Man501 Cross Cultural Management Answers Assessment Answers

Below you will find 4 situations of conflict. Analyse each situation and come up with a solution. At the end of the description of each situation there are some additional questions or statements that provide you with some hints what you should address in your answer. In your answer refer to concepts (from the textbook) as appropriate and also critically reflect on the concept(s) you have utilised. Insert your answer right after the additional questions or statements by expanding the space. Your answer to each of the 4 situations should be about .

1. Developing Self-Awareness

You are a sales manager in the Northwestern division of a large clothing manufacturing company. Recently, you and some other managers in your division attended the yearly national sales meeting in Chicago. Just now one of the other managers who attended the conference has come into your office. He says, “While I was at the conference, I took out some friends of mine in Chicago to dinner at an expensive restaurant, and charged it to my expense account. I said they were potential clients. Now my boss is questioning that. He says he wants proof. Would you write him a note saying you were there and that they were really potential clients?” What will you do? How will you do it? Why?

Aspects that should be addressed / included in your answer:

Identification of personal stage of moral development, explanations of how stage is likely to influence behavior, identification of own interpersonal orientation, explanation of how orientation is likely to affect what one is likely to do.

1. Solving Problems Analytically and Creatively

You are working in a lower-level managerial position in a Boise firm. Your boss stops by to visit you one day, and says “I have got this problem with my boss. She is new to the firm, and seems to be taking pleasure in turning everything upside down. She has instituted new reporting procedures, new meeting schedules, new budgeting process, new everything! Now, I have been here far 15 years, and the old system makes sense to me. I have tried to be diplomatic by holding my peace, but I do not see any reason to change. If you ask me, I think she is one of those libbers, out to show her power.” What will you do? How will you do it? Why?

Aspects that should be addressed / included in your answer:

Identification of possible blocks to creativity, identification of a creative analogy, bringing back analogy to provide a creative solution or new viewpoint.

1. Managing Conflict

Your office neighbor talks very loudly on the phone. It is very hard for you not to be disturbed in your work. You have talked to her about it in the past but it keeps going on. You are sitting in your office. It is happening once more and you are quite irritated about it. You have decided to confront this person now. What will you do? How will you do it? Why?

Aspects that should be addressed / included in your answer:

Use of recognizable conflict resolution approach, explanation of why this approach is appropriate, identification and explanation of reasonable alternative

1. Leading Positive Change

You are in charge of a large sausage manufacturing company.  Up until now, everything has been running smoothly, but you believe it is time for a change.  You have been reading about empowerment and teamwork, and you think that if you can reorganize the employees into self-directed teams, your sausage company has a chance of becoming the most profitable sausage company in the United States.  Your management philosophy is that any profits the company makes should be shared with the employees.  Employees are concerned however, because they think that any change may be accompanied by downsizing and layoffs. What will you do? How will you do it? Why?

Answer:

Introduction

Conflicts are a norm in our societies. They arise from different sources such as misinformation, family disputes, and money issue. Conflicts can quickly destroy a cordial relationship between parties. Conflicts occur as a result of the miscommunication between parties. This leads into wrong judgments which thus leads into confrontations hence disagreements thus bringing about disputes. Due to the sensitive nature of conflicts, there are integrated mechanisms set to counter any forms of disputes. The many forms of disputes have to be looked upon carefully without unnecessary rushes. The causes of the conflicts have to be studied carefully for a complete analysis. This is purposely to come out with reasonable inferences in the resolution of the disputes. Reasons of disputes range from family disputes, monetary disagreements, sibling rivalry, power wrangles in the workplace and due to ignorance of some characters. Thus it is essential for the keen observation of conflict and identifies its cause first before proceeding with the resolution of the former in the instance. In any form of conflict, there has to be a peacemaker to act as the initiator in the process of conflict resolution. Conflicts approaches are essential in the judgment of disputes. There are however various conflict approaches which are used in the conflict resolution as discussed in the analysis of situations below.

Developing Self Awareness

From the instance described in the situation above, there is a sense of conflict in the company as the boss does not believe that indeed the manager took his friends for dinner at his expense account in Chicago. The primary source of conflict in the scenario is misinformation; the boss does not acknowledge the fact that the manager is putting efforts towards ensuring that the company optimizes the opportunity in the conference to reap profits from the event. However, the boss does not believe in the actions of the manager and see it as the made up story. Moreover, this is a fact, and it indeed happened (Nalbandov, 2016).

