The conditions of the competitive global business environment resulted to diverse problems that affect the overall stature of an organization. In the recent years, conflict within the organization is among the most common problems that every management personnel are dealing. Any industry – profit- or non-profit-based, is not exempted and has been singled out as prevalent areas where dispute is popular. Since any industry has a potential in contributing sustainable development in every given economy, there is a need to maintain the most favorable working environment that is free from any conflict. Managers and other personnel need guidance to help them reduce the impact associated with disputes in both management and operating functions. This is done through various conflict resolution systems.
Conflict resolution is important because of the fact that conflict is unavoidable. Conflict is inevitable in every organization because the business environment, both external and internal, experience changes constantly. For instance, the rapid development of technology makes other approaches obsolete, as more and more companies accept the change, affecting the standards in business processes. When business processes are affected and an organization is forced to change its ways, the problem with human factors would then take place. Staff and employees are not passive individuals, but rather show reactions to such changes. Change affects many working processes that might have a direct or indirect impact on an employee. The impact might affect the way they work or might determine their attitude in adapting with the changes that took place. Furthermore, most likely there will also be problems on the capabilities of the employees to adapt with the change. For example, the implementation of new information systems or any technology requires the knowledge of the employees to operate. If the employees are unfamiliar or lack the trainings needed, the pace of change will slow and implementation would most likely fail.
CONFLICT AND ITS KINDS
Conflict simply means lack of agreement in terms of beliefs, practices and in other human activities. It has different levels, which are: intrapersonal or intrapsychic conflict; interpersonal conflict; intragroup conflict; and intergroup conflict (Liwicki, Saunders and Minton, 1999). The four types of conflict are: intrapersonal conflict; interpersonal conflict; intragroup conflict; and intergroup conflict.
Intrapersonal or intrapsychic conflict means conflict occurs within an individual (Liwicki, et al., 1999). Of course, this is understandable because interpersonal communication means communicating to one’s self. Roots of conflict in this level can be ideas, thoughts, emotions, values, predispositions or drives (Liwicki, et al., 1999). The person basically reflects in those roots and creates conflict with how he or she will react. Conflict within self is closely related to psychological and psychiatric field because it is linked with cognitive theories, behavior change theories, motivation theories, etc. (Liwicki, et al., 1999).
Interpersonal conflict, on the other hand, is the second major level of conflict, which means conflict between two or more individual people (Liwicki, et al., 1999). In other definition, it is the interaction between persons expressing opposing interests, views, or opinions (Cahn, 1990). Interpersonal conflict is a process that has three main stages (Cahn, 1990). The first stage of interpersonal conflict is when the person is faced with a choice between two or more incompatible options or goals. The conflict manifests in the second stage when interaction reveals that the two persons involved in the process want different things, but they think that these differences can be resolved. Then, in the third stage, the parties perceive that there is no mutually acceptable outcome and unwanted sacrifices must be made for resolving their differences. Personal interests come first in the third stage. There are winners and losers and exercises of power likely dominate the process (Cahn, 1990). Furthermore, interpersonal conflict has different levels of its own.
The different levels of interpersonal conflict include: behavioral conflicts; normative conflicts; and personal conflicts (Cahn, 1990). Cahn also mentioned these levels for intimate conflicts, but basically, they can be applied to interpersonal conflicts in general. Behavioral conflicts include conflict over specific behaviors, such as different preferences for management style, leadership, team building, recreational activities, and doing tasks and jobs. Normative conflicts involve conflicts over the unique norms and rules of the relationship. Finally, personal conflicts concern a person’s characteristics, dispositions, and attitudes including life values, selfishness, inconsiderateness, and human relations (Cahn, 1990).
Intragroup conflict takes place within a small group, basically on teams and committee members within a particular organization. In this level, “conflict is analyzed as it affects the ability of the group to resolve disputes and continue to achieve its goals effectively” (Liwicki, et al., 1999, p.16). Then, intragroup conflict takes place within a small group, basically on teams and committee members within a particular organization. In this level, “conflict is analyzed as it affects the ability of the group to resolve disputes and continue to achieve its goals effectively” (Liwicki, et al., 1999, p.16).
Finally, intergroup conflict is a level of conflict that involves large number of people – for instance, conflict that takes place between unions and management, warring nations, feuding families, or community action groups and government authorities (Liwicki, et al., 1999, p.16). Conflicts can occur within groups and between groups simultaneously.
However, all management teams like the human resources (HR) experience difficulties. In the organizational setting, the types of conflict are: C-type conflict and A-type conflict.
