus of the Stroop Effect. essay, Frontiers Media SA.

Salas, E., Rico Ramón, & Passmore, J. (2020). The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of Team Working and collaborative processes. Wiley Blackwell.

Vilas-Boas, A. A. (2018). Organizational conflict. IntechOpen.

Zacks Equity Research. (2019). Corning sets 2020-2023 strategy and Growth Framework targets. Yahoo! Finance. Web.

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