Conflict Management: The Basics
If an organization is to keep moving forward and stay competitive with old rivals and enthusiastic new entrants, it has keep changing with the times. If it does not do so, there is every risk that the culture and procedures that it follows will soon become obsolete and the organization itself may sink. Change can be brought about in any aspect of the organization – a change in the policies, change in the infrastructure or even change in the organizational structure.
The biggest change that may be faced by the organization while implementing change is resistance to change. This resistance to change may arise due to a variety of reasons, from the fear of the unknown to reluctance to part with familiar, old ways. Therefore, many a time, change management has to begin with conflict management. Your conflict management skills will determine to a great extent how effective you are in implementing change. Let us therefore first look at what are the basic reasons for resistance to change in an organization.
· Absence of clear communication – While the top management has taken a decision to implement some changes in the organization, what these are and what is the plan to go about implementing them are never made clear and are never conveyed to all the members of the organization. With some members being kept in the loop and some not, the objective of change becomes that of only a limited few and not of the organization as a whole.
· Absence of clear procedural steps – Even if all members are clearly communicated about the efforts of implementing change, they are not given any concrete plan with steps that they need to take. In the absence of proper planning, many members will justifiably be apprehensive of any change that is being proposed.
· Lack of motivation – Unless all members of an organization are convinced that the change the organization is intending to adopt is truly beneficial, there will be no true desire to adopt the changes. Working because your company wants you to will not achieve much. However, working because you truly believe in the cause and are motivated to work for its success, will bring about dramatic results.
Successful conflict management and thus change management envisages that the manager inspires people enough for them to overcome their resistance and to want to be a successful part of the change management process.
