Supervisory Management Unit 5

Assignment

Scenario for questions 1 a, b & c. You are a supervisor at a bakery. You give Janet, one of the kitchen assistants, instructions to put some cooked minced beef into the freezer. However, when Janet is ready to complete her shift, the beef is still being cooked. She then asks Billy, who was busy washing dishes at the time, to put it in the freezer for her. The next day, when the owner arrives at the bakery to open up for the day, he immediately smells rotting beef. Angrily, he calls you to inform you that there is no beef to make the pastries for which he has a large order to fulfill and also the wasted beef cost several hundred dollars. Karen, in her defense, claimed that she had asked Billy to freeze the beef for her. Billy, though he acknowledges that Jenny did in fact speak to him before she left for the day, he couldn't remember her saying anything about freezing the beef.

Conflict Resolution

An organization, specifically a workplace, is made up of different kinds of people. People of different qualifications and abilities come together with an aim of achieving organizational goals. Nevertheless, there comes a time when someone might have his/her personal needs or thoughts, which might differ from other employees. In such a case, there might be an occurrence of a conflict. Conflicts in a workplace are prone to happen.

Mostly, the existence of a conflict in an organization will affect the productivity, and there will be frustration in the workplace. There could be a group of people, who are the major causes of conflicts in an organization. This tends to add more work, which was not assigned by the management, to other workers. One fact about a conflict is that it can not naturally go away, and it will get deeper whenever it is ignored.

There are several types of conflicts that are common in nearly every organization. Some are easy to identify, while others might require keen observation. Some of the common identifiers of conflicts include the following:

• Negative attitude. This one is a small, event that can be easily identified. It can end up causing people to strike.
• Low productivity. It might not be easy to detect that the production level has decreased. This would take a while to detect.
These two events involve the affected morale of the worker, which is most likely caused by the existence of a conflict.

Policies Of Conflict Resolution
There are some conflicts that would need the manager to intervene, while in most cases, most of the conflict will need the workers to solve the issues themselves. Here are some policies that can help the teams to solve their conflicts at the workplace.
1. Understanding The Situation
One thing that causes people to have conflicts is the misunderstanding between the two. Mostly, a situation might occur, which would be the main cause of a conflict. For that reason, before one can start to resolve a conflict, they must understand the situation. Understanding the situation also helps people to know how to develop the resolution of the conflict.

2. Recognize The Issue/Problem
When you have understood the situation that caused the conflict, you will then need to acknowledge the problem. One board member might want the company to flow in one direction, while another would oppose the suggestion. The employees can also have issues between them, which would end up causing a conflict. Knowing the problem itself, and clearly understanding it is a great step in conflict resolution. When the problem has been recognized, it will help the workers to approach it directly.

3. Take Your Time. Be Patient
Here, it will need the workers to take time in responding to the conflict. Usually, when one is frustrated, they will most likely make irrational decisions. For that, when people in a workplace are having a conflict, they would make decisions that are not reasonable enough. The most common reason of the decision they make is because they want to be better than the people they are in conflict with. For that reason, always ensure that you have taken your time well. Being patient helps you make rational decisions.

4. Avoid Intimidation And Force
Usually, when you try to coerce some people into following the way that you want, they might only follow it for some time. Nevertheless, this will only be for a short time, and there are higher odds for the problem to reoccur. It is discouraged be intimidating, especially during conflicts. This only tends to cause more problems in the future. It is important to be kind, and allow people to make decisions that are comfortable with them. Mostly, it is recommended to come up with an understanding with the persons whom you have a conflict with.

5. Look At The Problem, And Not The Person
In many situations, a workplace will always have one problematic person. In most cases, the person is always perceived to be the major cause of conflicts. This might be common in many organizations, but it is very unhealthy for the given organization. The habit of pointing fingers to specific people only causes more conflicts. The people would feel discouraged in doing their work well. Instead, you should focus on the problem itself. For instance, if a person was supposed to send emails to clients, and they are late to do so, do not look at the one who was supposed to do it. Instead, you should look at how the emails should be sent to the clients as soon as possible. Focusing on the problem helps to enlighten people on what they should have done.

6. Develop Rules
Prior to carrying out an official meeting with the people who have conflicts, you should establish guidelines that will help to maintain order during the meeting. You should establish the rules that will make them be calm when expressing themselves. This will help to maintain discipline during the meeting. You can also include that any violation of the rules would lead to the termination of the meeting.

7. Keep An Open Communication
The major objective n any conflict resolution is that both individuals or parties to settle their differences by themselves. You should let the parties to speak out their minds, but also, you must also give them your viewpoint. When you allow them to express their viewpoints freely, it would let them realize where the problem is, and how to resolve it.

Conclusion
As a supervisor, or any other manager responsible for the success of an organization, you will need to be professional enough. You must also act decisively when solving the conflicts. It is always expected that you will be the neutral person, and for that, you should never take sides. It could happen that there is a conflict between a board member an a subordinate staff. Here, you should listen to both sides, and avoid favouritism. When all sides have been served fairly, there is a higher chance of peace being the outcome.