Negotiation for Production Managers

Discuss about the Report for Negotiation for Production Managers.

Introduction

There are two production managers looking after separate product of the yarn. They have their own independent operations, but help each other at times of need. Alex, one of the production manager was an extrovert whereas Sam, another manager was an introvert. One day the director of Finance held a secretive meeting with Alex and Sam. He disclosed that there was something going wrong within his department and so they should keep a track of their new purchases of future machinery, but Alex voluntarily called the president and offered to constitute a team of his and Sam’s senior employees to audit. When Alex met Sam to tell him about his idea, he got very furious. He did not like the fact that he was not told about the idea before speaking to the president. Finally, Alex was so depressed that he could not take forward his initiative that he resigned. A new manager took place of Alex but he did not gel well with Sam. This led to reduced efficiency on part of Sam and finally he was terminated.

Critical and Reflective Discussion

Conflict can occur due to differences in opinions, lack of trust, different values, culture, thought system, threat to position, organizational change and personality differences. In the above case, the conflict between Alex and Sam is an interpersonal conflict. The organization had even seen them volunteering their own operators if there was a labor shortage in any one of the production units. They shared a good rapport with each other through their style of working and personalities were totally different (Jeremy, 2014). The president of the finance told both Alex and Sam that someone from his department is putting wrong entries of new machinery purchased. The machinery for the production of yarns is so expensive that some wrong entries will have great impact on the profitability of the organization. Therefore, he asked both Alex and Sam to keep a check on the new machinery their unit is purchasing and verify it with him on a regular basis to avoid future wrong entries. Both the managers agreed and left for their work. Alex was not in good terms with the Accounts president because he had spoken aggressively to him in one of the meetings which the president did not like. Also, Alex always likes to go into details. Therefore, he volunteered to form a committee to audit accounts department. The team would comprise of employees from both Alex and Sam department. The president was happy to hear this. When Alex met Sam to tell him about his idea, he got very furious. He did not like the fact that he was not told about the idea before speaking to the president. Though he knew that the team could be formed and it would be good for the organization in the long run. Scarcity of resources can also create conflicts. Managers take decisions to secure their positions in organization for survival. Everyone act for their own self interest. When resources are scarce a team can block another team’s success. Humans have tendency to give huge important to their social status in a team. If any person’s position is effected or threatened, he tends to improve to or save it and struggles to maintain his same image (Ukessays Team, 2015). This can lead to conflict between the person who is threatened of this position and person who is trying to threaten the position. In this case, Sam’s social image is been threatened by Alex proposal, hence he did his best efforts to not accept his proposal and bring his idea into practice.

Whenever Alex would approach Sam he would make some excuse and keep delaying. On the other hand the president kept pressurizing Alex to form the team. The president also kept reminding Alex of his past non fulfillment of promise. Alex felt betrayed by Sam because he had always helped him at times of need and he did not think that Sam would not agree for such a small decision. Sam had his reasons to delay, he thought that Alex wants to move ahead in the career and therefore wants his name to get highlighted in front of top management. Both of them did not talk to each other all this while. Both of them did not talk to each other. Finally, Alex was so depressed that he could not take forward his initiative that he resigned. A new manager took place of Alex but he did not gel well with Sam. At the times of crises/ labor shortage he would not help with his operators. This led to reduced efficiency on part of Sam and finally he was terminated. At the times of crises/ labor shortage he would not help with his operators.

Every relation, be it personal or professional requires a degree of trust. Trust opens boundaries and enriches a social relationship. Here, Sam had lost trust on Alex when he proposed the idea without discussion with him. If Alex had collaborated and discussed with Sam, his idea might have been accepted because of a trustworthy relation between them (Agadir, 2010).

