Conflict Management in the Workplace

The workplace can be an especially stressful environment. Personal conflicts between coworkers, fear of layoffs, and heavy workloads can be causes of negative stress. This stress can be carried to our homes and after-work activities, impacting personal health. Allowing these stressors to build and intensify will only further impair the work environment. For this assignment, you are required to review a scenario regarding a woman (Kate) who has experienced negative stress stemming from her work environment. Then, you will compare your own conflict management skills and experiences against Kate’s experiences. Follow the directions below to write an 8–10-page report on conflict management.

Review the following scenario:

Kate has been employed by a well-known manufacturing company for 12 years. She is the only female on her line and the fastest worker. She has been promoted several times through mergers and acquisitions, but has always been looked over for a senior management position. Kate believes she is qualified for advancement but thinks her manager has a problem with her personally. To top it off, Kate did not receive a semiannual or annual review, which would have resulted in a raise. Her coworkers (all males) have urged her to go to management and report what she believes to be discriminatory behavior from her immediate manager.

Now, complete the following tasks:

1. 1. Discuss a situation you have been in where you felt you were passed over for a promotion, made to feel indifferent, or were discriminated against. Compare and contrast your story with Kate’s.
   2. Compare the possible ethical breaches of Kate’s manager against your own manager’s behavior. Utilize scholarly research on leadership theory as justification.
   3. Compare the possible legal breaches of Kate’s manager against your own manager’s behavior. Utilize scholarly research on leadership theory as justification.
   4. Recommend an approach Kate could have used to manage the negative risk both personally and professionally.
   5. Evaluate the advice Kate received from her coworkers.
   6. Referring to the conflict resolution strategies taught in this course, determine which one is best suited to resolve Kate’s conflict. Justify your position.
   7. In the chart below, evaluate your conflict resolution skills from the past five years. Rate yourself on a scale from 1–5, where 1 represents low performing and 5 represents high performing.

1. Select one conflict resolution approach in which you ranked the lowest and develop an individual improvement plan for that approach.
2. Explain how the mediation process could strengthen your conflict resolution and management skills.
3. Discuss how the arbitration process could strengthen your conflict resolution and management skills.
4. Implement some portion of your plan. Provide a detailed summary of the changes that occurred in your development as it relates to your ability to handle conflict.

Write an 8–10-page report in Word format. Utilize at least four scholarly sources (in addition to your textbook) to complete your research, referencing them within the text and at the end in a reference list. Apply APA standards to citation of sources. Use the following file naming convention: LastnameFirstInitial_M5_A2.doc.

Make sure you write in a clear, concise, and organized manner; demonstrate ethical scholarship through accurate representation and attribution of sources; and display accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Answer Preview-Conflict Management in the Workplace