Conflict Resolution and Managing Diversity

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Critical Analysis of Involvement in a Community Group: Conflict Resolution and Managing Diversity Resolving employee conflicts and promoting diversity is critical in promoting effective work teams that successfully attain the set goals The community group which the scholar worked with is an international service organization that brings together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service and advance goodwill and peace to communities (Kreutzer & Jager, 2011). During my engagement with the team, the community organization was involved in the renovation of a homeless shelter. The community group team was comprised of diverse members from different ethnicities and social backgrounds.

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The situation surrounding the team is the members could not agree on the right approach to follow to undertake the project and there was also a challenge among the diverse group of team members working with each other. The critical analysis presents the application of the studied concepts to resolve challenging behavior in the workplace to resolve team conflicts and manage diversity in the team.

The Situation The community group was undertaking the renovation of a homeless shelter to provide better living conditions for the residents. All members undertaking the role were engaged in the activity on a voluntary basis, working under the international humanitarian organization. The renovation process entails refurbishing derelict and run-down houses at the homeless shelter. The goal was to ensure that the home is fully modernized and furnished to provide a conducive living environment for the homeless and to make positive changes in their lives. The renovation work was undertaken by the community group volunteers. The project was headed by a construction manager who has diverse experience in housing construction. Some of the team members had construction and renovation experience too. The project execution approach was designed by the team leader, with minimal input from the members. The renovation plan, material sourcing, and renovation schedule were undertaken by the manager, whereas the volunteers took part in the installations and repairs.

The most significant challenge that the team faced was conflict among team members on how to effectively undertake the renovation. Some volunteers would only be available in the evenings and weekends. The project leader was also committed to his workplace and would only be available over weekends. As a result, there was a disconnect among the team members on the scheduling of the project roles and the timeline for completion. The project team was also

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diverse, comprised of members from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds and the differences would be evident as the members would be in conflict following disagreements in the right approach to adopt to successfully implement the project.

The situation was selected because group conflict and effectively managing diversity remains a huge challenge across organizations and this hinders the effectiveness of the group and the extent to which they attain the set goals. As posited by Kreutzer and Jager (2011) managers in charge of projects undertaken by volunteers are faced with challenges effectively managing the team because of impending conflicts associated with diversity in the organization. The individuals in the team are volunteers not bound by a certain mandate, thus the project leader needs to establish effective strategies to cope with the issue and adopt workable strategies to effectively resolve conflicts in the team and integrate diversity to attain the team goals.

Topic 1: Employee Conflicts The conflict resolution theory has been advanced to explain how theories occur, their effects and how they can be mediated to avert their negative impact on their roles and attainment of project goals. Modern theories consider conflict as a natural and inevitable outcome in all human interactions. Conflict situations can derail the execution of projects as when members are unable to agree with each other, the project may be delayed in terms of timelines. The two theories that have been advanced to explain conflict resolution include the traditional theory and the contemporary/modern theory. The traditional theory asserts that conflicts are caused by individuals who have a negative approach to the project and they have a negative influence on the project.

Therefore, the traditional approach to conflicts management among teams is that disagreements among terms should be avoided in the first place (Grzyl et al., 2019), On the

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contrary, the contemporary theory on conflict resolution across organizations is that conflicts are inevitable among human beings and they are, therefore, a common occurrence among project teams. The modern view of conflict resolution is that conflicts are often beneficial as it through their resolution that the team achieves better cohesion in the team.

The contemporary view about conflicts is that they are beneficial to the organization in terms of achieving the set goals. The resolution of conflicts is perceived as a period of transition from the traditional theory of power bargaining, negotiation, and settlement of disputes to a new approach that involves focusing on a team driven by problem-solving no goal analysis to discover new options for resolving conflicts. Team conflicts are considered inevitable in organizations with the organization required to implement strategies to effectively manage impending conflicts (Grzyl et al., 2019). The understanding developed from the management of team conflicts is that team conflicts are inevitable and they do not have to negative impact on the project since when they are effectively resolved, they promote better cohesion and collaboration among team members as any differences among team members are effectively resolved to promote the seamless execution of project roles.

