Conflict and Ethics
Conflict is not an uncommon issue that happens in various placements, including company, government office, nonprofit organization, or even military. It affects the organization by reducing productivity, decreasing communication, poorer decision-making, decreasing cooperation, and political backstabbing (Runde & Flanagan, 2008). However, if the conflict is addressed effectively, it can stimulate creativity and produce more opportunities for enhance communication, better understanding each other, and ultimately achieve higher working efficiency (Runde & Flanagan, 2008). So, how to deal with the conflict is an opportunity to test a leader about his/her leadership skill in an organization. Naturally, leaders would
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Dr. Anthony M. Hassan is a wise and competent leader. As the CEO of the Cohen Veterans Network, he oversees the establishment of twenty-five mental health clinics nationwide. His organization provides services to the veterans, especially for post 9/11 veterans and their families by quality services, free of charge, and accessible mental health care. The business seems overlapped with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which supposes would produce conflicts and making the relationship between these two organizations as competitors. However, Dr. Anthony M. Hassan set up a very good relationship with the VA by cooperation positively and providing a special service to the veterans’ families to supplement the gap of services in the VA. It intelligently avoids the potential conflict with the VA, and effectively assisted him to achieve his goals of 25 mental health clinics. There is a proverb in China, “education by behavior is much more effective than the education by language”, means educating people by talking with is not as good as showing example by leader’s behaviors, which include ethics, values, decision making, optimism, hope and resilience, and consistency between their speaking and behaviors. This concept exactly described the theory of authentic leadership, which emphasizes
Although many of us go great lengths to avoid it, sometimes it is just inevitable. People in the workplace setting will always have different ideas, values, and attitudes than others around them. A conflict can arouse in any given setting, and the affect it can have on those involved can either be negative or positive. Depending on the approach and strategies utilized during and after a conflict will determine the result of the conflict. Conflict helps people recognize legitimate differences within an organization or profession and serves as a powerful motivator to improve performance and effectiveness, as well as satisfaction (CCN, 2017). This paper will identify and explore a particular recurring conflict in the
In today’s organizations conflict and power are important elements to the success of any company but can also create negative long term impacts if not addressed. Organizations require enough power within the leaders to get through conflict and enough conflict within individuals to create new innovations. Not all conflict is bad but when there is conflict individuals with power must assist in aligning conflict resolution to assist in understanding for everyone involved in the conflict. The need for successful conflict resolution is vital for employees so that they are capable of moving on and understanding why the conflict was overcome.
Have you ever been a part of a conflict? Perhaps the conflict existed in your home because you want your children to do chores, but your spouse disagrees, or perhaps you have had a conflict in the workplace where a co-worker, no matter what you said was always in disagreement with you. Whether at home or work, it is best to resolve conflict as both instances, the conflict could create an uneasy situation at home or in the workplace and could result in people being hurt, work not be accomplished or even a physical altercation. Therefore, it is recommended that instead of allowing conflict to remain, that instead the conflict is resolved For that reason I will describe a conflict within an organization or team which I am familiar with, identify and describe the source(s) and level of the conflict and supporting evidence, describe the steps taken to resolve the conflict, describe a minimum of three conflict outcomes that could reasonably occur as a result of the resolution and the support for my reasoning for each possible outcome. First I will begin with a basic description of conflict.
Authentic Leadership: Emphasizes building the leader’s legitimacy through honest relationships with the followers that is built on an ethical foundation (Northouse, 2016). Dr. Hassan presents this leadership trait by having a dual role in both the civilian and military/veteran world.
According to Kristin Behfar, the more efficient and productive teams work through conflict and can consider themselves successful based upon three attributes: meeting performance goals, members being satisfied with the learning and benefiting, in addition to setting the team up for future success (Behfar, 2015). For teams not set up for conflict, it can decrease member satisfaction and productivity in addition to leading to non-effective problem solving. It is imperative to consider the manner in which conflict is managed as it greatly affects the team. Less effective teams will view a trade off between the satisfaction of team members and performance then behave in a reactive manner escalating the issue, leading the team into constant firefighting mode. Effective teams are proactive when it comes to the management of conflict, anticipate it and develop a manner in which to deal with it leading to a resolution or prevention from the offset.
Conflict can and will arise in all business settings. Conflict may not always be a negative aspect, if the conflict can be mediated and constructive, new ideas and projects and can result conversations that start out as conflicts. I personally experience a low amount of conflict, usually because I do my best to avoid it if at all possible. When exposed to conflict, I handle it with an integrating style (McGraw-Hill Connect, 2017). By handling conflict with this style, I have a high concern for others as well as a high concern for myself (Dijkstra, Barelds, Ronner, & Nauta, 2017). I am able work with others towards a solution that will benefit everyone and will include positive aspects of everyone’s
Conflict is inevitable in life and in the workplace, but conflict can be positive or negative. Disputes can arise due to personality conflicts, misunderstandings, difference in opinions, lifestyles, values, and beliefs. Having any understanding that conflicts do arise and how to approach such issues is vital to the success of any team and organization. Thomas and Kilmann have identified five conflict handling modes within a two-dimensional taxonomy (Borkowski, 2016). According to Borkowski (2016), the two dimensions of the taxonomy are assertiveness and cooperativeness, and the five conflict handling modes include (1) competition, (2) avoidance, (3) compromise, (4) accommodation, and (5) collaboration (p. 315).
