My Perception Of Conflict At My Organization example essay topic

The organizational climate at my organization varies in comparison to other organizations I have been involved in. There are many new trends that have come into play such as the belief in empowerment, concern for work-life balance and most importantly, the emphasis on teamwork. In my opinion, the success of my organization is based upon the before mentioned as well as the workforce diversity. While I am happy working at my organization, there are a few areas that could use some development. In this paper I will go over my perceptions of a variety of topics in my organization and include a few comments as to whether I feel my organization is doing all it can to keep the new trends working and being successful.

The first topic is communication. While the old saying goes, all "stuff" rolls downhill, that is not always the case. I have found for me personally, that often times, not enough "stuff" rolls downhill, which makes life for me a little uneasy when trying to accomplish everyday tasks. There are many times when I should have been told certain information and rather than having that information passed down to me, it is kept safe guarded in my managers head. This more often than not leaves me looking like a complete moron standing there saying "I don't know". In short of me drilling my manager every second of the day or sitting in her office with her it is difficult for either she or I to keep up to speed on everything going on in our department.

Communication between the managers and their subordinates at my organization is always something that needs to be improved upon. But, unfortunately there are never enough hours in a day. Things still get done, but they don't always get done when they should. "The organizational or corporate culture is the system of shared actions, values and beliefs hat develops within an organization and guides the behavior of its members". (Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn 43). I am glad to say that in my organization the culture is very much that works well together.

Everyone in the organization is all working toward one common goal and that is to see that the company succeeds in all endeavors. I have been with the company for 5 years now and have not seen any sort of subcultures or countercultures apparent at all. I am glad to say that conflict in my organization is kept to a bare minimum. The main cause for disturbance is a particular employee in my department. This certain employee has a lot to learn about "cubicle etiquette". Often times she can be heard laughing and talking about personal details of her life on the phone.

Other ways that she has been found to be the center of conflict at my organization is by her choice of attire as well as her overabundance of perfume. This conflict is considered interpersonal since it is "between two or more individuals who are in opposition to one another" (128). There has been many complaints made to the HR department by one person in particular yet, the only answer was "She is an invaluable employee and will be dealt with accordingly". This meant in not so many words is that it would be pushed aside. There were a couple times when her manager would speak to her, and the perfume would get toned down and she would wear more business attire, but that would last only a week or two and it would be back to the same old thing. My perception of conflict at my organization is that the upper management would rather ignore the problems or do the least possible to rectify them.

The suppression of the conflict is a temporary fix and can sometimes lead to the issues becoming worse. The conflict that I stated is one that is minor, yet in a way could be a sign of how management will deal with other types of conflict such as substantive, emotional, intra personal or functional conflict just to name a few. My perception of technology in my organization is that we are constantly implementing new and updated ways of operating. We have recently given all of our Sales offices the ability to be networked with our corporate office. This has eliminated the need to lease computers from outside companies therefore, saving our company well over $1,000 a month if not more. At our corporate office we have an on site IT / Network administrator who is constantly coming up with new and beneficial ways to help our organization run more smoothly and more effectively.

The days of when our server would crash almost once a week are now over. I have been given the opportunity to be able to access my work information such as my emails, and all the network drives from my home. For our whole organization we have a company website that has a spot for "What's new in the company" or you can access information about your 401 K account and also you are able to get updated detailed information about the health benefits offered. In my eyes, no organization is perfect and it is up to the owner as well as all the way down to the receptionist to help the organizational climate of the company improve.

The main area where I feel my organization could stand for some improvement is in the conflict area. As I stated before, the one conflict I listed may be very minor, but this just might mean that they handle the larger problems the same way.

Bibliography

Schermerhorn, Jr., John R., James G. Hunt, and Richard N. Osborn. ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR 7 TH edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2002.