Employee Relations and Conflict Management

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Introduction























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Section 01
1.1 Traditional and New Virtual Organizations
Study Mode (2010) and Reference for Business (2014), traditional organizations are form,
common, and pyramid structured organizations, were they is delegated authority, in a pyramid
structure where individuals at the top is in charge of all functions with subordinates handling all
the sub sections.
Hemingway and Bren (2003), traditional organizations, do face ongoing pressures to become
more flexible and responsive to more change, looking increasingly to virtualization in order to
reduce organizational slack, facilitate continuous learning and capitalize on core competencies.
Any new organizational form characterized by a temporary or a permanent collection of
geographically dispersed individuals, groups or organizational departments that are more
dependent on electronic communication for carrying out any work are known as the
organizations which have adopted virtualization (Marcin and Wojciech, 2005). The very essence
of virtual organization is outsourcing finishing necessary work out of the company boundaries.
Further analyzed by Tomic (2014), virtual organizations are nothing more than traditional
organizations, but different ways it operates such as more use of electronic communication.
1.2 Traditional versus Virtual Organizations
Factors Traditional Organization Virtual Organization
Absence of Preverbal
/ Non-verbal Cues
There is face to face
communication in traditional
organizations.
There is electronic
communication System in
virtual organizations so there
is absence of preverbal cues
Limited Social Contacts
As traditional org. works
manually, Easy accessibility
of Social Contacts
Communication is done
through internet so there are
limited social contacts
Ability to overcome time&
space constraints
Lack of proper utilization of
technology
Highly technological in nature
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Technology
Works manually so less
technological
It works through electronic
media so its highly
technological in nature
No scope for technically
unskilled workers
In traditional organizations
skilled & unskilled workers
are accommodated
Organizations are highly
computerized so only
technically skilled workers are
required.
Effective for bigger
organizations
Small organization with
limited area, work manually,
work is contented with the
available manpower, no need of
huge technology & capital
Need high technology&
higher investment &skilled
persons.
Table 1: Different Factors of Traditional and Virtual Organizations
Source: Dulange (2012
1.3 Case Review
The case study of How Do You Manage an Off-Site Team by Maruca (1998), is considering a
conflict that has occurred by the organization being virtualization adopted. The conflict has
occurred between two off-site team members, Allison Scher and Penelope Ryan (Penny). The
conflict is about a personality clash between the two team members. The poor management by
Craig Bedell, head of business-to-business division, also the manager in charge of the off-site
time, made the conflict between the two expand overtime.
As mentioned by Tomic (2005), virtual organizations main essence is outsourcing, which has
various negative and positive sides. Therefore organizations adopting virtualization have to
develop and change its management styles and rules. Miles (1998), states that Craig has had no
much attention on the management style and rules for the off-site team, Miles (1998) also
implements some rule and styles that Craig would have used such as, meet the group ones or
twice a week and allocate specific time that off-site members are to work and be reached each
and every day. Instead of implying the following management styles, such as only meeting the
team ones in a two weeks time, lacked meeting the members face-to-face ultimately the conflict
between the two grew (paragraph B
3
).
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Another most important fact that affects the virtualized organization is the process of
communication. Having a good process of communication is the key element for the conduction
of good employee relations at work place. The conflict occurred between Allison and Penny
wasnt consulted face-to-face by Craig, all the issues that was faced were reported through e-
mail and as stated by Richardson and Burk (2001), remote communication particularly e-mail,
while increasing prevalent, is not a good channel to deal with conflict and more electronic
interactions will escalate conflict. Also further analyzed by Richardson and Burk (2001), non-
verbal communication such as, gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice and etc are very
important in human communication process, especially in conflict situations. When using
electronic communication there are specific breakdowns such as not seen the inbox of e-mails
(paragraph C
5
). Therefore communicating electronically is not and never will be effective as
speaking to someone in person and observing the facial expressions and body language (Egan,
1998).
Appointing leaders for off-site work teams is a crucial aspect. The given case study the off-site
team wasnt appointed with a leader, but Craig use to discuss team issues and performance with
Penny making her an informal leader (paragraph A
1
). Instead Craig was supposed to meet with
all the team members for any issue or a performance discussion.
Therefore considering the above stated facts it is supposed that virtual organizations has to go
into more depth in thoughtful planning and more attentive management, mainly because of
outsourcing.
Section 02
2.1 Not all Working Groups are a Team Katzenbach and Smith (1993)
Karzenbach and Smith (1993), the label team has been used so loosely; people or organizations
tend to call any group of people working together a team. The term team used for a group of
people is different in various ways than working group of people in an organization.
According to Karzenbach and Smith (1993), team is a small number of people with
complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and
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approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. The basic difference explained
by Karzenbach and Smith (1993), between teams and working group is that, working groups rely
primarily on the individual contribution of its members whereas teams rely on both individual
and group (mutual) accountability. It is also stated that teams do perform better than working
groups, mutual accountability. Refer Figure 1, team performance curve. Refer Table 2, the major
differences between teams and working groups.