As an initiator, in this case, my primary role is to ensure that the boss is satisfied [d and acknowledges the actions of the manager. However approach of forcing the manager into denying what he did won't be a good show, Forcing the manager into the non-acknowledgment of his action will make him feel demotivated and frustrated in his job description thus lower the productivity required in the workplace. The use of formal authority in forcing the manager should not be applicable in the workplace just for the satisfaction of the needs of the boss and the firm at the expense of the requirements by the manager

The personal stage of moral development in the situation is the pre-conventional morality level which entails the phase of the morality of contract (Johansen and Cadmus, 2016, pp.211-218). The will of the majority s always at hand and given the utmost respect. The boss in the situation should highly value the status and the well-being of the society. The boss should believe the action done by the manager as it is supported by a majority of the people. I was there at the conference, and it is true as suggested by the colleague manager. He is the one who invited the friends for dinners and charged to his expense account.

The morality of contract stage of the moral development is essential in the code and conduct required in the form (Speakman, and Ryals, 2015). The requirements are all relative to the firm and its operational structure. The morality of contract in the firm is different from that forms the other firm. This stage is crucial as it helps the characters involved in a situation to enter into a contract with the boss of being fair to each other and showing utmost respect to the relevant authorities. The boss applying the stage will be able to agree to the statement by the manager as they develop self-respect and promote the necessary social rules and the laws in an organization.

The right stage of the principled conscience is also critical in such cases (Huang et al., 2016). As he initiated in this situation, there is need for the boss to objectively examine the needs of the manager significantly because it is a universal principle in the corporate world that the staff in the institution should be motivated by the individual conscience in that they do what is right according to the code s and conduct of the operations of the organization. The interpersonal interrelationships orientations behavior is essential in enabling an amicable solution to the doubting boss of the manager’s actions. I was there during the conference too, and the manager indeed played a better part in ensuring that the firm benefited by changing it to an expense account.

The orientation of the employees in essential in enabling the reduction of anxiety. The primary role of orientation is to put the employee’s, i.e., the manager in the case into a different and new situation (Singer, 2018). This will cause the boss to be in apposition to do his job correctly. Adequate and proper orientation being offered to the boss I key in ensuring that any anxiety that arises from the unknown situation is dealt with accordingly in an amicable manner. This strong orientation provided to the boss will capacitate him with the guidelines for managerial skills in whatsoever case. This reduces the burden on the employee of guessing on the actions taken by the boss. Orientation is likely to make the boss accept the fact that indeed the manager brought the friends for dinner a Chicago and charged it into his expense account. There is the need for the formulation of a comprehensive framework whereby every part gains. The boss wants to benefit from the output of the firm whereas the manager wants to help from his effort in the production process as he has invested efforts in ensuring that the firm optimizes every facility and party to gain momentum (Xue, and Lu, 2018 pp.516-521).

A new employee orientation program is vital in enabling the manager in the firm to adjust to the workplace environment and surrounding such that positive work attitude is instilled in the manager and motivated to the highest levels. The critical e of this kind of orientation is that the manager and other employed staff will have the morale of more towards ensuring the success of the firm operations.

Solving problems analytically and creatively

The identification of the creativity blocks is vital in analyzing the issue and providing the solution. In this instance where the boss is a neighborhood in the operations structure. It is essential to acknowledge the fact that the challenges come from the change policy implemented by the boss in the company. The social attributes of the boss have to be accommodated in the company. I would evaluate the ideas of the boss appropriately and know the effects that the plans have on the structure of the company (Bradley, Anderson, Baur, and Klotz, 2015 pp. 243). It is vital to consider to acknowledge psychological safety where the ideas and actions of the boss are accepting them accordingly.

The main limitation of the boss is that she wants to implement changes in the company without involving the decisions of the employees. It is essential for the consultations to take place in the workplace. The new system will not be suitable for employees who are used to the old system as adapting to the new system might inconvenience production in the company. Adjusting to the new schedules put forward by the boss tends to make it hard for the employees to cope up with the new system thus lagging in their job descriptions. The boss is also driven by the superiority complex by the power she holds in the company. She is after showing off her prowess in the control and directing the operations of the company. The new budgeting process might lead to a financial crisis as the expenditures might outdo the savings in the company. The new meeting schedules will delay the employees from being punctual in the necessary meetings at the company. Thus the instance described above can be manageable through the creation of insights as the analogy technique of creative thinking is vital in ensuring that the necessary assumptions and ideologies that arrive even though there are limitations.

The analogy of critical and creative thinking should be applied here to accommodate the condition of the boss. Since she is always after proving herself more powerful, the better solution to do here maintaining respect with her, this is because such characters are usually aligned with negativities of workplaces such as downsizing and layoffs. This it is better for the employees to adapt to the new change policy that is to be implemented in the organization by the boss. However, the employees have the right to involve themselves in some of the decision that is to be made.

