International Conference on Global Trends in Engineering, Technology and Management (ICGTETM-2016)
A Study of Global Trends in Conflict Management Systems
of Organizations for Business Excellence
VishwanathMalji, KJ Somaiya College of Engineering,Mumbai
Dr.PrashantWarke, Godavari Institute of Management and Research,Jalgaon
Abstract: Purpose - The purpose of this article is to
elucidate the influence that studying Global Trends in
Conflict Management Business Excellence can be
achieved in organizations through conflict
management learning.
Findings – Application of Conflict Management
learning helps to improve individual and group
perception of control and conflict management
approaches.
Limitations/implications - The article is focused on
trends in Conflict Management Systems in various
countries in order to involve the participants into a
realistic business management experience.
Practical implications - Results encourage the
incorporation of these Conflict Management Systems
into educational programs related to Business
Excellence. Conflict Management learningimproves
conflict management within and between groups,
especially in the complementary activities and
negotiations with real agents, it also fosters motivation
and cooperative attitudes.
Value - This article contributes to increase
knowledge in conflict management for Individual
and workgroups maintaining intensive and relentless
relationships over a relatively long period of time. At a
more practical level, experience on conflict
management generates acceptance of the conflict as a
part of the decisions making process, which improves
the entrepreneurial attitude for all participants resulting
in Business Excellence.
Keywords: Conflict management, Learning,
Business Excellence, Organizational performance
Paper type Study paper.
1.INTRODUCTION
Over the past fifty years, interest in the field
of conflict management and peace- keeping has
developed worldwide (Galtung, 1996; Patomäki,
2001: 723; Schmidt and Trittmann, 2002). At the
same time, the potential for (trans- cultural) conflict
has escalated. This can mainly be attributed to the
trend towards globalisation and the growing
complexity of societies increasingly experiencing
more intercultural encounters or cultural transition
situations (Boness, 2002: 1; Dadder, 1987: 49) and
work-related or organisational conflicts (Rahim,
2001).
Cultural transition situations occur in the
organizations, in which the emergence of
international co-operation such as joint ventures,
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driven by globalisation, has changed the way
business is conducted. Employees of diverse origins
with different cultures, values and identities work
together. Consequently, the potential for conflict has
escalated dramatically. In fact, many organisations
are riddled by conflict (Pondy, 1992: 257) which
leads to intense emotional distress and distraction
from work, influencing decision- making and
relationships negatively and affecting individual
effectiveness, productivity and creativity (Cowan,
1995:24).
Conflict is disagreement between employee
& employer, between individual &group, between
two groups, between individuals. Conflicts are
inevitable part of human life.In Organizations nature
of job is monotonus.( For example Car assembly,
Engine assembly , two wheeler assembly or
automobile manufacturing).Blue collar workers will
have to achieve specified production targets.Many
conflict issues are emerging between blue collar
workers
and
production
engineers,
productionsupervisors, management representatives,
due to various sources of conflict. Hence we should
focus on these conflict issues for effective conflict
management.
Globalisation hasbecome awell-accepted postmodernisticterm to characterise the international
economy over the last decades of the twentieth
century. However, there is much debate over the
concept, its meaning, and its main dimensions
(Connell, 2004; Dicken, 1998; Edwards and Usher,
2000; Jaffee, 1998; Kalantzis and Cope, 2006;
McMichael, 1996; Rizvi, 2006; Sklair, 1999; Zhao,
Massey, Murphy and Fang, 2003) and, indeed,
whether global flows of goods, foreign direct
investment, finance capital and migration flows have
increased since the turn of the century (Wade, 1996).
A question that is often posed is whether
organisations should formulate their strategies
according to global or regional corporate mindsets.
Schlie and Yip (2000:343) have explored the
strategic responses of multinational automotive
organisations embedded in a simple framework of
interdependent industry forces, globalisation barriers
and competitive regionalisation advantages. They
view regional strategies as alternative, potentially
superior solutions vis-a-vis fully globally integrated
or
locally
responsive
approaches,proposingthat organisations follow an
eclectic course of regionalisation as well as
globalisation.
