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MASTER OF MANAGEMENT - GADJAH MADA UNIVERSITY

MANAGING CONFLICT

Case of Interpersonal Conflict

A. Pandu Wirawan, Airin Wahyu G., Aysha Omer, Chandra da

Cruz, Alex Dupe

5/1/2013


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I. BackgroundThe National Petroleum Authority/Autoridade Nacional do Petrleo (ANP) is a

Timor-Leste's body responsible of managing and regulating petroleum activities in the

Timor-Leste's exclusive jurisdictional areas and in the Joint Petroleum Development Area

(JPDA) in accordance with the Decree Law on the establishment of the ANP, the Timor-Leste

Petroleum Activities Law, and the Timor Sea Treaty. ANP was established on the 1 st of July

2008 after the Decree Law passed on the 19th of June 2008, currently employs 85 employees

with two offices located in Dili, Timor Leste.

The ANP function is to implement and supervise compliance with the enacted rules

and regulations covering the exploration, development, production, transportation and

distribution of petroleum and natural gas resources. It is also tasked to develop a strong

petroleum management institution in TimorLeste. Its vision is to be a leading petroleum

regulatory authority in the region and a model for institutional development in Timor-Leste.


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II. Problem StatementThere were two problems faced by the company, which happened in the early 2011.

The first being rule violation in terms of alcoholic drinks consumption in the office which led

to physical fighting among the employees, and the second was rule violation in terms of

designated smoking place.

1. Alcoholic Drinks Consumption in the OfficeAt the end of financial year, it is a tradition for the company to hold employees

gathering in order to give year-end report about company performance and the

achievement reached during the year. The agenda was started with meeting and

presentation of the report, fun game and ended with dinner and dancing.

The company actually forbade the employees to bring the alcohol during the office

activities. However, some employees sneaked their private alcoholic drinks and started

drinking after midnight, hence the problem occurred when some employees began to

fight each other.

This became a big issue in the office and the corporate manager immediately

investigated the problem. People from Human Resources (HR) and Health and Safety(H&S) Department were requested to be involved in the investigation to investigate the

suspects

There were several questions asked to one of the involving investigators through

telephone interview, as follows:

Name : Fatima Abdad

Position : Human Resources Officer at ANP

Role : Investigator in managing the conflict

a. What was the main issue (root) of the conflict?Answer

The main issue was the employees after midnight starts to drink alcohol and

get drunk around 1am and they start to fight each other.


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b. Who were involved in the conflict?

Answer

The fighting involved some staffs from several departments and few company

drivers.

c. Have you ever experienced organizational conflict?Answer

This was my first time involved in organizational conflict and I managed it

very well. Our investigator team was successfully solved the problem and

apply the company policy to the people who involved in the fighting by given

them warning letter and some penalties apply to them.

d. What was your role in managing that particular conflict?Answer

I am acting as investigator and since I am a human resources officer, so I was

authorized by the corporate manager to send them warning letter.

e. How did it solved?Answer

It was a good investigation and my team investigator was successfully solved

the problem. Also people who involved at the fighting were very corporative.

So it was easy for the team to solve the problem.

2. Smoking in Non-designated Smoking AreaThe H&S department was always dealing with the issues related to employees

health and safety in the company. So, the company provided several designated

smoking area for people who want to smoke. However, some employees broke the rule

by smoking in the non-designated places, which disturbed other employees and might

cause some negative impacts to other employees health. Feeling disturbed, these other

employees reported to the H&S department, not just because the irresponsible smokers

violated the company rule, but they were also involved in other negative behavior of


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swearing each other. The H&S officer s were required by the head of the company to

manage the conflict.

The following was the telephone interview done with one of the investigators:

Name : Zelio Moniz

Position : Health and Safety Officer at ANP

Role : Investigator in managing the conflict

1. What was the main issue (root) of the conflict?Answer

Some male employees did smoking in public places and disturb other

employees who were not smoking. So, they were involved in fighting and

swearing each other.

2. Who were involved in the conflict?Answer

It was a conflict between staffs from Administration Department and staffs

from Information Technology (IT) Department.

