Should managers try to eliminate or to encourage the expression of Essay

Should managers try to eliminate or to encourage the expression of organisational conflict Explore your reasons - Essay Example A clever manager will encourage organisational conflict only if it is in the shape of a disagreement. A disagreement is a difference in opinion among two or more persons. It arises as a result of differing personal view points. Disagreements occur frequently between workers within an organisation, and as they do not affect organisational effectiveness, they are looked upon as healthy outlets of workers’ personal beliefs and opinions. Disagreements usually end up amicably, without needing intervention by third parties. The intelligent manager should monitor the progress of a disagreement carefully to ensure that it does not worsen to have direct effects on the workers’ behaviour and their capacity and zeal to work properly (Cram et al.). A shrewd manager should try and eliminate, or when not possible, address and resolve organisational conflicts quickly. If this is not done, the organisation stands to face many bad consequences. The first bad consequence is higher employee turnover. One of the disputing workers could resign, which will need the organisation pay termination costs, and also incur expenses to find and train a new replacement worker. The second bad consequence is that the organization’s working environment becomes tense and heavy with stress. Since the conflict matter is not discussed (let alone solved), an atmosphere heavy with lack of trust, anxiety and apprehension is created. Such an unpleasant atmosphere acts adversely on workers, causing them to develop passive-aggressive behaviour patterns. In addition, the manager who cannot solve conflicts swiftly and effectively fails to inspire trust and confidence in workers. Such a set of circumstances badly hits the reputation of the organisation, c ausing it to face business losses, and making it very hard to recruit new employees and prevent existing employees from leaving. The third and most serious consequence is a distinct loss