In the context of the automotive industry, it
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is suggested that an automotive producer should
first become a global player, to efficiently and
selectively regionalise. In turn, the regional
strategies will support an organisation's global
strategy (Schlie and Yip, 2000:343).
Conflict in the organisational context is often
related to the negotiation of values, valueorientations (Berkel, 2005; Bond, 1998; Kluckhohn
and Stroedbeck, 1961; Wallace, Hunt and Richards,
1999), identity aspects (Kriesberg, 2003a; 2003b),
and also to (value and identity) management and
organisational processes (Agle and Caldwell, 1999;
Gandal, Roccas, Sagiv and Wrzesniewski, 2005;
Smith, Peterson and Schwartz, 2002). The
organisationalculture also influences work-related
conflict, always relating to the values and identity
aspects involved, and can contribute constructively to
the management and resolution of (trans-cultural)
conflicts (Bond, 2004; Hofstede, 1998; Pool, 2000).
2. BACKGROUND OF STUDY:
Strikes, lockouts, tooldowns are recurrently
happening in automobileindustry. At some point of
time, High level of conflict resulted in human
loss.Examples:Violence at Maruti Suzuki India
Limited,ManesarPlant,Haryana.Avanish Kumar Dev,
General Manager-HR,burned to death as violent mob
of workers set on fire his office in company.In
Maharashtra strike was happened in Bajaj Auto
Limited,ChakanPlant,Pune.Mahindra&
Mahindra
faced strikes,tooldowns in Nashik &Igatpuri plant
respectively. These episodes indicate lack of skills in
Conflict Management in Automobile Industry which
in turn affecting organizational performance in terms
of productivity,profitability,sales loss, human capital
loss.
Latest Labor unrest happened at Force Motors
Limited, Akurdiplant, Pune in the month of
March,2015.Company not revised wage agreement
for last ten years.
Following article of financial express dated
March 18,2015 describes Conflicts in automobile
industry.
Dispute at Force Motors intensifies:
The labour dispute at Force Motors has
reached the labour commissioner‟s office. Family
members of the company‟s workers led a march to
the firm‟s Akurdi plant on Tuesday to protest against
the 10- year delay in signing a wage agreement.
Ten women, wives of the workers, had been
sitting on an indefinite fast for the last 10 days and
three of them were admitted to the hospital.There is a
litigation going on between the company and its
workers‟ union over recognition and the case is
pending in the Supreme Court.The industrial dispute
is regarding who will represent the workers as there
are two rival unions in the company — the
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BharatiyaKamgarSena (BKS) and the Pune
Employees Union (PEU)-AITUC. BKS was the
recognised union earlier which was challenged by the
PEU. This case has moved from the lower industrial
court to the high court and ultimately in 2009 the
case went to the Supreme Court.
The Akurdi plant of Force Motors
makes the best sellingTraveller brand LCV, tractors
and buses. Workers did not halt production and
continued to work even as their family members
agitated at the company gates. The plant used to have
2, 200 workers when the dispute started and now it
has reduced to around 500 permanent workers.
The workers‟ representatives say that they have
got no objection certificate from both the BKS and
the PEU to negotiate a wage agreement directly with
the company, but the company refuses to negotiate.
The last agreement between the workers‟ union and
company was signed in 2001 and since then there has
been no agreement.
The workers on Tuesday demanded that they
want the company to deal directly with the
workers and negotiated the wage settlement. A
delegation met the company representatives after
the march and the company has said it will be
making a fresh set of proposals that will be
presented to the additional labour commissioner.
The company management was not available
for any comment on these developments but issued a
statement saying that workers were to blame for the
present status and said it was not a dispute between
the company and management and that it was purely
a fight between the rival trade unions.
