Conflict Management
Conflict management is a skill that
should be possessed by every manager. It is however important for each manager
to note that conflicts are not bad; if resolved wisely conflicts present an
organization with the opportunity to find long lasting answers to issues
affecting it. Gregory in their article ‘How to Manage Conflict’ seeks to
explain the importance of conflict management in an organization. This article
is mainly meant for managers, supervisors, and other people who have a
leadership role in an organization.
Gregory has started his article by how
various forms of conflict arise in an organization. The author states that conflicts
can never go away by assuming them. This statement is meant for managers that
take a laissez-faire approach towards conflicts. In fact Gregory warns them
that this form of approach would lead to the underlying issues blowing up.
Something unique about this article is that the author has taken time to point
out that while some conflicts are easily noticeable in an organization, others
require the manager to be vigilant in noticing them (Gregory 2). This is true
as some issues between certain employees are only known by staff members and
not the management. So it is the responsibility of the manager to ensure that
they are regularly updated on the happenings in their organization. One thing
to note here is that knowledge on some of the unnoticeable happenings in an
organization cannot be obtained via the official communication lines. It is
hence the duty of the manager to acquire this knowledge using their own
channels.
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The author argues that not only
conflict within an organization requires intervention. This argument is based
on the fact that some issues can be resolved between employees without the
intervention on the manager. However, this argument may not be valid based on
the fact that it is the small issues that later escalate to become big
conflicts within an organization. Though in a way the argument presented by
Gregory bears some logic, the manager should also take not to keep in touch
with all conflicts within an organization no matter how small they look. Being
informed about the conflicts in this case does not mean that the manager should
always intervene but that they should keep track of the way the conflicts are
handled so that in case they are about to escalate the manager can intervene in
time (Corvette 121).
In this article, the ways to solve a
conflict are outlined. The manager is first advised to acknowledge the problem,
and then get as much background information on it as possible. The manager is
then advised to stay patient and avoid making decisions in a rush as most of
the time, these decisions are ill-informed. The manager is also advised to keep
their focus on the problem and not on individuals as focus on the latter only slows
down the conflict resolution process. This is a rather simplified model of
conflict resolution but it can still function to solve any conflict. This is
because conflict resolution is not always the same in various conflicts; what
is needed is some guidelines like the one given by Gregory to use in any situation
that arises.
This is a good article on general
conflict management in an organization. After reading the article, a manager
can get the required guidelines on how to deal with conflicts that may arise in
their organization.
Works Cited
Gregory, Smith. “How
to Manage a Conflict.” Manager Wise 2000.
Web. 31 July 2011. (http://www.managerwise.com/article.phtml?id=29)
