Conflicts in the Work Place
Melody Johnson
Strayer University Winter 12’
Professor Albert Yin

In this paper I will discuss the affects of conflict, decision making and organizational design in the work place. When people work together, there will be tension and conflict between individuals and groups from time to time. Even in the best of work environments, organizational tension is inevitable. Conflict is the natural outcome of disagreement often resulting from individuals or groups with differing values, desired outcomes, or frame of reference. Such workplace tension produces a situation where executives can spend time up-front by finding resolution through negotiation or spend time on the backend trying to resolve a destructive battle. Left unmanaged, organizational tension and conflict will inflict unnecessary pain through internal struggles and in the worst scenarios cause long term strife to the organization or loss of talented employees. In my current position as a supervisor I am faced with conflict, decision making and organizational designs daily. I supervise a team of investigators and at times there are differences in the workplace amongst the team. As a supervisor it is my job to try to diffuse the situation to ensure that it doesn’t escalate. By diffusing, I would need to come up with a strategy that would benefit both parties. When I was researching Branson, for example Branson believed in hiring the best people to run businesses. People are important so the strategies would be to use the employee’s best qualities to address conflict. During my research I learned a lot of things about how to deal with people in their environment. Some positive ways that one could strategize is by:
-Showing interest in others, being responsive to their needs
- Consults and includes others in decision-making
- Conducts regular, effective meetings to set