Summary
Conflict is seen as an avoidable and persistent occurrence in people’s daily lives. Further, it happens at various levels, including organizational, personal, and intrapersonal levels. The causes of conflicts differ based on who is engaged and the circumstances in play. Hence, conflict management is a critical skill that may assist people in both their personal and professional lives. The specific factor that will be examined in this essay is to help understand how to resolve the conflict that emerges in the case study involving Cindy and Dr. Jones. In addition, the essay will state five conflict modes, causes of conflict in the case, and ways of resolving the conflict.
Conflict Modes
The five conflict modes comprise conflict within a person, interpersonal conflict, conflict between an individual and a group, intergroup conflict, intergroup conflict, and inter-organizational conflict. Conflict within a person is where role play expected of a person does not correspond with the beliefs and values held by a person. Interpersonal conflict arises between two or more people and is the most recognized and common conflict. It may involve conflict between two employees or managers in an organization. The conflict between an individual and a group is where a person may want to stay in a group for social needs, even though it may differ from the group objectives and approaches to attain such goals. In addition, intergroup conflict emerges because of the aspects inherent in the structure of an organization, like the active and persistent conflict between the management and the union (Borkowski & Meese, 2020). Lastly, the inter-organizational conflict that happens between companies, for example, between a buyer organization and supplier organization concerning quality, quantity, and delivery time of raw materials and other issues.
Causes of Conflict in the Case Study
The causes of conflict between Cindy and Dr. Jones in the case study are poor management, unfair treatment, and intentionally annoying habits that affect someone in the wrong way. In this case, Cindy is upset and unwilling to take down the orders given to her. She feels that the doctor is neglecting her responsibilities and morals of her profession by requesting her to engage in unethical work as he wants to avoid his duties. She understands that Dr. Jones has fan days with his friends other than attending to the patients, and this is unethical based on her professionalism. She highlights some goals and task errors, and professional laxity on the side of the doctor (Jilani & Gilani, 2021). Dr. Jones ignores his patients, arriving late to work and leaving early to attend to his errands.
Further, there is a communication gap between the manager, Cindy, and Dr. Jones. The manager is wrong in several aspects that he does not try to listen or inform Dr. Jones and decided to engage the top management in the case. He should have provided a valid point to make Cindy comprehend why he was doing this. In addition, he is not focusing on his work and requesting Cindy to cover up for his errors. Hence, it is observed that this is an intra-group conflict, which deteriorates more and changes into an intergroup conflict (Borkowski & Meese, 2021). In this case, Dr. Jones and Cindy both become the target of unappreciation and invitations by other departments in the organization.
Negotiation Models and Conflict Management
Conflict management implies a process of limiting the negative aspects of any conflict. This aims to support learning and group outcomes, including efficiency and performance in a company. They reveal how people’s differing conflict-management approaches mesh with the best approaches in conflict resolution. There are five key approaches to conflict management competing, collaborating, competing, avoiding, compromising, and accommodating (Prottas & Nummelin, 2018). In addition, there are various negotiation models, such as distributive negotiation, team negotiation, integrative negotiation, and multiparty negotiation.
Integrative Negotiation
In the case study, the intragroup conflict deteriorated and caused an unconducive working environment for both Dr. Jones and Cindy, for which the manager was to be held responsible. This makes it preferable to use the Integrative model of negotiation, which should have been the best approach in this circumstance. For example, the manager needs to have allowed Dr. Jones to explain why he was acting unprofessionally and irresponsibly at work. Further, he should have given Jones a warning to improve himself with a time-warp approach asking him to be more often and complete the backlog of his patients within a specific period. The manager should have requested Cindy to go to another department without allowing another person to know the where of the circumstance (Borkowski & Meese, 2021). This would have relieved her current situation, which she was reluctant to work in, and enhanced her job satisfaction.
Additionally, requesting she not presume and respond to what she believes others may have been doing and be confident enough to ask questions when in distrust. Generally, the outcomes of the case could have been averted if the manager had listened to both parties and attempted to address the situation on their (Johnson & Walston, 2021). Therefore, supervisor or management support plays a critical role in reducing the intra-group conflict and negative influence on the company’s morale, establishing job satisfaction, and to some extent, even if the group conflict is harmful.
Applying other negotiation models and conflict management could not address the issue as those who avoid conflict appear to be uncooperative and unassertive while sidestepping the problem or withdrawing from a situation that poses a threat to a company. Neither use of other negotiation models could have resulted in a fruitful resolution of the conflict because of their shortcomings and the case at hand (Johnson & Walston, 2021). Therefore, the integrative model of negotiation is preferable based on its effective way of dealing with the problem logically.
Advantages of Integrative Model of Negotiation
The model can enhance the negotiation process because the negotiators regard the goals and needs of the others to get a mutually acceptable resolution. It does not establish an adversarial working environment among the workers in an organization. Further, it supports professional relationships as it establishes long-term correlations and promotes working together in the future. It permits each negotiator to feel they have all achieved victory after the bargaining (Prottas & Nummelin, 2018). It minimizes conflicts in the process of agreeing; hence, using it may enhance the correlation between the negotiators.
Disadvantages of Integrative Model of Negotiation
Despite the stated benefits of using an integrative model in conflict resolution, there are several shortcomings with the use of this model. It is difficult as one has to focus on the interest of other parties in the bargaining; thus, because one is also aiming for one’s personal goals, this can cause a conflict of interest (Borkowski & Meese, 2021). In addition, the goals of the negotiating side can be communicated incorrectly, and parties are not compelled to continue with intervention or deals.
In conclusion, it has been revealed that Cindy and Dr. Jones were involved in an intra-group conflict that deteriorated, leading to an unconducive working environment for both of them. The case study revealed there was a communication gap between the manager, Dr. Jones, and Cindy. However, the management should have resolved this issue through an integrative model of negotiation because it is a proper problem-solver approach compared to the distributive negotiation model.
References
Borkowski, N., & Meese, K. A. (2020). Organizational behavior in health care (3rd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Borkowski, N., & Meese, K. A. (2021). Organizational behavior, theory, and design in health care (7th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Jilani, S. A., & Gilani, M. (2021). A survey to explore the role of organizational justice on organizational citizenship behavior among Irish healthcare employees. DBS Business Review, 4(2), 1-18. Web.
Johnson, K. L., & Walston, S. L. (2021). Organizational behavior and theory in healthcare: Leadership perspectives and management applications (2nd ed.). Association of University Programs in Health Administration/Health Administration Press.
Prottas, D. J., & Nummelin, M. R. (2018). Behavioral integrity, engagement, organizational citizenship behavior, and service quality in a healthcare setting. Journal of Healthcare Management, 63(6), 410-424. Web.