Communicating During Organizational Conflict
KP Haueter kphaueter@hotmail.com BUS3050
Spring 2013
Shayne Narjes
9 Jun 13

* Introduction
Communicating effectively during periods of organizational conflict is an important part of organizational success. This paper will discuss the challenge of effective communication as illustrated by a recent change of direction at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies (Marshall Center). First it will identify the situation of change and conflict at the Marshall Center. This will be done by identifying the knowledge, skills, sensitivity, and values that come into play as they have been taught throughout this term. Second, this paper will discuss the possible alternatives to address the situation and test the possible solutions. Lastly, the paper will propose solutions and recommend implementation plans. * Overview of the Organization and Case Study
The Marshall Center is a highly respected German and American partnership based in Garmisch, Germany. It has 175 employees and has recently undergone a transformation. The fiscal and political realities of decreased defense budgets in the United States and Germany have led to a need for consolidation of responsibilities and decrease in the number of employees.
The dean of the College of International and Security Studies (the College) was recently tasked with the responsibility of combining resident and outreach programs within the College. Previously, outreach programs existed as a separate division within the Marshall Center and had consisted of three regional teams: Central and Southeast Europe; Eurasia and the Black Sea; and Central Asia. The dean’s challenge was to integrate the regional outreach teams into the College and to build teams that include a faculty member within each regional team.
Historically, faculty members had spoken at events planned and executed by the regional outreach teams and were seen as playing a supportive role in those events. Now a faculty member was to be fully integrated within each regional team. The challenge for the dean was determining what role the faculty members will now play on each regional team.
The organizational problem that this scenario addresses is that of organizational conflict. The dean had the assignment to combine two previously distinct entities into one functioning set of teams. This case is associated with organizational conflict. Pamela Schockley-Zalabak (2009) defines conflict as "a process that occurs when individuals, small groups, or organizations perceived or experienced frustration in attaining goals and addressing concerns" (p. 295). This case study will endeavor to evaluate the underlying communications theories and process the Marshall Center went through to address this organizational conflict. * Identify and Describe the Situation or Problem * Knowledge * The major problem is that leadership assigned regional team leads without consulting the team members or newly assigned team members. The existing teams included the faculty and the regional outreach teams. The faculty focused primarily on planning, directing, and lecturing at resident courses lasting one week to several months. The regional outreach teams were responsible for planning and executing one to four-day events in the 25 different countries that comprise the Marshall Center’s area of responsibility. * The minor problem is that there continue to be challenges communicating between the previous team leaders and the newly assigned team leaders. Although the Dean decided that a faculty member would join and lead the regional teams, there remain constant challenges to the effective communication between the faculty members and the previous outreach team leaders, who remain on the teams but who have been relegated to a less prestigious role. * Theories regarding organizational conflicts, including individual conflict styles and strategic objectives, are covered in Chapter 9 of Fundamentals of Organizational Communication, Knowledge, Sensitivity, Skills, Values, the text for this term (Schockley-Zalabak, 2009). Schockley-Zalabak defines conflict as the “process that occurs when individuals, small groups, or organizations perceive or experience frustration in attaining goals and addressing concerns” (p. 295). The situation this case study describes is a perfect example of organizational conflict. The changes precipitated by the Dean’s decision to integrate the faculty and outreach teams have and continue to frustrate individual Marshall Center employees as well as the small group outreach teams. * Schockley-Zalabak discusses participative management as an organizational theory that is in play here. She outlines the theory, created by Rensis Likert of the Institute of Social Research at the University of Michigan, as being “employee-centered management based on effectively functioning groups linked together throughout the organization” (p. 75). The Marshall Center comprises an excellent example of the participative management theory. Each directorate and division in the center is based on linking groups of employees to accomplish the mission of resident and outreach courses on international and security studies. * There is information missing about the means used to decide the makeup of the new team concept. It is unknown how management decided to assign the leadership roles and how the teams can best function moving forward. This has lead to frustration on the part of individuals and teams in communicating effectively as we move forward. * It is important to note that we proceed with the assumption that the organization wishes to succeed, that its people want to work together for the good of the organization, and that these communication challenges can be overcome. * Sensitivity * It appears that the dean of the College of International and Security Studies was responsible for the communications challenges being faced. That dean made the decision, seemingly arbitrarily, to integrate the outreach teams into the College while placing a faculty member as the leader of the outreach teams. That dean retired just weeks after announcing his decision and did not seem to be sensitive to the professional needs or desires of the integrated teams or their existing leaders. * Schockley-Zalabak states that shared realities are: "Meanings resulting from the communication process; attempts to have others understand our world as we do or as we intend for it to be understood and our efforts to comprehend the world of those around us. As a process for the construction of shared realities, human communication is dynamic and ever changing." (p. 13). * The shared realities in the organization include those between individual employees (interpersonal communication) of the Marshall Center as well as between many individuals (group communication) (Schockley-Zalabak, p. 13). They include the efforts to have both individuals and groups understand what is required in meeting the mission of the Marshall Center. * Part of the challenge in effectively communicating during the Marshall Center’s organizational conflict concerns the communication skills