UNIVERSITY OF MINDANAO

Professional School of Business

Matina, Davao City

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement of the Subject MBA 200 Human

Resource and Global Management

Strategic Human Resource Management Case :

Workplace Conflict Case Study – Bullying and Friction in the Workplace

Submitted to:

Joel B. Tan, CPA, MBA

Prepared by:

Sheverly del Castillo

Background of the Study

A 25 year old recreational facility with 80 unionized and non-unionized

employees including long serving employees with seniority and a mix of younger,
less experienced staff with limited seniority. For years, management was aware of
workplace conflict issue resulting from poor communication that existed between
staff, with symptoms including friction between older and younger staff, and inability
for staff to change.

Management’s response to the workplace conflict had been to keep conflicted

parties away from each other, intentionally avoiding the underlying issues resulting
the workplace conflicts. Lack of response led to a slow but steady escalation into
negative behavior with reports of bullying and even one incident of physical striking.
In short – management was avoiding trying to deal with the root cause of the
workplace conflict.

Reflection

For many people, including myself, the word ‘bullying’ may spark unpleasant
memories. It usually involves acts or verbal comments that could mentally hurt or
isolate a person in the workplace. The sad reality is, people can be bullied at any age
and in any situation. The tactics may change but the behavior is unfortunately not that
different. Adults are bullied at their workplace on a regular basis.

Working in an environment who has a poor communication can surely lead to

conflict. The management was aware of the workplace conflict issue that resulting
them to think for an answer to resolve the problem. ProActive Resolution was brought
in to help address and remedy the situation with the goal of creating a long term,
sustainable solution that was accepted by everyone involved in the workplace conflict.
I agree on how the management handles the issue because since the damage has
been done in terms of personal relationship with the employees, where it will affect
their productivity or their work performance. It helps them to realize that they need to
take responsibility of their action. They learned to respect each other’s differences,
they listen more and they became more considerate of others. People, who in the past
would not even look at each other, are now using Straight Talk and working out their
differences in a professional manner.
 ProActive are designed to help organizations prevent the negative effects of
workplace conflict, and to set the wheels in motion for greater harmony – and therefore
greater productivity – in the workplace. With the right knowledge, people can work
through issues and prevent serious problems that eventually lead to absent, stress
leaves and resignations – or in the most extreme cases, workplace violence. Let’s be
open minded to fixed problems to our co-workers or colleagues for us to be able to live
in a harmonious workplace.

Recommendation:

Conflict can occur in any organization when employees with different backgrounds and
priorities work together. Conflict can be expressed in numerous ways such as insults,
noncooperation, bullying and anger. No employee wants to Bullied in a workplace. If
conflict at work isn’t resolved, it can cause stress, frustration, loss of sleep, a bad
temperament, illness, being unproductive or other issues for individual employees.

Many companies establish policies and procedures with the good intention of
preventing workplace conflict or achieving some sort of conflict resolution.

According to ProActive ReSolutions executive Dr. Stephen Hart, “In most

companies, when negative behavior happens, people just don’t know how to address
it. They are afraid of confrontation. They aren’t sure what their rights are as
individuals, and they aren’t sure what words to choose.”

Hart says even when employees and managers do work up the nerve to address a
negative situation and try to achieve some sort of conflict resolution, they often
employ tactics that cause greater anxiety and misunderstanding. Without meaning
to, people take actions that can feel like an attack, spinning the confronted individual
into a state of denial and resentment.

Tips to Achieve Workplace Conflict Resolutions

 Don’t react in anger. Express your feelings in a clear and non-threatening way.
Creating an open, receptive environment reduces the chances of escalating
the conflict and increased the changes of coming to a conflict resolution.
  Explain how the situation has affected you. Often people don’t ask or even
consider about how others are affected by their behavior, so addressing this
directly can deliver true insight.
 Create a productive work environment. As a leader, you must clearly define
acceptable workplace behavior. That means you must have zero-tolerance
policies against disrespectful behavior such as discrimination and harassment.
Also make it clear what other behaviors aren’t acceptable, such as gossip,
favoritism, and sabotage like what happened in the case. Set the example for
your team with your own behavior.
 Train supervisors and managers to manage potential conflicts caused by
delegating work or distributing coveted assignments. Include training on how
to avoid supervisor bias in everyday situations as well as during performance
evaluations. Supervisor bias leads to unequal treatment of employees. When
employees feel they're being treated unfairly, they can become discouraged
and discontented. This in turn can create workplace conflict and poor working
relationships. Equitable treatment of employees reduces the likelihood of
conflict.

Reference

ReSolutions, P. (n.d.). 6 Workplace Conflict Resolution Strategies – Create A

Respectful Workplace. Retrieved from https://proactive-
resolutions.com/article/creating-a-respectful-workplace-workplace-conflict-resolution-
strategies-2/

Proactive Conflict Management - How to Stop Conflict before It Starts. (2019, May
15). Retrieved from https://readyconvenience.com/articles/proactive-conflict-
management/