A leader has a role that can impact others to be more operative in functioning to attain a common goal and maintain effective working relationships amongst group members (Johnson & Johnson 2012). This makes leaders in groups considerably important in shaping individuals (Johnson & Johnson 2012). However, conflict arises in groups and becomes difficult to manage when a leader and the followers lack the skills to manage conflict as a team (Johnson & Johnson 2012). Leadership and conflict resolution skills must exists between leaders and followers in order to manage conflict (Johnson & Johnson 2012). Also, it is possible for followers to teach leaders how to lead and resolve problems since followers can play an active role in building relationships amongst group members (Howell & Shamir cited in Johnson & Johnson 2012). Since followers and leaders both have significant roles in accomplishing the group goals, they both have a role to manage conflict effectively as a group (Johnson & Johnson 2012). This essay will discuss how leaders have an important role in managing conflict and likewise with followers having important roles in managing conflict. Conflicts, the various types of conflicts that happen in groups and the reasons behind the conflicts will be mentioned followed by approaches that can be taken to help manage struggles within groups. The methods can be used by leaders and followers in order to manage
In conclusion, managing conflict sometimes is very difficult, but with great leadership skills it can be a little easier. Although you may gain close friendships with your coworkers, there are times you have to put your foot down. When conflict arises in the workforce, you have to set a meeting with the worker or workers involved in the conflict, talk about the situation, and provide them with feedback. Conflict in the workplace can cause a lot of problems between the workers or customers. So, therefore, there are some things you can do to provide effective
One of the most significant and controversial ethical conflicts in this novel occurs in the final section, probing the issue of suicide. A nuclear test has occurred and many people were badly injured by the blasts and radiation. Abbot Zerchi must decide how the church will respond to the affected people. A medical group called Green Star wishes to set up units in the abbey to treat the radiation victims. The church faces a problem because Green Star, in cases where radiation exposure is terminal, recommends that the person go to a mercy camp where euthanasia is administered. The law of the church defines this mercy killing as evil and Zerchi will not allow Green Star to use their courtyard if they will be recommending suicide (Miller 295).
Conflict can be a positive motivator to help a team push through a difficult problem or meet a critical deadline, but it can also create a negative work environment which when left unaddressed can have disastrous consequences. Therefore, it is important for effective leaders to be able to guide their teams to successful outcomes by developing communication strategies that identify, reduce, and resolve conflict while overcoming barriers due to a lack of awareness, lack of vision, and lack of action.
Conflict is inescapable, having the ability to recognize, understand, and resolve conflicts are important in both personal and professional lives. Myatt (2012) states that conflict in the workplace is unavoidable; if left unresolved, workplace conflict may result in loss of productivity and the creation of barriers that can inhibit creativity, cooperation, and collaboration. It is vital to embrace conflict and address problems through effective conflict-resolution tactics because if not handled appropriately, conflict will escalate. “If not handled properly, conflict may significantly affect employee morale, increase turnover, and even result in litigation, ultimately affecting the overall well-being of
The most important point is that conflict in organizations is increasing as they become more complex, culturally diverse, and global. Conflict has been thought of as necessary at times to keep the wheels of progress turning. Therefore, concentration on conflict in organizations has went from strategies to try to eliminate it to managing it. One issue is training managers how to manage that conflict. Conflict can be detrimental or beneficial to the organization. In order to be beneficial, leaders must be able to manage it appropriately. According to (Lang, 2009) supervisors spend about 18% of their time managing conflict in the workplace. Conflict management is a time consuming issue in organizations that can be detrimental if not handled correctly. The need for training in conflict management has become a significant issue inside organizations. Training in the undergraduate setting in some business schools does not have the consideration it is getting in the workplace. Conflict resolution is only being taught in a small percentage of schools as part of undergraduate work in many programs. The lack of training in conflict management in the undergraduate setting, produces managers who are not prepared to handle issues that have been proven to take up a large percentage of time. They are forced to handle these situations without having ever been exposed to proper solution techniques, and then are required to learn as they go. Not having expert training or education will cause
Even though group behavior and how groups function affect organizations at their core so strategies have to be developed and implemented for entities to work, Major concepts in leaders and leadership are communication, competition, and conflict. Because of the direct emphasis that competition brings and why communication is the key factor of the solution, . The effects of conflict and conflict management in organizations and the value of highly skilled organizational leader and their leadership capabilities. In organizations, conflict is regarded as the existence of struggle that occurs when the goals, interests or values of different individuals or groups are incompatible and frustrates each other’s effort to achieve objectives.
Conflict is the process in which one team perceives that his or her interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party. Many years ago, conflict was viewed as undesirable and counterproductive. There is evidence that conflict can produce undesirable outcomes such as lower job satisfaction, team cohesion, and knowledge sharing as well as higher organizational politics and turn-over. However, experts later formed the opinion that organizations suffer from too little as well as too much conflict. Research reports that moderate conflict can improve decision making, organizational responsiveness to the environment, and team cohesion (McShane & Von Glinow, 2015).