MOD004160TRI Managing A Polarized Workface Sample
Introduction
Polarization means dividing the groups in terms of different opinions, beliefs, and ideas. In addition, polarization can arise from different ideologies or perspectives of the people. A case study has been selected in this context to analyze the different aspects of polarization within an organization. In addition, different theories, and strategies related to business have been discussed in the selected case study.
Overview of the article
As observed by Minson and Gino (2022), in any organization polarization can be faced in the workplace, polarization itself means different people have different opinions and can be categorized into two groups. One of the most difficult challenges organization leader’s faces is managing the diversification of employees. As per the case study organizational leaders can meet the challenges of psychology and social behavior of employees, also leaders have several management ideas to reduce the conflict between the corporate management and employees. The root cause of polarization is a consistent arguably among the employees and management that issues come under the psychology of disagreement. As per the Psychology of disagreement, people disagree with the facts and beliefs, and people have not well informed about different information. Moreover, human minds take so much time to interpret things and connect to familiar ideas. Defensiveness, threat, and ego play a key role in arising conflict, people’s egos and threats create a picture of disagreement in the mind, and people’s minds work only based on logic, truth, and evidence. Majority of people have a perception that disagreement is bad therefore conflicts many time arises in the organization’s workplace. As opined by Minson and Gino (2022), the research finds the opposite, managing the disagreement tends to get a good result than escaping the work. Organizational management has well knowledge of discussing the issue and giving the proper solutions to the employees. In this case study on the other part, some psychologists consider this false polarization. The broad idea of this case study covers the major division of the workforce that arises due to allegations, clamming, and accusations. Black lives matter campaigning is an important factor to create an environment of polarization workplace. At the workplace of an organization, middle-level managers teach the employees open-mindedness and show skills in terms of opposing their views. Open-minded people have the catching power of opportunities, information, and resources. As per the case, study data provides proper training to the employee so that the employee can evaluate the critical challenges of polarization. Communication training should be provided to the employee thereby a communication gap not is there between the management and the employee. As per the case study some business leaders use these strategies to avoid polarization and create receptiveness work environment within the organization.
The main issue covered
The main issue that has been highlighted in the case study includes polarization, managing the diversification of leaders, and disagreement on opinion. In addition, organizational leaders fail to draw the work conduct of scholars in terms of sociology, psychology, and management. As per the case study most people have a problem related to disagreement, disagreement arises due to many reasons such as people have not an idea and being unintelligent, having high levels of anger, disruption, and irritation. By finding out the disagreement management learn several approaches to conflict willingly. As per the case, study data survey the work life of employees at US companies at work to some degree. The employee spent only 3.5 hours a week on average. The majority of the organizational leaders failed to control the polarization in the workplace. Union members and management always struggle to manage the work at the workplace. Moreover, people falsely discuss any topic with different views and have not concluded the related topic.
The management of the conflict projection
The article gives an overview of the management of conflict in the organisation to improve employee collaboration and employee engagement. This article addresses the workplace issues such as “MeToo” and “Black Lives Matter movements” that hamper the workflows in the organisation. In the year, 2021, a survey has been conducted based on the conflict issues in the different organisations in the U.S. in this context, a total of 486 participants has taken a part in the survey procedure and 89% of the respondents stated that they face issues of average 3.5 hours per week they are facing with this problems. Furthermore, almost 39% of the respondent stated that they can deal with the issues with the help of effective training procedures (Minson and Gino, 2022). The group of people who are a part of the “leadership development program or executive coaching”, among them 96% stated that this program is very effective to manage conflict in the organisation. In this case, 73% of the respondents stated that they feel comfortable dealing with disagreements and 62% stated that the people are able to convert conflicts into productive ones. As opined by Perez (2018), conflict management is crucial thing for the organisation to manage the employer and improves employee engagement. Furthermore, effective conflict management helps the organisation to improve productivity and manage business operations.
Conflict resolution
The article mainly discusses the way to resolve conflict and overcome conflict-related issues in organisations. The myths mainly address different people’s opinions of uniqueness makes conflicts among the people. In this context, the visualization of every people is different and the different thought of the people increases conflict in the organisations. People who disagree on a particular thing without knowing the thing are considered uninformed or unintelligent. Furthermore, many people have a tendency to disagree with anything without knowing the matter specifically. In the organisation, conflict mainly occurs at times different people share separate points of view on a particular matter. Psychologist opines that human is capable to connect familiar things and at the time view anything as changes disagreeing with the concept. Humans also face connection problems and logical problems at the time facing complicated situations or contradictory ideas. In the organisation different cultural employee work and their point of view differently that increases conflict in the organisation. In this context, the myth stated that separate ideas are the source of making innovation in the organisation and improving productivity. As opined by Perez (2018), different cultural people increase conflicts in the organisation and damage the workflow. On contradictory, Fine et al. (2020) stated that diversity in the workplace helps the organisation to make innovation in the business and improves workflows. Diversity helps the organisation to easily overcome business-related risks and helps in improving productivity.
