Final Project Submission: Summary of Findings

Overview and Conflict analysis

Chellyn Jones

Southern New Hampshire University

WCM 620 R4282

05/29/2021

i. Overview

The conflict at ABC Corporation is grounded on poor organizational culture, which has negatively affected effective communication with the organization. The poor organizational culture is perpetuated by Thomas, who is the department manager. The issue of Kareem could not have reached to a point where he could be fired because he had a pleasant phone voice and his desire to please the customer and represent the company as well.

The conflict in the department stems from the intimidating leadership by Thomas which makes employees afraid to air their issues. The department managed by Thomas has created a working culture where employees work under pressure and are afraid. In this case, employees cannot express their concerns because they are afraid of what might happen. In addition, Thomas exercises more of a dictatorship style of leadership. For instance, Janet, the call center supervisor states that, “Thomas does not really talk to any of us. He is kind of intense and when he makes his mind up about something, we all go along with it.”

Secondly, Kareem did not open up about his religion and that he was required that he prays five times a day. He was aware that this would interfere with his performance but he choose to keep quite. When asked how he felt when Janet and Thomas started monitoring him said that he just put his head down and worked because he did not want to draw attention to himself.

Third, after Janet and Thomas learned that Kareem used to leave his workstation to go and pray, they instead of talking to him and know what was happening decided to fire him. Both Janet and Thomas did not speak to him about the issue neither did they give him a warning so that he can improve his performance. However, there was responsibilities gaps between Janet and Thomas due to poor communication. For instance, when Thomas was asked whether he talked to Kareem whether he talked to Kareem about his disappearance from his cubicle to pray during working hours, Thomas replied that “No, he is Janet’s and she knows what to do. I don’t have time for those types of conversations." This conflict results in confusion in the delegation of duties. The fact that Thomas is ever strict to his juniors makes it hard for them to understand how they should behave or what they should do. For example, Janet did not know whether it was her responsibility to talk to Kareem after noticing that he was getting out of his workstation so often during working hours when Thomas knew it was her responsibility to talk to Kareem. This could be the reason why Thomas fired Kareem without talking to him about his issue because maybe he thought Janet had talked to him about the issue but he did not change.

ii. Conflict Analysis

Stakeholders’ self-perception

Stakeholder’s self-perception significantly contributed to the escalation of the conflict. For instance, Kareem did not want to open up about why he used to leave his workstation during working hours because he did not want to attract attention. Also, Kareem reported that he did not tell anyone because he did not want to ask for any type of special treatment; I really thought I could sneak away and pray. Thomas had created a negative culture in the department that created negative self-perception among stakeholders. Kareem was afraid to speak about what he was doing and how he felt about Thomas monitoring him because the communication culture within the department forced employees to hold information by themselves.

Also, when Janet asked if she reported to Thomas after noticing that Kareem left his workstation to go and pray she said that Thomas did not talk to them. On the other hand, Thomas reported that he did not talk to Kareem because that is the work of Janet.

Communication practices

The communication practices within the department are very poor. They can be regarded as implicit. For example, Janet did not communicate explicitly to Kareem, she said things in passing like “Good job, Kareem” or “You did a nice job with that customer” Kareem had never received any formal performance conversation since the time he started the job, despite Janet and Thomas being aware that his number of calls was dropping. Michael after finding Kareem praying he did not talk to him, “I don’t think so. I do know that Michael walked past me a few times and gave me strange looks.” In addition, Thomas is egocentric and he does not address issues in a professional manner. For instance, after being called by employee representative to discuss the issue of Kareem, he states that he is a busy man and he does not have time for nonsense

Assessment of communication practices

If Kareem spoke about his religion to Janet or Thomas and he was required to pray five times a day, they management could have found ways on how to accommodate him. In addition, after noticing that his performance was dropping, they could have spoken to Kareem and maybe he could set his own time to make up for the lost working hours. Also, after discovering that he was leaving work to go and pray, Thomas or Janet could have talked with him to amicably find a solution rather than firing him.