Conflict, Decision Making, and Organizational Design

In the contemporary society, when humans work together in a given environment, conflicts and tensions will always exist between different persons or groups from time to time. The best working environment is not exempted from conflicts and tensions. This is relatively because tensions in organizations no matter their size are inevitable. Organizational conflicts are often natural outcomes resulting from disagreements from individuals or employees in a firm. According to Champoux (2010), these disagreements arise when individual values differ or they fail to realize desired results with in a postulated time frame. The aforementioned tensions experienced in organizations sprouts a situation where firms management often spend a considerable amount of time trying to reach amicable solutions by engaging warring groups in negotiations or by trying to find a resolution to internal battles that may otherwise jeopardize the operations of an organization. Considering conflicts and tensions in an organization are not managed, it may inflict pain and disappointments that could otherwise have been avoided. These pains often result from unending internal battles and struggles between individuals and groups that may result in long term tensions and strife to a firm or even lead to loss of employees who play a cardinal role in daily operations of a firm. In this essay, I’m looking to dissect matters related to organizational conflict, decision making and organizational design in my place of work, Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami Florida USA.

            Currently I’m working as a supervisor at Jackson memorial hospital, Miami. In this position, am often faced with a considerable amount of conflicts some of them acute as if not handled with caution, their effects could be detrimental to the organization. As a supervisor, I’m often faced with decisions to make on a daily basis and organizational designs. At this position, I supervise a group of employees and most of the time differences among them often emerge. Being a supervisor, I have a mandate to diffuse tensions that may otherwise be building up between these groups of employees with a view to contain them at early stages and subsequently avoid their escalation. To successfully diffuse such growing tensions, I’m often required to advance a sound strategy that is beneficial to all groups involved in the tussle. According to Menon, Bharadwaj and Howell (2006), it is often prudent and rational for an organization to employ top notch brains in the industry to head or run business. Having the best people for a given task goes a long way in ensuring that daily operations are well aligned to the company vision and dream. In addition, there is an assertion that it is easier to advance rational policies to guide the most talented people in an industry. This is relatively because the best qualities of such employees are utilized when formulating strategies to address impending organizational conflicts (Daft, Murphy, & Willmott, 2010).

Being in supervisory position requires one to research extensively on diverse ways of dealing with employees. In my position, I have learned quite a number of things related to employees and how I can be able to deal with different persons at different work environment. Some ways that can go a long way in dealing with employees include a show of interest to either individual employees or group and at the same time being very responsive to their grievances. Secondly, consultations with all stakeholders go a long way in averting conflicts between company employees. Thirdly, there is need to conduct regular and follow up meetings to ensure all operations are well aligned with the company objectives. In addition, constant review of tasks and performs is cardinal in ensuring that disappointments are related to unrealistic outcomes are averted.  Taking responsibility of problems is a booster towards conflict resolution. As a supervisor, it is important to empower employees to resolve impending problems and give credit where it is due. The aforementioned together with constant recognition of hard work and contribution of each employee towards the organizations goes a long way in nurturing good working environment. Moreover, it is paramount to be information sensitive, as a supervisor, there is need to dissect and utilize any information to effectively come up with rational decisions. In addition, having a well-structured project plan together enables one to avert conflicts while steering one towards continuous improvement of performance (Menon, Bharadwaj, & Howell, 2006).

Jackson memorial hospital is a nonprofit facility that has been in operation since 1918. The hospital has been accredited and it is utilized by school of medicine, University of Miami as a teaching facility. The facility has witnessed gradual growth since its establishment courtesy of sound management. Since inception, the hospital has grown relatively i.e. from being a 13 bed facility to an internationally reputable hospital. The health facility engages not only in routine care services but also in living serving activities and surgical procedures. According to the hospital chief executive officer, Jackson memorial hospital has experienced remarkable growth since inception and has relatively diversified its operations to include a research center and a host to a trauma center. The growth has since it increased its capacity from 13 licensed beds in 1918 to 1550 bed in 2012. The diversification of facilities and subsequent growth has brought with it significant and drastic changes in the hospital’s board and the top level management. The radical nature of the changes brooded not only rigidities and tensions but also conflicts among important medical arms and teams, with a number of top level managers showcasing parochial attitudes (Daft, Murphy, & Willmott, 2010).

