NIB Bank - Organizational Behavior Report

HISTORY OF THE NIB BANK:

NIB Bank Limited started as NDLC-IFIC Bank Ltd. which was incorporated in March 2003 as a public limited company. It started operations in October 2003 when all assets, liabilities, rights and obligations of the former National Development Leasing Corporation (NDLC) and Pakistan operations of IFIC were amalgamated with and into the bank with a paid up capital of Rs.1.2bn. In April 2004 the Pakistan operations of Credit Agricole Indosuez were also amalgamated with and into NIB. In March 2005 Temasek Holdings of Singapore acquired 25% shareholding in NIB Bank, through Bugis Investments.

This shareholding was further enhanced to over 70% in June '05 following an increase in NIB's paid up capital to Rs.3.4bn.

NIB Bank has since grown rapidly from a base of 2 branches in 2003 to 45 in the 4th quarter of 2007. Total assets have grown from Rs.9bn in December 2003 to Rs.87bn (excluding acquisition of PICIC through rights) as of September 30 2007, a CAGR of 85%. Loan growth has been equally rapid, increasing from Rs.7bn to Rs.43bn in the same period (a CAGR of 64%), resulting from successes in both the commercial and consumer business.

Deposits for the same period have grown at a CAGR of 95%, reaching Rs.45.3bn. The overall client base of NIB has also witnessed a tremendous growth in the same period as of September 2007; from a few thousand to over one hundred thousand.NIB Bank's vision is to rank amongst the top 5 banks in the country.

Therefore towards end of June 2007 it acquired majority shares of PICIC with the aim of merging PICIC and its commercial banking subsidiary PICIC Commercial Bank Limited into NIB . The acquisition was financed through the country's largest private sector rights issue, with resultant increase in NIB's paid up capital to Rs.21.4bn. The PICIC acquisition has bought with it another subsidiary "PICIC AMC" and an affiliate "PICIC Insurance". NIB already has a shareholding in NAFA, an Asset Management Company (AMC); thus its asset management business will now also be increased, with diversification in the insurance business.

The legal merger of PICIC, NIB & PCBL took place on December 31, 2007, once all regulatory approvals were in place. NIB Bank is led by Khawaja Iqbal Hassan, supported by four business heads and ten business enabling function heads. The merger has resulted in a vastly expanded network of 240 branches and total assets of over Rs.185bn. Consequently NIB has the second highest paid up capital of around Rs.27.5bn and ranks number 7 amongst commercial banks in terms of distribution network. Merger synergies will accrue through lower cost deposits, enhanced customer service delivery channels and overall improved efficiencies. These would provide a competitive edge in the face of increasing competition. Temasek Holdings remains the largest single investor in NIB Bank.

This merger is one step forward in consolidating the banking sector as envisioned by State Bank of Pakistan and enhancing FDI as per the Government of Pakistan's objectives. The powerful franchise of the three merged entities has now been brought together to form a large and powerful bank. Going forward management is confident that the combined bank will be a top performer delivering a wide range of financial services through an extensive branch network. The asset management arms and insurance affiliate are also expected to perform well and provide an attractive dividend stream.

GOAL SETTING THEORY:

Goal setting theory was born out of Aristotle’s theory of final causality and then researched in greater detail by Edwin A. Locke in the 1960s to understand how goals can influence an individual’s performance. The basic theory behind goal setting is that human behavior is galvanized and governed by goals and ambition. Today, goal setting theory is very important not only for those studying organizational psychology, but for anyone seeking to increase productivity, enhance performance and reach for greater heights of success. Goals are able to motivate and spur you to meet your ambitions because it helps you focus your efforts on that objective. Every objective we have requires a list of tasks to be executed. By setting goals, we’re able to persist with the list of tasks and are compelled to develop strategies in order to reach our objective. The incredible results achieved with the goal setting theory explain why it’s not just colleges, universities and sports institutions that use it to obtain results, but in businesses too where survival is based on ensuring positive outcomes.

Having objectives is not the issue, but striving to attain them is. Following are the points that help you to achieve goals:

· State your goals in specific terms. Understand what your goals are and know why you’re selecting these goals.

· Make your goals attainable. There is no point setting goals you believe are unattainable. The best way to do this is to break your goals down into actionable steps.

· Measure your goals. Set a timeframe, or a milestone that can put the pressure on you to meet your objectives.

ANALYSIS:

To what extent you and your colleagues feel that the company sets challenging goals for itself and expects quality performance and outstanding production?

Answer Log Table:

When we asked the question relating to goal setting theory from employees in general we got responses which led us to decide that employees wanted to decrease the standard of goals set for them by management. But after the thorough analysis of individuals we found about 72% employees who were satisfied with the standards of goals set for them and not only this some them wanted to improve standards of goals with little difference according to our provided scale. The rest of 28% employees feel to decrease the standard of goals.

Now the question arises why in general the answer was different instead of having majority satisfied with the standards. The reason is that those 32% employees who wanted to decrease the standard marked greater difference on the scale we provided which affected the final result but the analysis shows that the majority is satisfied with standard of the goal sets for them.

But very few of the employee’s answers led us to decide that employees wanted to decrease the standard of goals set for them by management.

But too much difficult goals can also de-motivate many employees. Company should set there goals that there employees expect to achieve.

EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT PROGRAMS:

A participative process that uses the entire capacity of employees and is designed to encourage increase commitment to the organization success. Employee involvement programs include the following.

· Participative management

· Representative Participation

· Quality circles

· Employee Stock Ownership Plans.

Participative Management:

An open form of management where employees have a strong decision-making role. Participative management is developed by managers who actively seek a strong cooperative relationship with their employees. The advantages of participative management include increased productivity, improved quality, and reduced costs.

ANALYSIS:

To what extent you and your colleagues feel that you can make decisions and solve problems without checking with your managers?

We asked the question from the employees to what extant you and your colleagues feel that you can make decisions and solve problems without checking with your managers? Basically this question is related to participative management that is one of the types of employee’s involvement program to increase the involvement of employee in decision making process. After analysis of the questionnaire we found that the current participation level in NIB Bank is 48% this shows that the employees are authorized to make decisions for routine works or in normal situations but not in critical situation. However, the rating scale in our questionnaire suggests that employees wanted to be trusted and allowed to make decision to further extent by 20% more. Participative program are also very helpful to increase the moral high and productive of the employee. In participative management employees are the trusted by the management and also increase the management confidence on their employees. Participation increases commitment to decision. Employees are less likely to undermine a decision at the time of implementation if they share in making that decision and participative management makes employees job more interesting and meaningful to them and participative management increased productivity, improved quality and reduced costs.

