Effective communication and conflict management at TFL

The study evaluates all extremes to provide a non-biased verdict. Basic business ethics which often demand effective communication as the strategy to getting things done within an organization. Conflict management is also evaluated in the direction of where communication breaks down or is efficient to solving the organization problems. Since communication aides in conflict management, some points cut across both situations in the analysis project. The outlook design requires the evaluation of the practical cases of reflection in both a personal capacity and another party’s capacity. table of contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2 Recommendations: 2 1. INTRODUCTION 5 2. EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AT WORKPLACE 6 2. 1 Listening Skills 8 2. 2 Verbal and non-verbal forms of communication 9 2. CONCLUSION 22 4. 1 Recommendation 23 5. REFERENCE LIST 25 6. APPENDIX 28 Appendix 1. Learning Log – Poor communication causing conflict among team members 28 TABLE OF FIGURES Figure 1 communication process at work place (Newton, 2015) 8 1.

on the level of the network of communication and conflict resolution include scenarios where a manager may wrongfully assign one task to more than one party without realizing the mistake due to lack of communication. In any situation, the management and employees within the organization have to communicate efficiently to draw a long-term plan on the completion of the tasks of the team (Jeffry et al. Conflicts arising at a workplace scenario such as TFL may lead to long term consequences as evident within the analysis of appendix 1 used for reference (De Dreu and Gelfand, 2008). The opinions arising evaluate the possibility of an active communication network consolidating the creativity and innovation to bring the efforts of every individual to one main aim of the organisation (Dell et al.

Conflict resolution becoming the second theme of the essay relies on the first issue of the report that is communication. This section of the report aims to look at the subject of effective communication in a workplace in a bid to understand how the conflict issues reported in the reflective log could have been prevented or managed better. For instance from the reflective log the conflict resulted from the use of derogatory comments by Mr Idi. The manager and the staff member identified as Mr Idi failed to communicate effectively on working towards the deadline using a shared flash drive. Effective communication takes care of respect for one another. Besides effective communication eliminates the use of abusive languages to one another.

Attentive listening includes eye contact, posture, facial expressions, gestures, and genuine interest in what the person is saying and consideration comprises repeating and paraphrasing what listeners have heard to show the person that they understand what has been said. Establishing a better communication framework lies on the strength in building a listening skill (Creto, 2015). Within an organization, employees rely on critical factors such as the instruction from the top management team on the next course of action (Creto, 2015). Therefore, the management is tasked with the responsibility to develop and coordinate every employee’s efforts. In the process, employees learn to build listening skills. 2 Verbal and nonverbal forms of communication: According to Chaney and Martin (2013), verbal communication involves the communication technique facilitated by the use of words and sounds while the nonverbal interface is aided by the use of body movements and signs.

The transmission in which the sender uses words, whether spoken or written, to transmit the message to the receiver is known as verbal communication (Colleoni, 2013). Verbal communication is a valid form of communication and reduces the chances of misunderstanding as the communication between parties is clear (Keyton, 2011). Verbal communication can be carried in two ways, as an oral or written interface, which may be presented as either formal or informal communication. A process of where the sender follows a pre-defined method to deliver a message to the sender is termed official contact and where the sender does not support a pre-defined way is termed informal communication (Guffey and Loewy, 2010) Non-verbal discussion on the order hand relates to a process of transmission of messages from the sender to receiver without words, and it is termed successful only if the receiver understands the message and sends back expected or proper feedback.

Some of the non-verbal cues that serve the purpose of facilitating communication at a workplace include the following; facial expressions, eye contact, body posture and movement, tones of voice, dress code, silence, dressing style for the occasions and even the working environment created (Leathers & Eaves, 2015). The verdict issued by the HR office was better communicated in a verbal mechanism to cement the impact. The non-verbal approach serves to cement the verbal communication (Chaney and Martin 2013). In the case witnessed in appendix 1, Mr. Idi failed to recognise the impact of both the verbal and non-verbal communication he expressed towards the manager. For instance, TFL managers need to recognise the impact made by telephone calls to facilitate communication (Niinimaki et al. The scenario witnessed in Appendix 1 indicated the breakup in choosing the best medium for communication.

The electronic medium like emails may serve the purpose of primary information exchange. For official communication purposes to just inform employees of new developments Memos may be used to deduce the employees were feeling towards the subject. For instance, the manager in the cased highlighted in appendix 1 needed to communicate a coordination design for completing the tasks by demonstrating to the juniors. For instance, where an individual is assigned a supervisory role at a workplace they may develop a specific style of communication from the experience drawn from the organization (Colleoni, 2013). For instance, about the incident in Appendix 1, as a manager in the case of conflict (Appendix 1), There had to be an assertive mechanism to warn Mr. Idi who happened to be my junior.