C-type conflict means that employees or members of a particular team “focus on substantive, issue-related differences of opinion that tend to improve team effectiveness” (Amason et al., 1995, p.22). In this type of conflict, different ideas are being taken into consideration through effective communication. Esquivel and Kleiner (1997) stated: “It allows members to contribute openly and honestly to the team’s decision-making process while maintaining acceptance by team members and creating greater commitment” (pp.90-91).
On the other hand, A-type conflict decreases the effectiveness of the group by allowing personal feelings or someone’s own agenda to deter the members from the team’s objective (Esquivel and Kleiner, 1997). This type of attitude can basically prevent creativity as ideas of change are barred with personal feelings and agenda. Esquivel and Kleiner further stated: “Creativity is limited by the members’ reduced ability to contribute input due to the increasing hostility, anger and the elimination of trust” (p.91).
STEPS AND KINDS OF SOLVING CONFLICT
In relation to solving various types of conflicts, Amason and company (1995) provided certain steps on how to manage this type of conflict effectively. They stated the effectiveness of meetings in resolving both types of conflicts. The first strategy they suggest is to disseminate a full agenda early. The manager (particularly the HR manager) should develop a plan to explain the full agenda of the meeting clearly to the GM and staff. This should be followed by stating the philosophy of the agenda clearly and providing relevant and convincing back-up along it. The Chief Executive should also consider the right environment for the meeting. Also, behavioral strategies should be observed in the meeting to prevent the increase of A-type conflicts. Another approach is keeping a sense to the where the discussion is going. The discussion should also be channeled from A-type conflict to C-type conflict. Finally, the leader should support the team and should be proactive and reactive.
Appelbaum and colleagues (1999) suggested other integrative sub-strategy in direct negotiation other than presenting the agenda through meeting. The chief should plan the opening moves in the negotiation and should be willing to bargain and discover new options. An emergent agreement strategy can also be used where certain requests of the GM will be considered in order for him to accept the implementation fully (Appelbaum et al., 1999). On the other hand, if all else fails, one option is to look for another GM who is more comfortable with changes and is willing to improve.
Negotiation strategies can also be the key in managing conflicts. Types of negotiation or bargaining strategies include: soft bargaining strategy; hard bargaining strategy; tit-for-tat bargaining strategy; and principled bargaining strategy (Johnson, 1993). Soft bargainers attempts to prevail by being agreeable. Hard bargainers are rigid and agree only on their own argument. On the other hand, tit-for-tats uses motivation of reward and punishment for negotiation. Finally, principled bargainers separate people from the problem, focus on interests, generate options for mutual gains, and use objective standards (Johnson, 1993).
In terms of strategies to counter hard bargainers, Fisher, Ury and Patton (1991) suggested negotiation jujitsu. Negotiation jujitsu means not fighting strength with strength but rather, their force should be channeled into exploring interests, options for mutual gain and looking for independent standards. It means that positions of the opposing side should not be attacked but should be used against them by looking into options that would make them accept the proposal without affecting their position. Furthermore, if the person is a hard bargainer, the problem should be attacked instead of the person. When the problem is the one attacked, interests for mutual gain can be developed which could lead to positive results.
Communication is also important in conflict resolution systems. Communicators are in different types of relationship contexts. These are important to determine the right content and relationship message to be delivered. Gamble and Gamble (1999) enumerated the types of relationship contexts, and they are: acquaintanceship, friendship, romantic relationships, family relationships, and work relationships. Communications are irreversible and once they are said, they can never be taken back. That is why critical thinking and good control of emotions are needed in communication. Gamble and Gamble (1999) stated that critical thinkers do not fall prey to emotional appeals because they examine evidence on which conclusions are based – if they are valid, if they have weaknesses, etc. Finally, communication is personal because every word the communicator says reflects his attitude and behaviors, emotions or beliefs. For instance, emotions such as anger, happiness, surprise, fear, and sadness can affect the message that sender will deliver to the receiver. Communication should be enhanced in every company to have better results in resolving conflicts.
