Organizational Behavior:
Managing Conflict within the Workplace
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Abstract
Our team has decided to write our research paper on conflict management. We felt that this topic would be a good choice because we feel that many of today's companies have problems dealing with conflict. If managers are trained and aware of conflict management, conflict can bring out creativity and different points of view. The positive outcomes from conflict management can greatly assist the success of today's organizations.
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Conflict in the work place has been a problem for just about everyone. It doesn't matter where you work or what kind of work it is, conflict is bound to happen. We felt that conflict management would be a good topic for our team research paper because we have seen so many problems related to conflict in the companies we have worked for. We believe that the ability to effectively deal with conflict will prove to be an asset. Obtaining skills in dealing with conflict could one day help to make the best manager possible and to lead a productive and cooperative work environment.
THE BENEFITS ATTAINED FROM STUDYING CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
In a modern business environment conflict is a normal aspect of decision making. Today's companies have moved away from the idea that workplace conflict needs to be eliminated and have begun to manage conflict (Lang, 2009, p. 1). Workplace conflict can be positive to an organizations decision making process. Intel is a computer chip making organization which believes that vigorous debate allows many points of view to be analyzed which leads to better decisions (McShane & Von Glinow, 2009, p. 209).
A study by CPP Global which interviewed 5000 full time employees from Europe and North America found that after leadership training 27% reported that they were better at avoiding conflict and 20% said that they experienced positive performance benefits (Pace, 2008, p. 15). This study shows
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