Unfortunately, he failed to understand the concerns and a conflict arose. Communication styles such as assertiveness, aggressiveness, and submissive styles serve different purposes within an organization (Colleoni, 2013). Proper use of verbal and non-verbal communication contributes to peaceful coexistence at LFT (Keyton, 2011). Appropriate selection of a suitable medium (Guffey and Loewy 2010) helps reduce conflicts such as the one experienced at LFT(Appendix 1). Implementation of an efficient Style of communication also helps reduce conflicts that arose due to the use of abusive languages and comments experienced in appendix 1(Colleoni, 2013). The overall results of the examination of areas of active communication would be a mutual relationship at LFT. The conflict that arises at LFT can be associated with weaknesses in the areas highlighted. 1 Causes of conflict at workplace Ayoko & Pekerti (2008) defined conflict as the perceived incompatibility by parties of the views and desire that each hold.

Spencer and Spencer, (2008) explain that disagreements often arise in the organization as a result of difference in employee’s values and personalities. Some of the internal factors that are likely to contribute to conflict within an organisation include stress at workplace, lack of communication, organisational change and insufficient resource and incompetency of the management team (Jeong, 2017). Some of the examples of the causes of conflict at workplace involve scramble for distribution of resources at the workplace. Lack of communication may also contribute to conflict as seen in Appendix 1. It is, therefore, necessary to reduce the potential causes of conflicts considering the impacts. The effect of the incident highlighted in Appendix 1 would possibly lead to lack of teamwork and sacking of reliable employees.

2 Mechanism to handle conflict at early signs Conflict management involves a lot of mechanisms. One of the devices needed for a sufficient conflict resolution includes establishing a monitoring process. Monitoring processes are essential for the evaluation of the possibility of a conflict that may result. A suitable schedule of using the shared devices would be necessary. Where environmental scanning for possible conflicts concerning employee relation is carried out, situations such as the one experienced in Appendix 1 would be avoided. A monitoring mechanism can help reduce the potential sources of conflicts for example training employees on conflict resolution skills and improving the relationship. Besides allowing employees to write comments on areas of dissatisfaction helps avert conflict. Mr. The steps towards conflict understanding and management include knowledge and evaluating the stakeholders’ emotions.

Understanding one’s self whether you are an aggressive leader or a conflict-avoiding leader. Assessing the concerns of all the affected parties within the organization is also considered necessary. Understand the cause of the conflict. Acceptance of the parties’ positions for who they are and what they cannot be. Possession of the conflict resolution skills by both parties would be necessary for solving the conflict in appendix 1 in the first meeting without involving the HR office. The best-suggested ability towards the realization of the aim includes throwing the ball into the conflicting parties own court. In so doing the individuals are likely to devise a mechanism of harmonious existence that is likely to encourage the possibility of different management. Since the first step to realization of the aim involves understanding the concerns of the conflicting parties it is therefore recommended to provide a position for mutual understanding between the parties (Deutsch et al.

The different factions according to appendix 1 ought to have been treated with a balanced perspective to provide an opportunity for fair judgment. In cases of promotion departments such as marketing and financial departments often promote one of their own for senior positions (Fusarelli et al. For example, the conflict in Appendix 1 could be avoided if all the parties possessed a flash drive of their own. In such a situation where conflicts over resources are likely to arise every individual should be issued with the necessary resources. Besides managers should be in a position to delegate tasks based on the resources that every party has to enable them to work efficiently and avoid pressure to meet deadlines. Individuals nominated for top management positions from various departments often have the passion of acting on the same direction of their specialization.

Some of the barriers to effective conflict management in most organizations include ineffective monitoring mechanisms, lack of understanding for the concerns of the parties, shoddy investigation and poor rulings based on inaccurate data of analysis (Goetsch and Davis 2014). For instance, in the scenario highlighted in appendix 1 some of the reasons outlined as a barrier to the management of the conflict include the inability to understand the parties. According to the context, Mr. Idi seems hard to understand and very temperamental. The nature and the personality of an individual may be the reason for the overreaction witnessed in the scenario. Entities rely on the managers' skills to manage conflicts in a workplace; employees should also have necessary conflict resolution skills to facilitate the process of conflict resolution (Deutsch et al.

