Conflict Management and Its Effect on Employee Productivity - ABC Bank - Case Study Example

Paper Title Conflict management and its effect on employee productivity. A case study of software development teams in ABC Bank. Authors Name: ……………………………………………… Organization: ABC Bank City: New York, United States Email ……………………………………………… Contents Paper Title 1 Contents 2 Abstract 3 1.Introduction 4 2.Review of literature and related work 4 Conflict management 5 Positive vs. Negative Conflict 5 Requirements definition and management 6 Performance management 6 Software Development Process 7 3.Proposed methodology 7 Target population and Sample 7 Research Method 8 Data Collection 8 Conceptual Framework 9 5.Synthesis 10 Conflict management 11 Requirements definition and management 11 Performance management 12 Software Development Process 12 Research Gaps 13 Limitations 13 6.Conclusion 14 7.References 14 Abstract Requirements uncertainty and interpersonal conflicts greatly affects the success of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) projects. Various researchers have confirmed that interpersonal and organizational conflict affects ICT projects negatively. There is need therefore for effective strategies on conflict management and conflict resolution. Stakeholders should focus not only on the product but also the development process. This therefore calls for an appropriate requirements definition, requirements management, interpersonal conflict resolution and employee performance. This study has a sole purpose to provide more insight into conflict management and its effect on employee productivity using the case of software development teams in ABC Bank. The researcher will study 65 software development staff in the ABC bank, these staff will comprise of employees spread across the wide branch network of the bank. The revealed results will be used to clearly establish the effects and relationship between conflict management and employee productivity in promoting organizational performance. Keywords Keywords: Conflict management; Software development; Requirements uncertainty; Requirements definition; Project management; Employee productivity; Organizational performance. 1. Introduction Project management in organizations ensures there is prudent organization and management of the limited resources in order to achieve organizational goals and objectives within the specified constraints such as time, cost and scope. The ABC management has a role to ensure that the software development team share resources, achievements, exchange ideas and work as a team in order to exploit the advantages of team work. Information and communication technology has become part and parcel of organizational tool for effective performance. Most Organizations adopt this technology in order to achieve effective and efficient service delivery. Project managers are often faced with challenges to deliver project outcome within the defined constraints and balancing the project input in order to achieve the pre-defined goals and objectives. Interpersonal conflict is another key challenge that majorly influences team performance and individual output. 2. Review of literature and related work This chapter gives critical examination of issues of conflict management, software development, requirements uncertainty, requirements definition, project management, employee productivity and organizational performance. The study will look at these concepts in relation to what has been published by accredited scholars and researchers. It is a critical look at the existing research that is significant to the research problem. The chapter will broadly look in to project management; it shall critically examine conflict management within ABC bank software development teams in relation to employee productivity and organizational performance and how the management should prepare their staff to resolve conflict, The chapter will also offers a conceptual framework of effects of conflict on team performance as well as giving highlights on conflict management process. Conflict management According to Liu et al. (2010), conflict management and requirements definition is the best strategy in attaining success of software projects to the advantage of stakeholders. Conflict has been defined as the disharmony created by differing behavior, methods or aims (Liu et al., 2010). According to them, conflict presence among tam members generates issues such as hostility, poor communication and jealousy. Barki and Hartwick (2001) further observed that interpersonal conflict cause frustration, low morale and poor team performance. According to them conflict theory points out that conflict may interfere with performance and cause negative emotions. The presence of interpersonal conflict can greatly hinder the operations of software development teams in ABC Bank leading to poor resource utilization, time wasting at failure to meet deadlines. This compromises on quality of project outcome. Duke (1999) pointed out that conflict within team members may arise due to undefined job role and objectives. The management therefore needs to learn the conflict management techniques, identify the types of conflicts and the associated factors or effects; this will enable timely resolution of issues. Positive vs. Negative Conflict Jones and George (2003) pointed out that Conflict can either be positive or negative. The team members can have diverse point of view. The team members can have different ideas on how to solve a problem, however each one of them understands and appreciates each other’s feeling and thoughts. This is positive conflict that results in desirable outcome. Here the team members communicate well, resolve their differences and come out with amicable solution to each problem encountered. On the other hand, during negative conflict, team members do not appreciate or even recognize the other member’s diversity, the individual team member view each other as opponents. The individual here protect themselves and strives to be the winner in all encounters. This is negative conflict. Requirements definition and management Requirements management refers to a systematic process of identifying, documenting, tracking and organizing requirements in order to ensure the project outcome is in line with stakeholder’s expectations and user’s preferences. (Duke, 1999) McManus and Wood-Harper (2007) observed that software development projects have a great