Power and Conflict within organisations

What is conflict?

In the work place conflict can easily arise in many different forms and at any level within the business. The main reason conflict arises is because of differing attitudes, beliefs, goals and the way that people like to work. When conflict happens efficiency of work will drop and so will the level that it is being produced at which ultimately causes more conflict higher up in the business as executives will start to put more pressure on senior managers and so on until more pressure is built up on the employees at the lower end of the business. Mullins also suggests this “Conflict is present where there is an incompatibility of goals arising from opposing behaviours at the individual, group or organisation level.” (Mullins 2007)

Conflict with in a group

One area that I have witnesses conflict, was when myself and other senior prefects at my school were put in charge of raising money and organising our A-level end of year prom. The main area of conflict that arose in this situation was, there were too many people working on one area resulting in people having conflicting views on how to spend the money raised on the prom as some people wanted to have a DJ some wanted a free drinks and some people wanted to get some sort of entertainer and people within the group would not back down on the idea as they had an equal say on what would happen with the money as they had worked hard and gone through the trouble of raising it. Eventually the small area of conflict grew until people with in the affected groups refused to talk to each other and raise anymore funds for the prom. To overcome this problem a meeting was held where it was agreed that each option would be put down on a poster and displayed around the sixth form areas of the school so that the people would be attending the prom could vote on what they wanted, making it fair. This resolved the conflict within the group as it was not seen as one group of people had personally won as it was done by a democratic vote, allowing the smoothing running of the prom.

What sources of power are there?

There are a few different ways people can gain power and the most commonly used types in business are French & Raven’s 5 power theory’s from 1959 the first type is:

Reward power, this type of power looks at the face that employees will be more motivated to do their work or extra work to the best of their ability if they know they will receive something good back in return. “The subordinate’s perception that the leader has the ability and resources to obtain rewards for those who comply with directives” (Mullins 2007). This form of power not only motivates staff but can also act as a de-motivator as employees will not want to work unless they are getting a reward or if they do not perceive the reward to be of enough value to them.

The second type of power is Expert power. This is “Based on the subordinate’s perception of the leader as someone who is competent and who has come special knowledge or expertise in a given area” (Mullins 2007). This type of power is based on the leader’s clear knowledge, credibility or expertise. Due to the leaders skills they are trusted within the business and seen as a sturdy person who can be trusted, encouraging employees to listen and do what the leader says. This form of leadership is most apparent when the person has been working for the business for a long time.

Legitimate power acts upon authority of the person related to their position within the business this is “Based on the subordinates perception that the leader has a right to exercise influence because of the leader’s role or position in the organisation” (Mullins 2007). This can be seen in building work as the people working at the lower end such as the brick layer would take instruction and be lead by the site manager.

Referent power acts upon a person’s personal skills they are often followed because they are generally well liked by many people with in the business and are able to keep a good relationship between all levels of the business from senior managers down to lower grade employees. This is “Based on the subordinate’s identification with the leader. The leader exercises influence because of perceived attractiveness, personal characteristics, reputation or charisma” (Mullins 2007)

The last type of power is Coercive power, which is “Based on fear and the subordinate’s perception that the leader has the ability to punish or bring about undesirable outcomes for those who do not comply” (Mullins 2007). When used within a business this can cause fast but short term improvements on work and output as employees feel threatened and pressured to do what the leader say’s because of their harsh ways of getting results and as the leader may hold promotions back or privileges, but in the long run this type of leadership will result in high de-motivation

How can companies over come conflict?

As conflict can arise very easily in a business, companies must look at ways of minimising conflict. One way that they can do this is by having in place Human resource management policies to make sure that each employee has equal opportunities and pay rights.

Another way businesses can make sure conflict does not happen too often is by having good communication links within the business making sure that all levels of the business have a good relationship. This will allow decision making and employee involvement easier.

Thirdly businesses can make sure that goals and objectives are clearly laid out for all work so they know exactly what they need to be aiming for and they can see if they are on track to meet those goals or need to look at what is going on within the team

As well as this employees need to know that they have the chance to talk about any problems that may be hassling them or and problems they may foresee. This gives employees the knowledge that if anything dose happen that they do not agree with their is somewhere they can go to sort it out

Lastly employees need to know that there are disciplinary procedures in place so that if they do something wrong they will be reprimanded and that if they are aware of something bad happening to them or a college they can report it.

Conflict situation how was it solved

One area that conflict can clearly be seen repeatedly is on TV show Big Brother, every year the TV programme is on there are always arguments due to the different personalities and the goals of the people on the show. Generally conflict is sorted out on this show by calling the victim or offending people to the dairy room where they have to talk through what has happened and why things have resulted the way they have to Big Brother, generally allowing each party to talk about the problems solves the conflict but sometimes harsher punishments are given such as being thrown of the show.

Conclusion

Overall it is very hard to avoid conflict. But many different practices can be put in place to minimise the effect and trouble conflict causes, showing that although there cannot be a perfect balance it is possible for businesses to create effective team working groups.

References

Mullins, L. (2007) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 8th edition. Essex: Pearson Education Limited