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    Confilct Audit

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    The author conducted a conflict audit at their workplace by asking 5 questions of various employees. [1] When conflicts arise, managers typically respond by avoiding them or using a win-lose approach. [2] Employees often react to conflicts with emotion. [3] Most employees and the director admit to lacking conflict management skills. [4] Cultural changes around information sharing, teamwork and collaboration could reduce the $60,000 annually spent due to unresolved conflicts through complaining and gossiping.

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    Confilct Audit

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    The author conducted a conflict audit at their workplace by asking 5 questions of various employees. [1] When conflicts arise, managers typically respond by avoiding them or using a win-lose approach. [2] Employees often react to conflicts with emotion. [3] Most employees and the director admit to lacking conflict management skills. [4] Cultural changes around information sharing, teamwork and collaboration could reduce the $60,000 annually spent due to unresolved conflicts through complaining and gossiping.

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    The author conducted a conflict audit at their workplace by asking 5 questions of various employees. [1] When conflicts arise, managers typically respond by avoiding them or using a win-lose approach. [2] Employees often react to conflicts with emotion. [3] Most employees and the director admit to lacking conflict management skills. [4] Cultural changes around information sharing, teamwork and collaboration could reduce the $60,000 annually spent due to unresolved conflicts through complaining and gossiping.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    65 views3 pages

    Confilct Audit

    Uploaded by

    api-639206780
    The author conducted a conflict audit at their workplace by asking 5 questions of various employees. [1] When conflicts arise, managers typically respond by avoiding them or using a win-lose approach. [2] Employees often react to conflicts with emotion. [3] Most employees and the director admit to lacking conflict management skills. [4] Cultural changes around information sharing, teamwork and collaboration could reduce the $60,000 annually spent due to unresolved conflicts through complaining and gossiping.

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    Conflict Audit

    Ronald Powell

    College of Integrated Science and Arts, Arizona State University

    OGL340: Managing Conflict

    Prof. Bill Erwin

    November 24, 2022


    Conduct a Conflict Audit
    Situation: involves conducting a Conflict Audit. From pages 318 – 321 in Resolving
    Conflicts at Work by Kenneth Cloke and Joan Goldsmith, you’ll find the description of
    “Conducting a Conflict Audit.” By conducting a Conflict Audit, you’ll be investigating a
    frequent manager complaint that conflict resolution practices and mediation take too
    much time and cost too much money. You’ll be gathering information that can help you
    decide if the complaint is true or not? If you conduct this audit, you’ll gather objective
    data including costs, numbers, and time involved. There is a list of illustrative questions
    found on pages 319, 320, and 321. Your assignment is to select a minimum of 5 of
    these questions and conduct a Conflict Audit at your workplace. In your Discussion
    Board, you will:

    List the questions you selected.

    • How do leaders and managers typically respond to conflicts?


    • What do people do when they have conflicts?
    • How skilled are managers in conflict resolution?
    • What cultural changes would reduce conflict?
    • How would these cultural changes impact cost?

    1. Report the data you uncovered in your audit for each question.
    2. Analyze the significance of your collected data.
    3. Make any observations you consider pertinent to the exercise.

    Summary Report

    At my job, the lack of warehouse space, or simply the lack of a warehouse has caused conflict between
    operations, management, and the AV project team. The company does not have a adequate warehouse
    space for AV project operations. However, there are active AV projects and materials for the projects
    are delivered to the warehouse daily. The conflict has grown into nasty confrontations about
    responsibility, accountability, courtesy, and respect. After this event, I wanted know how the company
    handles conflict.

    On my quest to better understand how conflicts are resolved, I spoke with several people at my
    company and asked the questions listed above. I spoke with the assistant operations manager, the
    executive assistant, a project engineer, the business unit director, and the warehouse clerk. The
    discussions included the listed questions along with an impact estimate and cost estimate. I found there
    was a general consensus.
    When conflicts arise managers typically respond by avoiding the conflict and hoping it goes away or end
    the conflict with a win-lose outcome. A win-lose outcome does not resolve the conflict it builds
    resentment and time is spent on complaining, scheming, and gossiping. I recognized this action being
    unskilled in conflict management.

    When people in the organization they often react with emotion. Yesterday, I witnessed the fury of the
    director when describing the situation at the overfilled warehouse. He directed his anger outward with
    sustained duration. Implementing a mandate to refuse all deliveries until further notice. Which creates
    an impasse between operations and AV-projects. The project quality is not at risk and the
    interdepartmental relations have broken down further.

    Everyone except the director admitted to not having conflict management skills. Or at least thought that
    conflict management was meditation skills. They all admitted the resolved conflict making a decision
    (win-lose) to get people back to work. And until my conversation with them never considered that the
    problem was not resolved. I pointed out it affects the culture and is directly related to efficiency. Think
    about how much is spent on complaining to a peer after implementing a win-lose resolution. If two
    employees that earn $21/hr. complain about the issue for 90 minutes, the company incurred a loss of
    $126.00. What if that happens it different groups 10 times a week? That’s $1260/wk or $5,040/mo..
    Unresolved conflict can cost the $60,000/yr.

    Now that we put a dollar value to ignoring conflict resolution, I asked what cultural changes need to
    occur to reduce this kind of loss. Improved information sharing between operations and AV-projects,
    better team work, and cross functional collaboration were some of the ideas that were discussed. The
    director admitted that he influences the culture at the company an the responsibility falls on his
    shoulders.

    The culture changes would improve efficiency and while reducing the time wasted on fighting and
    gossiping. The would reduce or eliminate the $60K lost to conflict. The assumption is that better conflict
    managing will improve employee relations that will impact quality and customer relations that will
    reduce cost while improving profit margins.

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