MOTIVATION:

The process that accounts for an individual, intensity, direction and persistent efforts towards attaining a goal.

Reward systems:

The only way employees will fulfill your dream is to share in the dream. Reward systems are the mechanisms that make this happen. "However, reward systems are much more than just bonus plans and stock options. While they often include both of these incentives, they can also include awards and other recognition, promotions, reassignment, non-monetary bonuses (e.g., vacations), or a simple thank-you.

ANALYSIS:

We asked the question related to rewards that how rewards motivate employees in NIB Bank and we found that there are different kinds of rewards NIB Bank gives to their employees which are as follows:

· Cash Bonuses

· Promotions

· Make team leader

· ESOP

· Increment in salaries

· Allowances like (Fuel allowance, mobile allowance)

We found one very different kind of reward in NIB Bank that they motivate their employees whose performance is not up to the mark by giving them the salaries equivalent to the market value of the any other employee of same rank so as to motivate their employee.

We asked the question from the employees related to reward system that to what extent they are being recognized and rewarded on their good performance and how these rewards motivate them to work. We ascertained that most of the employees in NIB Bank are satisfied but very few of employees showed that there are not rewarded for their performance but the overall result is positive and this shows the level of motivation employees get from rewards. Many of the employees told us they are being rewarded after accomplishment of their sales target in such a way that their management take them to the picnic or invite them for dinner and the rewards like picnic and dinner from NIB’s management is being rewarded most frequently.

And other very interesting thing which we found in NIB Bank is that their management doesn’t fire their employees even their performance level is not up to the standard of the company. For example if an NIB’s employee continuously does not achieve its target for the period of three months the management does not fire that employee and we can say that this is kind of surety from NIB’s management to its employees and this kind of relaxation motivate employees a lot and employees secure and they are not always threaten from their management to achieve sales target.

Here we also want to share that in NIB Bank we did not find the employee recognition programs like (employee of the year, employee of the month) and we feel that this kind of recognition program can also increase the level of motivation and productivity of employees of NIB Bank.

But in whole we discover that the employees of NIB Bank are very much satisfied from rewards that are being given to them and the rewards in NIB Bank is based on the performance of the employee except one that we mentioned above and in NIB Bank most of the rewards are given to employees are of monetary nature and Management of NIB Bank continuously appreciates the good work done by the employees for the achievement of goals, which motivate the employees to worker harder for the achievement of goals.

LEADERSHIP STYLES:

From Mahatma Gandhi to Jack Welch and Martin Luther King to Rudolph Giuliani, there are as many leadership styles as there are leaders. Fortunately, business people and psychologists have developed useful, shorthand ways of describing the main leadership styles that can help aspiring leaders to understand and adapt their own styles and leadership impact.

Whether you are managing a team at work, captaining your sports team or leading a major corporation, you leadership style is crucial to your success.

10 of the most frequently talked-about leadership style are as follows:

1. Autocratic leadership

2. Bureaucratic leadership

3. Charismatic leadership

4. Democratic leadership or Participative leadership

5. Laissez-faire leadership

6. People-oriented leadership or Relations-Oriented leadership

7. Servant leadership

8. Task-oriented leadership

9. Transactional leadership

10. Transformational leadership

ANALYSIS:

Key: 1 = Never; 2 = Seldom; 3 = Occasionally; 4 = Often; 5 = Always

Tells group members what they are supposed to do.

Acts friendly with members of the group.

Sets standards of performance for group members.

Helps others feel comfortable in the group.

Makes suggestions about how to solve problems.

Responds favorably to suggestions made by others.

Makes his/her perspective clear to others.

Develops a plan of action for the group.

Behaves in a predictable manner toward group members.

We asked different questions relating to the leadership style from NIB Bank employees to know which leadership style their leader uses and we found that two of the leadership styles that are task oriented and people oriented or relations-Oriented. The results we got from employees of NIB Bank that 53% of the employees feel that their managers are relationship oriented leaders and remaining 47% feels that their managers are task oriented leaders so this shows that the NIB Bank has got the combination of leaders that are task oriented and relationship oriented. This shows that NIB Bank have the leaders that perform better in all situations and can manage their teams more effective in favorable conditions and also in very unfavorable conditions.

PATH GOAL THEORY:

House’s PATH GOAL THEORY describes how leaders can motivate their followers to achieve group and organizational goals and the kinds of behaviors they can engage in to accomplish that Path Goal theory suggests that effective leaders follow three guidelines to motivate their followers. The guidelines are based on the expectancy theory of motivation. Effective leaders who follow these guidelines have highly motivated subordinates who are likely to meet their work goals and perform at high levels.

Determine what outcomes subordinates are trying to obtain in the workplace. For example, what needs are they trying to satisfy, or what goals are they trying to meet? After gaining this information, the leader must have control over those outcomes or over the ability to give or withhold the outcomes to subordinates.

Reward subordinates for performing at high levels or achieving their work goals by giving them desired outcomes.

Make sure the subordinates believe that they can obtain their work goals and perform at high levels. Leaders can do this by showing subordinates the paths to goal attainment (hence the name path goal theory), by removing any obstacles that might come along the way, and by expressing confidence in their subordinates capabilities.

House identified four types of behavior that leaders can engage in to motivate subordinates:

· Directive behavior (similar to initiating structure) lets subordinates know what tasks need to be performed and how they should be performed.

· Supportive behavior (similar to consideration) lets subordinates know their leaders cares about their well-being and is looking out for them.

· Participative behavior enables subordinates to be involved in making decisions that affect them.

· Achievement-oriented behavior pushes subordinates to do their best. Such behavior includes setting difficult goals for followers, expecting high performance, and expressing confidence in their capabilities.

ANALYSIS:

We designed a different questionnaire especially for the TOP MANAGEMENT OF NIB Bank and the questions were related to PATH GOAL THEORY as the questionnaire belongs to the top management so we asked four top level managers of NIB Bank to fill this questionnaire list of their names and designation are given below:

By studying our questionnaire we found different behaviors of leadership and there contribution in the organization’s behavior. We found different results for each behavior after analyzing the answers of our respondents which are given below:

Directive Leaders Behavior:

The most contributive behavior in leadership behaviors in NIB Bank having 27% share in leadership behavior was found to be directive behavior which is being frequently used in the organization we targeted. The benefit of using directive form of leadership which is characterized by greater control, defining what needs to be done, allocating resources and establishing clear expectations.