Teams Working Groups
Shared leadership Strong, clearly focused leader
Individual and mutual accountability Individual accountability
Collective work products Individual wok products
Encourages open-ended discussion and active
problem-solving meetings
Runs efficient meetings
Measures performance directly by assessing Measures its effectiveness indirectly by its
Figure 1: Team Performance Curve
Source: Karzenbach and Smith (1993)

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collective work products influence on others (such as financial
performance of the business)

Source: Karzenbach and Smith (1993)
2.2 Case Review
The case study has been using term team for the Pnobscott project employees, including Allison
and Penny. Considering the Karzenbach and Smith (1993) theories and definitions the Pnobscott
project team is a working group. According to the HBR case (1998), the Pnobscott project team
is known as a virtual team. Many organizations have been taking advantage of globalization,
outsourcing, and communication technology advances to enter new markets and compete
wherever and whenever possible, due to this more virtual teams are created in organizations
(Copeland, 2006 cited by Saafein and Shaykhian, 2013). It is important for virtual teams to be an
actual team in order to be successful.
In the HBR virtual team case (1998), the Pnobscott team doesnt have a proper leadership, team
spirit, team synergy or a common objective.
Even though the team is considered to be a working group, they dont have a focused neither a
shared leadership, this is also being a major fact for the creation of conflict since Craig always
contact with Penny to discuss most of the issues making Penny an informal leader to the team,
paragraph A
1
and B
4,
where Craig is more biased to Penny.
The competition among the team members is extensive, especially between Allison and Penny
(paragraph A
2
where Penny even had an unknown schedule) this also shows that the team
members are also not having a common purpose. The team doesnt have an open-ended
discussion and active problem-solving meetings, causing this the conflict have been rising. The
project team also tend to report any of the issues to one manager (Craig Bedell) and as stated by
Hertel et al (2005), virtual groups tend to report to one manager and virtual teams exists when
the members of the group interact with each other in order to accomplish common goals.
Table 2: Differences between Teams and Working Groups
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Considering the above information it is being clear that team is not an actual team and even
being categorized as a working group, working group activities are not being followed properly.
This will also affect the future operations of the organization as well.
Section 03
3.1 What Caused the Conflict?
According to Roloff (1987), organizational conflict occurs when members engage in activities
that are incompatibla with those of colleagues within their network, members of their collectivity
and etc. Basically conflict is the disagreement between two or more parties who are
interdependent, conflicts such as, intergroup, interpersonal and intrapersonal exists in an
organization (Shin, 2005). In the HBR virtual team case (1998), the conflict is occurred between
two persons working in the same virtual group. Identified by Draft (1992) and Terry (1996),
there are seven different factors causing conflict in an organization; scares of resources (money,
supplies), jurisdictional ambiguities (job boundaries and task responsibilities are unclear),
personality clash (when two people dont get along), power and status difference, goal
differences and communication breakdown.
Considering the HBR virtual team case (1998), it is seen that the main reasons for the conflict to
occur was a personality clash between Allison and Penny, which was backed up by the poor
management of the manager in charge of the virtual group (Egan, 1998, Miles, 1998, Birstler,
1998, and Klayton-Mi, 1998). According Bristler (1998), conflict between Allison and Penny
created after they were being made to work off-site. The personality clash between the two, it
was more of a competitive situation between them where Penny would agree on Allisons work
also made hostile situation for Allison and these situations has been building for sometime
(paragraph A
1
and A
2
). Conflict that was occurred was informed to the manager in charge,
through e-mails, but wasnt considered as a serious issue (paragraph A
1
and B
5
). One of the facts
that led to increase the conflict situation is that the Craig is being more biased to Penny, Craig
used to individually discuss with Penny, as she works in the office more than the others, about
team performance and issues as well as Allisons performances, making Penny an informal
leader where there was no proper leader appointed or a shared leadership style in the Pnobscott
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project team (paragraph B
4
and D
1
). Penny acting and being treated as a leader was escalating the
conflict between the two, as well as making Allison more upset since Allison had more working
experience in the particular organization (paragraph C
3
). The communication breakdown of not
meeting face-to-face every time and using electronic media, some of the e-mails where not seen
(paragraph C
5
), and as stated by Egan (1998) and Richardson and Burk (2001), face-to-face is
much more needed and effective than electronic means of communication.
According to Galtung (2009), conflict has been defined in terms of incompatibilities, of
contradictions, and that should not be confused with the attitudinal and behavioral consequences
of conflict, often destructive; put together in the A-B-C conflict triangle. Refer Figure 2.







