Power and Conflict at Work

Conflict is a disagreement between two or more people regarding a certain point of view. In the context of business, Conflict usually happens in the work environment. Conflict also exists outside of the work environment however. Conflict usually arises from changes that are made. For example, changes in the labour market, economy, society, technology and organisations create conflict.

A group that I have been a part of was a employee group for FMY Chemist. I was working at the Chemist for two weeks as work experience. Despite the fact that the business was a private company, FMY Chemist's main purpose was to provide the best service possible to it's customers. This meant satisfying the needs of all the customers. Even though I was working there for only two weeks, their were some conflicts that I noticed that prevented the Chemist from always fulfilling it's main aim of providing the best service possible.

One of these conflicts was a problem of supply and demand in conjunction with pricing. While I was working at the Chemist, I overheard a phone call between the owner of the business and his supplier. The owner of FMY Chemist was having a heated argument with his supplier in terms of agreeing on a pricing deal for a certain product that the Chemist was sold out of. Even though none us (employees) were involved in the conversation, the owner was representing the business therefore he was representing the employees as a group as well. The owner wanted a cheap price that the Supplier wasn't happy about nor going to accept. The conflict between the two was therefore in conjunction with supplies and pricing.

The owner wanted the product because he didn't want potential customers to enter the shop and ask to buy the product only to find out that it was sold out because the business wouldn't be fulfilling its purpose of satisfying the needs of all the customers. This is why the owner eventually backed down and agreed with the supplier on a price that would satisfy both of them. The strategy that was used to deal with the conflict was therefore negotiating and agreeing on a price that both would be happy with. I also noticed that the supplier toned down his voice and began to spoke more civil and professional which is another reason why I think the conflict was resolved. As a result, FMY Chemist got closer to fulfilling its purpose of providing the best service possible (as the supplies of the product would arrive a few days later allowing customers to buy the product without having to shop elsewhere.)

Another conflict within the group that was affecting the business's purpose of trying to provide the best service possible to customers was in our punctuality. Most of the employees (including myself) didn't always arrive to work on time. This started to affect FMY Chemist's purpose of trying to provide the best service possible as on occasions their would be customers waiting in a queue with no employees available. It was for this reason that the owner of FMY Chemist spoke to me and all of the employees individually about getting to work on time. He said to me that "If you don't start getting to work on time, I will deduct the time you are late off your tea breaks". From the moment he said that onwards, I was never late to work at the Chemist. As a result, the disciplinary procedure that the owner decided to carry out clearly solved the conflict of me being late to work and the satisfaction of the customers as well as quality of service. In addition, during the two weeks that I was working there, no one else was late to work afterwards so the disciplinary action that the owner took worked for the other employees as well.

Coercive Power is a source of power based around the fact that people can be punished for not carrying out the wishes of their superior/s. Fear and threats are usually used as a means of demonstrating this power. A good example of someone that used Coercive Power is Adolf Hitler. Hitler killed Sophie Scholl for distributing anti war leaflets which were against his wishes. Not only did Scholl get punished (she got beheaded), but Hitler managed to create fear by making it clear that anyone opposing the war would be dealt with severely. This shows that Hitler used Coercive power.

Reward Power is the "ability to gain support because project personnel perceive the project manager as capable of directly or indirectly dispensing valued organizational rewards" (Kerzner, 2009, p.206). This includes rewards such as bonuses, promotion, future work in the business and salary. However, rewards can be both positive and negative. A good example of someone that may use Reward Power (as a positive reward) would be a Father that gives his son £5 for improving his grades at school. The positive reward being the £5. An example of someone that may use Reward Power (as a negative reward) would be a Father grounding his daughter for behaving badly for a week. The negative reward being the grounding of one week.

Expert Power is "Power derived through advanced knowledge or experience in a particular subject" (Psychology Dictionary). People with this power generally have a lot of expertise as well. A good example of someone that would have Expert Power would be a Doctor. A Doctor would have Expert Power because they are given the authority by law to make decisions in certain situations. For example, in a life and death situation, a Doctor would make most if not all the decisions, not a Nurse because Doctors are more knowledgeable, and have more experience and expertise than Nurses e.g. what medication the patient will have.

Legitimate Power is a source of power "based on legitimate authority, such as line management" (Student Centre). As a result, your position in the hierarchy of a organisation will determine the amount of power you have. Legitimate power is usually used in the day to day running's of a business e.g. their will usually be someone above someone else in the chain of command that you are taking orders from for the day to day running's of an organisation. Added responsibility usually results in more Legitimate Power. However, failing to take responsibility when asked can result in Legitimate Power being taken away from someone. This may result in people being demoted. An example of Legitimate Power would be an Ambulance in an emergency having the authority to go through a red light (which Cars are not allowed to do legally).