Besides management works the other insights considered essential for conflict resolution include the establishment of a mechanism for resource distribution among employees of organizations (Fusarelli et al. Since conflict over resources is regarded as a hindrance to conflict management within a group. The other possible device of establishing effective conflict management within an organization is by setting a monitoring mechanism to check on the possible causes of conflict within the team (Currie et al. Potential sources of conflicts identification involve the collection of comments from various employees. 1 Recommendations According to the case drawn from the reflective log in appendix 1, the source of conflict experienced at TFL can be linked to lack of an efficient communication mechanism and a poor strategy of conflict management at a workplace.

The analysis of the situation attributes the conflict to weaknesses such as listening skills, improper use of verbal and non-verbal communication. The medium of communication applied within the cases may also contribute to the problems identified within the scenarios. It is therefore recommended that the management of the organization establishes principles meant to achieve an effective communication within the body such as adopting effective styles of communication and utilizing the appropriate medium of communication. Exploitation of listening skills among the employees of the organization helps in creating an interactive session that is useful for employees’ survival within an organization. Measuring and managing employee work engagement: A review of the research and business literature.  Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health, 24(4), p. Burgoon, J.

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Routledge. Niinimaki, T. , Piri, A. J. eds.  The new institutionalism in organizational analysis. University of Chicago Press. Ramsbotham, O. and Spencer, P. S. M.  Competence at Work models for superior performance. John Wiley & Sons. Veil, S. R. , Buehner, T. and Palenchar, M. J. www. free-management-ebooks. com ISBN, pp. Appendix 1 Appendix 1- Reflective Learning Log template Title of entry Poor communication causing conflict between team members. Brief description I was employed as a service manager at Transport for London with the responsibility for managing ten staff. Idi. At the end of his investigation, the matter was referred to the Human Resource (HR) team for a formal disciplinary investigation. HR conducted series of investigation and concluded the Mr. Idi acted unprofessionally, so issued him with a final warning.

Even though I was satisfied with the outcome of the investigation but on reflection as a manager, I thought that I could have been able to do more to avert this kind of incident from occurring in the first instance. When I reflect on the process from the point of view of others, I realise that asserting my authority by asking my co-work to desist from using foul languages because he is irritated because I was holding on to work tools on the shared network was reasonable first action to take. I could not have allowed him to get away with such actions because it will clearly send the wrong message to the rest of the team. If the abuses were between him and another colleague, I would have dealt with the issue in my capacity as the lead, but since he had attacked me his line manager and have refused to hid my initial warning to desist from such attack, I believe that my decision to escalate the issue to a senior manager was the right thing to do.

Escalating the issue to a senior manager would also give room for an independent investigation and unbiased decisions. After the escalation of my complaint to my Programme manager, in which I complained about insubordination, verbal abuse and use of threatening language against me by Mr. He suggested that the employee had a history of being verbally aggressive and up until when I escalated the situation, very little has been done to address the situation. Hearing this, I reflected back on the conflict and process I have applied in dealing with the situation and Believe that the steps were appropriate and the outcome from the disciplinary process will go a long way in instilling discipline across the team. But on a second thought, I felt I haven’t been attentive enough as a manager to study the team to understand why the animosity exists.

Although from my research now, I now know that the organisational policy requiring that every employee share a small number of camera and validation tools and still meet the target of capturing 30 contraventions per day was mainly the reason for the pressure and this pressure may not have been managed effectively by the employees which resulted to altercation from time to time. Further reflection on the experience of others convinced me that to address the possible root causes of the pressure is the right step to take to reduce or eliminate dissatisfaction in my business area. To resolve the situation, I moved a motion at the departmental meeting to have this policy changed. I recommended that a healthy approach should adopt in measuring the performance of employees, that employee’s performance should be measured on the percentage of the quality of PCN submit rather than just merely capturing incidence to meet the requirement.

This new suggestion reduced the competition for cameras and validation tools on the shared drive, therefore reduced pressure on employees that could boil over into verbal or physical attractions. I also believe that poor work-life balance among employee may be another area to consider. I also put forward a policy that would allow employees to take leave from work by giving clear 48 hours’ notice instead of the current 28 days’ notice. I also plan to attend regular conflict mediation training for managers to assist me in developing my conflict mediation and management skills to give the professional know-how to assist employees to enhance communication and conflict management. Key Learning Points (as bullet points) • To manage situations of abuse and conflict professionally by following an approved resolution path.