discremination

Question 15.

Erica is having difficulties getting her London based organisation to work well with her strategic partner overseas. There have been many instances where her staff have met face to face with their partners, but the meetings have broken down in what Erica can only describe as ‘arguments’. Erica has tried discussing the conflict between their staff with her equivalent in the partner organisation, but Mahesh just laughed at her and said it was going well. This attitude has perplexed Erica even more. Erica is a confused as many of the staff overseas seem to have the same names, are outwardly aggressive and sometimes dismissive of her female colleagues and yet show extreme respect for Erica’s husband when they meet socially. There also appears to be a deliberate ignoring of the rules laid down by the management on the creation of the partnership.

Both organisations are experts in marketing strategies, and the organisations have come together to assist in creating new international advertising campaigns for their multi-national clients. Feedback from clients on the joint projects has been positive, and the Boards of both organisations are pleased with the strategic partnership.

Erica recently had a member of her staff in tears after a telephone call where her ideas were rubbished by the overseas partner. Erica had to work hard to stop this valuable member of staff from resigning immediately and had to promise her that she would not need to be in contact with the partner anymore.

This was the final straw for Erica, who has come to you for help and advice, feeling that she cannot cope with this anymore.

Required:
a) Critically appraise the clash between the two sets of staff, considering the role that National diversity may have in the situation.
(10 marks)
b) Critically analyse the role of conflict in organisations, including why it occurs, whether it is positive or negative, and how it can be managed.
(15 marks)





Question 15:

a) The issues of the question 15 is the company has a difficulty to work well with her strategic partner oversea. Many of the staff seems to have a same name and outwardly aggressive and dismissive to her female colleagues but show only respect to Erica's husband. On the other hand,they also appears to be deliberately ignoring the rules laid down. This is mostly due to the cultural differences with the partner oversea.

Cultural are human creation which made up of elements such as attitudes,beliefs,norms,roles and values. To appraise the clash between the two sets of the staffs, Hofstede theories has made a clear outline for a situation above which mainly due to the cultural clashes within the national.

Cultural Variety:
~National-according to country,eg. Chinese culture and the British which Chinese generation has to provide for the parent but this does not happen to British generation.
~Regional/ethnic/religious/linguistic
~Gender-different assumptions and expectations of females and males
~Generation-different between age group
~Social class-linked to educational opportunities and occupation
~Organizational-different organizations have their individual cultures.

Besides that, organizations are the microcosms of national cultures which reflecting the crucial differences among each other. According to Hofstede, it can be attributed to four main dimensions:

Power Distance-Status differences between people with high and low degree of power
Individual in countries with autocratic management style preferred their own bosses to have that style but country with a low power distance may preferred discussion or consultation which they can express their disagreement with the management level. From the case, the meeting have broken down in what Erica described as 'Argument' but the partne from the oversea may not think the same.

Collectivism versus individualism
It's about the culture focused on individuals or group. A high individualism ranking indicates that the individuality and individual rights are paramount within the society. This may for a larger number of looser relationship. In collectivist cultures, the reverse is true. In collectivist nature, this culture reinforce extended families and collectives where everyone takes responsibility for fellow members of their group eg. Same names of the colleagues of the case issue which confusing Erica.

Masculinity:
Its level of individual assertiveness and competition, the traditional masculine work role model of male achievement,control and power. A high Masculinity cultures experience a high degree of gender differentiation which males dominate a significant portion of the society and power structure,with females being controlled by male domination. In contrast, the low Masculinity country has a lower level of differentiation and discrimination between genders. In these countries, females are treated equally to males in all aspects of the society. This helps to explain the aggressiveness and dismissive of female colleagues in the scenario but showing an extreme respect to Erica's husband.


Uncertainty Avoidance:
It focuses on the level of tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity within the society i.e. unstructured situation. A high uncertainty avoidance favours precise rules and low tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. Where else, with low uncertainty avoidance,people are less concern about ambiguity, so arguing with superiors is acceptable and the students are happy with the teachers who do not claim to know everything. This is reflected in a society that is less rule-oriented, more readily accepts change and takes more and greater risks. Therefore, I might say that oversea partner may or may not have an intention to ignore the rules but due to the cultures clash happened in the case.

Generally speaking, there appears to be a complete national culture clash in the scenario and ethnocentrism play a very important part in the issue(hostility towards out-group).

In conclusion, national culture need to be explained explored and applied to make every body understands the differences in avoidance of the conflict and losing of the valuable members in the company.


b) Differences are inevitable in a group having people with different experience,attitudes and expectation. In this case, however, some conflict can support organizational goal. Indeed, conflict has positive and negative aspests that a number of basis psychological causes are apparent. Listed below are the main causes why it may occur in Erica's organisation:


Disagreement reflects frustration.Any point of difference may spark a reaction to frustration.This may due to the poor communication, lack of empowerment and mistrust.


All the managers and employees should have a same goals but it may not happen in the real world.eg. Manager may focus on cost-effectiveness while the staff wanted for the higher salary.


A different belief about the purpose of the business.


Pay and the perks is always where the conflict arises.


Cutural variety is inevitable feature of where dispute is.

Positive Aspectof conflict:
Clearing the air: Erica should allow people to air their grievances which sometimes can lead to an improved atmosphere.
Understand each other position:People must think through their own case in order to express it clearly and grasp the other point in order to challenge it. Therefore, Erica should involve herself once a while to understand the situations when the meeting held.
Modification of goal: One side may realize how inpractical the consequences of their argument is
Creativity and innovation：Learn more about and grow with each conflict experienceand gaining the new idea and experience among the staffs.
Problem solving:Defines issues and provides opportunities to resolve these issues which may increase group cohesion
Lead to alliances with other group.

Negative aspect of Conflict:
Wasting time and energy: Divert attention from objective which the participants may forget original purpose of negotiation and get caught up with fighting. This may cause the losing valuable staff in Erica's organisation.
Stress: Conflict can become quite personal,abusive and threatening. This may create unresolved feeling and mental exhaustion which discussion end up to be a centralised decision by dominant group.
Worsening the situation:Develop the resistance and highlighted the problem, dislike and grienvances which may lead to the strike, worse morale and industrial relations as the result employees are less motivated and inactive. Moreover, participation may not be welcomed by the staffs.

Common Ways of dealing with conflict:

1. Avoiding - withdraw from the conflict situation, leaving it to chance.
2. Harmonizing - generally cover up the differences and claim that things are fine.
3. Bargaining - negotiate to arrive at a compromise, bargaining for gains by both parties
4. Forcing - push a party to accept the decision made by a leader or majority.
5. Problem solving - confront differences and resolve them on a collaborative basis.

Futhermore, we should explore options by focusing on interests behind the stated positions:
• 1.Explore the ‘why’ behind the disputants’ arguments/claims.
• 2.Help disputants see what is common among their goals, values and principles.
• 3.Use this to generate multiple alternatives.
• 4.Maintain a non-judgmental manner.
In the case above, Erica should have hired an International HR manager in arranging a cultural training to create an awareness among the staffs of ethnocentrism and cultural differences. On the other hand, selecting a local leader who has gone through the 'free-floating' mindset training to overcome the situation above.