Techniques Of Handling Conflicts Within Team Essay: Constructive And Destructive Dimensions.

Discuss about the identify significant techniques of handling conflicts within team works and evaluating the constructive and destructive dimensions along with its components?

Master of Engineering Management (MME) is a professional master degree course which centres on business and management in an engineering environment. According to the Croucher (2011), the subject acts as a bridge between the field of business management and in the field of engineering or technology.  The subject provides an opening for engineers to develop the managerial skills and amalgamate the business and technical knowledge.

In addition to the objectives of the research, the report assesses the problems relevant to the profession. With the help of secondary information, the report critically analyses the subject. Different methodologies have been used to conduct the research works with the help of secondary information. The report also discusses the finding that has been derived from the secondary sources. The report recommends the possible measures to be taken to combat the issues. The report ends up with the limitation of the project and the scope for further research work.

Conflict management is identified as the process of reducing the negative aspects occurred due to a divergence. In the circumstance of the similar matter, Daly et al. (2010) determined that the aim of conflict management is to enhance the various scope of learning. In the similar context, Debasish et al. (2007) mentioned that conflicts are the foremost reality of organizations and the political system through which differences are signified and observed. In the background of the specific statement, Gawerc (2013) find out that the Indian employees had major issues regarding the work timings. Presently, the organizations are providing ‘Work from Home’ facility to its employees to increase the level of motivation. In a similar manner, the organisational culture in ‘The West’ is influenced by the masculine factor. Thus, the female employees are getting demotivated, which is one of the reason were behind the conflict.

Time has been the major issue faced by the researcher in the present project. The work demands for a detail investigation, however, the time limit assign for the study was extremely short. Thus, it has been very difficult for the researcher to collect the authentic and updated information regarding conflict management strategies followed in ‘India' and ‘The West.' The module standards of MME course is considerably higher. Therefore, the quality of research needs to be equally standardised. However, the pressure of a deadline is sometimes nonavoidable, which degrades the overall quality of work. Thus, the researcher requires making a through time management planning to overcome the major disputes. With time, the level of the standard will increase further and so as the pressure, thus, to efficiently deal with the projects, a structured time management methods required being followed.

Problem statement with justification

The aim of the study is to identify significant techniques of handling conflicts within team works and evaluating the constructive and destructive dimensions along with its components.

• To determine the nature of conflicts in “The West” and “India” through which the dynamics of this will be explored.
• To evaluate the outcomes of the conflict in “The West” and “India” work teams.
• To identify the effective patterns required to manage the internal disputes
• To determine the relationship between patterns of managing internal disputes and the outcome of conflicts.

• What can be the effective techniques to handle conflicts within team works?

The countries in the West face a conflict of interest. In the opinion of Eriksson et al. (2008), such conflict arises when personal interest and goals are made to fit within the structure of the organization, and a mismatch occurs. The individual may take a stand for his personal rights causing a conflict. The management of the western countries faces interpersonal relationship issues. As per the Kramar (2013), such conflict arises when personal issues are not resolved within the team.

The Indian engineering management faces a conflict between the individual and the group. In the view of Giacomantonio et al. (2011), all departments have certain behavioral norms and operational standards which every individual is expected to adhere. An individual may want to be with that group for some requirements but may not agree with the plan and methodology of the group (Saeed et al. 2014). The scarcity of resources like time, money and materials causes the team to undercut each other. In the view of Eriksson et al. (2008), the competition for such resources between the Department and other work groups leads to a conflict in Indian engineering management.

In the western countries, the outcome of conflict of interest is that the organization’s success is hampered. According to the Sippings (2012), the individual is interested in attaining the personal goal and giving it the priority; an individual fails to fulfill its duty towards the organisation. As per the Sehrawat (2014), an organisation undergoing the conflict of interpersonal relationship faces the problem in work team.  A team work project implies that every member has its significance and potential. Working together helps the organisation in attaining the goal effectively. When there are issues within the team member, it directly hampers the project.

In the case of Indian engineering management, when there is a conflict between the individual and group, the teamwork is hampered. From the view of Hughes et al. (2008), there will be a communication problem in the group which will lead to the inefficient dealing of the project. The overall issues will be reflected in the quality of the project. As per the Mohammed et al. (2009), an organisation undergoing the scarcity of resources will lead to a delay of the project.

Research aim

The western countries put an effort to manage the internal disputes. In the opinion of Huang (2010), to combat conflict of interest, management needs to conduct an internal session where the employees will be giving the feedback about the present strategies and convey expectations the employees keep before its employer. Keeping the feedback in mind, the organisation should restructure its strategies. This will help the firm to come in a position where both the parties interest are met. In the view of Huang (2010), the organisation deals with interpersonal relationship issues by resolving the disputes between the team members. Keeping both parties interest in mind, a midway solution is undertaken so that the members are satisfied with the managerial decision.

