Abstract
As organizations restructure and social stresses escalate, conflict in the workplace is on the rise. Whether in response to organizational goals such as resolving disputes with customers and clients, systemic problems in hiring and promotion practices, or interpersonal issues between managers, employees and co-workers, businesses and government agencies are finding it more productive and cost effective to be proactive in designing systems to manage conflict.
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is a rapidly growing field, due to its popularity as an alternative to long and expensive law suits. Resolving disputes of any kind outside of the judicial system can save money and time as well as working relationships. ADR is responding to this important challenge by leading the way in designing integrated conflict management systems to effectively manage conflict both internally and with external stakeholders.
Defining Organizational Effectiveness
An organization is an intersection of multiple influence loops; each influence loop represents a constituency bias within the organization. , In terms of its exchanges assessing the organizations activities. Organizations generate different assessments of effectiveness from its various constituencies; such as the distribution of organizational satisfactions, issues of organizational change and the time dimension as they relate to the overall institutional effectiveness (Connolly et al., 1980).
Cameron’s (1986) study of organizational effectiveness and its predictors suggest that the measurable for organizational effectiveness include:
- The most important factors associated with both static and dynamic assessments of effectiveness are environmental factors and management strategies.
- Proactive managerial strategies and those with an external emphasis are more successful than are reactive strategies and those oriented toward internal institutional affairs.
- Multifaceted managerial strategies are required in order for institutions to be effective.
Organizational effectiveness is inherently paradoxical. To be effective an organization must possess attributes that are simultaneously contradictory, even mutually exclusive. The presence of paradox is a paramount attribute in characterizing an effective post-industrial organization others include:
- Loose-coupling – encourage research, initiation of innovation, and functional autonomy-as well as tight-coupling-which encourages quick execution, implementing innovation, and functional reciprocity (Morgan 1981; Zaltman, Duncan and Holbeck 1973).
- High specialization of roles – reinforce expertise and efficiency-as well as high generality of roles-which reinforces flexibility and interdependency (Lawrence and Lorsch 1967).
- Continuity of leadership –permit stability, long-term planning, and institutional memory-along with infusion of new leaders-which permits increased innovation, adaptability, and currency (Chaffee 1984).
- Deviation amplifying processes –encourage productive conflict and opposition that energize and empower organizations-as well as deviation reducing processes-which encourage harmony and consensus needed to engender trust and smooth information flows (Maruyama 1963).
- Expanded search in decision making –allow for wider environmental scanning, access to more information, and divergence of input-as well as the creation of inhibitors to information overload-which reduce and buffer the amount of information reaching decision makers and lead to convergence in decision making (Huber 1984).
- Disengagement and disidentification with past strategies –foster new perspectives and innovation and inhibits defining new problems simply as variations on old problems-as well as reintegration and reinforcement of roots-which fosters commitment to a special sense of organizational identity and mission and past strategies (Tichy 1983).
Defining Organizational Conflict
In the organizational context, conflict is the process of expressing dissatisfaction, unmet expectations with an organizational interchange or disagreement with an interaction, process, product, process or service.
Conflict is a process and state of dissatisfaction; dispute is the product of unresolved conflict. This dissatisfaction can result from multiple factors: differing expectations, competing goals, conflicting interests, confusing communications, or unsatisfactory interpersonal relations.
Conflict is often ongoing, amorphous and intangible, a dispute is tangible and concrete – it has issues, positions, and expectations for relief. Clusters of disputes are simply one of the many ways that conflict manifests itself in an organization.
Effectiveness of Organizational Responses to Conflict
Organizational conflict is really an organizational indicator of dissatisfaction. It is a signal of distress from within or outside the system. The organization may choose to respond to the distress call, but that does not mean that conflict ceases to exist.
Organizational conflict is manifested in several ways some of which include disputes, competition, sabotage, inefficiency, low morale and withholding knowledge. Chronic conflict in organizations is often due to internal disagreement and rivalry over how best to distribute the organization’s limited resources among competing priorities and components.
Measuring the effectiveness of conflict management involves looking at the results of dispute resolution efforts, the durability of the resolutions, and the impact on relationships. The effectiveness of conflict management efforts can be measured quantitatively or qualitatively; it can focus on the delivery of conflict management services or the results of conflict management interventions.
Conflict Management as a System
Emery and Trist (1972) pioneered the concept that improving the systemic functioning of organizations requires focusing attention on the social systems by which organizational members interact to produce results and on the technical systems that advance output and productivity in the workplace.
Open systems thinking encourage an emphasis on the whole and the interaction of the parts, not on the parts themselves as discrete, self-supporting entities. Open systems thinking require the organization be receptive and responsive to external changes.
Looking at conflict management as a subset of the many systems within the larger organizational constellation permits an enhanced understanding of conflict as it arises and a sharpened recognition of the opportunities for action in managing such conflict.
Characteristics of Conflict Management Systems
Conflict management as an open system operating within a larger organizational system and within a larger organizational system and within an external environment provides a useful framework for approaching conflict management system design and intervention.