There can be various reasons for conflict to take place between the leaders or departmental heads of the organization. The organizations have people who have different viewpoints on different topics. These people have strong perspectives and they are not ready to compromise at any cost. This results in conflict among the employees, as in the case at hand one, individual opposes the initiative taken by another because he had a different point of view and also wanted that proposal of change that was made should have been duly discussed and consented with him. Though he could have been a little more open and thereby could have accepted the proposal as the proposal was not posing any harm to anybody. Also opposing interest is another reason of conflict. Everybody has their style of working and a little variation can lead to arousal of a conflict. As in the case one of the departmental head is very aggressive, whereas one is a team player therefore working on a common project was difficult for both of them as the style of both of them were equally different. Also another point that made the situation worse was that when an employee works only for his self interest and fails to take the organization and its people along there arise a trouble in the minds of the employees (taylor, 2000). This situation takes place when the employee works towards paying attention to only his/her own targets and do not collaborate with other people. For example, in some case a person does not remember that he has to work as a team for a particular assignment and rather works as per his own convenience which fosters anger in the minds of the coworkers. As in this particular situation Alex went on talking to the management about his ideas, whereas Sam was left to have ill feelings towards him. Personality conflict is the other reason that led to the worsening of the situation. In every workplace, conflicts at times become so complicated that they are difficult to avoid them altogether. The different personalities of individuals are one of the major causes of conflict. One person at the same position can be submissive whereas at the same position the other person can be aggressive and dominating. Therefore the conflict arises when the leaders heading different departments do not give value to the feelings of each other (Omisore, 2014). The person who is outgoing may feel insulted if the person who is submissive doesn’t open up to him like an extrovert. Also, according to study extrovert people are more analytical whereas introverts are more intuitive because of which their styles of handling a particular project is different as per their unique style. When there is an absence of understanding the approach undertaken by different personalities, there arises conflict. In this case, Alex is very outgoing and has an analytical bent of mind because of which he directly goes and speaks to the higher management about the merging of the teams for the audit, whereas Sam is a team player he wanted that if such a decision had to be taken it should have been discussed with him. So, even if Sam was fine with the idea put forward by Alex, he was so disturbed by what Alex did. Therefore, he did not agree to the proposal of merging the teams.

Poor communication is another reason which propels conflict. It is a potential cause of misinterpretations and conflict among employees. Misinterpretation can also crop up if the boss asks employee to convey essential information to another person and the employee does not do it accurately. Delivering inaccurate information can also result in the assignment being done in a wrong way and employees blaming each other resulting in conflict. In this particular situation the boss did not make both Alex and Sam discuss things together and left the situation to settle at its own pace which led to the resignation of Alex (Ferguson, 2015). Another reason of conflict can be when there is some personal problem disturbing the employee in that case also the employee brings his conflicting emotions at the office and therefore does not feel like speaking to his coworkers. If the coworkers are not aware of the problems that are being faced by the employee then in that case they might feel that the employee might be having some issues with them. In the case that is analyzed, Alex had a personal background with the project head and therefore he wanted to prove himself as a problem solver, because of which he did not involve Sam while taking decision and hastily proposed the idea of merging the teams and working jointly for the audit (Maximumadvantage Team, 2013).

Recommendation

Collaboration

Both the managers being at senior positions should have worked for their own win-win situation. Alex wanted to improve his image in front of the President, so he should have taken Sam into confidence first and should have built an open environment and then proposed for the formation of the team together. And even after conflict, both Sam and Alex did not do any effort to resolve and take a right decision for their problem.

Understand each other with Empathy

This conflict was entirely due to differences in opinions, values, personality, thoughts and lack of proper communication. Conflict can be resolved only when other person tries to put oneself in the other’s shoes. Listening to each other and understanding each other feeling can only resolve conflict. Senior Management could have helped both the Managers to help them make a mutual decision.

Conclusion

Conflict between 2 Managers Alex and Sam reached to such an extent that it caused harm to both where Alex resigned being de-motivated and Sam was terminated due to poor efficiency. Both the Managers felt betrayed. The major causes which led to conflict was that  people have strong perspectives and they are not ready to compromise at any cost, secondly opposing interest is another reason of conflict. Everybody has their style of working and a little variation can lead to arousal of a conflict. Personality conflict and poor communication are the other reason that led to the worsening of situation and propelled conflict. It is a potential cause of misinterpretations and conflict among employees.

Bibliography

Agadir, D., 2010. Conflict management case study: FAO, Available at: http://www.fao.org/docrep/w7504e/w7504e08.htm

Ferguson, G., 2015. What Causes Conflict Between Employees in an Organization?. What Causes Conflict Between Employees in an Organization?.

Jeremy, 2014. Team Conflict: A Case Study. Team Conflict: A Case Study, 20 October, Available at: http://www.empathia.com/team-conflict-a-case-study/

Maximumadvantage Team, 2013. Ten Causes of Conflict. [Online]
Available at: http://www.maximumadvantage.com/ten-causes-of-conflict.html

Omisore, B., 2014. Organizational Conflicts: Causes, Effects and Remedies. International Journal of Academic Research in Economics and Management Sciences, November.3(6).

Taylor, M., 2000. Informal Conflict Resolution:A Workplace Case Study. Informal Conflict Resolution:A Workplace Case Study, September.

Ukessays Team, 2015. A Case Study of Organizational Behavior: Conflict Management. A Case Study of Organizational Behavior: Conflict Management, 23 March.