The directive leadership behavior takes a more pragmatic approach to handling affairs in NIB Bank and is characteristically utilized in corporate turn-around situations.

Supportive Leaders Behavior:

The second most contributory behavior in leadership behaviors in NIB Bank having 26% share in leadership behaviors was found to be supportive behavior the results obtained shows that supportive behavior used in NIB Bank is almost the same as the use of directive leadership behavior with having difference of only 1% which is not a very big figure.

Participative Leaders Behavior:

Participative leadership behavior is the least used behavior in NIB’s culture with having 23% this shows that the NIB Bank leaders do consult with their subordinates while making a decision but at low frequency as compared to other PATH GOAL leadership behaviors.

Achievement Oriented Leaders Behavior:

The third most contributory behavior in leadership behaviors in NIB Bank with having percentage of 24 this shows that the leaders of NIB Bank set challenging goals for their subordinates with low frequency but they expect from their employees to perform at their highest level.

The results of our analysis shows that there is no such big difference in leadership behaviors used in NIB Bank and this is a very good sign for NIB Bank that their leaders manage their subordinates according to different situations with different leadership behaviors.

NORMS:

“Norms are shared group expectations about behavior and how members ought to behave.”

Norms provide groups with control and predictability and give members a sense of security and comfort. Norms are also the way we express values, attitudes and beliefs. Norms put boundaries on members that may be narrow or wide.

Many norms in organizations originate from management expectation or from work rules and procedures of the formal organization. They develop and operate in informal groups. Many central work group norms revolve around productivity. Norms can put lower and upper limits on productivity. Controlling productivity not only spread the work ought to more people for a longer period, but also prevents management from rising its expectation.

Some organizations have norms emphasizing social concern for employees this norm foster taking care of people who needed or other wise contributing to the quality of an employee’s life at work. Management can foster many norms that contribute to organizational success, such as norms effecting work quality, helpfulness or customer relation. A norm of secrecy may be critical to keep competitors from stealing ideas.

ANALYSIS:

Norms are of four types. The one we quire about is social norm. The reason of selecting social norm is that our culture is based on collectivism so the importance of social norms is very high. The situation of norms in NIB’s culture is fair enough according to the result of our questionnaire most of the employees follows the norms set by the organization and they are satisfied with them, but we found some employees who are willing to improve the conditions i.e. norms the calculated value of there willingness is about 25%. The major factors of social norms are friendliness, trust and mutual support. According to the employees in NIB Bank the conditions of trust and friendliness are pretty good and they are willing to increase mutual support.

It is necessary to emphasize on social arrangement norms in country like Pakistan because of its collectivism culture and these norms helps the organization to get the participation of their employee in positive manner to achieve the goals set by the organization these kind of norms also motivates the employees to remain in organization because of friendly culture in organization social arrangement norms also helps the employees to interacts with each other in more friendly manner which will increase trust among them and with there top management.

If these norms are valued by the management then it will positively affect employee satisfaction and productivity and it will also enhance the organization culture

CONFORMITY:

“Conformity can be defined as a change in a person’s behavior or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or a group of people”.

Who does Conformity affect?

Conformity can affect people in all different ways, positively and negatively.

In task-specific situations, those who are led to believe they do not have the required aptitude, their tendency to conform increases.

Individualistic societies are less likely to conform than collectivistic.

How does Conformity work?

An individual will most likely conform if:

Ø The majority consists of experts

Ø The members of the majority are important to the individual

Ø The individual can relate to the majority on some level--there are similarities between the individual and the group

ANALYSIS:

Through our questionnaire we analyzed the pattern of answers given by employees and we found many similar answers in regard of questions and it shows greater extend of conformity among employees of NIB Bank as they have almost marked similar options given in each questions of our questionnaire. The level of conformity shows there good relations and understanding with each other which also shows that they will not leave each other in hard times but on the other hand the high level of conformity indicates the danger of employees saying always yes to other’s decision instead of thinking critically about it and there might be a chance of employee saying yes under pressure in the fear of loosing group and may result in loss of any useful idea.

After Asch’s study about conformity, in the world the conformity is decreasing as the level of knowledge and awareness are increasing and the result of our questionnaire shows high level of conformity, we can suggest the reason “collectivism culture of Pakistan”

TEAMS:

A group whose individual efforts result in a performance that is greater than the sum of the individuals input.

Guideline for team leaders set by NIB’s management:

Definition:

Has a natural authority, generates commitment and builds team cohesiveness by setting a clear vision for the team, reflected in core values.

LESS EFFECTIVE BEHAVIOUR INDICATOR

Communicates frequently a realistic picture of future plans so people know what has to be done and why?

Arrives at decision by consensus, where appropriate, to gain team commitment.

Is supportive of the team / individuals and helps in overcoming problems to achieve targets.

Leads by example; displays behavior which reflects the desired work norms and values.

Spends time finding out the way individuals want to be managed and work together; adapts leadership by style to match.

Maximizes the available resource by constructing well-balanced teams; acknowledges and helps others values the unique contributions of each member.

Identifies own leadership style and strengths, adapts these to specific situations.

Follows up with dissenters or blocker to contain negativity.

Takes independent decisions and asks the team to follow instruction without questioning.

Waits for team to ask for information instead of proactively keeping them informed of the ‘big’ picture.

Exhibits high personal energy when initiating action but does not follow through.

Talks about the theory and principles of leadership, yet not reflected in behavior.

Uses the abilities of staff for own personal and career gains; does not share benefits and praise but passes on criticisms and blame.

Does not seek to identify and discuss the values of the team to ensure everyone is working towards a common goal.

Avoid admitting own mistakes or limitations.

Guidelines for reducing conflicts between team members set by NIB’s management:

Definition:

The ability to pull together individuals or parties in conflict by diffusing emotions, identifying the critical issues and helping got reach a compromise; keeps the focus on common objective to meet both needs.

LESS EFFECTIVE BEHAVIOUR INDICATOR

Confronts covert conflict; draws out sensitive issues or relationships.

Uses all-round knowledge to manage interdepartmental and intra-departmental conflicts.

Keeps the focus of conflict resolution on the long term overall interests of the organization.

