Conflict Resolution Essay Example for Free

Conflict Resolution Essay Leaders must learn how to deal with issues that may arise among their followers. Some of these issues may consist of the leader managing conflicts, handling communication challenges among team members, or addressing organizational communication needs. The communication process is important step for the transfer and understanding of meaning between individuals when working toward a goal together (Robbins Judge, 2013). With the correct style of communication utilized leaders can help to avoid conflicts among groups. Storybook #1 How would you react when a team member is being vague and trying to spin bad news to sound more positive, thereby making it harder for the team to actually approach and resolve the issue? Communication is an essential tool for the group’s success when working together as a team. When a team member chooses to be evasive or sugar coat issues or problems with a project can result in a missed deadline or complete failure depending on how bad the problem is. If a problem arises, the best thing to do is discuss it with the entire team as soon as possible to allow time to address the issue and come up with an alternative plan. How could you encourage someone to continue to voice his or her opinion or to share an idea when you know he or she is hesitant to do so? For someone who is hesitant to share his or her opinion or idea, leaders should encourage their participation by offering some their own opinions and ideas on the matter and asking a question or two regarding his or her thoughts. Through back and forth dialogue, slowly the leader would obtain the individuals ideas and opinions on the project. By obtaining everyone on the teams thoughts, a well-informed final decision can be made on how to proceed. By doing this, the reluctant team member will believe that they have contributed to the project. Storybook #2 As a manager, how would you relay an important negative message with as little impact on your team as possible? Why would you choose this method?  As a manager, delivering any negative message is a hard thing to do. It is even harder when you are trying to do it with little impact on your team.  Communicating a negative message is a difficult task and must be handled delicately to minimize the demotivating impact of the message. Negative message routinely pop up in the business world and can impact personal relationships. It is important for managers to determine the most appropriate way to deliver a negative message to employees. Managers can deliver bad news either with the direct approach or the indirect approach. The direct approach seems to be the best used when managers want to get to the point quickly and when the bad news is not too serious. When individuals compromise they are using a direct approach to resolving conflict by giving up something to gain something (Duggan Media, n.d.). The indirect approach is best used when you need to prepare the audience for what he or she is about to discover. This method is an excellent approach because it shows compassion and shows that the leader is actually making an effort to provide options. What is the best way to handle gossip before it spreads? The best way to handle gossip before it spreads it to try to catch it as it happens. Gossip usually spreads fast therefore; I would try to capture the gossip before it gets out of hand. As a manager, gossip is the negatively spreading of rumors about someone or something so by capturing the event is a great way to establish a nice working environment for everyone. How might you handle your team’s feelings after a negative situation has occurred that does not directly affect your team but affects others around them? There are several ways to handle a team’s feelings after a negative situation has occurred. As a manager, you have to know all your team’s personalities because everyone in a negative situation handles things differently. Some may need to be left alone whereas others need more of an explanation further on the negative situation. Handling negative feelings with a team depends on the team’s individual personalities. Storybook #3: What strategies would you use to help your team alleviate stress caused by deadlines before any conflict arises? Each day managers are confronted with scenarios that require attention. These can range from balancing a budget, customer service, and conflicts within teams. Managers must determine the best way to handle these situations on a case-by-case basis.  Managers must choose the best option based upon corporate culture, persons affected, and the nature of the scenario. Conflict in the workplace is inevitable and healthy. It breeds new ideas and creativity when handled properly. Conflict among teams that disrupts productivity and risks deadlines should be handled immediately. Allowing disruptive conflict in the workplace to linger, presents a threat of missed deadlines, which results in decreased revenue. This can devalue the company and the manager’s reputation, and cause the company to miss out on future opportunities for revenue in the marketplace. An important leadership responsibility is to interpret confusing events and build consensus around. Reacting to a disruptive conflict in the workplace immediately would demonstrate the manager taking on this important role. A leader immediately stepping in willing to meet with the individual’s one-on-one and as a whole to come to an agreement demonstrates what an effective leader he or she is. A manager could easily spend minutes, hours or even days trying to figure out what is standing in the way of a team coming together and successfully meeting their deadlines, but a great leader intervenes and help everybody come together to resolve conflicts to meet his or her deadlines. Multiple perspectives often conflict with one another and it is difficult to determine the best solution. Actions sometimes support one perspective. When faced with a dilemma the leader needs clarity in identifying varying perspectives to make the best decision. Opening a communication channel between emp loyees and management is a key step in establishing a comfortable environment. Conclusion Each of the Storybook scenarios demonstrates how leaders must use different methods of communication to avoid conflicts. Leaders must analyze the situation to determine which principle or style of communication is best suited for the particular circumstance. It is the leader’s responsibility to avoid conflicts among the group and to ensure that communication is being exchanged in the correct matter among team members. References Duggan, T., Media, D. (n.d.). Indirect Direct Approaches to Conflict. Retrieved from http://www.smallbusiness.chron.com Robbins, S. R., Judge, T. A. (2013). Organizational Behavior (15th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.