Organizational Behavior---Individual Assignment Instruction Essay

Organizational Behavior---Individual Assignment Instruction - Essay Example An example of an organizational conflict that I witnessed was in a company that I worked part time during the last summer. In this organization, Faith, the chief engineer in charge of new product development brought a list of items to George, the procurement officer for purchase. However, George failed to sanction the purchase claiming that the products were too expensive and did not meet the cost cutting threshold that had been imposed by the organization. However, faith believed that George did not have trust in her abilities and hence the reason why he was constantly fighting her anytime a new spare needed to be purchased. To resolve this conflict, the business unit vice president ordered the two to report to the same executive who would evaluate the purchase orders in terms of cost-effectiveness and quality. This change of structure aligned the hitherto incompatible goals. In the case of the conflict between George and Faith, it was resolved by altering the organizational structure to fit the two parties. However, I have realized that in most cases most of the organizational conflict happens in teams. Wherever such conflict happens, the easiest solution would be to change the group composition. However, there are other times when the conflict is as a result of varying styles and values among team members. Naturally, when that occurs, the first thing that comes to the leaders mind is to replace the team members that do not agree with the styles or preferences of the teams. Over the years, I have observed that removing some people from the team may not always be possible since their skills might be needed or there might not be an available replacement for them. In the event that this happens, the most sensible way to mitigate such conflict is through focusing the team’s attention on a common enemy such as the competition. When people or even departments are taught on how to focus their attention on the enemies facing them instead of