3. Have you ever experienced organizational conflict?Answer

Yes, many times and most of the cases were successfully managed well at the

end.

4. What is your role in managing that particular conflict?Answer

Acting as H&S officer

5. How did it solved?Answer

It was successfully good.


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III. AnalysisA. Theories Related to the Organizations Problem

1. ConflictConflict is a process in which one party perceives that is interests are being

opposed or negatively affected by another party1.

There are two distinctions of conflict, functional conflict and dysfunctional

conflict2. Functional conflictserves organizations interest, support the goal of the

organization and improve performance. This kind of conflict is commonly referred

to in management circles as constructive or cooperative conflict. Dysfunctional

conflict,in the other hand, threatens organizations interests, hinder organizational

performance.This particular conflict is undesirable and manager should seek for itseradication.

Frederick W. Taylor, writer of efficiency and scientific management, believed

that all conflict ultimately threatened management authority and thus had to be

avoided or quickly resolved. Too much conflict (particularly dysfunctional conflict)

in the organization can erode organization performance because political infighting,

dissatisfaction, lack of teamwork, and turnover. Workplace aggression and violence

can be manifestations of excessive conflict. Otherwise, too little conflict (particularlyfunctional conflict) also brings negative impacts for organization such as lack of

creativity, indecision, and missed deadlines.

1JA Wald Jr and RR Callister Conclict and Its Management, Journal of Management No.3 (1995), p517. 2R Kreitner an A Kinicki, Organizational Behavior, 9th Edition, McGraw Hill, 2011, p 375.


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Relationship between conflict intensity and outcomes3

2. Types of ConflictPeople avoided conflict for many varieties of bad and good reasons. Some

people said that they avoided conflict because they fear various combinations of

harm, rejection, lost of relationship, anger, been seen as selfish and so on. The

followings are types of conflict one can find in the organization (Kreitner and

Kinicki, 2011):

a. Personality conflict, interpersonal opposition driven by personal dislike ordisagreement. Its occurs when two or more people find themselves in conflict

not over a particular issue or incident but due to fundamental incompatible in

their responsibilities and their approaches to things their life style of life.

b. Intergroup conflict, conflict that occurs among work groups, teams, anddepartment is a common threat to organizational competitiveness.

c. Cross cultural conflict, conflict that occurs between people from differentcountries with different cultures. When doing business with people from

different culture is commonplace in our global economy where cross borders

merger, joint ventures and alliance are the order of the day. Because of the

different behavior on how to think and act, the potential for cross culture

conflict is both immediate and huge. Success or failure when conducting

business across culture often hinges on avoiding and minimizing actual or

perceived conflict.

3LD Brown, Managing Conflict at Organizatioanl Interfaces, 1

stEdition, Pearson, 1983.


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3. Managing ConflictIt is important to manage the conflict, by involve in doing things to limit the

negative aspects of conflict and to increase the positive aspects of conflict. The aim

of conflict management is to enhance learning and group outcomes, includingeffectiveness or performance in organizational setting (Rahim, 2002, p. 208).

Properly managed conflict can improve group outcomes (Alpert, Osvaldo, & Law,

2000; Booker & Jame son, 2001; Rahim & Bono ma, 1979; Kuhn & Poole, 2000;

Church & Marks, 2001).

Vanessa Cross4 wrote in her article, there are five common approaches we

may use to resolve conflict, which are:

a. AccommodatingThe accommodating approach emphasizes cooperation instead of

assertiveness. A person places his interests last and allows the other party to

further her interests. The accommodating approach often occurs when a party

is not significantly invested in securing a victory, because he does not perceive

the alternative option as a significant threat.

b. AvoidingAvoiding conflict involves one of the conflicted parties avoiding communicatingabout or confronting the problem, hoping it will go away. By not participating

in the problem-solving process, she is effectively removing herself from it.

When employing this approach, the conflict might go away if the other party

doesn't press for a resolution. The underlying differences between the parties

are never resolved.

c. CollaboratingThe collaboration style involves parties working together to resolve issues, and

both sides come to the table with win-win attitudes. It is a favorable

negotiation style in formal dispute resolution situations, such as mediation,

where the parties employee a mediator but must agree on the final, binding

resolution.

