The Nature of Conflict and Mediation at the Workplace Research Paper

The Nature of Conflict and Mediation at the Workplace - Research Paper Example Using a qualitative descriptive approach, this research examined the responses and narratives of employees of two different companies. The findings implied that since the nature of conflicts, the mediation strategies and conflict resolution plans employed by the two companies were different, hence the outcome in the form of job satisfaction level was also different. Although the research shed extensive light upon the issue related to workplace conflicts, there is the need for further research to take this study at a broader level where companies from different demographic locations and cultures are compared in order to get a better understanding of the concept of workplace conflict and conflict resolution. Introduction Conflict, mediation, and resolution are a necessary part of a successful journey in the life of an organization. Conflicts occur at every level in the workplace during achievement of organizational goals. Better resolved at the personal level, some conflicts get so big that a mediation strategy is required to resolve them. Before going into the niceties of the research paper, it is deemed important to define some important terms that will be used frequently in the coming pages. Masters and Albright (2002, p.14) define conflict as â€Å"a disagreement between two or more parties who are independent.† Conflict is something that almost every one of us has experienced to some extent at the workplace with a superior, a colleague, a subordinate, or a customer. We experience distress and sorrow over the dispute and this increases our workplace stress and finally creates disastrous impacts on our job satisfaction. Conflicts weigh heavily on the organization in terms of cost as well because engaging in a conflict and taking time out to create a conflict resolution plan, a mediation strategy, or arranging a third party mediator, demands resources and finances. Also, the time and energy that is spent resolving conflicts can be better used for fruitfu l projects and milestones. Thus, avoiding and resolving them if they occur becomes necessary if the company’s interests are kept in focus. If conflicts go unresolved, this increases dissatisfaction and the overall organizational culture is destroyed which is very likely to bring the bad name to the company. Resolution or no resolution affects not only the individual’s activities at the workplace but his personal life is also disturbed. Managing a conflict is an important task that occurs at three levels, according to Masters and Albright (2002, p.13). According to them, first of all, an individual must know how to deal with the conflict at the personal level like when he enters a conflict with a senior, a junior, a colleague, or a client. Second, he must be able to enable others in the organization to manage their personal conflicts. This is important because those conflicts will eventually come to you taking your extra time if they are not resolved in time by the peop le involved. Third, he must be able to work out an effective plan or strategy that should make sure that workplace conflicts are avoided and if occur then resolved in time. Conflicts at work â€Å"reflect systemic processes and patterns in how work gets done† (Masters & Albright, 2002, p.13) thus it is important to determine those patterns so that better conflict management is made possible.  Ã‚