The aim of this assessment is to assess the students knowledge and understanding of Conflict issues and
Question:
The aim of this assessment is to assess the student’s knowledge and understanding of Conflict issues and Dispute Resolution techniques in a given organisational context. The assessment also focuses on recognising the extent to which employee Voice, Negotiation steps and Power and authority could be used as a means of improving volatile situations, as in the situation below and resolving or minimizing conflict within the organisation currently and in the future. The Situation You are a newly appointed Human Resources Manager for a fruit juice factory, ‘Sunfresh’ in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The main target consumers of the business are school children and teenagers. During your first meeting with the top management, they proudly showcased the achievements of the company, including the fact that out of the 500 employees in the company, 55% staff have been working for more than 10 years, due to their job satisfaction and loyalty to the organization. After two months of working in your role, you realized that the real picture in the company was not as rosy as was painted by the management initially.
The data showed that more than half of new factory workers who joined during the past three years had quit. Upon contacting some of these ex-employees, you found that there was a workculture of ‘Us Vs Them’ in the company. It was revealed that the senior staff who have been employed with the company for more than ten years were a tight knit group who cared and supported only their own senior members. Any new staff who joined later, were usually having trouble fitting in. You also learnt about a serious issue that happened two years ago, when around 50 new staff had held a protest by being absent from work.
Their protest was to highlight the fact that they were assigned overtime work without any significant increase in pay. Also, they were upset that none of the senior employees were allotted overtime work. The management had immediately fired BU7701 (Employee Relations) Assessment 1- Individual Project 2022-23 Semester B 3 Program all 50 staff without notice, for violating their contract clauses and hired replacements. When you approached the management for clarification about these past issues, they denied them saying that such accusations were just lies and false rumours to spoil the company image, spread by ex-employees who had joined their competitors. You decided to focus on improving employee relations between the new and senior staff. Currently all major decisions were made by the supervisors and top management without consultation with employees. All supervisory roles and positions of authority were held by the old staff, and it was understood that new employees would not be eligible for promotions, even if they were top performers. On the other hand, the senior staff did not care to put in extra efforts, because they knew the management had a close relationship with them. This led to an overall lack of motivation in the workplace. You believed that all this had to change, to make the organization a better place to work. You planned several team-building exercises, by mixing up the old and new employees.
However, many of the old staff refused to participate. Upon inquiry, one of them, Ms. Jenan said, “I’m not at all comfortable working with unknown strangers.” She also filed a complaint against a new employee, Mr. Rayan for ‘unprofessional attitudes’ and for harassment. Mr. Rayan has denied the charges and said Ms. Jenan was simply upset that he did not accept to complete some tasks that she requested him to do. During a recent board meeting, you highlighted the challenges you were facing in reducing conflicts and motivating staff. You highlighted that there was great resistance to change among staff and an apparent lack of cooperation from the management in making the change possible.
This infuriated the Vice-President, Mr. Sayed. He shouted at you in the meeting and accused you of trying to ruin the organizational culture. He said he would never allow you to change the existing systems that were in place. According to Sayed, you were obviously searching for issues when none existed, just to make yourself seem more important in the organization.
You approached the CEO, Mr. Adil, who advised you to take things slow and requested you to take efforts to have a more positive relationship with Mr. Sayed and all staff. He also assured you that he would provide you with his full support to achieve your goals.
Questions:
a) Identify the forms of conflict within the given company. Critically analyze how these issues impact the productivity and work environment of the organization. (LO1&3)
b) In order to improve the organization’s employee relations, you want to win the support of Mr. Sayed. Prepare a plan for a ‘negotiation process’ between the two of you. (LO1&3) (20 marks)
c) Provide suitable recommendations for resolving the employee relations issues identified in the company. Include ‘employee voice’ mechanisms and an appropriate third-party intervention strategy. (LO1&3)
d) Discuss two ways you can use power and authority to bring about a positive change in the workplace. (LO1&3)
Advanced Accounting
ISBN: 978-1934319307
2nd edition
Authors: Susan S. Hamlen, Ronald J. Huefner, James A. Largay III