4Cross, Vanessa (n.d.). Five Approaches to Conflict Resolution. Retrieved 28 May 2013, from

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/five-approaches-conflict-resolution-21360.html
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/five-approaches-conflict-resolution-21360.htmlhttp://smallbusiness.chron.com/five-approaches-conflict-resolution-21360.htmlhttp://smallbusiness.chron.com/five-approaches-conflict-resolution-21360.html


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d. CompromiseBargaining is the hallmark of the compromise approach to conflict resolution.

The conflicting parties can identify some interests they are willing to

compromise on to bring about a resolution. While the emotional level might

still be high, the compromise style sometimes results in interim solutions when

a full resolution is not immediately possible. Parties might reach a settlement

to prevent further escalation of the conflict.

e. ConfrontationThe confrontation style to conflict resolution entails the party placing his

desires above those of all others involved in the conflict. Assertiveness is the

hallmark of this approach, and those employing this style of negotiation aim to

address the conflict head-on. It might involve high levels of emotions as the

parties establish positions in what can sometimes evolve into hostile

communications.

Another approach that can be used to resolve conflict is called Alternative

Dispute Resolution (ADR), which consists of the following techniques (Kreitner /

Kinicki, 2011):

a. Facilitation, where a third party in higher position can act to urge theconflicting parties to deal directly with each other.

b. Conciliation, a neutral third party informally acts as a communication conduitbetween disputing parties.

c. Peer review, review based on a panel of trustworthy coworkers to actobjectively and listen to both sides of a dispute in an informal confidential

meeting.

d. Ombudsman, similar with facilitation, however the facilitator is not in higherposition but an employee who is widely respected, especially by both disputing

parties.

e. Mediation, a neutral third party who is trained, able to resolve the conflict andcreate innovative solutions.


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f. Arbitration, a use of formal court-like meeting with neutral arbitrator as adecision maker. The decision in arbitration is final and binding.

Others prevent conflict at the workplacein which you, as manager, can

minimise those conflict triggers that could have a negative impact on yourcompany. Some of these include:

a. Make wise appointments. Make sure that when you hire a new employee, theperson fits in with the rest of the team. It might be a good idea to involve a few

of the other team members, who will work directly with the new employee, in

the selection process.

b. Open communication. Clear, regular communication is the key to strongworking relationships at the office. It's important for managers to be accessible,so that employees can voice their concerns as soon as they arise.

c. Be fair. Make sure work and work hours are distributed evenly. Don't let certainemployees get away with doing less than others this will no doubt lead to

conflict. Also try to keep your employees busy. This way, they'll have less time

for gossip and squabbles.

d. Involve employees in conflict resolution training. Invest in training that willteach everyone conflict-resolution skills, and expect people to use them.

e. Set strategies in place. Implement a grievance policy and procedure. Conflict canbe passed up the hierarchy to a common superior for resolution. This way,

management will stay on top of potentially volatile situations.

f. Ensure clear guidelines. Establish clear guidelines for dealing with potentialconflict triggers, such as sexual harassment or racial bias. Communicate these

guidelines clearly the moment you appoint new employees.

g. Set common goals. Focus on tasks, not personalities, and make sure employeeswork together towards common goals. Make sure that employees are rewarded

when targets are reached.


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4. Alternative Style for Handling Dysfunctional ConflictPeople tend to handle negative conflict in patterned ways referred to as styles. Several conflict

styles have been categorized over the years. According to conflict specialist, Rahim offer a

model of conflict-hadling styles5

, five different conflict-handling styles can be plotted on a

2*2 grid. High to low concern for self is found on the horizontal axis, while low to high

concern for others form the vertical axis. Various combinations of these variables produce the

five different conflict-handling styles such as: integrating, obligating, dominating, avoiding,

and compromising. There is no single best style; each has strengths and limitations and

subject to situational check.

5MA Rahim, A Strategy for Managing Conflict in Complex Organizations, Human Relations Journal, January 1985, p 84.


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5. The role of Organizational CultureCorporate culture can be defined as the specific elements that explain the basics of how an

organization works. Corporate culture, sometimes called organizational culture can be defined

as the set of rules of an organization, shared values, how they should be conveyed, and the

common way of approaching problems. They may be included in a charter.