The Indian engineering management also tries to dissolve the internal disputes. As per the Mohammed et al. (2009),  the organisation need to be strict with its behavioral norms and operational standards and make sure that all the members follow it. In the case of issues, the management should intervene to resolve it. According to the Gray & Williams (2012), the managers tries to distribute the resources fairly between the department and other work groups so as to enhance the healthy relationship between different departments of the firm and the goal of the firm can be attained in an efficient manner.

Master of Engineering Management in Western countries has been able to manage the internal disputes. In the view of Gray & Williams (2012),  the internal session had proved to be beneficial. It has helped in establishing trust between the employee and the employer. If both the employee and employer are satisfied, it helps in further enhancing the transparency of an organisation.  Moreover, in the opinion of Pluut & Curseu (2012), the initiative taken by management to resolve issues of the department concerned has a positive impact on an organisation. This is because a conflict within a team hampers the healthy atmosphere and the project as well.

In the Indian context, the management’s procedure of solving internal dispute has a positive impact on an organisation. According to the Pluut & Curseu (2012), its rigid rules, on the one hand, will force the employee to follow it. Conversely, Posthuma (2012) stated, such work culture is not welcomed by the employee as it takes away the freedom of working in its style. In the opinion of Quackenbush (2010),  the fair distribution of resources in the department will impart a feeling between the employee that each member and department are equally important for an effective functioning of an organisation.

Research Objectives

The research philosophy is of three types, positivism, realism and interpretive. As per the opinion of Yin (2013), positivism is the scientific approach that focuses logical subjects. On the other hand, realism deals with the subjects that are known to human behavior. Realism focuses on the matters that already exists and judged by human behaviors. Therefore, considering the natures of all above philosophies, the researcher has selected the positivism philosophy for the present report. The existing study emphasises on the subject conflict management and what are the methods followed in Indian and ‘The West’ organisations to resolve the conflicts. It has been inferred that the nature of positivism philosophy entirely justifies the present research context. Hence, the researcher has chosen the positivism philosophy to find out eh nature of conflicts the organisations of both regions are experiencing. Moreover, with the support of the selected philosophy, the management methods taken by both the organisations to n mitigate the internal conflicts are also detailed. From the overall perspectives, it can be inferred that positivism philosophy can help the study to derive an authentic conclusion.

The research approach is of two types, inductive and deductive. As per the opinion of Lim & Ting (2013), the inductive research approach often deals with establishing new theories. On the other hand, the deductive research approach is required to examine and scrutinise the existing theories that are already developed by the previous authors.  Due to the nature of the deductive research approach, the researcher has considered the specific approach to justify the research context.  Herein, the report requires examining the viability of the theories opted to evaluate the secondary details. The deductive research approach to an extent justifies the demands of the existing report. It helped the researcher to find out the reason for conflict in the Indian and Western organisations. The identification of issues further helped the researcher to figure out-strategise taken by the managements of both the regions to resolve the destructive dimensions. As per the statement of Kothari (2009), due to nature the deductive approach, it has been considered as a Waterfall model, where every strategy is mentioned in a flow.

Descriptive, exploratory and explanatory are the common determinants of research design. Each of the aspects bears individual relevance in the data collection process. According to Hennink et al. (2010), the exploratory research design is mainly used to collect the background information. The information is used to analyse theoretical terms on research aims, objectives and questions. On the other hand, the descriptive design is used align the findings of the research questions regarding what, who, where, when and why (Alvesson et al..2009). The researcher has selected the descriptive design for the present report focusing on its nature.

Research questions

Unlike the other research design, the selected one has helped the researcher to collect sufficient secondary information regarding the conflict management techniques followed in the ‘Indian’ and ‘The West’ organisations. Based on which, effective techniques used by the industries of both the regions to reduce the effect of conflict are also detailed. The descriptive research design further supported the researcher to have a detail investigation of the secondary information gathered to justify the research subject.

Primary and secondary are the population forms of data collection process. In the circumstance of the similar statement, Yin (2013) asserted that primary data are collected from direct sources. Thus, it is raw in nature. However, the secondary information is collected from the past literature that is already developed by the previous authors. In the present study, the researcher has conducted the research works exclusively with the secondary information. Yin (2013) asserted that the secondary information needs to be gathered from the authentic sources like journals, books, magazines, internet articles, etc. The past records denote Journal to be the most authentic source for secondary information, as the content of the journal is reviewed by differed scholars to scrutinise its validity of the written piece. However, in the current report, the researcher is not benefitted with journals. The information received from the journal is quite backdated, which did not satisfy the standards of Masters of Management for Engineers module. Lastly, the internet served to be a potent source, which helped the researcher to receive updated information regarding the conflicts occurred within the organisations of ‘India' and ‘The West.' This assisted the researcher in finding out the methods taken by the management to resolve the negative outcome of conflicts with constructive dimensions.