Facilitates open discussion between conflicting parties.

Remains impartial when dealing with others; listen to arguments of each party.

Adapts approach to the situation and the culture of the conflicting parties.

Lets conflict escalate before taking any action.

Seeks to diffuse conflict after listening to only some of the parties involved; jumps to conclusions about others based on earlier situations.

Adopts a singular style or strategy across different contexts.

Does not identify brewing conflicts from emotional reactions.

Suggests own solution to conflict without identifying the source.

Focuses too much on emotional aspects of the conflict rather than the solutions.

Conveys inconsistent messages to conflicting parties, thus resulting in the further confusions.

ANALYSIS:

After visited to NIB Bank we discovered that the NIB Bank employees comprised of self-managed works teams according to employees responses they feel greater level of responsibility on their shoulders and they manage the things like planning, scheduling of work, and assigning task to the member of team, control the pace of the work, make decisions through discussion between the team members, take actions to solve the problem and also interact with their customers and we found that the employees called their colleagues relationship officer rather than sales officer.

QUALITY MANAGEMENT:

CREATIVITY

Definition:

Is able to conceive original, imaginative and valuable ideas to solve problems and improve processes.

LESS EFFECTIVE BEHAVIOUR INDICATOR

Develops ideas and thinks through to an innovative conclusions.

Questions traditional thinking in order to initiate new perspectives.

Builds on information and ideas provided by others.

Acts quickly to grasp and develop novel opportunities.

Improvises effective solutions when faced with ambiguous and difficult situations.

Tests out ideas for practicality and feasibility.

Seeks out pools and thinkers and puts them together to generate ideas; uses tools and techniques to simulate others’ creativity.

Prefers to use tried and tested methods to solve problems rather than think of new and innovative solutions.

Sees opportunities as risks; talks about the dangers and risks rather than the potential benefits.

Actions ideas giving appropriate thought only to short-term benefits and immediate impact.

Is overly absorbed in own ideas; hence is not as aware of the environment or important events as required.

Over relies heavily on past experience; does not think laterally.

CONTINUES LEARNING:

Definition:

A strong personal commitment to self-development reflected in an underlying curiosity to know more about people, things, issues, stretching beyond what is routine or required job knowledge.

LESS EFFECTIVE BEHAVIOUR INDICATOR

Identifies skills needed for the future and takes steps to develop self and others.

Actively seeks professional development opportunities, both inside and outside the organization.

Seeks opportunities to work with the others of diverse backgrounds, experience, viewpoints.

Has personally established on-going systems or habits for information gathering through professional memberships, literature and contacts.

Sets clear personal development targets which focus on behavioral improvements as much as professional / technical skills.

Volunteers for assignments which contribute to individual learning goals.

Accepts and seeks feedback from others; learns from past mistakes.

Over emphasizes the importance of won professional development at the cost of work priorities.

Relies too heavily on own knowledge does not accept constructive feedback.

Sticks to own area of expertise rather than broadening one’s focus.

Develops oneself for tangible rewards rather than more and grow.

Waits for others to identify own development needs.

Considers skills lifelong; continuously resorts to tried and tested methods.

Prefers to cover up mistakes rather than seek feedback and learn.

CONCLUSION:

After studying and a analyzing the results of our research on the various issues related to the organizational behavior within the organization that are affecting the performance of its management and particularly its employee, followed by several general and specific list of questions we asked and the interviews we conducted during our visit to the two branches of NIB bank one on “Tariq Road” and other on “I.I Chundrigar Road”, we are able to draw out our conclusions about this report.

NIB Bank is a global bank which is also operating in Pakistan. The organization behavior regarding goal setting for employees we have concluded that the management of NIB Bank is effective in setting goals according to the competition in the banking sector of Pakistan. As the requirement of growing banking sector it is necessary to set challenging and effective goals so as to become market leaders. Despite of setting challenging goals the employees of NIB Bank are satisfied with these challenging goals and performing well to achieve the goals which were provided to them.

The management style in NIB Bank is kind of participative management in which employees are given chance to share their ideas for decision making so the NIB Bank is utilizing its employees by getting different ideas from different employees this provides greater chances for getting better and innovative ideas. Not only this but from this activity employees feel motivated because they think they also have the authority in decision making process and they are also a part of an organization. During the interview of an employee NIB Bank he told us “All the employees here are given title of relationship officer rather than any other designation and at the beginning of each month the top level management visits every branch and arrange meeting with all the employees of the branch and discuss the problems faced by every employee and immediately tries to resolve the problem and this is the major motivating factor for us”. For motivating their employees management uses different types of motivating tools the innovative ones we found are ESOP (Employees Stock Ownership Plan) and the pay plan for less productive workers. By providing ESOP the employees gains the ownership of an organization and work hard not only for their benefit but also to maximize the profit of the organization. The next thing about the pay plan for less productive workers the company motivate their employees whose performance is not up to the mark by giving them the salaries equivalent to the market value of the any other employee of same rank.

As the motivation and reward systems are up to the expectation of the employees so the employees are very much satisfied and don’t want to leave the organization.

The leadership styles in NIB Bank are mixture of both the task oriented and relationship oriented but it is little lien towards relationship oriented leadership style. The leader’s behavior consisting of all the leaders’ behavior provided by House’s Path Goal Theory having almost same percentages with very low variation.

Overall we concluded NIB Bank inherits strong organizational culture having values for leaders and as well as for employees and the organization behavior is up to the mark for any company being in Pakistan.

RECOMMENDATION:

1. NIB Bank should offer training and development sessions for undergraduates; this will help NIB Bank in future while recruiting employees.

2. NIB Bank should reduce conformity by giving rewards to employees for suggesting more effective idea in the benefit of the organization this will not only provide wider range of ideas but also act as a motivational tool for their employees.

3. NIB Bank should arrange extra curricular activities like cricket matches on inter bank level to further improve relations between employees as other organizations are organizing (for example ABN Amro, Mobilink, etc.)

4. NIB should introduce “Dress-Down” day i.e. employees should be given permission to wear dresses other than formal dresses on certain days so as to make them relaxed while work.