There are several conflict resolution approaches to be used in such an occasion. However, the most preferred conflict resolution approach is the collaborating with the standard sand policies of the new boss with her new changes (Tjosvold, Wong and Feng Chen, 2014). Collaborating with her requirements should be done in a condition that all parties’ benefit, i.e., her orders are followed, but the suggestions of the staff are also considered. The solution should be amicable to them that no one feels like burdened at all. The problem with the boss is likely to be solved by the implementation of the collaborative approach. Another critical conflict resolution is the compromising approach. This involves the partial satisfaction for all the participants in the situation. Though the method is not very effective and reliance because all the requirements and changes might not have been implemented but is critical in ensuring that the level of conflicts and disagreements is lowered to the minimum level (Polat et al., 2017).

The most creative solution which can help in this situation is involved in the decision making of the company. It is the right of every employee to ensure that everything is in order in the organization to provide smooth management in the firm, Adapting to the new schedules and systems is also vital in ensuring that the organization's new systems run smoothly without interference for maximum productivity. Thus with such a boss, I would adapt to the implemented change policies adequately and ensure that I try as much as possible to cope up with the new systems so as to reduce the intolerance and disturbances in the organization

Managing Conflict

In such a situation where the neighbor who speaks very loudly on the phone thus interrupting with the peace of colleagues at the workplace, there is the need for the use of an efficient and effective conflict resolution approach. The approach should be evaluated significantly so that when applied, no party will feel lesser than the other. Extensive research is required before using the conflict resolution approach so as solve the issue amicably with the neighbor (Ware, 2017, pp.68-80). 

Conflict resolution in this circumstance should appear to be a win-win situation. With the loud noise made by the colleague, there is much noise made by him in the workplace. Noise has away been a distractor in any activity that is occurring. The first issue here is that one should realize that all the parties have biased fairness perceptions in any situation. Here every party will always say that he is right in his actions and endeavors. No one will accept the mistakes. The sense that is evidenced in the situation is egocentrism. This is witnessed in the case as the neighbor makes a lot of noise over the phone. This conflict can be restored back to normal by overcoming the self-centered perceptions (Rahim, 2017). This is achievable through the hiring of a mediator who is critical in enabling us to see appoint in the situation or the application of a third party such as an appraiser to provide the view of the facts.  

Avoid escalating tensions with threats and provocative moves. Since the irritation feeling can make one angry thus overreact, this can lead to us making threats to the neighbor to attract attention. This can involve the ruining of an individual’s reputation (Prati et al., 2016). This is a mistake always to give threats and moves that happen to be attention seeking. The humans tend treating people regarding the manner in which they are also treated; the neighbor should be treated as a colleague in the way that approaching him is an easy thing to do because of the mutual respect that is between the workplace. It is never advisable to use threats in any situation because different people respond to threats in different manners (Johansen and Cadmus, 2016) Threats are a way of use after all the possible options for resolving conflicts are exhausted as threats to the neighbor can bring about spiral conflicts.

 Look beneath the surface to identify deeper issues. The issue with the neighbor should be keenly investigated and not jumping to unnecessary conclusions. Most disputes often involve money, disputes involving labor rights and employee wages and family conflicts. The source of all these noises might be from the money issue of family conflicts back at home (Stepanova, 2015). This can bring about frustrations with the neighbor. In any conflict, there is always the feeling of being disrespected thus leading to disappointments. It is critical to listen attentively to the grievances by the neighbor in the workplace to identify and acknowledge the concerns that might be causing the problem of making the loud noise (Prenzel and Vanclay, 2014, pp.30-37). The use of this conflict management strategy is critical ensuring that the cordial relationship is strengthened and bonded in such a manner that new interests are brought to the table.

However, the alternative to solving the situation is accommodating the neighbor. Since this is a tendency of the neighbor to make loud noise over the phone, it might take time for him to reduce the trait of reform completely. Given enough time, it is advisable to accommodate the character portrayed by the neighbor and give time for changes. It can last for some time, but after resolving the issue, it will be a meantime and the neighbor reforms. After approaching the neighbor and tabling the outcries, accommodating him will lead to self-guilt into oneself. With this trend, change will occur (Crowley, Hinchliffe and McDonald, 2017 pp.133-141).

 . Talking to the neighbor not only as a work colleague but also as a friend is also very crucial. It is critical to enable the neighbor to realize the work ethics and the code of conduct required in the workplace. The conflict resolution approach of collaborative is essential in ensuring that the traits of the neighboring colleague are tolerated for the time to instill the sense of self-guilt to oneself. This makes it very viable for the noisy to change the trait by himself. It is also possible to use force on the neighbor to make him improve the quality (Thiel et al.j, 2018). This involves the application of the relevant authorities in the firm to ensure that they suppress the neighboring colleague and force him to follow the codes and conduct of the institution which does not allow noise was making in the workplaces.