Leadership plays an effective role to manage conflicts among the people in the organisation and help to improve productivity. In this context, conflict management is one of the main things to improve collaboration among the employee in the organisation and improves productivity. The myth discussed by the author is disagreement turns people more defensive. In this context, disagreement increases irritation and anger and damages the good bonding among the people. As per the articles, disagreement is identified as negative and bad emotions that make the promotions of the conflicts and highly increase the conflict level. In the organisation, unwanted disagreement issues make a distance among the employee. In this context, different cultural people shares points of view and opinion related to a particular matter and the different opinions create conflict among the employee. In this case, one person is required to agree with the opinion of the other that help to reduce conflict and improves employee collaboration. “Human Relations Management Theory” includes individuals’ needs and focuses on human behaviours (Boon et al. 2019). In the organisation maintaining a good bonding among the employee is very essential to overcome any type of conflict among the employee. Conflicts damage the good bonding among the employee and hamper the business performance. Therefore, overcoming conflict is the main thing for the organisation to improve employee collaboration and creates a good bonding among the employees.
In the article, the author has addressed that disagreement makes the promotion negative emotions and damages the bonding among the employees. In the year 2021, a survey has organised and the total number of participants was 656 employees. In this case, 60% of the survey respondents stated that the conflict is highly unpleasant (Minson and Gino, 2022). It shows that almost one-third of the survey participants stated that conflict makes negative emotions that are completely unwanted. In this case, 40% of the survey respondents are destructive to their professional relationships. Communication barriers are considered one of the main barriers that increase the conflict level among employees and create distance among the employees. As per the opinion of Perez (2018), conflict management is one of the essential things for the organisation to improve employee collaboration. In this context, the employee is required to listen to the other person’s point of view that helps to overcome conflict among the people. In the organisation, conflict occurs at the time the people are consistent about their opinion and do not focus on listening to the other person’s view. According to Nandeesh et al. (2022), a proper leader can overcome conflicts among people and provide good ideas to improve relationships among people. In this case, the people are required to focus on building a good relationship rather than increasing conflict that is beneficial for the company to improve employee management.
The effective management of conflicts to overcome fears
Conflict management is the practice of overcoming conflicts and resolving disagreements. A diverse workforce is visible in large organisations and the organisation faces issues of conflict. In this case, communication barriers are identified as one of the major barriers that highly increases conflict among the employee in the organisation. In this context, a proper “conflict management style” is very effective for the organisation to overcome conflicts and remove negative emotions. Conflict management is one of the most effective things for the organisation to improve employee collaboration and employee engagement. According to Nandeesh et al. (2022), an effective leader helps to overcome conflict among the team members and guides the team members to improve collaboration. The two theories related to conflict management are “Contemporary theory” and “Traditional theory”. In this context, “contemporary theory” determines that conflict between people is unavoidable. The “traditional theory” normally is based on the assumption that conflict makes trouble and that conflict promotes negative emotions.
Figure 1: Two types of theory of conflict management
(Source: Self-developed)
Implementation of the conflict management-related program in the organisation is essential that helps give an overall idea of managing conflict and helps to improve team collaboration. The development of an effective training program is essential for the organisation to give an overview of the work progress and working culture to the employee and improves employee performance. As opined by Hussein and Al-Mamary (2019), proper communication is essential for the organisation to manage conflicts. In a multinational company, the employees face language barrier issues and cross-cultural issues that increase conflicts among the employee in the organisation. In this context, the development of a conflict management-related program is essential for the organisation to improve employee relationships. Furthermore, an effective training program is also essential for the organisation to give proper guidance to the employee about the jobs and the working culture. In this context, disagreement increases the conflict level and hampers the team’s performance. Diversity in the workplace makes increases the conflict level among the employee and hamper workflows in the organisation. On contradictory, Fine et al. (2020) stated that diversity in the workplace is essential as it helps the company to make innovation in the business. In this context, innovation in the business is essential to attract new people and improves the overall business performance.
