Week 6 Power and Conflict

Conflict is: an open clash between two opposing groups (or individuals)

Causes of conflict at work

· Differences in perception
· Clashes of personality
· Division and separation into departments
· Overlapping and interlinking work activities.
· Violation of territory.


Conflict between Employer and Employee:

Rates of pay: To maximize profits, employees could attempt to keep wages at a low competitive level; whereas unions could try to maximize employee rewards.

The introduction of machinery: A business may want to introduce new machinery into the business, which will mean that employees will have to learn how to operate the new equipment. Employees will however feel that the introduction of new machinery is an unwanted burden which they do not require.

Work conditions: Workers may feel that their canteen is not of high standards to which they may feel is of a good standard, but employees may feel improving the canteen is an unnecessary increase in costs.


Unitarist perspective: This theory assumes that everyone in an organisation has the same interests, and that a worker will accept the goals of management without any questions asked.

Pluralist perspective: This theory assumes that organisations are made of many different little groups which all have their separate ideas, and as a result this will inevitably lead to conflict. For example, you would normally see a conflict of ideas between management and unions, where management will be driven more to profits and success of the company, and unions having more interest in the workers opinions.


Unitarist view: Assumes everyone in the firm has some sort of interest.
· Treats conflict between individuals and groups at work.
· Causes of conflict seen as communication failures.
(Johnson 2000)

Pluralist view: Organisations made up of many groups with separate interests-inevitable conflict. Typically clashes will occur between unions and management but also can be conflict between functions.

Radical view:
· Work place is seen as an area of conflict between management and workers.
· Workers are exploited
· Management and physical and emotional labour now apparent.


Personal example of conflict:

Whilst working at Matalan as a sales assistant there was an occasion when staff were not willing to work extra hours when required. This became an issue as it was near to Christmas period and this was one of the peak trading times. The conflict within the group was between the department manager and part time staff. The main reason for conflict was that part time staff were not given priority when selecting annual leave. Part time staff therefore decided not to work over time when the company required as they felt they were devalued and treated differently to full time staff. Therefore they came to a conclusion that they will not do the company any favours and will only work their contracted hours.
The company dealt with this by arranging a meeting and all issues were discussed within the group meeting and employees were reassured their importance and company policies and procedures were identified and any misunderstanding was solved.

What strategies can organisations use to overcome conflict at work?

Collective bargaining- is one way of minimizing conflict at work. This involves determining conditions of work and terms of employment through negotiations between employee representatives, such as trade unions. Trade unions are groups who represent the views of their employees, and try to negotiate in their interests. For collective bargaining to take place:

· Employees must be free to join representatives bodies, such as trade unions;
· Employees must recognize such bodies as representatives of workers and agree t negotiate with them;
· Employers and employees should agree to be bound by agreements without having to use the law to enforce them.

Consultation: Joint consultation is the process where management representatives discuss matters of common interest with employee representatives before negotiating or making a decision, whereas negotiating is an activity by which the two parties make an agreement which may cover pay and conditions at work and relations between management and employees.

Advantages of joint consultation

· May avoid damaging industrial action
· May motivate employees more as they feel part of the decision making process
· It may lead to an input of new or different ideas which could, for example, make any changes easier to carry out.
· It may help to develop a more open organizational culture in the business and allow a firm to achieve its objectives.
· It may encourage worker representatives to take a long term view and adopt similar strategies to management, by making them better informed about the reasons behind the decision.

Organizations can also attempt to resolve conflict by:
Having regular meetings in order to improve communication
Appraisal schemes
By listening to workers more, or have team activities- team building exercises in place on a regular basis.

What are the sources of conflict within the video print?

· Workers treated like robots
· Workers not respected
· Work environment untidy
· Lack of communication
· No recognition
· Workers left outside the circle


In the video the conflict occurred because workers are not respected and their talent is not recognized.
This problem of conflict could be resolved by compromise between management and workers, Management being more involved and providing job rotation


Coercive power is associated with people who are in a position to punish others. People fear the consequences of not doing what has been asked of them. For example, parents may use a variety of strategies for getting a resistant child to go to school, including physically taking the child to the school building. Or managers making employees go on training regarding an area of work they may not want to proceed in.
Connection power is based upon who you know. This person knows, and has the ear of, other powerful people within the organization.
Expert power comes from a person’s expertise (duh!). This is commonly a person with an acclaimed skill or accomplishment.
A person who has access to valuable or important information possesses informational power.
Legitimate power comes from the position a person holds. This is related to a person’s title and job responsibilities. You might also hear this referred to as positional power.
People who are well-liked and respected can have referent power.
Reward power is based upon a person’s ability to bestow rewards. Those rewards might come in the form of job assignments, schedules, pay or benefits.
(Available from HR Bartender work responsibly 2010) http://www.hrbartender.com/2010/training/7-types-of-power-in-the-workplace/