The conflict management system gathers information through assessment, feedback and other participative methods. The open systems perspective in managing organizational conflict lends itself to attaining significant results like:
- Identification of key areas for inquiry regarding potential change within the input, transformation and/or output processes of the organization’s current conflict management system
- Uncovering dissonance, dysfunction, and dissatisfactions
The focus of conflict management systems design is to encourage and assist whole systems in recognizing and identifying conflict, learning how it operates, and actively involving management and stakeholders in designing and implementing systemic procedures that decrease dissonance and dissatisfaction and enhance achievement of the organization’s goals.
Alternative Dispute Resolution for Organizations
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) enables a process that holds the promise of protecting the statutory, economic and enterprise rights of the employee while avoiding the possibility of slow and expensive litigation procedures along with addressing employer specifics like loss of productivity, sabotage, theft, harassment and violence. ADR implemented as a structured process using constructive multi-attribute techniques and value focused thinking is a comprehensive human resource strategy (Gregory et al., 2001).
Organizations can design conflict management systems to deal with both internal and external disputes in a productive way, and in a way that preserves rather than destroys relationships. Instead of resorting to litigation, strikes, work to rule or withdrawing, disputants can use dispute resolution processes that will resolve their conflict efficiently and effectively. Designing an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) system can help improve communication, reduce costs, maximize efficiency, and preserve or improve relationships.
All effective organizations have goals. Those goals may be to increase productivity, provide a pleasant work environment, improve team work and efficiency, empower employees, reduce costs, or increase profits. The organization accomplishes these goals through its corporate strategy or, for larger organizations, partly through its human resources strategy. ADR systems can help an organization achieve its goals. ADR processes have the flexibility to adapt to the organization and help it pursue its objectives.
Specifications for an Effective Integrated Conflict Management System
Rowe (1997) suggests that an effective integrated conflict management system would include the following basic characteristics:
- Values of the system: A commitment to fairness for everyone involved in a dispute and freedom from reprisal.
- Many options: A variety of interest-based and rights-based dispute resolution techniques are offered to employees and managers, and employed for the clients of the organization as appropriate.
- Multiple access points: People with concerns and problems can find access points of different ethnicity and gender, and varied technical backgrounds, to help them. They provide a degree of privacy and support for various options in the conflict management system.
- An organizational ombudsperson: designated as a neutral, available to help informally with any workplace concern, and to provide formal mediation as appropriate.
- Wide scope: The system is used by professionals and managers with concerns as well as by employees. The system takes virtually eve~ kind of concern that is of interest to people in the organization.
- Continuous improvement: An oversight committee is built into the system and meets regularly to improve the effectiveness of the system.
Alternative Dispute Resolution: Why It Doesn’t Work and Why It Does
Carver and Vondra (2000) discuss the limitations of alternative dispute resolution. Used effectively ADR delivers the benefits like lower costs, quicker dispute resolutions and outcomes that preserve relationships. Companies with litigious corporate cultures do not reap the benefits of ADR-based mediation. Ingrained attitudes work against an agreeable outcome. Few companies have made the corporate commitment to ADR wholeheartedly; they manage to turn ADR into litigation-in-disguise.
The Supreme Court of Canada on June 8, 2007 declared for the first time that collective bargaining rights are protected in the 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The decision to strike down legislation aimed directly at taking away the rights of working people is a landmark according to the labour movement. The court has validated the sanctity of a contract, thereby disclosing the administrative and structural impediments of a system that hurts workers whose complaints are not resolved in a timely fashion. The inherent delays in labour and industrial tribunals and the courts. Not to mention the budgetary constraints and limited resources that dim the prospects of prompt or effective solutions to employment injustices (Zack, 1997).
Collaboration and consensual methods of employment dispute resolution have emerged in federal sector labor relations as an alternative to traditional, rights-based collective bargaining. In many circumstances, such alternative methods of negotiation result in both more acceptable agreements and a more satisfying process for reaching agreement (Rob Kirkner and Steve Sharfstein, 2000).
Conclusion
Conflict in and of itself, is not inherently bad. If it is dealt with productively, effectively, and efficiently, it can help the organization to prosper and evolve. When a conflict management system makes recommendations about effective ways of dealing with conflict the organization is not admitting failure rather it is proceeding in a logical and productive way to minimize the cost and time spent dealing with conflict and maximize the benefits of dealing with it efficiently.
An effective organizational conflict management system can have multiple implications for many groups of people. Some parts of the system will reflect back on the individuals within the organization – by serving as a model of communication and problem solving techniques that can be used in daily life with co-workers, spouses, partners, children, parents, and friends. Other parts bounce back to groups within the organization – by setting up processes for joint problem solving that engage people of all types, preferences, and backgrounds in working together toward a common goal. There are aspects of the conflict management system that are bound to shine through to help create a changed culture of choice and acceptance of conflict.
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