challenge in timely delivery, operating within budget and meeting all the defined requirements. This has lead to a god number failing. Large scale projects like Enterprise Resource Planning (EPR) projects can be very disastrous to organizations if they fail. Project Requirements definition looks at the how the work will be managed. This includes budgeting, management of communication, quality assurance, resource management, risk management and scope management. Performance management According to Armstrong (2006), Performance Management is a strategic approach to delivering successful results in organizations by improving the performance and developing the capabilities of teams and individuals. Performance management is a key function of human resource management division. It is the most critical function at this age of competition. Performance management is complex and broad; it involves target setting, continuous appraisal, review of progress, constant communication, and training for performance improvement, motivation and rearwards. Performance management aims at developing individuals with the required commitment and competencies for working towards the shared meaningful objectives within an organizational framework (Lockett, 1992). Software Development Process Software development process has four phases that he process must go through for it to be complete. These are planning, analysis, design, and implementation. The modern software development processes adopts spiral-based methodology over earlier methodologies such as waterfall process. Architectural setup, design, coding and testing are the most important stages that needs team work. The development teams must know what is required and how to achieve it. 3. Proposed methodology This study will use the case study and interview methodology of study. The study will give questionnaires to the individual team members of the software development teams at the ABC Bank and interview schedules for management who are the participants in this study. Target population and Sample The population of the study will constitute twenty five officers at the supervisory level drawn from the bank Headquarters, software development division and forty individual software development team members spread across the wide bank branch network. The study will adopt random sampling method that will enable the researcher to have a wide and representative coverage of the total population of the organization’s employees based at the bank’s head quarters in New York. Research Method The study will be conducted through survey and descriptive research design. Descriptive research is used to obtain information concerning the current status of the phenomena to describe what exists, with respect to variables or conditions in a situation. The study will therefore identify the employees’ view on effects of conflicts on their performance and the role of management in managing conflict within their workplace. Descriptive research aims to gather data without any manipulation of the research context and it is non-intrusive and deals with naturally occurring phenomena, where the researcher has got no control over the variables. Data Collection Both primary and secondary data will be used in this study. The data collection method used will be questionnaire, interview and literature review. The study data will be collected using both open ended and closed questionnaires which will be administered to selected individuals. Secondary data will be obtained from the ABC bank records. 4. Proposed Model This study strives to discover the sources of conflict within the bank software development teams. The banking industry is diverse cutting across various cultural backgrounds and working conditions. The study will also strive to establish the conflict management strategies that the bank management has put in place and whether the same is affecting in resolving employees conflicts and enhance their performance. The study attempts to find out the relationship between managements’ conflict management with teams performance. The study will therefore establish whether employee performance is directly affected by the way management handles conflict management. In this model therefore team performance is a function of Managers conflict management strategies. The model is as follows:- TP =f (CMS) Where: TP= Teams performance CMS= Managers Conflict Management Strategies Conceptual Framework Independent variables Dependent Variable Source: Researcher (2014) 5. Synthesis Once all the questionnaires and interview schedules have been fully completed, they will be checked and verified to ensure consistency, exhaustiveness and completeness in the information expected. The data will then be coded to allow for content analysis and factor analysis. Content analysis is best suited for the kind of data since it avoids subjectivity. Statistical data analysis, using the Statistical Programme for Social Sciences (SPSS) as well as MS Excel will be done to give frequencies and graphs. The results will then be interpreted and various inferences made from the findings. Qualitative and quantitative data analysis methods through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) will be used and the data presentations done using statistical tables, pie charts and bar graphs. It is expected that from the findings, viable conclusions and recommendations for policy and practice will be made. Conflict management Conflict management encourages team members to focus on their specific jobs hence improving on efficiency and effectiveness within the organization. Conflict management fosters open communication environment where individual team members encage in constructive and creative thinking. This builds positive relationship among team members hence propelling performance in the desired direction. Poor conflict management can be disastrous to the organizational and individual performance. This is because there is communication breakdown, low morale and reduced improvement opportunities. Such as scenario becomes very difficult to fix and thus wasting more time while resolving conflict at the expense of prime production time. ABC Bank management may lead team members to negative conflict if management behavior is not favorable. This is when the management uses power and authority negatively hence failing to make prudent decisions at the right time. This not only slows the performance speed but also the