Referent Power is a source of power based around the fact that followers look up to a leader for instructions in a certain situation. This is usually because a leader may have attributes or skills that the followers admire and would like to have at some point. It is for this reason that leaders with Referent Power don't have total control over everyone (as not everyone will look up to a certain leader) although their have been some leaders that have controlled millions by Referent Power. A good example of this is Ghandi. Another example of someone with Referent Power would be a Teacher. This is because pupils generally look up to Teachers and like them from a personal standpoint.

Tauber (2007, p.43) states that

The greater the attraction, the broader is the range of referent power. For instance, a teacher may have referent power within a math classroom and, because of the strong sense of identification the students feel for the teacher, he or she also is able to exert influence over them outside the classroom - at a pep rally, in the cafeteria, during hall duty, at a local shopping center, and so on.

One strategy that organisations can use to overcome conflict at work is by getting the Human Resources (H.R.) department to set out it's policies and procedures. One example of this would be an equal pay policy / procedure. If the H.R. department sets out an equal pay policy / procedure, their is a significantly lower chance that their will be issues with employees regarding equal pay. For example, if a H.R. department sets out an equal pay policy and procedure, their is a lot less chance that a woman would accuse the company of her not being paid the equivalent of a man who does the same job but gets paid more than her if the H.R equal.pay policy / procedure was not set out. This is also known as sex discrimination. This is because the organisation as a whole would be following the rules and guidelines set out by the H.R. department in terms of equal pay. This shows that a H.R. department setting out its policies / procedures can reduce conflict in the workplace.

Another example would be an equal opportunities policy / procedure. If the H.R. department sets out an equal opportunities policy / procedure, their is a lot less chance that an old person would accuse an organisation of being discriminated against if someone else who was younger was promoted to a higher position despite the fact that the older person worked harder than him (in the old person's opinion). This is also because the organisation as a whole would be following the rules and regulations set out by the H.R. department in terms of equal opportunities This is another example that shows that a H.R. department setting out its policies / procedures can reduce conflict in the workplace.

In addition, another strategy that organisations can use to overcome conflict at work is by communicating, consulting and involving people in general in the decision making process. For example, if a Manager isn't communicating with his or her employees properly, the employees might begin to resent the Manager and not follow his/her instructions which would obviously create conflict in the working environment e.g. the employees might start doing the opposite of the Manager's instructions. If the Manager was properly communicating with his/her employees, then this conflict could have been avoided altogether. This shows that not communicating properly in the workplace can create conflict.

An example that shows that not consulting people in the workplace could create conflict in the workplace would be between a Manager and his/her employee. For example, if a Manager doesn't consult one of his/her employees about carrying out a particular task, the employee might not feel valued because he isn't given the opportunity to input his feelings on the task that he needs to carry out. The employee then might become more unproductive or inefficient which would obviously conflict with the Manager's role of trying to get his employees to become as productive / efficient as possible. If the employee was consulted about the task that he needed to carry out, he may think that his opinion is worth something and would be more willing to carry out the task and carry out the task more productively and efficiently. This is why consulting employees can help reduce conflict in the work environment.

Furthermore, another strategy that organisations can use to overcome conflict at work would be by clarifying the aims and objectives of a business and checking that everyone in the workplace understands what is expected of them in their job. The reason why this may reduce conflict is because clarifying the aims and objectives of the business to the employees will make the employees understand their role in conjunction with the main aims and objectives of an organisation. For example, the main aim of a business might be to maximise it's profit. If a salesperson isn't aware that the main aim of the business is to maximise profits, he/she might not put in the necessary effort into trying to sell as many products as possible which would help the business maximise it's profit. If the salesperson isn't contributing to help maximise the business's profits, he would therefore be in conflict with the overall aims of the organisation. This is why clarifying the aims and objectives of a business may help to overcome conflict in the work environment.

An example that shows checking that everyone in the workplace understands what is expected of them in their job overcomes conflict is if a newly employed employee comes into a business and doesn't understand his/her job role, he/she may not carry out the tasks that need to be carried out according to his/her job role. This is why it is important that businesses make it perfectly clear to their workers what is expected of them. For example, if the main aim of the business is to maximise output / production and the employee isn't fully aware that his job role is to help create this output, he may not assist in the production process which would obviously come into conflict with the business's main aim of maximising output (because the employee isn't being productively efficient). This is why checking that everyone in the workplace understands what is expected of them in their job overcomes conflict.

Additionally, another strategy that organisations can use to reduce conflict in the work environment is by ensuring that employees have the chance to make any grievances they have known as well as having a grievance policy / procedure in the business. The reason for this is that if their are personal problems in an organisation between two employees for example, one of the employee's performance may suffer which may conflict with the Manager's aim of trying to get the best performance possible out of his/her employees. If the personal problems are so severe, the other employee may even leave the company and work somewhere else which may conflict with the business's aim of trying to keep employees for as long as possible and avoid spending money on training new employees. If their is a grievance policy / procedure in the business, their is a significantly lower chance that workers may become unproductive or leave the company because grievances can be resolved granted that the business takes the right steps to solve the problem/s and the employees are happy with the results. This is why ensuring that employees have the chance to make any grievances they have known / having a grievance policy and procedure reduces the likelihood of conflict in an organisation.