Topic 2: Managing Diversity The theories of managing diversity in the workplace and across work teams include the Institutional Theory of Diversity Management and the Resource-Based Theory of Diversity Management. These approaches entail the incorporation of effective strategies to manage diversity to effectively manage people from diverse backgrounds and cultures to manage work teams. The institutional theory of diversity management asserts that in order to determine an organization or team structure, one cannot make a distinction between the social environment

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within the organization (Khattab, 2020). The behavior of the team members has a significant influent in determining team success.

Taking into consideration that the organization had laid out norms and regulations, a uniform administrative structure helps in the management of diverse teams. Moreover, conformity among the work teams is an indication that the team members are willing. Failure to effectively manage the team may lead to conflict among the members could lead to conflicts and this hinders the successful completion of the project and challenges in attaining the project goals.

Effective management of teams also entails establishing a favorable team culture where members follow the laid-out rules and regulations governing the team. Team diversity recognition and adoption are all about taking exploiting the potential of each team member and allowing them to contribute to the organization to attain team success.

Further, the focus of the resource-based theory of diversity management focuses on how effective management of diversity affects organizational resources. In the addressed situation, the challenges of managing a diverse group are evident because the team members are drawn from diverse backgrounds, thus failure to effectively manage the team could lead to conflicts among members. The occurrence of team conflict arising from group differences could lead to ineffective utilization of resources as the conflicts lead to delays and disagreements on how and where resources will be utilized. Firms and project teams that have implemented diversity management practices in place experience increased levels of success and decreased turnover.

Effective management of teams and resources integrates effectively with innovation strategy leading to increased productivity and better project performance. Through recognition of diversity, the team leverages the benefits of the diverse skills, experience, and innovation of each team member to make the project more successful.

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Findings and Reflections The key understanding derived from the critical analysis is that organizations and work teams are comprised of people drawn from diverse backgrounds, thus the need to promote strategies to resolve conflicts and promote inclusion in the team. The discussion has established how a community group undertaking a building project for a homeless shelter faced conflict and diversity challenges among work teams and how this affects the overall implementation of the project. The successful execution of projects has been established as dependent on the cohesion of the team and the extent to which they can collectively collaborate to attain the set objectives.

The project manager in the presented situation was applying his skills and expertise to effectively manage the team but was confronted with the problem of managing the expectations and dynamics of the diverse team as well as resolving differences among team members.

The theories of conflict resolution and managing diversity have been discussed as the applicable strategies to resolve conflicts and manage team members drawn from multiple settings and backgrounds. The team of volunteers as addressed in the situation has been established as comprised of members drawn from diverse backgrounds in terms of culture, age, ethnicity, and expertise, presenting a unique challenge in terms of how to effectively manage these groups in the execution of work roles. The value of the theories in analyzing the situation is that they offer a basis for organizations and project teams to apply to resolve team differences and leverage team diversity to attain project success. Indeed, the engagement of team members in the conflict resolution process has been established as effective in promoting enhanced cohesion and collaboration among the team members.

The benefits of these theories have been evident in promoting a cohesive team that collaborates to execute the project roles. Moreover, a diverse team that collaborates together will

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ensure the successful input of each team member to enhance the output of the team and ensure the successful completion of the project. From the analysis, I to some extent agree with an assumption about how people behave which underpin the theories apply. From the analysis, I have learned that conflicts among a team are inevitable, and the most effective strategy to address the challenge is implementing conflict resolution measures to solve any differences among team members that can impact the project's successful completion. Besides, the effective management of team diversity is a workable strategy towards considering the input of each member and their contribution to the organization or project to attain enhanced success.

References Grzyl, B., Apollo, M., & Kristowski, A. (2019). Application of game theory to conflict management in a construction contract. Sustainability, 11(7), 1983.

Khattab, J. (2020). The importance of organizational communications in employees' responses to diversity practices. Behavioral Science & Policy, 6(1), 93-96.

Kreutzer, K., & Jager, U. (2011). Volunteering versus managerialism: Conflict over organizational identity in voluntary associations. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 40(4), 634-661.

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