Inference can be drawn from the above secondary analysis that conflict of interest is the primary issues faced by ‘The West’ organisations. Herein, the internal employees consciously or subconsciously impose individual interest within the organisation, which contradicts with the management’s policies. Therefore, the overall team get influenced by the specific procedure of the employees and move with the flow.

Further analysis of the existing context shows that the management of ‘The West' organisations has management to conduct the interactive session with the internal staffs to figure out the possible gaps. This partially turned beneficial for the organisations to reduce the conflict of interest. The organisations are also dealing with the interpersonal issues to identify the reasons are preventing the employees to accept managerial decisions.

Nature of conflict in "The West" and "India"

On the other hand, the organisations in ‘The West’ have experienced the interpersonal issues. The previous research works conducted by the researchers reflect that the personal issues of the team members are not resolved within the team; therefore, employees fail to build up a positive relationship with the other members of the team.

The scarcity of resources has been the major issue in the Indian organisations.  The organisations operating in the Indian market grow the tendency of compromising on the useful resources. Thus, the management automatically generates the tendency of utilising as less as possible resources to the maximum work done. This has been the major reason for conflict in the Indian organisations, where the employees feel extremely exploited under the exhaustive work culture. 

The Indian organisations are also taking strict measures against the resource scarcity issue. The managers are instructed to fairly distribute the resources amongst the employees. The resource allocation has been done in a fair process, which helped the employee to get the possible additional support to improve the quality of work.

 It has been inferred from the findings that the western organisation is experiencing a conflict of interest. Gray & Williams (2012) stated that such situation arises when an individual's personal interest conflict with professional position (refer to section 4.1).  Such type of situation arises when an individual prioritises its personal interests over organisational duties. Self-dealing is a type of conflict of interest where an individual takes some benefits from the rivalry organisation. Such steps will benefit an individual but will hamper the present organisation. Conflict of interest can also take place when an individual passes the confidential files to the rival organisation for its personal benefit. It is important for a member to keep aside the personal interests while making a decision and need to stay focus on the concerns of the firm. In the opinion of (Gray & Williams, 2012), it can be inferred that conflict of interest arises when an individual is unable to balance the personal interest and an organisational concerns (refer to section 4.1).

As has been assessed from the findings that ‘The West’ is facing interpersonal issues. As per the Pluut & Curseu (2012), the impact of interpersonal conflicts can be witnessed both in personal and in the firm level (refer to section 4.1). Every member in a team has its personality and mindset, so it is difficult to predict an individual's reaction in different matters. When there is a conflict in the group, the factors like group dynamics and personality styles needed to be considered by the facilitators of the group. If the conflict is managed efficiently by identifying the issue and trying to resolve, it will be productive for the firm. As per Pluut & Curseu (2012) in case the issue remains unsolved, it will end up creating stress for both the parties (refer to section 4.1).

Outcomes of the conflict in “The West” and “India” work teams

It has been evaluated from the findings that the Indian organisation is experiencing scarcity of resources. According to the Sehrawat (2014), the firms does not have the supply of adequate resources for a proper functioning of the firm (refer to section 4.1). Due to the scarcity of the resources, the firm has to look for some choices that best suits the inadequate resource for the completion of the project.  The firm needs to make the best use of the limited amount of resource for the attainment of the organisational goal. In the view of Sehrawat (2014), in the case of unfair distribution of resources, a conflicting situation arises among the sub-departments of the firm (refer to section 4.1).

Conclusion

By the above research analysis, it can be determined that the constructive dimension of conflict management works well on team performance. This, directly and indirectly, create a positive influence amongst the team members.  Evaluating the secondary information, a conclusion can be derived that the Indian organisations are following the destructive dimensions of limiting the available resources, which degraded the quality of employee performances. Thus, to create constructive dimension, the management of the organisations have strictly instructed the line and the departmental managers to fairly distribute the required resources to employees to improve the performance criteria. On the other hand, ‘The West’ organisations are experiencing the conflict of interests. Herein, the internal members are not somewhat satisfied with the strategies taken by the management; therefore, the employees form the tendency of imposing individual interest within the workplace, which contradicts with the management’s style. Thus, interactive sessions are taken to reduce the gap between employees and employers.

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