According to
following
latest Indian
Express report dated September 14,2015
6 women on hunger strike against Force Motors
since Sept 1, MCCIA urged to intervene to
resolve issue:
A delegation of the KamgarSanghatana
SanyuktKrutiSamiti met the Director General of the
Maratha
Chambers
of
Commerce
and
Industries(MCCI), AnantSardeshmukh, to draw his
attention to the hunger strike called by six women
who have called for an indefinite strike against Force
Motors Ltd, Pune. In a press statement issued by the
KamgarSanghatana, they have said that it was high
time the MCCIA intervened to solve the issue.
The delegation urged the Deshmukh to
intervene positively in the matter on an urgent basis
and bring about a settlement in the issue. They
pointed out that the hunger strike had entered the
11th day and the health of the women was
deteriorating rapidly.
However, there is no sign of any settlement.
The fact that a company that is in sound financial
condition is unwilling to consider the just demands of
its workers who have undoubtedly contributed to the
prosperity of the company has created a deep sense of
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anger among the industrial workers in Pune and
Pimpri-Chinchwad, said Kiran Moghe who is
presenting the case.
According to another latest following Indian
Express report dated October 05,2015,explains
seriousness of conflict.
Two women on hunger strike for 34 days
create stir:
Wives of two workers of Force Motors,
Akurdi, Sunday completed 34 days of hunger strike
demanding salary hike for their husbands. Bharati
Ashok Shelar (50) and Hirabai Ashok Reddy (48),
had started their strike September 1.
The two are part of a team of six women who
began their strike on the day — the other four
withdrew due to health issues.
“The salary of Force Motors‟ workers has not
increased since 2004. The management has refused to
sign a wage agreement with the workers,” the two
women alleged. Labour leader YashwantBhosale,
who heads the RashtriyaShramikAghadi, alleged that
two squabbling unions are responsible for the strike.
“The hunger strike could have ended long ago if
concerted efforts had been made…Now the it has
created a record. I don‟t remember any hunger strike
that has lasted this long, especially by women
residents,” he said. NCP leader Sanjeevani Pandey,
who met the women last week said, “It is an
unfortunate scenario that women who are ailing have
been forced to strike with no solution in sight.”
When contacted, the Force Motors
management said all sincere efforts had been made to
resolve the differences with the workers but the
efforts had not yielded results. “Because of the
adamant attitude of the workers, the company lost its
competitive position in the market. In 2013 and 2015,
we had made efforts to bring workers together to sign
a wage accord, but it did not materialise. The
company has also extended a helping hand to its
workers,” said the management. The management
added that it fully sympathises with those who are on
strike and also with the workers and their families.
“We have done our best to resolve the strike, we have
shown readiness to sign an accord, help workers,
conduct discussions and negotiations… We sincerely
feel that all this should end in the interest of the
workers,” it stated.
3. THEORETICALREVIEW:
3.1 British Trends:
British trends touches on several policy
matters. One is the reform of the institutional
arrangements of the ET system. Such changes
clearly have a considerable impact on the ET claim
rate and so need to be thought through with great
care. The second is reducing the number of disputes
that result in strikes in the public sector. Here
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further consideration might be given to the Local
Government Pay Commission proposal for „assisted
negotiation‟ as a means of helping the parties to
resolve the issues between them. More generally,
theanalysis suggests the value of thinking in terms of
conflict management rather than dispute resolution,
i.e. encouraging the view that „disputes‟ are a
warning of underlying issues that need to be
addressed through a wider, strategic approach to
management-employee relations. Here the proposed
abolition of legislation relating to the so called „three
step‟ statutory Employment Commission‟ most
recently recommended by the Commission on
Vulnerable Employment (Trades Union Congress,
2008: 160-1).discipline and grievance procedures
reinforces this perspective: procedures alone provide
neither the deterrent nor the solution to conflictual
relations in the workplace. Arguably a range of
opportunities for employees to „voice‟ their
grievances
merit
consideration,
ranging from training line managers to better
handle conflict, to internal mediation arrangements,
as well as revisiting the adequacy of representational
arrangements. Outside the workplace, solutions
may be found in the establishment of an agency
dedicated to the enforcement of the full range of
employment rights such as a „Fair Employment
Commission‟ most recently recommended by the
commission on Vulnerable Employment(Trades
Union Congress:2008,160-1)
3.2 Canadian trends:
Broadly defined, 'alternative dispute resolution'
(ADR) often refers to processes which are used to
settle problems on the basis of the interests of the
disputants rather than on the basis of power (Rowe
1996, 1). More commonly, ADR refers to any
method of dispute resolution other than formal
adjudication such as court litigation or administrative
proceedings (Costantino and Merchant 1996).
