Download Conflict Situation

Conflict Situation
We selected organization Air Blue Airlines for analysis of conflict. Conflict was
intergroup. It was between Finance department and Human Resource Department of Air
Blue Airlines. The conflict took place in July 2009 and was resolved through three
successful negotiation sessions.
Background:
Air Blue has been operating since 2003. In February 2009 new airport Operations
department was established at Karachi airport. This airport operations department handles
customers from check in to boarding. For this department new employees had to be hired.
The hiring of new employees was the task of Human Resource Manager who was in
Karachi. Their Finance department which gives approval of all necessary activities is
currently in Islamabad. The Manager of Human Resource department there in Karachi
was new employee and this hiring of employees for Airport Operations department was
his first experience in Air Blue.
The conflict arised when Human Resource department started its Recruitment and
Selection program without any involvement of Finance department. It is mentioned in
Recruitment and Selection Policy of Air Blue Airlines that at every stage of Recruitment
and Selection a Finance personnel approval is necessary. Before the Recruitment the
Human Resource planning for new department had to be designed. This planning
required determining the number of employees for the Airport Operations department and
their salary package accordingly with consultation of Finance department.
The Problem arised when Human Resource department determined number of employees
required and their salary on its own. They recruited employees, took the pre-employment
tests and also decided interview panel on their own. Even they interviewed some of the
employees and policy states that panel for interview must have at least one finance
personnel.
Now the stage of selection of candidate was reached and Finance department became
aware of all these when list of recruited employees with expense of recruitment up till
now was sent to Finance department. The Finance department did not approve the
decision. The decision was not approved by finance department due to two reasons:
First there was no involvement of their department from beginning till end which was
violation of Recruitment and Selection policy.
Second was that Human Resource Manager in the department was insisting on fact that
Recruitment and Selection is solely their job and Finance department involvement
approval is not necessary.
Manager of Human Resource department was called to Islamabad. Director, Manager of
Human Resource department and Director, Manager of Finance department discussed
issue on table of negotiation. Third party i.e. Managing Director was involved, made
manager of Human Resource department aware of all policies and then they realized that
they cannot work separately. Organization is whole system and all departments have to
work together for the best interests of organization. The problem was solved through
successful negotiation series and new Recruitment and Selection program for higher level
employees was redesigned with the involvement of Finance department and decision for
lower level employees was accepted after analysis.
Conflict Cycle
Anticipation:
In 2009 new operations department of Air Blue Airlines established at Karachi Airport.
Manager in Karachi of Human Resource department was assigned the task of hiring
employees for that new operations department. This manager was new in organization.
Manager made a decision about the number of employees required in organization on his
own. He developed Job Descriptions and Person Specifications and he did not contact the
manager of Human Resource department till specified date. Here the managers and some
employees in finance department anticipated that this new manager who was assigned the
task of hiring employees would not handle task appropriately and problem might arise.
The manager of finance department knew that hiring of new employees cannot be
accomplished without their involvement.
Wait and See:
Now the manager of Finance department knows that this manager of Human Resource
department is working on his own. But he did not take any action. He wanted to know
that what further steps manager while recruiting employees would take. He started
gathering information about the workings of manager. At this phase Finance department
realized if their approval is not realized it would create great problem afterwards.
Growth:
The Manager of Human Resource department then decided whole Recruitment and
Selection program, developed salary package, advertisement of the vacant jobs, preemployment tests and decided initial interview dates. This was the beginning of conflict
between parties.
In The Open:
The conflict became open to everyone when list of recruited employees was sent to
Finance department with expense of Recruitment program up till this particular stage.
Selection of Successful candidate was left now. The Finance department Director became
aware of this issue that whole Recruitment and Selection program had been designed
without their approval. Director of Human Resource was called and issue also reached to
Managing Director of organization.
Application:
At this time parties then negotiated and manager of Human Resource department who
was in Karachi was called to Islamabad for series of negotiations. The negotiation was
between Director of finance department and Director, Manager of Human Resource
department. They negotiated on the issue of Recruitment and Selection policy and
adopted collaborative strategy. Managing Director also openly discussed the problem
with the two parties.
Settlement:
After three successful negotiation sessions conflict was resolved. Manager of Human
Resource department became aware of policy and then whole Recruitment and Selection
program was redesigned with the involvement of Finance department at each stage.
Manager of Human Resource accepted the decisions and Finance department also
realized that manager was relatively new in organization and was not aware of
Recruitment and Selection policies. Both parties realized that they should work together
for the betterment of organization and were satisfied with decisions.
Reflection:
After resolution of conflict Director of Human Resource department realized that
manager must be told or informed of policies before assigning him the task of recruiting
new employees as he was new in organization and he should had taken report at each step
of Recruitment and Selection process. The Finance department also judged that despite
informing the director and Managing Director about the problem they should had
negotiated with counter party i.e. Manager and should discussed with him the prevailing
problem and should guide him about their involvement in Recruitment and Selection
program.
Levels of Conflict
There are four basic levels of conflict:
1. Intrapersonal Conflict
2. Interpersonal Conflict
3. Intragroup Conflict
4. Intergroup Conflict
The conflict which we analyzed and studied was intergroup conflict. This conflict existed
between finance department and Human Resource Department, when Manager of Human
Resource department designed the Recruitment and Selection program on its own without
any involvement of Finance Department personnel.
Cause of Conflict
There are five main reason of conflict in organization:1. Trust Worthiness.
2. Policy.
3. Change in organization.
4. Recruitment and Selection.
5. Manager and Supervisory behavior.
The conflict was policy driven.
Conflict Analysis of Air Blue Airlines
The Conflict which we analyzed in Air Blue Airlines was Intergroup and was between
Human Resource department and Finance department. The cause of the conflict was
basically policy driven. As Human Resource Manager hired employees for Airport
Operations department in Karachi without involving Finance personnel. This Airport
Operations department handles customers from check in to boarding. Human Resource
Manager violated the policy of Recruitment and Selection of Air Blue Airlines which was
to involve finance personnel at each step of Recruitment and Selection program. The
Communication channel between parties was face to face and e-mail. Both parties used
Central and Peripheral Routes to influence their counter party. There was also use of
unequal amount of power or leverage by the two departments. Both the parties had
different frames. Finance department focused on cost effective Recruitment and Selection
program while Human Resource Manager focused on urgency of hiring program. Some
cognitive biases occurred like irrational Escalation of Commitment, Mythical fixed-pie
Belief, Overconfidence and Law of Small Numbers. Perceptual distortions were Selective
Perception and Stereotyping.
The negotiation strategy in the beginning was distributive and some hard ball tactics like
intimidation and aggressive behavior were used. Later on Managing Director of
Organization was involved and negotiation moved towards integrative approach. Both
parties realized that the Organization is whole system and two departments must work
together for fulfillment of its goals. Conflict was then resolved in three successful
negotiation sessions. And then the Recruitment and selection program for higher level
employees was redesigned and decision made by Human Resource Manager for lower
level employees was accepted after analysis. Through this conflict the Human Resource
Manager determined his mistake and the whole Recruitment and selection program of Air
Blue Airlines became more cost effective and resulted in hiring of more accurate and
competent employees as per requirement of Organization.