Labor Conflict Management in Apple Inc. Management Essay

Labor Conflict Management in Apple Inc.
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Labor Conflict Management in Apple Inc.
Introduction
Conflict is a reality of social life and exists at all levels of society. It is an inevitable part of society since it is associated with scarce resources, division of functions, power relations, and differentiation of roles. Conflict can be manifested through adversarial social action, involving two or more actors with the expression of differences. Conflicts are prevalent where people work as a group. In reality, managers spend a lot of time and effort trying to resolve conflicts emanating from employee-related issues in their organizations (Abiodun, 2014). The consequences of conflict mismanagement are severe to both the people involved and the organization. For example, poor handling of work-related conflicts may result in a diverse distribution of incorrect energy towards the workforce and miscommunication errors, which are harmful to the general organizational performance. However, it would be wrong to view the conflict from a negative perspective only (Saeed, Almas, Anis-ul-Haq, & Niazi, 2014). Conflict may be uncomfortable and a source of problems, but it is one of the key drivers of organizational change, survival, and adaptation. Apple Inc. is among the top organizations that have attracted media and public attention following reports of human rights violations amongst its workforce. The essay explores the accusations against Apple Inc. and the approaches the corporate used to address the labor law violations.
Conflict Overview
In September 2019, China Labor Watch (CLW) published a report citing that more than half of the workforce employed at the largest iPhone factory in Zhengzhou, China, were temporarily hired, including student interns. Some of the allegations against the giant firm included poor wages that were insufficient to support a family living in Zhengzhou and social insurance contributions that do not meet the legal requirement (China Labor Watch. 2019). It was alleged that the factory management violated the Chines labor law restrictions on overtime and dispatch workers. According to the report, dispatch workers constituted 55% of the workforce in 2018 and 50% in 2019, yet the Chinese labor law requires a maximum of 10%. During the peak production season, both dispatch workers and intern students were forced to work overtime. They worked at least 100 overtime hours a month under pressure to meet the target, which is against the legal requirement. Previously, the company's major assembly partners, including Foxconn, Pegatron, and Quanta Computer, have been reported to have had difficulties complying with the law between 2013 and 2018.
Conflict Management Approaches
Conflict management approaches have an all-round effect on work experience in an organization because they influence how the workers experience an ongoing conflict. The main approaches that individuals adopt when dealing with conflicts are passive-aggressive, avoidance, compromising, collaborating, forcing, and accommodating styles (Abiodun, 2014). The passive-aggressive approach describes doing and saying things indirectly or acting powerless to create hostility and blame others. With the avo...