As a result of an increased interest in ADR
among practitioners, a growing number of
organizations are using mechanisms such as
mediation and arbitration to avoid formal
adjudication or court action. One estimate for the
United States is that 'almost all employers with 100
or more employees use one or more ADR
approaches,' and in a survey of 96 leading companies,
it was reported that 53 percent had an ADR program
`to resolve employment-related issues' (Rowe 1996,
1). Based on several U.S. studies, Rowe attributes the
rise in the use of ADR to the growing concern for
employee rights; an increased interest in procedural
justice as well as substantive justice;3 a desire on the
part of employers to foster greater trust in and
commitment to participative management; a decline
in unionization and therefore in the availability of
grievance procedures; an emphasis on controlling
costs, including productivity losses and litigation
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costs; and a desire by employers to avoid
unionization.
The Commission on the Future of Worker
Management Relations, chaired by Harvard
University professor John T. Dunlop, addressed the
issue of dispute resolution. In its report, the
commission recommended greater use of high quality
ADR systems, including both in-house settlement
procedures and voluntary arbitration systems to
promote fair, speedy, and efficient resolution of
workplace disputes (Commission on the Future of
Worker-Management Relations 1994).
Aside from resolving employment disputes
within the workplace, ADR is also being increasingly
used for commercial, family, environmental,
international, and community disputes and is
changing the way courts resolve conflict (Adams
1997). Recently, the Attorney General of Ontario
announced that private mediation will be mandatory
in all civil suits except family disputes (Makin 1997).
Major companies such as Molson Breweries, Maple
Leaf
Gardens,
McCain
Foods,
and
GroupeVidetronLtee have resorted to ADR
mechanisms such as mediation or arbitration
(McFarland 1996). Automobile dealers and
manufacturers have established the national
Automobile Dealer Arbitration Program to settle
disputes through mediation and arbitration rather than
the court system (Heinzl 1996). The North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) contains a dispute
resolution process based on an arbitral panel for
enforcement of the labour principles related to
occupational health and safety, child labour, and
minimum wage (Morpaw 1995).
The Online Ombuds Office is a website
(located at http://www.ombuds.org/) that provides
access to a group of experienced ombudspersons
whose role is to help users understand their disputes,
relate the dispute to existing policies, and indicate
options and choices available to them. Each
ombudsperson is paired with someone very familiar
with the Internet in order to provide technical
knowledge that could ultimately affect the resolution
of the dispute. In addition to the traditional functions,
the office is viewed as having important educational
and dispute-prevention possibilities and 'may even
turn out to be [a] prototype of the courtrooms of the
future' (Katsh 1996, 12).
Evidence
has
indicated
that
the
Effective/Sound Conflict Management Systems can
have the following benefits for organizations,
employees, and unions to achieve Business
Excellence.
• efficiency gains,
• lower turnover,
• better employee-employer relations,
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• potential for a better bottom line,
• access to information,
• participation in decision making,
• discretion over work processes,
• enhanced employability,
• support for family responsibilities,
• affirmation of an independent voice for
workers, and
• input into a range of workplace issues.
(Betcherman et al. 1994, 97)
A cornerstone of the effective highperformance workplace is maintaining and enhancing
the organization's relationship with its employees.
