Interdepartmental Conflict Paper

Policy versus Procedure: Interdepartmental Conflict
Denise Poorman
Keller Graduate School of Management
Management 570: Managing Conflict in the Workplace
Professor Levith
[e-mail]
August 2012

Background
I work for a private, for profit University as a Student Success Coach (SSC). Two departments, Operations and Department of Enrollment Management (DEM) must work closely and cohesively to service the students in getting them enrolled into the University and securing their classes. With the support of the Operations team (OSC’s). There has been ongoing conflict between the DEM and Operations, which includes the SSC’s and OSC’s on; when to secure a new student registration
appointment and how long the appointment should be. Conflicts arise because there is an ongoing power struggle between the DEM team, the SSC’s, and the Operation Support Coordinators who the DEM team has to go through to make the appointments on how and when to schedule registration appointments.
Admissions are the first point of contact for each new student. After admissions obtains the required paperwork and the prospective student has completed their assessment, their financial advising, and they have been accepted into the University, an appointment is to be scheduled with the student’s designated SSC f through an OSC for registration and first advising meeting where we go over the necessary information to ensure the student understands how to access their e-college shell, order books, and access their student portal. The appointments are not to be requested and scheduled until all requirements are met.
The issue is the sense of urgency from admissions to get the student an appointment in order to meet the university’s projected student enrollment requirements, so admissions are securing the registration block through the OSC’s when the student is not ready. This creates a conflict with the SSC’s because a slot for one hour is being held for this registration and if the student is not ready and ends up cancelling, a student who may need that slot appointment can’t get it. This is frustrating for the SSC due to the fact that now that time is basically wasted and unproductive. There have been several attempts to keep this from happening for example; discussions between departments and creating a task force team that has one representative from each department to discover the best practices to ensure we are scheduling appointments only when the student is truly ready to register. The issue arises time and time again because old habits come back into practice and this conflict continues. New students are priority with the admissions team with no real thought to continuing students and this creates additional conflict with the SSC’s because we feel that the continuing students are just as important, if not more so, since the continuing student are the ones paying tuition on a session by session basis. The SSC’s feel continuing students deserve to be treated as just as significant as new students.
Literature Review: Our Working through Conflict (2009) text offers different styles to utilize in handling conflict and a path to move toward problem solving. Rummel’s five stage model shows the different stages that are utilized to maneuver through conflict beginning with the latent stage where the conflict has not surfaced to the development stage when the conflict is parties discover the circumstances (Folger, Poole &Stutman). Our second text, Interpersonal Conflict depicts how negation is one path to conflict resolution and shows seven elements of negotiation that are effective beginning with establishing a good relationship or common ground to start the negotiation process to analyzing the best alternative in order to come up with a reasonable outcome for all involved (2011). In order to come to a resolution between the departments, management must come up with ideas to allow the departments to communicate so we can to move forward in finding the best practices and set a standard procedure for the registration process. Steven Dinkin (2011) asks how we get team members to move past conflict. One way to establish a positive relationship to “use and encourage positive Language” (pg. 5). Admissions and Operations must be able to express their concerns and it needs to be done so in a manner that is conducive to finding the resolution. One thing management must explore is the personalities of the two departments and language used in the communications to move past this conflict. Bridging the language gap can lead to better communication and having an open mind is a characteristic that needs to come into play when dealing with conflict.
Bridging the great divide by Sarah Gale (2010) expresses how generational differences create conflict due to the different skills and experience that comes with age.
Although a small center, there is a wide gap in ages and with this comes a different mode of communication and work ethics. With that into consideration, managers have to take the time to consider what each age group brings to the table to be successful. Gale states “without the understanding the resulting communications frustrations and misalignment can destroy the team dynamic” (pg. 3). This statement applies to the conflict between the two departments in that different views on how the registration process should be handled can be based on how each generation collaborates with each other and if they have learned the art of negotiation. Skills in place from training and experience will increase the capability to resolve a conflict. Research indicates the “ability to resolve conflict effectively is a skill that differentiates high performing executives from average performers” (Hagemann &Stroope, 2012, pg. 59). Conflict is evident in most workplace situations and it is important managers understand what tools to utilize when dealing with conflict and how to use those tools. Stroope and Hageman (2012) also believe that a conflict resolution is not a difficult as it seems and provide several possibilities to show different option styles to deal with conflict including but not limited to; Compromise, Negotiate,
Ignore, Chance, and Sharing among others.
The article “Be Curious during Conflict” suggests approaching a conversation with curiosity to resolve a conflict. This means that by asking questions or learning others views before responding, there will be better comprehension by parties involved as to why the conflict is present and what can be done to resolve it. By having a conversation with each team member of admissions and success coaches, management can obtain an individual take on the issue so they may better prepare for a team meeting. Not only is it important to understand the others position, likewise, it is essential to realize what is truly causing the conflict and understand the others perspective and why they view it in the manner they do. (2011). In addition, when having a conversation it is important to choose words so we are not having to ask the same question over again. Norman Wei’s heading off Conflict (2012) shows that using indirect words create an ambiguity that elicits a conversation that will require many other questions to get to the bottom line. For example, if an advisor tells an SSC they have a student that needs to be registered there is certain information that needs to be relayed such as; how many credits they can take, where they placed in Math and English, what their program is, and if they have any transfers. Sometimes the information is not conveyed which causes another type of conflict because then we are not prepared to register the student and we have to backtrack to get the information. In addition, this sometimes occurs when the student is already sitting for the appointment and it is embarrassing to not be prepared. This shows the student that we are not ready to assist them and may give the university a bad reputation and can create further animosity between the departments.
The idea is to give enough information to the other party so time is not wasted and the service can be provided. How management takes these situations of the conflicting parties and takes action to delegating work and diffusing conflicts among employees is key to the elimination of the issues between the departments. Overcoming Leadership Obstacles, by Laurel Clark (2012) shows that by rerouting responsibility and establishing a good work environment “each person is aware of the big picture and understands the expectation” (pg. 1).It is expected the advisors will give the SSC’s all the information to assist the student. They then can expect the SSC’s will take care of the student without any hiccups. This type of practice can aid in assisting DEM and the Operations side to understand what roles we are to commit to and make a basis for a smooth enrollment for the student.
Analysis:
There seems to be a few of causes for conflict between the two departments.
Strong personalities, differences in work ethics, and a sense of urgency for admissions to get their students on the scheduling block are the basis for these problems. This issue also exists in that each department does not have a complete understanding of what the other does and who should be doing what. Conflict arises when one department attempts to tell the other what to do or impose policy on the other. I also believe there is some residual resentment among the departments because admission receives a comprehensive training as well as the pay is much higher than the operations side. The biggest reason m for the animosity is that the admission advisor deals with getting the student in the door and that can take up to a couple of months whereas, the SSC’ have the student from the start of their classes until they graduate which can be two to six years depending on the degree. The SSC’s are responsible for student retention which can be very difficult and is a huge responsibility. SSC’s are tasked with being an academic advisor, pseudo psychologist, cheerleader, and also has to deal with parents. This can be emotional draining for the SSC, especially when a student has a severe issue personally. The SSC’s feel insulted that the pay is so much lower than the admissions so conflict is present from the
beginning.

