Conflict Management

Conflict Management: Personal Experience
Name
Institution
Conflict Management: Personal Experience
At my last place of work, two co-workers were involved in a conflict that escalated so quickly the management had to be involved. The conflict was between Mark, the office accountant, and Paul, the purchasing officer. This paper discusses the nature of the conflict, the cause, and the management style used to resolve the conflict. Also, the stages of negotiation that the management went through will be discussed.
Mark and Paul were involved in a dysfunctional conflict. Several symptoms made their conflict dysfunctional. First, the communication lines between the two co-workers broke down. According to Liddle (2017), poor communication or any form of communication breakdown is a symptom of dysfunctional conflict. Mark and Paul are required to communicate effectively so that the company’s financial reports are prepared on time. However, poor communication hindered the preparation of the reports, which is how the management first became aware of the conflict. Second, it affected the performance of both individuals. As revealed by Bauer and Erdogan (2012), when a conflict between employees reduces their ability to give the best performance, then it is termed as dysfunctional. By the time the management was learning about the conflict, Mark’s performance had deteriorated yet he was one of the best performers in the company. Third, their conflict led to a physical altercation. In a dysfunctional conflict, the involved parties can sometimes get involved in workplace violence (Bauer & Erdogan, 2012). This is the worst-case scenario of dysfunctional conflict. Mark and Paul were involved in a tussle and had to be separated by another co-worker. There were no physical injuries but it was evident that unless there was an intervention, they could no longer work together.
The cause of the conflict was task interdependence. This happens when the completion of one’s task depends on whether others have completed their tasks as well (Bauer & Erdogan, 2012). This means that if one party is slow or incompetent, they will not only fail to complete their task on time, but they will also hinder the other party’s ability to complete their task. In the case of Mark and Paul, Mark depended on Paul to prepare the financial reports on time. Being the purchasing officer, Paul was tasked with preparing reports on the cost of goods, among other things. These reports are crucial in the preparation of the financial statements. Being the accountant, Mark was tasked with preparing the financial statements and other financial reports. However, Paul never submitted his reports on time and Mark never wanted to report him to the boss. This meant that Mark had to wor...