The components of corporate culture are

numerous:

Company History Rites Symbols Values (implicit or explicit) Working methods Socio-cultural habits

The company values can be as varied:

Ethics Team Spirit Justice Honesty Professionalism Cohesiveness

How to build a corporate culture?

A company that wants to structure and formalize their culture will often use an external

expert. This will create a small group of members of the organization, and cross each of the

components mentioned above. Loyalty to the corporate culture is a long-term process and will

necessarily (under penalty of failure) through the involvement of all stakeholders, whether

officers or employees of the company.

However, the corporate culture is not just a source of cohesion, it also brings an essentialcontribution to the technical operations. Corporate culture

contributes significantly to standardize these

behaviors and contingencies. Giving everyone a

common reference, the corporate culture can be

recalled to prevent or ease tensions within the

company.

To define the corporate culture that we study, we

can use CVF framework (competing values

framework) created initially by Quinn and

Rohrbaugh in 1983 and rehabilitated by Cameron

and Quinn in 2006. There are four types of cultures:


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B. Discussion on Organizations ProblemAccording to the conflict definition, two conflicts occurred in ANP are both

dysfunctional conflict. Alcoholic drinks consumption in the office and smoke in non-

designated smoke are surely could bring negative impact on employee workingrelationships because it disturb comfortable existing working condition. It also violates

company culture as well as company regulation. Management of ANP should impose

penalty to their employee that conducted these negative kind of behavior. Moreover,

ANP is a state company, so that their employee as public servant should exhibit ethical

and professional working behavior.

Based on those three types of conflict, the conflicts happened in ANP can be

categorized as personality conflict, because the rule breaking by drinking alcohol,swearing, physical fighting and smoking in non-designated smoking areas are basically

came from each persons personality. Their moral value and lack of self-control are the

fundamental reasons why such conflicts happened.

However, due to some staffs belong to different departments involved in the

conflicts, so the investigator might perceived that the conflicts were between A

Department and B Department, but actually they were not necessarily intergroup

conflicts. Intergroup conflict occurs when a conflict is between two divisions ordepartments in the company, and the problem is work-related. Usually, the conflict will

be because it is clashing each other interests. For example, the marketing department

plans to make complicated advertisement to increase the sales but rejected by the

Finance Department because such costly advertisement is over the budget.

In terms of managing the conflict that happened due to rule violations, whether it

was drinking alcohol in the office or smoking in forbidden areas, the party who break

the rule must get the punishment because it is against the company rules. However, thedisputing parties might still have some conflicts remained and the company needs to do

something to end such conflict. Compromising should be the best approach, since it

helps the conflicting employees to move on with their activities. But, one must certainly

avoid confrontation, because it may lead to another conflict, which were physical

fighting and verbal swearing.


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If the company has someone responsible in the higher position to make decision,

then it will be very effective to resolve the conflict. Therefore, facilitation technique

from ADR approach will also give the best outcome to the conflict or dispute.

Among the seven conflict prevention actions, the very best action is to ensure theclear guidelines to the employees of ANP. From the case, we could assume that even

though the company rules and regulations were there, but employees did not seem to

be aware of these rules and regulations, hence they were still act disrespectfully and

irresponsibly. Every employee should be given crystal clear guidelines of what is

forbidden and what kind of punishment they will get if they do not obey the guidelines.

Not just verbally, but also in printed contract. Therefore, when they are found

disobeying the rules and regulations, they are breaching the contract and the company

is able to give punishment accordingly.

In the case of non-compliance with the smoking prohibition inside the company,

organizational culture appears to be insufficiently developed. Indeed it can be seen that the

prohibition was signified in the rules of the company but not respected. It also seems that

employees do not feel commitment, they do not take about the health of each and tensions

between each department.