Source: Galtung (2009)

The triangle serves double purpose of keeping the three apart, and of relating them with the
arrows of two-way causation.
Attitudes of the conflicting parties, either would be defensive attitude against the conflict or an
attitude of escalation the conflict, for instance; Allison always tried to defend (informing each
and every issue to Craig) herself against the conflict escalating attitude of Penny (meeting with
Craig to discuss performance of Allison). The behavior of one person or the conflicting parties
such as, aggressive behavior against another creates conflict, for instance; Penny behaving as a
leader/supervisor to Allison and the team even though she is not the leader made hostile
Conflict
Behavior Attitude
Figure 2: A-B-C Conflict Triangle
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conditions for the members (paragraph C
1
, C
2
and C
4
). The conflict or the context is the major
cause of conflict such as communication barriers, leadership styles, power status, goal
differences and etc.
3.2 Options for Resolving the Conflict
Conflicts are inescapable in an organization, further discussed by Mukthar (2012), conflict is
not a new issue, it is natural and conflicts do exists with the existence of human beings. In order
to deal with conflict, it would be either follow conflict management or conflict resolution.
According to Rahim (2002), conflict management involves using micro level strategies to
minimize dysfunction and enhance constructive functions in conflict and conflict resolution tend
to reduce and terminate conflict by using procedures such as, mediation, negotiation and
arbitration. An organization, manger or the conflicting parties has various options for resolving a
conflict. Below are three different models which are tended to mage a conflict.
3.2.1 Rizzo and Carrolls Strategies to Managing Conflict (1986)
Option Description Case Review
Styles
Includes styles such as
integrating, obliging,
dominating and avoiding
(Rahim, 2002) that a
conflict is handled
Craig used the style of
avoiding the conflict
considering it was normal
(paragraph B
5
).

Improving Organizational
Practices
The use of organizational
practices to resolve the
problem
Craig would have practiced
altering the communication
(meeting every week instead
of every two weeks time),
establish specific goals and
etc.
Special Roles and Structures
A manager has to-initiate
structural changes needed,
including re-location or
There is no proper structure
(leader for the group) and
special roles assigned to the
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merging of specialized
units.
members
Table 3: Strategies of Rizzo and Carroll (1986)