Today's environment calls for adversarial labourmanagement relationships to give way to more
cooperative approaches. Traditional collective
bargaining, characterized by the separation of
employer and employee interests, management rights,
and conflict and distrust, is viewed as a barrier to the
diffusion of high-performance workplace practices
(Downie and Coates 1995). While collective
bargaining remains a key feature of the North
American industrial relations system, it has been
suggested that it too must be more effective in
resolving conflicting interests and encouraging labour
and management to seek 'mutual gains solutions'
where such potential exists (Kochan and Osterman
1994, 199).
3.3European trends:
Business simulation is one of the method for
Conflict Management which is better than Case
Study Method. Because Simulation generates
different ideas and increases knowledge in the
workgroups and within the workgroups. Business
Simulation should be used as decision-making
process.In Conflict Management System a firm
decision to be taken to solve conflict issues
constructively & effectively.
3.4 Ireland trends:
Union and non-union firms tend to have
different conflict management systems. Typically,
unionisedorganisations have formalised disciplinary
and grievance procedures to address workplace
problems.In relation to grievances, for example, the
procedures normally involve the use of several
formal steps, the first of which requires the employee
to put their case directly to their immediate manager.
After submitting a grievance, an individual employee
is normally represented by a trade union shop
steward and then possibility by a trade union official
if the grievance travels up the organisational
hierarchy. On the management side, progressively
higher levels of managers become involved if the
grievance is not resolved at the first or intermediary
stages of the procedure. The last stage of the
procedure invariably involves a formal adjudication
of the problem (Turnbull 2008). In the Irish case, this
may lead to the involvement of an external
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independent party such as the Rights Commissioner
and /or The Labour Court.
Although unionisedorganisations gravitate
towards the conflict management system elaborated
upon above, there is considerable variation in the
extent to which organisations are successful in
settling workplace disputes and grievances. Much of
this variation is due to internal organisational
attributes such as a lack of shared understandings
between employees and managers about core
organisational goals, a history of good or bad
industrial relations, poorly designed or inadequately
implemented conflict management systems and
employee
resistance
to
workplace
change
(Walton,Cutcher-Gershenfeld, and McKersie 1994)
Procedures for handling grievances and
disputes in non-union organisations are usually seen
as less formalised than in unionised firms. Unionised
firms tend to have 'deeper' formalised conflict
management systems than non-unionised firms: on
the one hand, unionised firms are more likely to
possess a greater number of conflict management
procedures and on the other hand, non-union firms
are probably more accepting of informal methods to
resolve disputes at the workplace such as line
managers settling a problem with employees without
using formal procedures (Feuille and Chachere
1995). But these differences between union and nonunion organisations should not be overplayed. Many
non-unionisedorganisations have formalised conflict
management procedures. To comply with the aims of
employment legislation, organisations are in many
instances required to establish formal procedures
(Dobbin and Kelly 2007). Conversely, a fair amount
of informality can be found in unionised firms;
frequently, informal discussions between union
representatives and management can either avert a
potential conflict or secure agreement about an ongoing problem.
The significant difference between unionised
and non-unionisedorganisations on conflict
management is that the former normally use
collective procedures while the latter normally use
procedures that focus on the individual employee
(Budd
and
Colvin
2005).
In
unionisedfirms,employees can be represented by
trade unions in negotiated conflict management
procedures.
Incontrast,
conflict
management
procedures in non-unionised firms are likely to be
unilaterally written by management and are unlikely
to allow an employee to be represented by a trade
union official.
Conflict management systems in non-union
organisations
are
less
likely
than
unionisedorganisations to gravitate to a uniform
model yet they are likely to share some similar traits
(Lewin 1987).Non-union organisations are likely to
assume that management-employee interactions are
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based largely on trust and unity of interest. As a
result, workplace conflict is likely to be regarded as
deviant and to some extent a symptom of managerial
failure
(Rowe
1997).
Thus,
unlike
unionisedworkplaces,where problems at work are
considered to be almost inevitable, workplace
conflict in non-unionised firms is not seen as either
desirable or inevitable, but something that needs to be
managed and kept to a minimum (Peterson 1992).