View the original article here

Organizational Conflicts in Nestlé - OB + BRM Report

This project of Research methodology comprises of the organizational conflicts in Nestle. This Organization is serving our economy from a number of years and proved to be a main contributor in the national income. This organization is performing marvelous from number of years but there is no organization which is without any conflicts. In our research study we concentrated on the major issues that lead to organizational conflicts and their different levels and to determine the root cause of the conflicts.
Many researches had already been done relating to this topic but they are general in nature and here we are more objective i.e. realizing the conflicts in Nestle. In this report we added the literature review i.e. the researches already been done and further we sampled the population through questionnaire, interviews and at times we used the observation method to collect data.
All the praise is for Allah, the most merciful and beneficent, who blessed us with the knowledge, gave us the courage and allowed us to accomplish this task. We are especially indebted to our project supervisor Dr. Naseer Ahmed, Chairman Department of Admn. Sciences, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad, for giving us an initiative to this project.
His inspiring guidance remarkable suggestions, constant encouragement, keen interest, constructive criticism, and friendly discussion enabled us to complete this project efficiently. Without his support and proper guidance, it would be almost impossible to accomplish this task successfully.
We offer our heartiest tribute and cordial gratitude to present our thanks to General manager Nestle whose cooperation helped us to achieve our target. We have fortunate of having a very nice company of friends and seniors especially Mr. Adil and Mr. Kashif who cooperated with us in all matters relating to the report.

The today’s world moves at neck breaking speed & it calls for a decisive action
“Quantum Leap thinking”.
The culture is one in which every employee is treated as if he or she is the most significant person in the company regardless of his position. Excellence is demanded from every one at the company from assembly line workers to the CEO.
There is a saying that the only constant thing in life is the change. It is a natural phenomenon that every individually responds negatively to the changes in the normal settings. Normally the changes in the strategies encourage developing new conflicts among the employees and with the management This is the actual problem we studied in our report.
The occurrence of the organizational conflicts can occur due to, professional or/and personal jealousy, loopholes in the organizational structural design are quite common.
The main emphasis here is on the communication & hierarchic conflicts, these are the conflicts, which cover all the three levels of the company’s hierarchy, because we can have communication & Hierarchy without conflict, but we cannot have conflict without some form of communication & Hierarchy.
From the data analysis and theoretical framework certain elements determined as the root cause of conflicts are
o Ethnicity
o Personal Jealousy
o Arrogant behaviours (low temperament)
Communication problems
Ø In the end it is recommended that deligation of authority should be done on merit bases. Diversification should be encouraged though sometimes it becomes the reason of conflicts but it provides the organizaton with the opportunity to adapt to the changing global market.
Section 1

“Literature Review”
“We can have communication & Hierarchy without conflict; we cannot have conflict without some form of communication & Hierarchy”. More important, through communication we can minimize the impact of conflict when it occurs, both verbal and nonverbal.
James M Lahiff & John M Penrose in 1997 in the book Business Strategies & Skills 5th Edition explained the nature of organizational conflicts as follows:
The Nature Of Conflict
They argued that; when conflict occurs, the adrenal glands deliver extra energy. The individual is in a state of tensed readiness in which hearing and vision become more acute. Properly channeled, this type of stress can stimulate a person to put forth-superior effort. In fact conflict is an inevitable by product of an interesting and challenging job. Many active people thrive on conflict, and it can have a beneficial effect on physical and mental health. For example; competition b/w two companies can be healthy for the member of both organization and beneficial to the companies as well
On the other hand, conflict can be damaging. Too much conflict can be harmful when you’re over stimulated refuses to relax and assume normal activity. Your blood pressure remains high, you back mussel develop spasms, and your judgment is impaired. Excessive conflict over time could make you unable to work.
Competition within an organization is potentially dangerous because it can divide loyalties and hamper cooperation. Even competition has apparently harmless, as an interdepartmental bowling league should be examined carefully.
Conflict is like one of the modern miracle drugs. The correct dosage can be good for you, but too much can bring damage.
Scott, Williams in 1967 suggests two forms of conflicts in his book “Organizational Behaviour”

Constructive conflict:

One level of conflict may key to up for superior performance, i.e.; moderate conflict.
Destructive Conflict:

Is intense or prolonged conflict. Too much conflict may cause worry or fear, hamper your work performance, and in some cases led to ulcers and other forms of physical and mental illness.
James M Lahiff & John M Penrose argued in the favour of following levels of conflicts with the intensions of elaborating & explaining the concept of organizational Conflicts as:
Levels of conflicts :
1. Inter individual conflict: Exists b/w the perceiver and another individual within the organization. Although the other person need not be aware of the conflict, the perceiver of the conflict situation recognizes the present or future impact conflict can have on job performance.
2. Intragroup conflict: Occurs b/w perceiver and his or her immediate group within the organization. The immediate group can consist of work team, department or union. Whether fully or only superficially aware of the conflict issue, the perceiver realizes that the conflict can directly or indirectly affect job performance.
3. Inter group conflict: Arises b/w perceivers immediate group and another group within the organization. Again, the perceiver’s involvement may not be critical, but he or she must be aware of the situation and the potential impact the conflict can have on work performance.
4. Organization-Environment: conflict arises b/w the perceiver’s organization and the environment it is part of. Environment may refer to the city, country or world in which the organization exists. For example, if the environment consists of main office and a number of branches, each branch may be viewed as a single entity within its local environment or as a part of the entire organization within a state, nation or worldwide setting. James M Lahiff considers Organizational Environment Conflicts as the most important and he argues that whatever the context, the environmental body should be defined so that the conflict situation is accurately understood. As with the other four conflict circumstances, the perceiver may be acutely or only casually aware of the conflict and its effect on job performance.
M.Phillips in 1982 threw light on some of key conditions, which may lead to serious organizational conflicts; he gave his views in the book “Community in Organization”.
Conditions leading to Conflict:
According to M Phillips certain social relationships characterized various kinds of conflict behaviour. Each one could occur in your work area. The more aware the managers are of these conflict settings, the better are the chances of correcting them and running a smooth operation.
1. Ambiguous Jurisdiction:
Conflict is greater when the lines that set forth each employee jurisdiction (Area of job responsibility) are unclear. When two people have related jobs tasks with ambiguous boundaries, the potential for conflict b/w them increases. For example; consider the case of department head to which three first line supervisors report. Each of these should have clearly defined jobs responsibilities so that the potential for overlap among the three is reduced. Otherwise, confusion and conflict result as each of the supervisors tries to do the entire job. The boundaries b/w the department head and the supervisors must also be clearly spelled out. Other wise the supervisors may resent the department heads interference in their work responsibilities. The result is a department full of discord and conflict over unfair limits of authority. Such an antagonistic situation can be avoided if job descriptions are clarified so that all employees know the extent of their work responsibilities.
2.Conflict of Interest:
Conflict will be greater when people interest diverge. For example consider the conflict b/w the marketing and the plant production manager of a leading producer of chocolate. Each manger would like to have more control over the factors that affect the companies’ profitability. In the face of fierce competition from other chocolate manufacture, the marketing manager wants to run a sampling campaign to support a new candy bar. This manager leads to act fast before competitors match the new product. How ever, when the marketing manger asks for sharply increased production capacity during the sampling campaign, the plant production manager refuses. The hiring and training of new workers would only be temptation. After a sampling campaign is completed the company would lay off the new workers. The result is a conflict of interest b/w the marketing and plant production managers and a competitive edge for rival chocolate manufacturers.
3.Communication Barriers:
Conflict will be greater when barriers to communication exist. If parties are separated from each other physically or by time e.g.; the day shift versus the night shift-the opportunity for conflict is increased. To illustrate suppose a company employs only one plant supervisor, who works the day shift and leaves orders at the beginning of each week for the workers on the night shift. By the end of the week, how ever, these orders have been only partially carried out. The supervisor cannot figure out why. Obviously, the supervisor absence from the night shift has posed a communication barrier, which in turn causes decreased output. As Bryans, P, Cronin argued in 1984 that Space or time separations could promote isolated group interests rather than advance a common effort towards joint goals.
4. Dependence of One Party:
Conflict will be greater when one party is dependent on other. When parties are dependent, the must rely on each other for the performance of tasks or for the provision of resources. For example; a super visor that depends on the preparation of a cost effectiveness report by a subordinate in order to make a marketing decision may monitor the subordinates progress. The subordinate resents this close supervision and in retaliation takes a long time to prepare the report. The supervisor, in turn, reminds the subordinate of a forth-coming performance evaluation. The interdependence of supervisor and subordinate fuels the potential for serious conflict.
5. Differentiation in organization:
Conflict will be greater as the degree of differentiation or the division of labour, in an organization increases. When people work together in a complex organization, there is evidence that conflict is related to the number of organization levels, the no of distinct jobs specialties represented, and the degree to which labour is divided in the organization. For example; consider the administrators in your university; most likely there is a dean; an associate dean; department heads; program advisors and secretaries. All of these people administer some aspect of your curriculum and other educational needs. However, there are at different levels of the organization hierarchy and handle specialized tasks. Although these university employees share a common focus, their different positions and job concentrations can lead to overlap and conflict.
6.Associastions of the Parties:
Conflict will be greater as the degree of the interaction of the parties’ increases. As used here, degree of association, or interaction, refers both to the parties participation in decision-making and to informal relations b/w them. When parties make decisions jointly, the opportunity for conflict is greater, which may explain why some managers are reluctant to involve others in decision-making. These managers would prefer to make decisions on their own rather than risk of difference of opinion with a colleague. How ever, there is a trade off b/w the possibility of gaining valuable suggestions and the possibility of an argument. The association of parties has constructive and destructive possibilities.
7.Need for Consensus:
Conflict will be greater when consensus b/w the parties is necessary, i.e., when all parties must agree on a decisions so that no individual believe the decisions as unacceptable. John M Penross & James M Lahiff in 1997 said that it is possible to avoid conflict by having mechanism such as voting to make decisions without the confrontation of consensus. However, such mechanisms themselves may have undesirable consequences. They may offer an easy way out of the immediate conflict but may not solve the problem. Settling the matter by majority rules may only postponed the conflict until the two crises occur. When consensus is difficult to achieve, the resultant conflict should not be avoided but used in a constructive manner.
8. Behaviour Regulations:
Conflicts will be greater when behaviour regulations are imposed. Regulating mechanisms, which include standardized procedures, rules and policies, seem to do two things at once. On the other hand they reduced the likely hood of conflict because they make relation ships predictable and reduced the need for arbitrary decisions. Some individuals need specific guidelines explaining how to perform their jobs. They are only comfortable making routine decisions about their work. Other individuals have a greater lead for autonomy and self-control. Regulating mechanism that increases the degree of control may be resisted by some workers and welcome by others. For either type of individual, if the adherence to or the imposition of rules becomes discretionary, further sources of this agreement are created. John M Penross & James M Lahiff also do say that if behaviourall regulations fail to match individual need of employees, conflict is bound to occur.
9. Unresolved prior conflicts:
John M Penross considers this condition to be the most important and most threatening to the organizational culture. He has said that, conflicts will be greater as the number of unresolved prior conflicts increases. That is the longer problems are ignored or postponed, the worse new conflicts become. Suppression of conflict through the use of power are compromises to which the parties are uncommitted created conditions and expectations that may lead to further conflict. Suppose the people in an office want to streamline operating procedures and rearrange desks and other office furniture to fit new office reorganization. The workers are not content with the present office organization and their lack of input into.