An organizational culture must create cohesion between employees and departments and

it must define good and bad behaviors and enforce values. We here think it would be useful to

use an outside expert, as we said in the definition, he can easily work on internal issues and

reasons for the lack of a common culture. This expert will be probably more respected because

he has an outside view and he is impartial. The values that should be highlighted and integrated

have to be the justice, respect, and professionalism. We believe that the company should move

towards a Hierarchicalculture, bringing stability and control. The establishment of a charter, as

is often done in businesses and schools, is also important. We explain how to manage the

conflict, clear rules about alcohol and smoking, and each employee should sign it.

The lack of cohesion characteristic of companies with a lack of organizational culture can

be filled by small groups, which work on writing the charter. It also seems important to

remember the history of the company and its role; it is the component of the corporate culture.

ANP is a regulatory organization. It is therefore important that the rules and seriousness are the

core values of the company.


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C. Conclusion & RecommendationFor most people, conflict is associated with a negative, destructive situation. And yes,

it certainly has the potential to wreak havoc within a work team. But it need not be a bad

thing. Constructive conflict management can produce creative solutions to problems, higher-

quality relationships, and constructive change. The key is to resolve conflict in such a way

that it improves the situation for all the relevant parties involved. Important steps in this

process include:

1. Identify the problem. Find out what the source of the conflict is and in what stage theconflict is in. The aim is to try to get involved as soon as possible.

2. Give both sides a voice. Arrange for a meeting and make sure that there is a mutualairing of differences, complaints, and negative feelings. Both parties must feel that

this is a neutral space. Don't meet with the parties separately this could give the

more persuasive party an unfair advantage.

3. Work through the differences. This will require time and commitment. Here, the aimis to bring about greater understanding of the parties' different attitudes,

perceptions, and positions. Encourage both sides to put forward their points of view

and encourage them to try and understand each other's point of view.

4. Identify solutions. Find a resolution for each issue. The best way to do this is toensure that both parties play an active role in identifying a solution to the different

issues. Listen carefully as the employees blow off steam, and then wait for them to

propose their own solutions.

5. Reach a compromise. When resolving conflict, the aim should be a win-win outcome,where both parties obtain their goals through creative integration of their concerns.

Get both parties to acknowledge the issues, and agree to move forward. It might be a

good idea to get them to sign an agreement.

6. Keep communication channels open. Ensure that relevant parties meet regularly todiscuss any awkward situations or problems that could give rise to future conflict

situations.


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7. Do follow-up. Remember to do follow-up in due course, for example three monthsafter the initial meeting. Check whether the issues are resolved, and whether further

mediation is required.

In the ANP cases, number 6 may be skipped because the conflict should be able tofinish immediately after the decision was made. Regular meeting between the conflicting

parties may not give any positive solution to prevent future conflicts. However, follow up by

the responsible person (the HR staff or the H&S staff) is very important to ensure the

conflicting parties has completely move forward and the conflict has completely resolved.

For the above two conflicts happened at the ANP, we can suggest the following

alternative solutions, mainly to prevent similar conflicts from happening in the future:

1. Explain to the employees the company rules and regulation at the first day of theiremployment to ensure that they have been given notification. It is very important to

also make clear that no alcoholic drinks can be consumed in the office, at anytime

(during and after working hours), and at any events (including company gathering

and party).

2. Put warning signs of no smoking in strategic places around and in side the office. Itis important to include the information on where the employees are allowed to

smoke and what kind of punishment they will receive if they broke the rule.

3. To stop the excesses with the cigarette, a break of fifteen minutes morning andafternoon could be included in the charter. This break could affect smokers and

nonsmokers. This pause allows the smokers and non-smokers to be together to address

other issues, informal meetings. The company could win a collective spirit, and

improve the cohesion necessary for the development of the corporate culture.

4. Assign some staffs to act as a controller, and he or she shall be given authority towarn (verbal or written) to the rule breakers. Other staffs can also report to this

authorized person whenever someone acts against the company rules.

5. To prevent bringing alcoholic drinks or dangerous materials to the office, thecompany could implement security check (bag checking and metal detector) before

entering the office.


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D. List of Reference1. Fatima Abdad

Human resources Officer

Authoridade National do Petroleum (ANP)

Timor Leste

Phone : +67077342797

2. Zelio MonizHealth and Safety officer

Authoridade National do Petroleum (ANP)

Timor Leste

Phone: +67077240828

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