Similarly, Kimble, Li and Barlow (2004) suggest that troubles encountered by practical team managers and members may be both technological and non-technological. For instance, in virtual project management, the technological problems may include slow computer networks, lack of collaborative software, and poor/ill-fitting architecture. They have observed that in recent history, technologies meant for the conventional workplace are made available. Therefore, they surmise that those who might be working in far-away and inaccessible places may encounter interfacing problems (cited in Rolfes, 2004). While these technological difficulties may be distressing for the team, there are other more significant difficulties that the authors suggest. They pertain to cultural and organizational barriers – disruption of corporate culture and loss of loyalty among employees (Kimble, et al., 2004; Eggert, 2001). Bell and Henry (2001) said that this (virtual office) new form of employee arrangement change the historical meaning of a ‘workplace’, making it more difficult to evaluate the process of work. Trust is also important. What, then, builds trust? Communication does. Blaine & Bowen (2000) proposes that the quality or richness of information is better than its quantity. Richness, says Rolfes (2004) pertains to the characteristics of the medium used to relay the information. This includes the capability of the medium to grant immediate feedback and language variety, use multiple channels, and permit personalization of messages (Rolfes 2004). For Rolfes, it is very important for team members to trust each other. It is crucial for them to know others are doing their part of the project.
On the other hand, it is important to identify the kind of conflict in order to predetermine the possible conflict resolution and the consequences that may aggravate the situation. For instance, conflicts in relation to cultural diversity are ubiquitous in multinational and transnational companies. According to Singer (1994), sometimes employee dispute processes that are created to deal with complaints of discrimination expand naturally to deal with broader areas of disagreement. For example, spurred by rumors of sexual harassment, a national nonprofit organization hired a conflict management or HR expert to teach several of its employees to counsel or mediate complaints of harassment as well as other forms of discrimination. Managers had decided to spread the neutral's role over several employees on a part-time basis in order to give people with problems access to counselors of different races, sexes, and shifts. Shortly thereafter, the general counsel, who had participated in the counselors' training, succeeded in mediating a bitter conflict between workers in two departments over their overlapping jurisdiction to perform different types of work. As a result, employees from the two departments produced a more workable and easily understandable arrangement. With this, the HR manager should been called on to meet with groups of the company's employees (in one case, with men and women separately) in order to mediate disputes that had been festering between them (Singer, 1994).
Furthermore, Singer (1994) stated that some employees prefer procedures that adjudicate who was right and who was wrong over those that attempt to smooth over differences, particularly in what they consider serious cases of infringement on their rights. Most, however, when given a choice, opt first for private, non-confrontational avenues, either because they want as much anonymity as possible or because they perceive benefits in preserving their working relationships with their employer or other employees. Especially in such sensitive areas as sexual harassment, complaint handlers report that most complainants prefer counseling, coaching on how to help themselves, or some form of mediation to any sort of adjudication or public exposure of miscreants (Singer, 1994).
When employees' complaints cannot be resolved internally, Singer (1994) affirmed that they still may be settled short of a courtroom through mediation. At this point, when many of the employees involved have been discharged managers who have hired counsel to pursue claims against their former employers, the mediations have been conducted exclusively by outsiders. Sometimes a mini-trial or summary jury trial may be useful in showing a complaining employee or responding employer (often by this time a former employer) how each side's case will play to a judge or jury. This ad hoc use of outside mediators to resolve large claims when both sides are represented by counsel may become part of the official system for processing claims of employment discrimination, many of which are brought by unrepresented complainants.
All in all, it is very imperative to identify the type of conflict before implementing any course of conflict resolution. Most managers assume that organizational conflicts are directly under the control of the human resources management department wherein it tackles employee, employers and overall management issues. With the knowledge of the type of conflict, the conflict resolution mechanisms and its related aspects will be fully maximized in particularly to the addressing of other connected issues.
CRITERIA TO EVALUATE THE USEFULNESS OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION SYSTEMS
The most primary measure in evaluating the usefulness of conflict resolution system is its direct effect in the organizational productivity and performance. As indicated, the HR department handles the issues of conflict management. Thus, to fully evaluate the effectiveness of the conflict resolution method, it is reflective in the performance of the people concerned.
Any organization, may it be profit oriented or not-for-profit, the most vital asset is its employees. And for these organizations to maximize their assets, they should manage the employees’ working condition with intelligence and efficiency (Ulrich, 1998). They must be allowed to be involved in making work-related decisions to further enhance the organizational structure (Delaney and Huselid, 1996). Furthermore, the structure of tasks among the employees strengthens the organizational performance (Wilson, 1989). It is therefore necessary to understand the employees for the organization to be effective (Schneider, 1983). The development, building, motivation, enhancement and enrichment of the employees of any organization largely depend on the leadership, mandate and vision of the organization (Rainey and Steinbauer, 1999).
In the era of globalization (Kim and Weaver, 2000, p. 121; Ohmae, 1990), every organization must keep itself along with all the other organizations on being globally competitive. Corporate or organizational competitive advantage does not only depend on the organization’s financial resources but on the knowledge and effective implementation of people and organizational management particularly in conflict management. That is, for the organization to achieve competitive advantage, the people involved in the organization must also be united and competitive.