 This is achievable as instilling some ethics and morals required in the workplace will enable the neighbor to go by the moral standards of the firm. There is no organization that permits the staff to be loudly due to the noise because it does not give a good picture given that clients visit the place and might be discouraged from the firm due to the loud noise in the workplace. Hence this is key in the conflict resolution with the neighboring colleague who makes a lot of noise during phone calls (Erdenk and Altunta?, 2017, pp 366-374).

Leading Positive Change

Establishing a climate of positivity.

This is key in ensuring that employees are safe and approve the changes that are to be introduced into the organization. This is achievable by the manager in the organization. For the sausage company to be successful in the market and sell its products well, there is the need for the manager to ensure that the employees are happy in their line of duty.  This makes the productivity in the organization more intense as there are more retention rates and the costs turn over by employees is reduced as per the required standards. There is thus the urgent need in the change in management to rectify the operations in the business (Dogan, 2016, pp.200-219) The feeling of employees is key to ensuring that employees ensure high production in the company.

For the change to be implemented successfully, there is the need for the manager to create a positive and bright vision entirely.  The difference in the operations of the company involves technical levels which ought to be reviewed carefully. The company’s change entails the organization of the members of the company resolving to implement and acknowledge a difference fully in the company. The readiness for change in the company involves the functionality of the staff towards their valuing of the organizational change. The employees in the company have the capability of ensuring that they initiate the particular switch or offer resistance. Thus the employees have to educate appropriately on the essence of the change and its impacts on the productivity of the sausage company.

As the head of the operations in the sausage company, for-profit maximization, I would facilitate a seminar where the awareness is created to the employees. Educating the employees appropriately and illustrating to them the need for the change and its importance to the structure of the company (Kerzner, and Kerzner, 2017). Apart from creating awareness, it is critical for a contingency plan to be engineered. The program will help in gauging future events and actions. The contingency plan should be prepared in that when the change is implemented; there should be no interference with the employability of the staff. There should be no reduction in the number of employees in the company at any cots whatever to fully maximize productivity.

Reorganizing the structure of the employees into self-directed teams tend to motivate the employees more and encourages teamwork. The tendency of unity brings all efforts by the employees together towards the optimization of the production outputs in the company. With this, the company will make more profits as the employees produce more when working together. The employees should be trained on the essence of teamwork in production. With self-direction among the employees, the sharing of ideas is made easy thus educating one another on how an action in productivity should be done (Folger, Poole and Stutman, 2017).

The change should be implemented in that; no employee should lose his job for the sake of the change. The employees should be indulged in the decision-making for the difference to be incorporated into the company (Wallensteen, 2015). Their say is vital before implementing the change policy. Ask the employees on what they view as being the best change policy in the improvement of the company towards maximizing the profit margins. The employees should be dealt with in a friendly and approachable manner so as they can make contributions to the change process. Their answers should be considered more in the operations of the company because they are the key participants who will facilitate the change process as they are usually on the ground on a daily basis. After their answers are considered, the changes can now be made in the company accordingly (Keener, Strough, and DiDonato, 2018, pp.1-8)

Encouraging tram work and the spirit of working together (Bao, Zhu, Hu and Cui, 2016 p. 541). Arranging for the employees some festive where they celebrate even if some drinks are offered. This small treatment can easily ease tension in the company as accelerate the employees more towards the goals of maximizing production by increasing profit margins. This is key for in the self-direction of the employees before the change policy is implemented, there is the need for thorough assessment of the change process and its impacts on the company (Baker, Détienne and Barcellini, pp. 141-157). 2017).

Conclusion

Conflicts emerge on a daily basis. I t has become a norm for conflicts to occur each and every day in our daily endeavors in life. Appropriate approaches such as forcing where relevant authorities are used are vital in solving the disputes. The presence of an initiator in any conflict situation is very critical as the initiator acts as the neutralizing element in the resolution of the conflicts whatsoever the case. For any conflict to be resolved with both parties becoming satisfied, there has to be a sense of neutrality in the case. The neutral party plays as the initiator and helps in the resolution of the conflict between any identifiable characters in a situation. Conflicts require ample time to be solved amicably. Forcing is an approach of conflict resolution which is majorly used by the relevant authorities in the particular parties involved in the instances of conflict. Other procedures such as collaborative and compromising are crucial in the evaluation and resolving of various conflicts which occur during our daily experiences in life. The disputes, however, have to be studied keenly because there might be something substantial behind the occurrence of the conflict in order or it to be resolved amicably.

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