Also, another strategy that businesses can use to reduce or overcome conflict in the workplace is by ensuring that there is a disciplinary procedure that everyone is conscious of. This is because if it is clear to the workers that their is a disciplinary procedure, they are all less likely to cause trouble in the workplace e.g. create personal conflict between different workers. It also means that workers that are causing trouble in the work environment will be punished rationally which should stop them from causing further trouble in the future. This is why ensuring that there is a disciplinary procedure that everyone is conscious of in the workplace overcomes conflict in the work environment.

A conflict situation that I have witnessed was between Zinedine Zidane and Marco Materazzi in the Italy vs France match of the 2006 Fifa World Cup Final. During the match, Materazzi said something to Zidane as Zidane was running past him. Although it has never been confirmed what Materazzi said to Zidane, it is assumed that whatever he said was very insulting. In response, Zidane turned around and headbutted Materazzi. This resulted in Zidane being given the red card and sent off the pitch. The strategy that resolved the conflict was Zidane's sending off with the red card. I personally feel that this strategy was effective because regardless of what Materazzi may have said, their is no excuse for someone to be assaulted on the football pitch. I therefore feel that this was the best solution to the conflict.

On the other hand, their were some other strategies that could have been used by the referee to resolve the conflict. For example, the referee could have demanded both men to apologise and shake hands or both would been given red cards and sent off the pitch. I think that this would have been quite effective because it would of been unlikely that both men would have rather been sent off the pitch, especially in the final of the world cup than continue their personal conflict. It is therefore likely that this would have also been a effective strategy in resolving the conflict. Another strategy that the referee could have used to resolve the conflict would have been to give Zidane a yellow card and Materazzi a yellow card for both of their actions. I think this may have been quite effective in resolving the conflict because it would have shown to both men that the behaviour of both of them wouldn't be accepted on the football pitch again so it may have disciplined both of them. Having said that, this strategy may have made the situation worse because both of them would have had to work together for the remainder of the match which may have resulted in another head butt or another serious confrontation between the two on the pitch. To some extent then, I feel that this strategy wouldn't have been the most effective in resolving the conflict.

In Conclusion, one of the main findings that I got from this topic is knowing that conflict exists in many different areas in business. For example, I was already aware before I learnt about the topic that changes in organisations create conflict. However, I wasn't aware before I learnt about the topic that changes in the labour market, economy, society, technology would create conflict.

Another finding that I got from this topic is learning that conflict in the workplace can often prevent the business from achieving its long term aim or objective. A good example of this from when I was working in FMY Chemist. Since people were turning up to work late, customers were sometimes waiting in a queue without anyone serving them which prevented the Chemist from providing the best service possible (it's long term aim). However, I didn't realise that this conflict was affecting FMY Chemist from achieving its long term aim until after I learnt about the topic.

In addition, a further finding that I got from this topic is about how their are various different types of power. For example, Coercive Power, Reward Power, Expert Power, Legitimate Power and Referent Power are the main types of power in an organisation. However, I wasn't aware of any of these types of Power before I had learnt about the topic.

Furthermore, another finding that I got from this topic is about how their are many different types of strategies that organisations can use to help resolve conflict. For example, I have mentioned five of them in this blog. These five strategies mentioned in this blog alone are five strategies that I weren't aware of before. This shows that I have learnt something new from this topic.

Also, an additional finding that I got from this topic is knowing that some strategies are more effective than others. For example, I personally feel that the red card was the best strategy in resolving the conflict in the Zidanne and Materazzi scenario because I feel Zidanee deserved to be punished severely for his actions (considering the severity of them). Overall, I feel that I have learnt quite a lot about Conflict from this topic as I found out lots of new information about the subject that I didn't know about before.

On the whole, I think that I've enjoyed this topic quite a bit. This is because I've learnt a lot of new information and found that the information is quite straight forward to remember for in the future.

References:

[Anon.] [n.d.] Psychology Dictionary [online]. [s.n.] Available from:http://allpsych.com/dictionary/dictionary2.html [Accessed 04 November 2009].

[Anon.] [n.d.] Glossary of Key Terms [online]. [s.n.] Available from: https://www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/he/web_sites/business/marketing/jobber/files/glossary/l.html [Accessed 04 November 2009].

Conflict image - http://www.cel.sfsu.edu/images/programs/conflict/conflict-management-argue.jpg [Accessed 04 November 2009].

Kerzner, H. (2009) Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling. 10th ed. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Tauber, R (2007) Referent Power. Classroom Management: Sound Theory and effective practise.1 (14), 43