Written Assignment 2

Name

UMUC

6/21/2015

Written Assignment 2

Instructions

Instructions: You have been hired by the XYZ Company as a conflict-resolution consultant. The company has just taken on a global flavor through a merger with a foreign firm. In addition, they are experiencing an unusual number of employee grievances. HR has also noted an unusual number of interpersonal squabbles between co-workers, and a recent employee survey showed that many workers felt that there was inequitable treatment among the employees in their departments.

What are the underlying sources of this conflict?

What cultural or diversity issues may be contributing to the conflict?

What additional information would you want to have to thoroughly address these problems?

What method or system would you recommend to address these problems and why?

Introduction

The focus of this paper is on a situation in XYZ Company that has hired me as their conflict-resolution consultant. XYZ Company in this case has just been involved in a global flavor via a merger with a foreign firm. The company is also going through several employee grievances. The interpersonal squabbles and conflicts between co-workers according to the HR department have risen. The findings from a recent survey revealed that many employees felt that in their departments, the employees were being inequitably treated. The paper will therefore, address such areas as the underlying sources of conflict, the diversity or cultural issues that contribute to the conflict, the additional information needed so that these problems can be addressed and finally the system or method recommended for addressing these problems.

Underlying Sources of Conflict

One of the underlying sources of conflict in this situation is unpredictable policies. The fact that company XYZ has a merger with a foreign company means that several unpredictable policies are going to emerge. As far as this source of conflict is concerned, it is important to note that when policies and rules change at work and the company fails to communicate the change vividly to his team, conflict and confusion can occur. A merger with a foreign company comes with new things that will be done differently and with policy change. It is until people understand why the rules are present so that they can accept the change. Otherwise, there will be a conflict (Trueba, Jacobs & Kirton, 2014).

Another underlying source of conflict in this case is conflicting roles. The fact that the company is experiencing employee squabbles means that there could be some conflict roles in the company. With the merger, some employees may have to do a task that is beyond their normal responsibilities and roles. In case this causes them to step on another employee’s territory, then power and conflict struggles can occur. An employee may also feel that someone else should do a given task (Lee & Turner, 2014).

As far as the diversity or cultural issues that may cause the conflict are concerned, one of the issues is that the employees may have conflicting styles. In diversity, everyone does things differently, in accordance with his or her personality and individual needs. For example, there could be those employees who love the thrill of finishing things at the last minute. At the same time, there could be those employees who prefer the structure of strict deadlines to work. A clash in the working styles can cause a conflict. Conflicting cultures could also emerge following the merger of XYZ Company with a foreign company. In this case, all the employees see the world via their own cultural lens. This being the case, differences in the way employees perceive events can spark conflict, especially where the culture of some employees considers what is a norm for the other employee as culturally wrong (Trueba, Jacobs & Kirton, 2014).

Addressing the conflicts

In order to address the issue of conflicting roles, the management or the HR department has to explain why it assigned projects or task to each employee. Offering or providing this explanation will help in remedying the pressure. The management can also utilize team charter to crystallize the responsibilities and roles of the people and to focus on the objectives of the employees (Lee & Turner, 2014).

For the diversity or cultural issues, the best way of addressing them is by making an effort of eliminating the conflict through open communication with the team. The more information HR shares with its employees, the less likely it is for them to come up with different interpretations of events (Levy, Allen & Haber-Curran, 2015).

References:

Trueba, H. T., Jacobs, L., & Kirton, E. (2014). Cultural Conflict & Adaptation. Routledge.

Lee, D. J., & Turner, B. S. (Eds.). (2014). Conflicts about class: Debating inequality in late industrialism. Routledge.

Levy, S. M., Allen, S. J., & Haber-Curran, P. (2015). Emotionally intelligent leadership: A guide for students.