As organizations seek to develop sources of competitive advantage, researchers and practitioners have looked to firms' human resources. Recent research by Huselid (1995), MacDuffie (1995), Delery and Doty (1996), and others has demonstrated significant relationships between HR practices and organizational performance. This line of research has estimated that a one standard deviation increase in the use of "progressive" or "high performance" work practices can result in up to a 20% increase in firm performance (Becker and Gerhart, 1996; Gerhart, 1999).
The global market is considered to be in hypercompetition (D’Aveni, 1995) mode and its rate is increasing as technology and industry concentration is intensified. With the international conditions of every particular business, the aim for competitive advantage and market superiority remains to be one of the most important factors at hand. Aside from ensuring effectiveness in management, profit-oriented corporations are also considering a total evaluation of their standards when it comes to people and organizational management. Organizations are now faced with leaner structures and increased competition which in turn are generating a rapid pace of change in the workplace. The greatest barrier to adapting to continual change lies with the management of people rather than technology. The constant efforts of effective implementation and utilization of the HR strategies make it possible for the company to perform well in the market.
Therefore, the knowledge and management of an organization’s human resources especially in conflict management is pivotal to its responsiveness. In order to achieve this, the role of people and organizational management needs to change from reactive to proactive. If it is to be used to an organization’s competitive advantage, it needs to go beyond merely attracting and retaining good people. It should strive to gain a complete understanding of its workforce and develop organizational systems and processes that enable individuals to add value within a larger organizational unit (Ulrich and Yeung, 1989).
Treating the employees as champions and as a significant aspect of the organization naturally results to other positive outcomes. One of which is the improvement of the overall organizational performance (Brewer and Selden, 2000). A number of empirical studies have concluded that understanding people and organizational practices have a significant effect on the organization, which leads to high performance (Haltiwanger, Lane and Spletzer, 1999). One good example that identifies this relationship was the study conducted by Delaney and Huselid (1996). Utilizing 590 profit and non-profit-oriented firms, the researchers concluded that HRM practices like staffing selectivity and training are positively associated with organizational performance.
Organizational performance is achieved through HRM functions as they mold the employees as significant contributors to the firm. Having the appropriate skills that are honed to the maximum level, people and organizational management practices will then lead to the attainment of various goals of the organization. From this relationship, it is then appropriate to conclude that the understanding of people and organizational management directly connects to the success or failure of the organization.
In general, the effectiveness or usefulness of the conflict resolution systems implemented in any particular case is dependent on the overall spill-over effects to the productivity of the people especially the ones who are involved as well as to the entire performance of the organization. The emergence of digitalization (Earl, 1998) and globalization in all operating global industries paved way to the further improvements related to conflict management techniques. Regardless of the unprecedented drawbacks of such ideas when being used, every organization and its managers are required to undergo constant knowledge progression and management must administer and control them in the most beneficial ways possible. Every decision made by the management must be directed to the welfare of the whole industry. With the right abilities, knowledge and characteristics of good manager, understanding management theory, strategy and strategic planning plus constant organizational learning will result to eventual business productivity and growth, market superiority, competitive edge, and success.
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Change Management in the Acquisition of Aetna and Reliastar
by ING Life
In the epoch of various occurrences (e.g. globalization, industrialization and technological advancement), the international marketplace including its particular areas and systems is overly affected by the intrinsic processes relative to them. Among the observable impacts of such emerging business conditions is competition. Competition among the various industries in every given economy is rapid and stiff. It is as if ‘survival of the fittest, extinction of the weakest’ trend. Further, the advances in technology and the fast modernization of the world, in general, opened new and very promising avenues of business opportunities not just in an individual’s locale but also abroad. A lot of business-minded individuals from different countries with different nationalities and cultural orientation have and continuously defied the geographic boundaries that exist between continents. This is evident in the growing number of internationally-operating business firms all over the world run by entrepreneurs of varying race and culture. The information man has successfully rebelled against intercontinental borders and the challenge that confronts him the most, deals with how to fit and blend in the new cultural environment in which their businesses are situated.
Most of the successful business endeavors depend greatly on good interpersonal communication and relationship between the service or product providers and their clients. Persuading customers on trying the offered services and products is only a start on putting up a successful entrepreneurial activity. Gaining the trust of the clients and maintaining patrons is very important to ideal business transaction flows. Making business transactions and communication within business organizations to promote good working relationships through enhanced knowledge and skills among employees will definitely put a business endeavor into a success wherever the location may be.
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