CASE STUDY ON CONFLICT SITUATION

A manager at a small cosmetics company learned that his firm had just been acquired by a large international conglomerate. His staff wanted to know how this would affect the firms current plans for the fiscal year. When he asked his boss, he was told, Dont worry about anything. Its going to be business as usual. The manager did not believe what he was told and yet had to convince his staff that everything was ok. The staff had difficulty believing the manager as many of them were convinced that their jobs were in jeopardy. Task: Identify the different types of conflicts or potential conflict in the case. Analyze the various conflict situations using relevant analytical frameworks. What do you suggest the manager does to restore trust.

The case study at hand is an issue of inadequate communication which may spark off conflict in the cosmetic company. Effective communication is the process by which a sender transmits information to a receiver, via a medium and that the message received is as close as possible to the message intended. The receiver in turn gives the sender feedback. In the case study there was communication between the manager and his boss as well as the manager and his staff. This is termed as communication between the manager and the managed. There are many schools of thought about conflict. According to Deutsch (1973) a conflict exists whenever incompatible activities occur . . . one party is interfering, disrupting, obstructing, or in some other way making another party's actions less effective. Pruitt and Rubin (1986) defined conflict as a perceived divergence of interest or a belief that the parties' current aspirations cannot be achieved simultaneously.

ANALYSIS OF THE TYPES OF CONFLICT OR POTENTIAL CONFLICT IN THE CASE Goal conflict (individual/corporate goals) Conflict can mean the divergence of ideas, views, goals, opinions, interests and needs between two or more parties that are independent. A goal conflict occurs when an individuals goal has both negative and positive features or the individual has two or more competing goals. Relating this definition to the case, it is very evident that there is a divergence of ideas between the manager and the CEO, which is supported by the statement from the boss, that even though there has been an acquisition, the business will continue running and that there was nothing to worry about. This the manager found hard to believe. Furthermore, it can be that the corporate goal for the acquisition is to have an improvement in the market share, revenue, improve growth and the like. On the contrary, individuals like the manager and other staff may be concerned about job security. Intrapersonal conflict According to Roloff (1987) intrapersonal conflict occurs when there is incompatibility or inconsistency among an individuals cognitive elements reflects a challenge to a persons basis for prediction and control resulting in greater uncertainty According to the case, the manager did not believe that business was going to be usual. He had inconsistencies in his thoughts. Perhaps, the manager was thinking of job security for himself and his staff as it is known that conditions such as acquisition may call for downsizing. So, he doubted the assurance from his boss. Once there is the presence of uncertainty, chances of interpersonal conflict are high. Intra-role conflict It results from the differing requirements of two or more roles that must be played by the same person at the same time. In the case, the manager acted as a liaison between management and the staff. He also was a figure head thereby reporting to his boss. As a figure head, the 2

managers boss will require him to sing to the tune of the executive while the staff on the other hand may require the manager to empathize with them in their double edged situation. Information deficiency The message the CEO communicated to staff was not precise. It is probable that most staff were aware of the consequences of acquisitions such as downsizing, redeployment, job rotation, transfers and the like so that explains their concerns about job security. Environmental stress Working under conditions of fear and uncertainty may cause staff to resort to dysfunctional behaviours such as lateness, absenteesm, reduction in productivity, production errors and the like.

Conflict arising from the Hidden Self In the Joharis window, the Hidden self is described as a situation where one party knows himself but does not know the other party. In the case under study, the workers clearly know themselves but do not know much about management. Management appears to be removed from them, they do not meet them, nor do they have access to their decisions unless it is being communicated to them. Their aspirations, motivations and ambitions may not be made public thereby creating room for speculation and conflicts.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION Conflict resolution is the process of finding solutions to circumstances with incompatible activities. In order to create better understanding between individual and groups, the Johari Window can be adopted in resolving the conflict above. The Johari Window is a communication model that can be used to improve understanding between individuals within a team or in a group setting. Based on disclosure, self-disclosure and feedback, the Johari Window can also be used to improve a groups relationship with other groups. Two key ideas behind the tool are: 1. That individuals can build trust with others by disclosing information about themselves. 2. That they can learn about themselves and come to terms with personal issues with the help of feedback from others.

Using the Johari model, the manager and the CEO is represented by their own fourpane window. Each of these contains and represents personal information feelings, motivation etc about the person and shows whether the information is known or not known by themselves or other people. The four quadrants are: OPEN AREA: What is known by the manager, the CEO and staff about themselves individually and is also known by others. BLIND SPOT: What is unknown by the manager, the CEO and staff about themselves but which others know? For instance issues of feelings of inadequacy, incompetence, unworthiness, rejection etc which are difficult for individuals to face directly and yet can be seen by others. HIDDEN AREA: What the parties involved know about themselves that the others do not . UNKNOWN AREA: What is unknown about the manager, the CEO, the staff and is also unknown by others. As information is shared, the boundary with the hidden quadrant moves downwards. As other people reciprocate, trust tends to be built between them. In conclusion, by encouraging healthy self-disclosure and sensitive feedback, the manager, the CEO and staff can build a stronger and more effective organization.

One of the solutions to the conflict situations described above can be found in Thomas K (1954) Categories of Responses. Integrating This style, which involves high concern for self as well as the other party, has also been described as problem solving, collaboration, cooperation, solution-orientation, winwin, or positive-sum style. Integrating involves active collaboration between the parties (i.e., openness, exchange of information, and examination of differences) to reach a solution that satisfies the concerns of both parties. The first rule for obtaining integration is to put your cards on the table, face the real issue, uncover the conflict, bring the whole thing into the open (Follett, 1940, p. 38). Prein (1976) suggested that this style has two distinctive elements: confrontation and problem solving. Confrontation involves open and direct communication that should make way for problem solving. As a result, it may lead to creative solutions to problems.

Management can decide to enforce the decision to allow the acquisition and also go ahead with the redundancy programme irrespective of how the workers feel. However this approach is likely to make the workers uncooperative and sabotage the company. Another approach which is a better alternative is collaboration with the workers. if the acquisition would really cost the workers their jobs, management could offer them a good severance package that would compensate them. In any decision management takes however, it would be important for them to be more open and disclose as much information as possible. This would reduce the tendency for the workers to speculate and spread rumours. This is the solution to the hidden self problem