Conflict resolution is one of the effective things for the organisation as it helps to improve employee engagement. In terms of managing conflict, the main thing is to identify the reason for the occurring conflict, discuss resolutions and make a suitable idea to overcome the conflicts. In this case, disagreement is considered one of the main sources of increasing conflicts among the employee and damages the good relationship among the employee. As opined by Shamne et al. (2019), cross-cultural issues increase conflicts among employees and hamper the overall performance of the organisation. On contrary, Danilina (2021) stated that different cultural people give innovative ideas to the business and help the organisation to make innovations in the business. In the organistaion, different cultural people give innovative ideas that help to make innovation in the business.
Figure 2: Conflict management strategies
(Source: Self-developed)
As opined by Einarsen et al. (2018), by collecting valuable information from the workers and developing the cultures of personalities by taking the help of the active listening process the rate of conflicts has been sustainably mitigated. In this regard, making an establishment of succession rates and identifying the disagreements and agreements regarding the issues that have already increased in the working environments have been mitigated. Taking the help of the five kinds of approaches related to “Accommodation, Avoidance, Collaboration, Compromise and Competition” the chances of efficiency and rates of ultimate developments can be easily accessed. It has developed the cultures of negotiations and ideas deliberations and enhanced the decision-making approaches by generating interest and providing equity among the workers that can be considered as a beneficial side for the improvements of workers’ satisfaction. As per the opinion of FAKHRI et al. (2022), “Democratic leadership styles” have allowed the followers to participate in the management process and identified the accurate ranges of issues that have been already faced by the organisations.
The “Democratic leadership style” has been creating a positive effect by accessing the situations and making a guideline by recognising the conflicts and creating an effective range of decision-making approaches for the development of ultimate sustainability. Collecting valuable opinions from the workers and generating concepts and ideas by taking immediate action plans based on the issues of the organisations the rates of production activity and developments of profit margin rates can also be easily accessed. In addition, the wider ranges of skills developments and prioritised workforces conditions have become much easier after setting clear determinations and making an enhancement setting up a clear vision and missions. Democratic leadership ability has also “Promoted productivity rates through delegations” identified the issues that have been addressed the issues and created an effective range of decision-making approaches for resolving the issues and developing the cultures of welfare. As per the opinion of Caillier (2020), the “Democratic leadership style” is very effective for the organisation to properly manage the employee in the organisation. In this type of leadership style, the leader gives the opportunity to team members about giving their opinion related to a particular matter that encourages the employee to work in the organisation. In the organisation, an effective leader can easily handle their team members and gives proper guidance to improve team collaboration. In this case, the employees feel more valuable and the strong opinion of the employee helps the team leader to make a perfect business decision. In the organisation, disagreement contributes to innovation and innovative ideas of the different people help the organisation to make innovation in the business
Navigating strategies for mitigating polarization
Polarization is regarded as one of the key issues that any leader used to face in the organization. This polarization issue creates multiple obstacles in an existing workplace; hence it becomes tough for the leaders to manage. There are multiple ways to mitigate the polarized approaches and their effective outcome in the organization. It is expected that this approach can help in developing a proper work culture.
Defusing fear about disagreement with other
Personality clashes, intense organizational conflicts, previous history of heated arguments led to relationship ruining among the employees within an organization. Minson and Gino, (2022), have pointed out that different opinions about any topic, anger, and emotions are the main factor that can raise conflicts. It has been reported that fear of disagreement can lead to less conversation among the employees and the management. Thus a polarized work environment is used to be created. For reducing this issue, firstly, the fear is needed to be eliminated. In this context, Alabdulkareem et al. (2018) have stated that disagreement is a common thing and everyone is needed to accept it normally. This fear is the root cause of most organizational problems. Hence, for mitigating this issue, this fear is needed to be diffused and active participation from all the employees in any discussion is needed.
The open-mindedness of the people
Minson and Gino (2022) have also identified that people with narrow mentalities used to trigger the polarization approaches within the workplace. Hence, the employees are required to be open-minded for focusing on any issue more logically. Open-minded people can also enhance the performance of any organization. As opined by Cortes and Salvatori, (2019), people are required to be more objective in thinking about any organizational matter rationally. However, the classic research in the field of social psychology has evaluated that telling people for being more objective does not work; hence they are required to develop a receptive type of mindset to endorse an open mind for accepting the matter logically.
Careful choice of languages
Language is one of the crucial factors that directly affect the performance of any team. Most of the time, choosing irrelevant and informal languages leads to conflicts and misunderstandings within any organization. Hence, the official language is needed to be chosen carefully. As opined by Simmers et al. (2019), formal languages are needed to be chosen in any workplace for ensuring fewer conflicts, fewer misunderstandings and others. Choosing the native languages for conversation in an official place can indirectly create polarization in the workplace and a lot of employees can feel deprived. Due to this, anyone formal language is needed to be used in the workplace. In this aspect, the cooperation of the team leader and the human resource practitioners is expected.