3.2.2 Khun and Pooles Strategies to Managing Conflict (2000)
Option Description Case Review
Distributive
Conflict is approached as a distribution
of a fixed amount of positive outcomes
or resources, where one side will end
up winning and the other losing, even if
they do win some concessions.
Obliging and dominating style.
The conflict is shared
between Allison and Penny,
but if conflict wont stop
ultimately one party would
win
Integrative
Sees conflict as a chance to integrate
the needs and concerns of both groups
and make the best outcome possible.
Compromising style.
Craig would be able to see
the concerns of both parties
and make decisions as to
comfort them (such as make
decision to have a shared
leadership, paragraph C
1

and C
2
show Allisons
concern about leadership)
Table 4: Strategies of Khun and Poole for Managing Conflict
Source: Khun and Poole, (2000) and Rahim, (2002)





Source: Rizzo and Carroll, (1986) and Rahim, (2002)


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3.2.3 De Bono's Strategies to Managing Conflict (1985)
Options Description Case Review
Fight
Try to eliminate, overcome and
prevent any issues by
continuous fight until one wins
or they figure out what was
wrong in them
Let Allison and Penny fight,
until they mange the issue
themselves
Craig can influence them to fight
or influence them not to.
Negotiation
Try to reach an agreement on
the conflict through discussion
Craig as the manager in charge
can bring the two conflict
creators and make them
negotiate with each and Craig
negotiate with them on different
issues.
Problem solve
Find out solution for the
conflict occurred, which would
be difficult to deal and
understand. Integrating process
(Rahim, 2002)
Allison and Penny could discuss
between them and solve the
problem.
Craig as the manger in charge
should find for solutions relevant
issues caused without letting the
conflict to continue or till the
two solves it
Design
Produce a plan or plan on how
to resolve the conflict
Craig has to design a conflict
handling plan such as producing
a set of organizational practices,
ways to be more close to the
group (communication plan
design) and etc.
Table 5: De Bono's Strategy to Managing Conflict
Source: De Bono's (1985) and Rahim, (2002)
The model that Craig can best use is the Khun and Pooles (2000), which allows him to interfere
into each and every issue (such as communication and leadership issues) effectively. Since the
conflict has being growing for some time Craig should focus much more on Problem Solving
and Designing of plans to overcome the conflict. Strategies used in the models can be defined in
to three broad types of resolution methods; Co-operative methods (negotiations), Competitive
methods (combat) and Third Party method (arbitration) (Easterbrook, 1991).
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3.3 Can the Rift between Allison and Penny Mend?
As mentioned in the HBR virtual team case (1998), the conflict had been growing overtime and
it is in a situation where the conflict cannot be resolved but be managed. In order to manage the
conflict Craig should follow proper conflict management styles.
Section 04
Conflict management styles consist of two different styles; Kilmann (1974), management styles
to resolve a conflict and Rahim (2002), styles to mange a conflict. According to Rahim (2011),
there are five styles in managing conflict; integrating, obliging, dominating, avoiding and
compromising. Refer Figure 3.

Figure 3: Management Styles of Managing Conflict
Source: Rahim (2002)
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Styles Description Case Review
Integrating

Style is associated with
problem solving, involve
openness, exchange of
information to reach effective
solutions
Very much needed style that is
to be practiced, but not used
by any party in the conflict
Obliging
Style is associated with one
person neglecting own
concerns for others concern
Allison is more into the
obliging style (paragraph A
3
)
and Penny used the style for
some extent, the writing of
letter to the client (paragraph
B
4
)
Dominating
Style consider one party trying
to win in a win or lose
situation
Penny is more into the this
style, especially influencing
Craig about Allisons issues
(paragraph C
2
)
Avoiding
Used when dysfunctional
effect of confronting and other
party outweighs the benefit of
the resolution of the conflict
Considering the Harvard
virtual team case, Craig uses
avoiding approach (A
1
, B
4
,
B
5
), which is not being
suitable
Compromising
Used when goals of parties are
mutually exclusive and
equally powerful
No party involved in the
conflict uses the
compromising strategy
Table 6: Conflict Management Styles
Source: Rahim (2002) and Maruca (1998)
As evident above HBR virtual team case (1998), uses the styles of avoiding, obliging and
dominating. But according to Rahim (2002 and 2011), integrating and compromising are the best
styles that can be used to manage conflict.

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Styles When to be Used