environment full of conflicts and disagreements. Through the interview, the researcher will be able to identify the effort of management in solving interpersonal conflict among software development teams. This will help in assessing and analyzing conflict management and its impacts on project success and individual team member performance. Requirements definition and management The bank needs to define and document project requirements and ensure there is a favorable environment for employees to achieve a balance between good performance and projects outcome that conforms to the organizational objectives and goals. Managers need to carefully select tools; techniques and resources that enable the project teams meet the pre-defined objectives and goals. These resources include people, time, materials, money, energy, communication device and space among others. The planning phase should consider the functionality requirements based on technical client needs, Usability requirements based on technical and client needs, Reliability requirements based on technical assumptions or client needs, Performance requirements based on technical assumptions or client needs, Identifying Risk and associated risk and proficient communication with the stakeholders. Performance management ABC Bank needs to view performance management as a process where all the organizational performance is improved through individual team framework. This is achieved by promoting high performance through constant communication, performance evaluation, establishing achievable benchmarks, definition of individual member’s roles and providing appropriate constraints such as cost and scope. Performance management frameworks should therefore be designed to suit both the individual performance requirements and organizational target achievements and standards. This is achieved by ensuring effective communication and feedback mechanism is in place and there is regular employee assistance in their career progress. Software Development Process Software development process makes use of different development methodologies. The rapid changing technology has made it necessary for regular change in the development process in order for the bank to cope with the dynamic market demands. Software development requires proper requirement definition and gathering in order for successful projects to be realized. Software development also uses systems approach which is an analytical and holistic approach of solving complex problems. Here the problem is broken down in to small sub systems and handled in a team where every team member solves a given portion. This is a clear indication of team work and not even the smallest interpersonal conflict should be tolerated since it will negatively affects the development process adversely. The process calls for breaking down of quality requirements into manageable bits that can be handle by different teams simultaneously. Research Gaps Whereas there is plenty of literature on conflict management, the same cannot be said on its effect on organizational and individual team member performance. Similarly, there is insufficient literature in this field of study, especially managing conflict for software development teams to improve organizational performance. This study will hence seek to break the ground on the role of management in conflict resolution and the effect of unresolved conflict on individual and organizational performance. Limitations The researcher anticipates that some respondents may be unwilling to divulge some information due to confidentiality in banking industry. This will be mitigated through seeking authority from the management to carry out the study and producing the letter to the respondents. Finally, parameters that may be beyond the control of the researcher during the research period, like change in government legislation and regulation may also affect the study. This study may have some limitations. First, the study will be based solely on the views of management and team members. Future studies should supplement these perceptual measures from different stakeholders to increase its general application of the projects. 6. Conclusion Conflicts bring about misunderstanding and causes delay in objective achievement. This conflict could be arising from grudges of the past. If the bank does not come out with strategies to manage conflict and resolve it in time, then it will generate adverse effects on organization and individual performance. Conflict management structures need to be in place to ensure issues are addressed as they occur to avoids unnecessary conflicts. it is evident that software development process as a whole is a project that is key to the organizational performance. From this study it is clear that projects cannot be implemented in isolation but within the bank’s environment in order for complex situations to be effectively handled. 7. References Armstrong, M., 2003. A Hand Book Of Human Resource Management Practice , Kogan Page Ltd, UK Dessler, G., 2003. Human Resource Management, 8th Edition, Pearson Prentice Hall, New Delhi Duke C., 1999. Organisational conflicts affecting technology commercialization from non-profit laboratories. J. prods. Brand Manage, 4(5): 5-15 FAO, 2006. Session 6. Conflict management case study: Dr Agadir, Food and Agriculture Organization [Online] Available at: http://www.fao.org/docrep/w7504e/w7504e08.htm#case%20study:%20dr%20agadir [Accessed 18 August 2010]. FAO, 2007. Session 5. Conflict management, Food and Agriculture Organization [Online] Available at: http://www.fao.org/docrep/w7504e/w7504e07.htm [Accessed 18 August 2010]. Jones and George., 2003. Organizational Conflict, Negotiation, Politics, and Change, contemporary management 3rd edition; PowerPoint Presentation by Charlie Cook The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Kerzner, Harold., 2003. Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, 8th Ed., Wiley. Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry, 1985. A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research, Journal of Marketing, Fall, pp. 41-50. Shapiro, D.L., Chen, G., Sharma, P.N., & Edinger, S., 2009. Individual Difference in Innovative Performance as a Reaction to Relationship Conflict: The Moderating Effects of Employee Collectivism and Empowerment [Online] Available at: http://www.management.wharton.upenn.edu/CalendarDocs/Shapiro_Debra.pdf [Accessed 18 August 2010]. Read More