Conflict Resolution and Team Dynamics

Conflict Resolution and Team Dynamics

December 17, 2003

Part I

Craig Envelope Corporation is a printing company located in Long Island City, New York. Craig Envelope has been in business since 1972 starting out as a small printing plant of 6 employees which it's main focus was printing envelopes for the local businesses.

Today, Craig Envelope Corporation is all purpose printing plant,. with 57 full time employees. Management is all white, the pressmen are Hispanics and Blacks, the Sales Department are all white, The office staff is blacks and Hispanics, production is all is also an all white staff.

There business accounts are now direct mailing houses and other paper houses, corporate accountants and a few small accounts. They are currently redesigning and restructuring the organization. With business increasing with over 500 accounts and wanting to expand to the intranet there are several changing they are looking into. As side from the new management changes they feel their employees are not ready for change. The organization it's self has been a male dominant organization since the opening of the business. There are 5 female employees that work in the office, with all the rest being males in all of the other departments.

The organization as a whole is productive and prospering, but there are problems that need to be address. There are two sets of standards for the office and the plant workers. First, there is no grievance process or a Human Resources Department to addresses some of the issues . There are complaints of work assignments as doing work not related to their job, lack of advancement on behalf of the women and the pressmen there is no advancement or opportunities, their aren't enough benefits they lack medical coverage, there is a lot of conflicts with the sales department and production. Production believes they are in control.

The sales department have interpersonal problems with each other, such as unhealthy competition and jealousies. The pressmen feel they don't have a voice in the company and they are treat like sweat shop workers, they belief the shop steward is not their for them but the sales department. Basically, the atmosphere is hum drum with morale being lower then it's ever been.

Part II

Work-group productivity is work group of two or more persons who interact in such ways that each person influences and is influenced by other group member have mostly individuality and accountability , one persons work does no reflect the other nor do they work together, they have assigned tasks to complete.

Recommendation: From my observation, its work that needs to be completed by both employees it's routine, there is no enthusiasm or real interaction amongst them, I believe job rotation or cross training would help.

Social influence refers to the means and ways of the changing attitudes and behaviors of others.

Recommendation: All the employees effect the others mood and attitudes. I believe intergrading all of the departments would help ease the situation., there is a need for diversity. Change the morning process of just clocking and running to their job, have donuts and coffee or have a group luncheon so everyone has the opportunity to intermingle. Reacquaint everyone to build employee morale.

Value proposition are the core of a person's character, ethic (right from wrong) goals, it is a persons self worth or self concept.

Recommendation: Have employees monthly evaluations, praise and employee for a job well done Let the jobs they do reflect their capabilities. Have an employee of the week or month , give them an incentive.

Individual differences and personality there 5 different personality traits extroversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, conscientiousness and emotional stability. Individual difference can vary from one extreme to the other. Personality is a stable set of distinctive characteristics influenced by hereditary, culture, societal, and environmental factors. A person's perceptions, emotions feelings, values and attitude are part of their personality.

Recommendation: Accept people for who and what they are, don't expect everyone production rate to be the same. Be willing to see another perspective on a situation be more aware and open to the employees needs..

The habits of effective people The seven habits of effective people being with self mastery; to be proactive, begin with the end in mind, put first things first, next is individual ; think win/win, seek to understand first, then to be understood synergize, involves opening your mind and heart and expressions to new possibilities, new alternatives and new options. Last habit "sharpen the saw, involves embodying a continual holistic renewal process in which an individual enhances the four dimensions of their nature; the physical, the social and emotional, the mental and the spiritual..

Recommendation: I believe this is a concept that should be used by the sales department and management I don't believe they understand the employees, they need to open their minds to new ideas and suggestions from the employees instead ruling like Authoritative management .

Perception and attribution. Perception is a mental and cognitive process. It is a process by which individuals view reality and make sense of it. Perception determines how we see ourselves and others. Perception is seeing, selecting and recalling information. Attributions are causes and effects assigned to observed behavior. Attributions are inferred causes, that is the cause and effect connections are not necessarily based on actual behaviors.

Recommendation: It is believe there are underlying prejudices observing the position breakdown of the employees. Hiring is also done outside of the company. Promote people already in the company. The pressmen are not valued. Manage by one set of rules. Keep things fair across the board.

Motivation is a process of arousing, directing, and sustaining goal directed behavior. Motivation is related to a person's needs, learning, performance and rewards.

Recommendation: Give the employees an incentive to want to come to work, improve the working conditions, allow more growth and advancement.

High-performance teams. High performance teams are teams are self designed and self directed they are generally composed of 6 to 12 people who have administrative oversight and ownership for their task domain and "whole" work processes, that is they can plan, schedule, monitor and staff