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SEMESTER SPRING 2012 

Conflict Management (HRM 624) 

Assignment No. 1 

Due Date: 26 April 2012 

Marks: 15 Case 

The top management of a large fertilizer manufacturing company recently faced a sudden crisis as its HR manager resigned because of the increasing number of conflicts within the organization. The organization urgently hired a new HR manager who had ten years of professional experience of HR matters in the same sector. The newly hired HR manager was initially given a task of departmental restructuring for reducing the number of departmental conflicts and for clarifying the departmental goals – for which a new performance management system was also developed by him. Recent performance appraisal reports in the organization have shown that there have been increasing numbers of departmental conflicts, especially among the managers and employees, mainly because of the differences on performance matters. Moreover, last year’s turnover ratio has been significantly high, which is a real concern for the top management. Now this newly hired HR manager has been give the task to explore the actual reasons behind these issues and to settle the matter as soon as possible. The new HR manager thinks that he needs to establish mutually acceptable goals in the first phase –along with the preparation of individual job descriptions by the HR department for all the employees. For this, top management has approved his HR plan for the current year. HR manager informed all the departments about these actions and had the separate meetings with their managers. These newly designed actions of HR manager gave him a greater role of departmental monitoring and control. Managers of all the departments accepted this new plan and thought it to be a good for introducing a mechanism of procedural justice which will minimize the number of possible conflicts in the organization. But the manager of “Operations Department” thought that he should manage all the activities of his department including HR issues of his department by himself without any interference of HR manager. “Operations Manager” thought that he needs to have an increased control over his department and argues that his department has always achieved the targets; and he is least bothered about the number of conflicts in his department until he is achieving his goals. He also says that his department does not need any specific job descriptions from HR department and that he will allocate and monitor different tasks to his employees by himself from time to time. But on the other side, HR manager is more concerned about reducing the number of conflicts in all the departments by personally remaining in contact will all the employees; so that their professional and psychological development could be done on continuous basis. Now this new situation of an apparent dispute of HR Manager with the Operations Manager is a new issue for the top management. Top management would never want to lose another valuable manager once again and nor does the organization allow turnover on such minor issues. Top management wants HR manager to resolve this issue on urgent basis. Top management also wants HR manager not to disclose this conflict to other managers. Considering the above situation, answer the following questions on the basis of your knowledge that you have acquired so far from this course. Questions 1. Do you think that a mixed-motive situation exists in this dispute? If no then why; if yes then give two suggestions for the HR manager to enhance promotive interdependence with his disputant? (Marks: 10) 2. Do you think that this dispute can be resolved through “Alternate Dispute Resolution” (ADR)? If yes then which would be the best ADR method to resolve the dispute in this situation on long term basis? (Marks: 5) Instructions: Please read the following instructions carefully before preparing the assignment solution: • Please be precise while answering your question and avoid lengthy answers. • Totally avoid cheating as it will be graded as zero. Note: Only in the case of Assignment, 24 hours extra / grace period after the due date is usually available to overcome uploading difficulties which may be faced by the students on last date. This extra time should only be used to meet the emergencies and above mentioned due dates should always be treated as final to avoid any inconvenience. Important Instructions: Please read the following instructions carefully before attempting the assignment solution. Deadline: • Make sure that you upload the solution file before the due date. No assignment will be accepted through e-mail once the solution has been uploaded by the instructor. Formatting guidelines: • Use the font style “Times New Roman”/ “Arial” and font size “12”. • It is advised to compose your document in MS-Word 2003. • Use black and blue font colors only. Solution guidelines: • Every student will work individually and has to write in the form of an analytical assignment. • Give the answer according to question. • For acquiring the relevant knowledge don’t rely only on handouts but watch the video lectures and use other reference books also. Rules for Marking Please note that your assignment will not be graded or graded as Zero (0) if: • It has been submitted after due date • The file you uploaded does not open or is corrupt • It is in any format other than .doc (MS. Word) It is cheated or copied from other students, internet, books, journals etc… Important Note for those courses where calculations and graphs are required. • Calculate to the point where calculation is being required. NO need to write irrelevant material or extra interpretation. • Draw diagrams by yourself. Do NOT copy from any source. NO need to write irrelevant material.