Non-union organisations are usually of the view that
the professional integrity of managers ensures that
workplace conflict will be addressed effectively and
fairly. Non- union organisations tend to prefer
workplace conflict remaining in-house: strenuous
efforts are normally made to avoid an employment
grievance or dispute ending up in front of an
Employment Tribunal or any other public dispute
resolution agencies (Lewin 2001).
Different views exist about the nature of
conflict
management
systems
in
nonunionisedfirms.Perhaps the dominant view in the
industrial relations literature is that employees do not
enjoy full procedural justice as their ability to appoint
a representative of their choosing is restricted (Fernie
and Metcalf 2004). Some aspects of the human
resource management literature adopt a less
criticalstance and even suggest that interesting
experiments in the management of workplace conflict
are occurring in non-union workplace settings
(Fincher, Lipsky and Seeber 2003). This literature is
mostly American in origin and more or less focuses
on the emergence of alternative dispute resolution
(ADR) at the workplace. This literature suggests that
the extent to which non-union multinationals adopt
innovative conflict management strategies is tied to
the extent to which they diffuse ADR practices.
4. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:
 The dispute resolution processes in place are many
and varied. There is clearly no one best way. What
seems to be occurring is a lot of experimentation.
 The majority of processes are informal and rely
heavily on open-door policies, either solely or in
combination with other types of conflict resolution or
complaint processes—typically, senior management
review. Peer review and ombudsperson-type
processes are rare. Organizations with a unionized
work force have a standard multistep union grievance
procedure.
 For the most part, organizations do not broadly
communicate information about their conflict
resolution process. There is a strong reliance on
managers and supervisors, HR, or the 'culture' of the
organization to make employees aware that there is a
process available.
 Few informal complaint processes are documented
in writing. The more formal processes have a written
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purpose and/or a description of the process with
specific steps and time limits occasionally specified.
Comprehensive and clearly defined processes exist
for discrimination and harassment complaints.
 The informal and formal processes are available to
all employees, and there are few restrictions on the
types of issues that can be brought forward.
 Few processes provide a written guarantee of
fair treatment or no reprisals, particularly if they
are informal processes.
 With the exception of a peer review and some
employee-manager committees, management
retains control of the process. The final decision
maker is not independent of management.
 Little tracking and few statistics are kept on use of
the process or types of issues that arise. While formal
and informal processes exist in organizations, they do
not seem to be used frequently. There is a general
sense that there have been fewer conflicts in the
workplace in recent years.
 The HR department usually is responsible for
the design and implementation of the conflict
resolution process. HR plays a facilitating role,
generally acting as consultant to both employees and
management. Line management or operations are
typically responsible for use of the process or for
ensuring that policies are followed.
 The emphasis is on resolving issues at the lowest
level and as close to the situation as possible, with
employees and management taking ownership over
conflict resolution.
 Training on conflict resolution is minimal in
most organizations, although managers and
supervisors may receive such training indirectly as
part of management development or first-
linesupervision training. Conflict management or
dispute resolution skills are not clearly identified as a
core competency.
Effective Conflict Management System
needs to be developed as per organizational
requirements to avoid destructive or high level of
conflict to achieve business excellence in
organizations.
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Conflict at Work: The pattern of disputes in Britain since
1980,Gill Dix
Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas),
John ForthNational Institute of Economic and Social Research
(NIESR),
Keith SissonEmeritus Professor of Industrial Relations,
University of Warwick,July 2008.
ISBN No. 9554830-9-3,978-0-9554830-9-7
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Canadian Nonunionized
Organizations Mary Lou Coates, Gary T. Furlong and Bryan
M. Downie
ISBN: 0-88886-462-0
© 1997, Industrial Relations Centre,Queen‟s University
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Ireland.”A Research Paper for Labour Relations
Commission,February 2011 by Paul Teague and Liam
Doharty,The Queen‟s University,Belfast.
4)Times of India Articles
5)Financial Express
6)Indian Express9554830
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