Cas 365 - Organizational Conflict: Focus on Critical Thinking and Listening

Lesson 8

Organizational Conflict: Focus on Critical Thinking and Listening

“Conflict is the process that occurs when individuals, small groups, or organizations perceive or experience frustration in attaining goals and addressing concerns.” (Shockley pg.280) After reading the article it does confirm the definition of conflict. Cisco is a multinational company and is the largest networking company in the world. The issue here is presented when an applicant was offered a job and she decided to head to social media and make a ruthless comment stating "Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work." People around the world are different and therefore things are perceived to be different in responses. One may consider her to be lucky, especially with how the economy has been going. Another may consider her to be a “stuck-up” girl that doesn’t deserve it.

Perceived conflict is the first conflict I will like to mention that's presented in this situation. Perceived conflict is the awareness of individuals or groups that differences exist (Shockley pg.286). The differences of opinions is presented here, some may have thought it was funny, others may have thought it was a stuck-up comment and some may have understood the context of where she was coming from. Felt conflict is also presented, felt conflict is the emotional impact the perception of conflict has on potential conflict participants (Shockley pg.286). In regards to this situation it did have an emotional impact to the writer herself and potential conflict participants as well on twitter. The result of these is the conflict aftermath, conflict aftermath is result of the complex interaction of latent conditions (Shockley pg.287) which in her situation could have ruined her career. This is the result of the tweet and its affect that made her popular or infamous.

The conflict management style I would adopt toward the conflict if I were the fired employee would be the compromising style. Compromise prefer to balance people concerns and negation behaviors (Shockley pg.291). With this approach taking full responsibility for my actions is the first thing I would do, I will further explain the true context of my statement. Our text states compromise works because all parties can minimize losses while establishing some gains. I would for certainly take a loss in regards to the opinions given about my character and the employer will take a loss as well with receiving criticism for continuing to hire me. However, my work effort and credential will be a gain for the company as an added intern. The tweet was taking out of context and escalated quickly which was unintentional. Compromising is the best approach to form an understanding and show respect for one another despite how social media may have interpret my statement.

The communication tactic I would employ is the XYZ model.  XYZ Model promotes constructive conflict management it is the use of psychologist Thomas Gordon's model for stating problems. This formula can be helpful because it allows the speaker to take ownership of the problem. This tactic falls in line with the compromise style. It’s a sensible and rational way of dealing with things. XYZ model, “outlines a consequence that helps the other party understand one's concerns, and openly invites the other party to respond” (Lesson 8 module). After making a clear mistake I must compromise and further explain my mistake to help gain a fair perspective of the issue I caused. Our modules states “when you do X, Y results, and I feel Z." It’s a 3-step process that calms down the problem in hand. And I believe it is the best way to go in this situation.