Views of conflict taken by Lofgren, COO of Schneider National Inc.
There are two types of conflicts in organizations. There is task conflict and relationship conflict. There is a general belief that any organization which does not experience tension and conflict will not be successful or grow. The two types of conflicts can be experienced at once in an organization. Lofgren takes the view of task conflict as the best conflict for their organization. Task conflict brings about effective decisions.
Organizations which make good decisions usually take on task conflict because it fights for the best solutions to the problems of the company, unlike relationship conflict which interprets difference of opinions as to the difference of characters. Lofgren believes that task conflict will help the company in mediating the points of conflict in the company by making sound decisions that help in the growth of the business. He does not go for relationship conflict because he believes that conflicts between people are not positive.
Factors for conflict-free transition
Lofgren was the first nonmember executive to run the Schneider Company after Don Schneider and his son. He took over the company from the don without any conflicts or any issues arising from other stakeholders. For there to be a conflict, one party has to perceive that another party has negatively affected or is about to affect something that the first party cares about (Robbins & Judge 123).
In this case, there was no conflict in the transition process because Lofgren had all the positive intentions of continuing with what the don had started and even making the operations of the company better. Lofgren and the other employees had no potential opposition towards the change in the executive or leadership. There was also no cognition and personalization of the change in leadership and therefore there would not result in any perceived conflict from the stakeholders. Lofgren had no bad intentions and therefore there was no reason for any conflict.
How the organization of executive creates and reduces conflict
The organization of the executive group has six members who are from different backgrounds and have different behaviors and characters. This is a potential reason and cause of a relationship and task conflict. The conflict will be caused by different members having different goals and objectives, their interpretations of facts will also be different and there will be a lot of disagreements that will be based on the expectations of the behavior of each executive member.
All of these factors will cause conflict. The organization of the executives will also reduce conflicts because there will be an element of cooperation among the executive members and cooperation is one of the ways of reducing conflict for example the members of the executive were working together and even bringing counselors to teach them how to be better people and understand each other. The members will also develop trust among each other and this will reduce the chances of any conflicts arising. Lofgren also practices good leadership and therefore this reduces the chances of any conflicts.
How Lofgren manages conflicts
Lofgren faces conflicts positively because he believes that conflict makes an organization stronger. He manages conflicts in different ways. Cooperativeness is one of the ways that he manages conflicts. He ensures that other member’s concerns are satisfied. He also manages conflicts by being assertive. This means that he ensures that his concerns are met and satisfied as well for example his concern of getting together an executive group was fulfilled and this reduced conflicts that would be created by him personally. He is also accommodative and listens to the views of the other members even though he is the leader. This helps in reducing conflict.
Team building activities
Lofgren has to ensure the growth of the company by creating positive conflict but also avoiding relationship conflict. He can achieve this by carrying out team building activities. One of the team building activities that Lofgren can use to create positive conflict is training.
This will bring the executives together but will also create a task conflict because it will recognize that all people are not equally trainable but at the same time try to impart necessary skills in them while challenging them to work together and use their skills to promote the growth of the company. Another team-building activity that Lofgren can use is task sharing. This will lead to the executives working together and gaining trust among each other and it will also lead to task conflict as every executive will want to work harder or more than the other to appear more effective but to the benefit of the company
What to do to increase trust
Trust is a state where one agrees to be vulnerable to another because you have positive expectations for how things will turn out (Martin 154). Followers who trust their leaders will try to align their actions and attitudes with the leader’s attitudes and requests. Lofgren can build trust by showing integrity, benevolence, and the ability to be a good leader. He can also take risks and share information with the executives to ensure group effectiveness and productivity. Groups which trust each other will likely engage in task conflicts without engaging in relationship conflict.
Works Cited
Martin, John. Organizational Behavior. Pennsylvania: Thomson Learning. 2011. Print.
Robbins, Steven and Judge, Timothy. Organizational Behavior. New York: Prentice Hall. 2011. Print.