Power And Communication Relationship With Organizational Conflicts
M.Phillips in 1982 in his book “Community in Organization” discussed the relationship between Power (Hierarchy Superior ship) & Communication with the Organizational conflicts as follows:
Power systems involve more than the control of individuals. A study by Joseph Julian indicates that the communication system within an organization is also affected by the power arrangements.
M.Phillips also mentioned some of the important communication problems in the organizations that are very important factors in the promotion of all forms conflicts within the organizations.
COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS
It is clear that communications in the organizations are not perfect. The basic consequence of existing communications systems is that messages are transferred or altered as they pass through the system. The fact that they are transformed means that the ultimate recipient of the message receives something different from what was originally sent, thus destroying the intent of the communication process.
Omission
Gutzkow suggests that there are two major forms of transformation omission and distortion. Omission involves “deletion of aspects of messages”, and it occurs because the recipient may not be able to grasp the entire content of the message and only receives or passes on what he is able to grasp. Communications overload can also lead to the omission of materials, as some messages are not handled because of the overload. Omission may be intentional, as when certain classes of information are deleted from the information passed through particular segments of the organization. Omission is more evident in upward communications, since more messages are generated by the larger number of people lower in hierarchy. As the communications are filtered on the way up, the omissions are brought in to the system.
Distortion
Distortion refers to altered meanings of messages as they pass through the organization. People are selective, intentionally or unintentionally, about what they achieve as messages.
Distortion is as likely to occur in horizontal communications as in vertical, given the differences b/w organizational units in objectives and values. They occur in all communication systems, from the family to the total society. They are crucial for organizations, however, since organizations depend upon accurate communications as a basis for approaching rationality.
Overload
A communication problem that is perhaps more characteristic of organizations than other social entities is communications overload. Overload, of course, leads to omission and contributes to distortion. It also leads to other coping and adjustment mechanisms on the part of the organization.
M.Phillips suggests a device used when overload occurs called “Queuing”. This technique lines up the messages by time of receipt or some other such criterion. Queuing can have positive or negative consequences. If the wrong priority system is used, less important messages may be acted upon before those that are really crucial reach the recipient. Katz and Kahn & H. Hall in his book “Organization Structures and Process” have suggested that if Queuing and filtering of the information is used, these conflicts can be ignored.
A modification of queuing what can be useful device is the filtering process, which involves setting priorities for messages. The critical factor here is the nature of the priorities.
Possible Solutions
With all the problems, potential and real in the communication process, it is obvious that a “perfect” communication system is unlikely. But although perfection, like rationality, will not be achieved, organizations do have mechanisms by which they attempt to keep the communications system as clear as they can. Downs (Organizational theory, A Behavioural analysis for management) suggest several devices that are available to reduce the distortions and other complications in the communication process.
Redundancy, or the duplication of reports for verification, while adding to the flow of paper and other communications media in an organization, allows more people to see or hear a particular piece of information and respond to it. This is a correction device. Downs also suggest that communication recipients should be aware of the biases of the message senders and develop their own counter biases as a protection device- as process that, of course, can be carried too far and be overdone, but that is the “grain of salt” that is part of the all communications. This technique assumes that the recipient knows what the sender’s bias are, which is not a guaranteed situation. Another method Downs advices is that in vertical communication the supervisor should often bypass intermediate subordinates and go directly to the source of the communications. While this can help eliminate some distortion, it can create low morale in those bypassed.










Section 2

“INTRODUCTION”
Background of the problem
All of us experience some type of conflicts in our daily lives. Tensions, antagonisms, and frustrations always occur when people work together. There are disagreements, perhaps even fights, between employees and the supervisor or between co-workers. Aside from personality clashes, people simply have different viewpoints; about the way things should be done.
Conflict is an appropriate topic for a business environment because it relates directly to communication & hierarchic matters.
This is the main issue for which we have done the research also another main cause on working this project is to get the idea of research procedure. And in this context we got the opportunity to perform our research in one of the top organization (Nestle) and we visited its office in Islamabad and Lahore to gather data regarding our project i.e. “Organizational conflicts’ and also it would not be wrong if we term our research the Basic research i.e we worked for increasing our knowledge about this particular subject.

“Limitations of Study”
To do an effective and efficient research study, it requires a lot i.e. time, finance, concentration, dedication, and transportation. For developing this Research project on organizational conflicts in Nestle. We faced these familiar sorts of problems, such as:
Ø LIMITATIONS OF TRANSPORT FACILITIES.
Ø LIMITATIONS OF CURRENT STATISTICAL DATA.
Ø LIMITATIONS OF FINANCIAL RESOURCES.
Ø LIMITATIONS OF TIME.
Ø NON COOPERATION OF EMPLOYEES AS WELL AS MANAGERS.
Due to the nature of the topic, a traditional approach to collect data and draw deductions was nearly impossible. To cope with this problem three questionnaires for three levels of hierarchy were designed. The information gathered from questionnaires was matched with the non verbal responses of the respondents during the interviews. Interviewing the employees at the will of the manager is an ideal situation not reality. Further managers were hesitant to provide with the information about the internal issues of the company.
Some of the questions that were very important in nature had the obvious wrong answers, these answers were again matched with the data from interviews, non verbal responses & rephrased questions in the questionnaires.
In case of upper management. They were also not ready to give information about their organization. Because they were afraid of the reason that we might leak their strengths and weakness to some other competitor organization. So they were reluctant to give information.
So in such cases when people haven’t cooperated with us. Then we use the method of observation. But observing the employees and mangers and their behavior with each other and with their subordinates.
Inspite of all these limitations we made a conscious and devoted effort in making this report and overcame these limitations.




















“Problem Statement”
“The research study is about the analysis of the organizational conflicts and to determine the root cause of these conflicts in Nestle and to measure the effect of these conflicts on the performance of employees and of organization as a whole”
The basic problem is the “Hierarchic (Structural) & Communication incompetence”. This problem occurs in almost all the companies. But almost everywhere it is not perceived correctly. The out come of this problem is the generation of Conflicts. These conflicts are of two types:
Ø Horizontal Conflicts: Are between the employees who are from the same hierarchic levels in the organization.
Ø Vertical Conflicts: These conflicts may be Upward or Downward in the organizational hierarchy. These conflicts are very threatening for the Middle management because of the fact that they experience the upward & downward conflicts.

It is the hierarchy that defines who reports to whom and gives the balance between the authority and responsibility; if the planning in the hierarchy is not good then there are various outcomes.
Similarly communication barriers are another basic problem occurring in the organizations. These barriers’ outcome is the Conflict. To solve the problem of conflicts between the employees in the organization, these Hierarchic & Communication incompetence needs to be solved.