Tensions and conflicts in a work place hamper the spirit of performance. This is relatively because it deprives off conduciveness of a working environment. A case in point is when an employee is underperforming.  To fully get into the root of this problem without necessarily being considered condescending, there is need to nurture a sound approach.  A similar thing happen last month, an employee is engaging in daily routine as he should be and a manager approached the employee in a not very good way. The move approach at which the manager employed created tension as the employee in question felt as if he was not being given a hear  by the manager. It is evident that the employee might have viewed the manager as condescending. However, given I knew fully the strengths of my employee; I did chip in and defended by worker. From the aforementioned, it is apparent that having a knowhow of someone traits and characteristics come in handy when dealing with them. In this supervisory position, I have always learned to engage my employees in a way that I would also want people to engage me (Champoux, 2010).

            Over a period of time, I have learned that to be on top of my job as a supervisor, my employees need to give out their very best. For example, given that one group is struggling with its tasks, the entire teams are also struggling. To avert that, I often formulate feasible policies that aim to increase the productivity levels of my team. For example, my immediate boss suggested the use of team structure as an organizational design. Team structure as an organizational design often organizes varied functions into a team or a group, guided by a singular objective (Daft, Murphy, & Willmott, 2010). These different teams with unique functions are made up of employees from different departments who engage in daily company routines and tasks aimed at not only solving problems but also explore growth opportunities. The central intention of this is to halt departmental barriers and nurture a relatively effective and good relationship that helps in solving problems that could otherwise be ongoing. According to my boss, there was need for me to pull together other members of the group to be able to pool assistance and get work done. According to Champoux (2010), team structure is responsible for not only halting interdepartmental barriers but also enhances both response and decision making speeds in an organization. In addition, team structure helps firms cut down its costs associated with administration by cutting down the level of managers overseeing operations. However, it goes without saying that team structure is not disadvantage proof. Some negatives associated with this organizational design include loss of worker hours courtesy of the increased number of meetings that otherwise consume a lot of time that could otherwise have been utilized for productivity purposes.

            Champoux (2010) in his article wrote that it is relatively important to fully understand how diversity of employees in relation to race, gender, knowledge and experience influence conflict and cooperation in a work place. Moreover, I also researched on an article by Daft, Murphy and Willmott (2010) that sought to investigate the perceptions of employees in relation to work place organizational designs and how they impact training transfer. Although this scholar appreciates the impact of organizational design on the ability and opportunity of an employee to transfer, physical environment i.e. surrounding a firm has largely been overlooked. This work utilized not only environmental but also behavioral research related to the development of human resource regulations in the analysis of an organization design. Utilizing the ethnographic approach, it is correct to say state that the research established that cumulative frequencies aligned to elicited answers about organizational traits for work design asserted to gag transfer were the highest. Furthermore, in considering individual traits of employees, it was apparent that organizational designs that failed to support the privacy needs of employees were elicited as gagging transfer (Menon, Bharadwaj, & Howell, 2006).

            In conclusion, from the above discussion, I largely attest that conflict resolution together with decision making and rational workplace or organizational design play a cardinal role when one is working in an organization at whichever position. In addition, it is evident that it is rational to understand the strengths and weaknesses of employees. The aforementioned implies that, it is prudent to build employees from their current position. Employee empowerment and subsequent recognition of their contribution to organizations goes a long way in not only averting conflicts and tensions as it also acts as a motivator. Organizations that treat their employees well are not only able to retain them but also attract best brains in the industry.

References

Champoux, J. (2010). Organizational Behavior: Integrating individuals, Groups, and Organizations. New York: Taylor & Francis.

Daft, R., Murphy, J., & Willmott, H. (2010). Organization: Theory and Design. London: Cengage Learning EMEA.

Menon, A., Bharadwaj, S. G., & Howell, R. (2006). The Quality and Effectiveness of Marketing Strategy: Effects of Functional and Dysfunctional Conflict in Intraorganizational Relationships. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 24(4), 299-299.