Conflict Resolution in the Workplace

Conflict Resolution
Student’s Name
Institution
Course Number and Name
Instructor’s Name
Date
Conflict Resolution
Q1. After making the move to working virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic, your diverse team does not seem to be functioning as well as it did when you were all in the office. You believe that this is related to failures in communication. How will you improve communication within your team?
Since teamwork comprises a group of people who work together interdependently to achieve a common goal, the most ideal setting would be to work in the same office. However, owing to unavoidable circumstances, team members are sometimes constrained to work from different places. For instance, after the outbreak of COVID-19, which inevitably restricted people to their homes, many teams were forced to work virtually. Besides having a wide range of benefits, working remotely has its downsides that compromise or slow down team activities. One of the most prominent factors that tend to throw a spanner in the works of virtual teams is the deficiency of effective communication. Undeniably, communication is a crucial cog that gives significant traction to any given organization or team. Indeed, no organization or team can exist without effective communication since it forms the foundation for work units to synchronize their work (McShane et al., 2021). For effective communication to thrive, the receiver of a particular message must decipher it accurately, and this element tends to be lacking in virtual communication. To a considerable extent, this cripples team progress, which underscores the need to devise communication police and systems compatible with virtual work.
One fundamental strategy that I will apply is convening a meeting of all team members to thrash out the communication barriers. Since I have noted that members have disparate preferences for communication channels, we need to put our heads together and come up with a concrete solution. I am optimistic that involving them in making the critical decision will have optimum results since employee engagement enhances motivation (McShane et al., 2021). During the meeting, I will encourage the members to consider several components when choosing an appropriate communication channel. The components are synchronicity, social presence, social acceptance, and media richness.
Q2. Read Global Connections 11.2: Open Office, Hidden Conflict in your textbook
(Chapter 11). You lead a team that works in a similar open office. Recently, two staff members each came to you with complaints about the other. One worker feels their co-worker is too noisy, while the other states that her co-worker does not respect her privacy and listens to all her phone calls. What will you do to resolve this workplace conflict?
Conventionally, conflicts among employees are inevitable, given that they have diverse backgrounds and working styles but have to work toward a common goal. A wide range of factors combines to influence workplace place conflicts, including personality differences, poor communication, and competition or poor implementation of job descriptions, among many others (SHRM, 2023). In addition, many observers posit that open-plan offices fuel workplace conflicts considerably (McShane et al., 2021). Workplace conflicts have far-reaching implications, for instance, they can cause emotional stress among employees. In addition, conflicts can be a predisposing factor to a toxic working environment, which could potentially divert focus from the organization’s mission. As such, the most prudent thing for employers would be to solve such conflicts fairly and timely to forestall undesirable outcomes. Equally paramount, organizations should form etiquette committees to formulate guidelines for appropriate behavior (McShane et al., 2021). For instance, they would prohibit such deplorable behaviors as shouting or eating in the office during working hours.
In resolving the conflict involving the two employees complaining about each other, I would apply some of the components of the five-category model. To begin with, I would employ the win-win orientation to solve the problem in a way beneficial to both parties (McShane et al., 2021). Using this approach leads to a creative solution that expands the resources at stake. That said, I would encourage the feuding parties to share information and collaborate in establishing a com...