of the principal individuals. Some of the individuals are good communicators, while some of the individuals have greater challenges communicating. * Another challenge to the effective communication during this phase is that the principals in this case are not assuming responsibility for the communication behaviors. They made a command decision without consulting the affected team members. In fact, the principal who made the decision retired and left the organization only two weeks after the decision went into effect. * Skills * The case principals have individual skills within their previous areas of expertise. The new team leader has exceptional skills as a lecturing faculty member. The previous outreach team leaders have excellent skills in leading their regional teams in planning and executing outreach events. * In spite of their respective and previous individual skills, additional skills are needed. The principals need to improve their interaction process skills as described by Shockley-Zalabak in Chapter 8. She promotes interaction process skills as “based on an understanding of the communication process; an awareness of individual predispositions, strategies, and tactics in a variety of circumstances; and knowledge and sensitivity for decision making and problem solving” (p. 270). * These skills could be developed by better understanding the communication process as Shockley-Zalabak described it above; by being aware of individual predispositions, strategies, and tactics; and knowing and being sensitive in the decision-making and problem-solving processes (p. 271). * So far, some overall organizational skills are lacking. The dean should have gotten buy in from all affected parties before making a decision that affected everyone. He should have engaged the newly integrated outreach teams; gained rapport, and shown support prior to his decision to install faculty members at the head of the outreach teams. * Nevertheless, there are the major organizational strengths. The 175 employees of the Marshall Center do a great job in their individual capacities working together as one team comprised of separate divisions in accomplishing the overall mission of the organization. * Values * Different things appear to be important or valuable to the involved individuals. Shockley-Zalabak describes several different orientations in work values in chapter 4. These include locus of control, self-esteem, tolerance of ambiguity, social judgment, and risk taking (pgs. 107-109). Two of these value dimensions, which Shockley-Zalabak attributes to Roger Howe, Maynard Howe, and Mark Mindel, appear to be important to those involved. Locus of control, or the “value we place as organizational members on connections between our efforts and the success or failure of the organization” (p.107), is of great importance to this paper’s author. It seems that self-esteem, or the “value we place on recognition for work, positive feedback, and the use of our contributions” (p. 107) is of importance to the faculty member now at the head of one of the outreach teams. * The culture of the Marshall Center is one of synergies in how its mission is accomplished as well as how that mission is communicated within and outside the institution. Shockley-Zalabak colors it as the “unique sense of the place that organizations generate through ways of doing and ways of communicating about the organization” (p. 47). The Marshall Center is specialized (although not unique) in its mission to educate countries and individuals throughout Europe and Eurasia on international and security studies. It regularly communicates this sense to the employees as well as the center’s stakeholders and the public. * The individual and organizational goals are different and yet compatible. While individuals are working separately to reach their personal and professional goals, they are also working together to meet the goals of the Marshall Center. The success in meeting both the individual goals and organizational goals can be measured in the accolades bestowed upon faculty members and the almost 100% praise the organization consistently receives for both its resident and outreach work. * Develop Alternatives and Test the “Reality” of Possible Solutions * Consideration should be given to reevaluating who has the lead of the regional outreach teams. Should it remain a faculty member or should it be the original regional team chiefs? In this respect two options exist: maintain the status quo with the faculty member as the regional director and the previous outreach team chiefs as the regional managers in a support role; or return to the previous model of the regional managers being the team leaders and having the faculty members serve as advisors. It is possible that these alternatives could be combined if the faculty member (regional manager) is able to focus on the content of the events while the regional manager is able to focus on the logistics and execution of the events. * For the possibilities to have a chance, the previous team chief could approach the dean of the faculty in an effort to have the current setup revisited and reconsidered. However, it remains to be seen if the people involved are willing to change. It is an honor for a faculty member to be a regional program director and less likely that they will be willing to be relegated to a support and advisory role. * The author proposes a revisitation of the current leader assignment. The reasoning for this solution selection is to restore the previous team leaders to the positions they held. In the current situation these high-ranking military officers are relegated to a subordinate role, which is not commensurate with their rank. The military officers would be responsible for the overall team effectiveness for the regional outreach teams. The faculty members would serve as advisers for content and academic excellence in the outreach events. * The implementation of this solution can happen quickly; with a decision on the part of the dean, the swapping of overall responsibility between the faculty members and military officers could occur immediately. After implementation, the solution could be evaluated based on how well the faculty members and the military officers communicate and work together to ensure the Marshall Center provides the best outreach events possible to its stakeholders and customers.
Summary
The Marshall Center is renowned for its work throughout Europe and Eurasia. Reductions in the defense budgets of the United States and Germany have necessitated change at the center. While these changes have brought organizational conflict, the center continues to fulfill its resident and outreach missions. By understanding the organizational communication theories taught in this term’s text and acting upon them, the dean of the College can better manage the organizational conflict and help the Marshall Center to do even better than it in its first 20 years.

Reference
Schockley-Zalabak, P. S. (2009). Fundamentals of Organizational Communication: Knowledge, Sensitivity, Skills, Values (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.