Conflict Resolution Recommendation:

In order to resolve the conflicts between these departments, there must be some negotiation or a hostile work environment can become present, workers will dread coming to work , and may resent their job duties. This resolution needs to include proper compensation for SSC’s so immediate conflict is not present from the start. As stated before, Interpersonal conflict (2011), there are seven elements of principled negotiation that the department should follow. Each department needs to understand the tasks of the other department and build upon that knowledge with communication. Attending to the relationship is the first step. Working side by side to obtain the goal for both parties and “separate the people from the problem” (Wilmot &Hocker, pg. 262). Second, is to build a solid, positive communication system that will allow for both parties to communicate and listen to the others concerns with an open mind. It is also important to be able to apologize if necessary. Feurer states that disagreements will occur in the workplace and being able to acknowledge if you have said something you need to say you’re sorry for, say it (2012). Thirdly, focus on the interests not the position. By doing this, parties are more likely to come to an agreement on what should be done to accomplish the end result. Although we may feel we the others know what we want, this may not be the case, therefore, we need to concentrate in understanding what each department needs to complete the task. By having a complete understanding of what DEM needs, what the SSC needs the department can work in unison to get the goal met, which is get the student registered into classes. Next, brainstorming and collaboration needs to occur so we can explore the options available to come to a resolution that will serve the best interest of our students. A positive outcome will spill over into the other aspects of our work. This will create less tension between the departments to fulfill the goal of the University of Increased Enrollment. Fifth, we need to decide if the outcome will serve all parties to determine best practices. If there are missing pieces the conflict will continue between departments and there can be a real possibility of employees leaving the college for other opportunities whereby the school losing valuable employees, The sixth step is to figure out what steps to utilize if one party walks away. Analyze a best alternate option by negotiating an agreement. Lastly, decide if what the other is asking. Are there fair and a reasonable commitments to resolving or is it a temporary fix where the problem will resurface.
Utilizing the seven step method should give all parties an opportunity to voice, listen, collaborate and come up with a solution in solving the scheduling conflicts. Having management who is willing to step up and address the conflict will bode well for the university keeping the employees happy and creating a positive environment for new student to walk into.

References:

Be Curious During Conflict. 2011. Communications Briefings Vol.30 Issue 11, 0P4-4. Available from: Business Source Complete, Ipswich, MA. Retrieved August 13, 2012

Clark, Laurel. Overcoming Leadership Obstacles. . Mar2012, Vol. 77 Issue 8, p44-45. 2p. Retrieved July 23, 2012

Dinkin, Steven. 2011. FQ & A: HOW CAN I GET TEAM MEMBERS TO MOVE PAST THEIR CONFLICTS? CA Magazine, Vol. 145 Issue 1, p5-5. Retrieved July 23, 2012

GALE, SARAH FISTER. BRIDGING THE great divide. PM Network. Apr2012, Vol. 26 Issue 4, p28-35. . Retrieved July 23, 2012

Folger, J.P., M.S. Poole, & Randall K. Stutman.2009. Working Through Conflict: Strategies for Relationships, Groups, and Organizations. Pearson, New York.

Feuer, Michael. 2012. WHY ARE THE SIMPLEST WORDS SOMETIMES THE HARDEST TO SAY? Smart Business Cleveland. Vol. 23 Issue 11, p82-82. 1p. Retrieved July 23, 2012

Hagemann, Bonnie & Stroope, Saundra. CONFLICT MANAGMENT. Jul2012, Vol. 66 Issue 7, p58-61.

Wei, Norman. 2012. Head off conflict. Communication Briefings. May2012, Vol. 31 Issue 7, p5-5. . Retrieved July 23, 2012

Wilmot, W.W. & Joyce L. Hocker. 2011. Interpersonal Conflict. McGraw Hill Publishing

Zofi, Yael. Leading Conflict. Leadership Excellence. Apr2012, Vol. 29 Issue 4, p19-19. 1p. Retrieved July 23, 2012