It is expected that these mitigation strategies can be helpful in any organizational perspective for reducing the polarization approaches within the organization. Less polarization can lead to a good brand image of a company and indirectly it increases the profitability index of a company.
Developing a proper work culture
Minson and Gino, (2022), have shown that a positive work culture can promote less organizational conflicts and the chances of polarization also reduce due to it. For fostering an effective work culture, organizational growth, and women empowerment effective leadership is needed. In this context, Frost and Alidina, (2019), have stated that workplace diversity can also be considered an effective element for mitigating the issues raised by a polarized workplace. The authors have also mentioned that a diverse workplace can lead to fewer organizational conflicts. Therefore for effective work culture, a diverse organization can help in mitigating the issues raised by workplace polarization.
The actual meaning of tolerance
A workplace needs to be a place of unity as many people come from different backgrounds with values to work in an organization. While working together it is natural that the views of people are contradicted as two people can see the same thing in different ways. In the article written by Minson and Gino (2022), the true meaning of tolerance and its importance in the workplace have been discussed. This factor has been viewed as one of the major parts of Human Resource Management. The HRM of the company needs to ensure each employee in the organization gives respects the points of view of others. On the contrary, Aljawarneh and Atan (2018) have opined that tolerance is a life skill and an inbuilt quality of humans, and the HRM of a company cannot develop it completely. However, the organizational culture needs to promote tolerance in the organization to ensure the smooth running of work in harmony.
The role of women to promote an organizational culture
As observed in the article, women play a major role in the workforce of an organization for a number of different reasons. As per the article, women are born with the power to conduct spontaneous conversations. They can conduct effective communication without any formal training and guidance. The use of mathematics and algorithm is not necessary for women for this purpose. This can create two different impacts on the workforce of the company in different situations. At times women can lead teams in a very effective manner as doing spontaneous conversations is one of the major parts of the work of a leader. However, in case the time and resources are limited then men can lead a team better than a woman (Minson and Gino, 2022). On the contrary Funk and Parker (2018), has argued that judging the qualities of an employee on the basis of gender can hinder the work of the organization. Every woman may not have the same equalities and there can be men in the workforce with the capacity to conduct better conversations than women. Hence, it can be said that women play major roles in the promotion of organizational culture and create a sense of harmony in it.
The role of leaders to promote an organizational culture
Leaders in an organization have immense capacity to create a deep impact I’m the organizational culture. As stated in the article leaders in an organization are responsible for prioritizing work, setting agendas, managing and leading the workforce, and directing it from time to time this way they promote the organizational culture. Minson and Gino (2022), have mentioned that strong leaders give a vision to an organization and also identify the agendas of the organization that has the capacity to give it sustainable development. Strong leaders motivate their subordinates and make the future of the organization concrete. In this article, leaders have been identified to be one of the major factors in promoting organizational culture. It has been observed that leaders are role models for the employees and they exemplify the culture they preach in this way. The employees trust the leaders the most in an organization and for this reason they follow the leaders. As per this article leaders provide a platform for the employees where they can come and present their quarries and can get answers as well. This makes the employees feel that they are valued and their opinions are important to the organization. Leaders take action on the feedback of the employees and in this way, the HRM of the organization becomes more effective and helps to grow harmonious organizational culture as well.
On the contrary Saks (2019), has opined that employees are more important than leaders in promoting organizational culture. The number of leaders is significantly lower than the number of employees in an organization in any sector. In case, the employees do not follow the organizational culture the culture cannot sustain. In an organization, the organizational culture sustains only as the employees follow it. The author has also stated responsible employees are the biggest resource for any organization and more important than any other resource.
Organizational growth and culture
As observed by Minson and Gino (2022), organizational culture can create an immense impact on the growth of an organization. In an organization that has a harmonious culture; workflow is swift with minimum conflicts and hazards. On the contrary, organizations that do not have a culture can lack in getting the maximum output from the employees. An organizational culture always directs the employees and drives them in the correct direction and helps the organization to grow in this way. As opined by Sukova (2020), in Greiner’s Model of organizational growth organizational culture has been identified as one of the most important pillars of organizational growth. Hence, it can be said that the author has rightly recognized organizational culture as an important factor behind the overall growth of the organization.
Conclusion
Managing a polarized workforce is a great challenge for the Human Resource department of an organization. The articles conducted by Minson and Gino (2022), have been revolving around the different aspects of managing a polarized workforce. In this assignment, a critical evaluation of the article has been presented by analyzing each part of the article. Thoughts of different other experts in this respect have also been presented here to understand each aspect of the article clearly.
References
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