Section 3
“Theoretical Framework”
“Some Possible Moderating Variables Identified”
“Explanation”
The dependent variable here in this situation is “Conflict”, the independent variables have been differently been explained by various authors, web sites & various other sources of primary information like Interviews & questionnaires. The variance in the dependant variable (Conflict) is explained by the following independent variables identified:
Ø Excessive competition.
Ø Working together in groups.
Ø Unclear job responsibilities.
Ø People having related jobs.
Ø Supervisors doing all the jobs.
Ø Two departments having different interests.
Ø Interdependence of supervisors and subordinates.
Ø Increase in division of labour.
Ø Increase in interaction between the groups.
Ø Parties making decisions jointly.
Ø Consensus among the groups.
Ø Behavioural regulations imposed.
Ø Unresolved prior conflicts.
Ø Communication Barriers
a) Omission.
b) Distortion.
c) Overload.
Ø Lack of training.
Ø Selection biases.
Ø Authority responsibility imbalance.
Ø Lack of consistency.
Ø Big decisions taken by the manager.
Ø Improper communication channel.
Ø Employees bypassing the manager.
Ø Lower management bypassing the manager.
Ø People having different ethnic backgrounds.
Ø Arrogant nature of boss.
Ø Incapable middle management.
Ø Super seeded employees staying in the company.
It has been identified by various authors that excessive competition in the organization may foster serious conflicts among the employees at all levels. It is very common in most organizations that employees compete with each other and sometimes the management promotes the competition to get the efficiency. But these competitions may lead the employees to indulge in some unethical practices which are not fruitful for the organization and which lead to conflicts among the employees. In some cases more the competition among the employees, the more will be conflicts among the members.
Similarly the more the people stay in the groups and work in the groups, the more will be conflicts among the group members. So the companies that encourage the tasks to be performed in the groups may face this problem. This is due to personal disliking. This problem can be rectified if there is a well-designed coordination set up in the organization.
Some authors have also pointed out that if the management fails to clear the job responsibilities among the employees there may be serious vertical conflicts in the company.
People having related jobs also encourage the conflicts among the employees or if the supervisor tries to do all the things by himself, leads to conflicts. The subordinates may feel that they are being misutilized or not being fully utilized by the company management. Or they may feel that their supervisor does not believe on them, it creates an environment of mistrust among the employees and the manager.
It is natural that various departments in the organization have different goals, that is the reason that there is a conflict on the interests and priorities between the departments which slows down the work, that is why the director of Sintec systems is nor in favour of departmentalisation.
When someone is dependant on other to complete his task, then there are chances that he may not complete his task completely this is due to personal disliking and people do not cooperate with others completing their work.
When interaction between the groups increases or when the decisions are taken jointly or increasing the consensus, there are conflicting interests among the groups.
These authors also say that if problems are ignored or prior conflicts are not coped with, the more serious new conflicts are likely to be developed. So the more the small conflicts persist in the companies, the more the companies will face the larger and serious conflicts.
Large number of communication books has mentioned that, the more the communication barriers in the organization, the more will be conflicts of different nature. They have explained three types of barriers:
§ Omissions: Which lead to upward conflicts.
§ Distortion: Which leads to Horizontal Communication.
§ Overload: Which leads to omissions and Distortion, which in turn leads to different conflicts depending upon the situation. Here the omission and distortion act as intervening variables. To cope with this situation, Katz and Kahn & H. Hall in his book “Organization Structures and Process” have suggested that if Queuing and filtering the information is used, these conflicts can be ignored
The manager and the Director of Nestle have said that if the employees are not provided with the sufficient training, they nay caught up in various types of conflicts. The manager further added that when the top management exercises selection biases, it leads to conflicts between the manager and the top management. Here if a moderating variable like Authority responsibility balance is provided to the manager, this conflict does not emerge.
Arrogant nature & in capabilities of the boss are another independent variables which have a positive relationship with the conflicts.
“Generation of Hypothesis”
1. The greater is the persistence of ethnicity in the organizations, the greater will be the organizational conflicts among the employees and/or with the management.
2. The more the employees in the organizations will have a low temperament, the greater there will be the organizational conflicts among the employees and/or with the management.
3. As the top management’s interference in the selection of the employees and in other managerial job increases, the conflict between the managers & the top management increases.
4. There is a positive correlation between the difference in the opinions between the individuals in the company & the generation of the organizational conflicts.
5. The more there will be communication barriers in the organization of any type, the likely hood of increase in the conflict increases.
6. The more number of employees are subjected to training the fever are the chances of building up of conflicts among the employees.
7. With the increase in the number of unresolved prior conflicts in the organization, the more new & intense conflicts among the employees are generated.
If the number of the super seeded employees increases, then the conflicts will increase.
8. The more there will be imbalance in the authority responsibility, the more upward conflicts will generate.
9. If lower management will bypass the manager, then there will be conflicts between the manager & employees.
Section 4

“The Research Design & Sampling Procedure”


The unit of analysis
The unit of analysis is the individuals. (Employees from the staff under manager excluding the first line management, manager & top management members)
The study type
It is a field Study with all the activities going in the natural non contrived settings.
Sampling Procedure

Convenience sampling was conducted for the purpose of selecting the samples.
For the purpose of further stratification, Two regional branches were sampled.
The name of the company sampled is:
1. NESTLE
i. Rawalpindi Branch
ii. Lahore Branch
iii. Islamabad Branch
Out of sampled branches, a total of 30 samples were selected. The number of employees from the lower management was 20 and the number of managers & Top management was evenly distributed.

Inter Organizational Conflicts its Sources and Methods
The nature conflicts found out through the personal (unstructured) interviews and through questionnaire with the director & the manager of NESTLE Rawalpindi are as follows:
The first thing, which was found was the lack of training given to the employees, they said that in the organizations, employees always have to work together in groups, and if some one feels that he/she cannot work within the group, then there is some problem with that employee, but at the same time they said that it is the organization’s responsibility to teach the employees how to work together in groups through proper training. They mentioned that without training the organizations might face serious types of irresolvable conflicts, which are definitely not fruitful to the organization.
The second main reason mentioned by the manager of the company was the “Selection Biases”, he said that selection biases may also lead to conflicts within the company, and these conflicts are normally personal as well. The manager said that if in cases the top management interferes in the process of hiring the employees, they might select the wrong person for the right job.
On the other hand there may be serious conflicts going on between the manager & the top management on the issues of authority and responsibility balance. Further if the manager takes big decisions like job confirmation, & salary decisions, then, there may be conflicts, these must be taken by the top management.
The manager of NESTLE also mentioned the improper channels of communication. He said that through the manager every thing should be communicated, whether it is upward or downward. If in any case any employee bypasses the manger, there may be a conflict between them. He also said that there is no need of any employee who bypasses the manager to access to the top management. Usually the organizations do have “Coordinators” who are directly answerable to the top management. He said that the manager will not be able to properly deal with him and conflicts between them will arise.
The manager said that young unmarried employees usually indulge in office politics and make conflicts among the employees. According to him only married and experienced persons should be provided with the jobs.
Ethnic problems also create conflicts among the employees. Bad attitude of the manager and arrogant nature of the boss is also one reason of conflicts.
The manager said that effective person but highly cooperative person would be proffered in place of an efficient but uncooperative one.
The manager presented the following ideas to prevent conflicts:
Contractual JobsHire & fire system.Authority to the managerThe Director of DIRECTORS had a bit different views. He held the middle management’s capabilities responsible for the conflicts within the organization. He also said that there is no relationship between the authority and reasonability with the conflicts. He proffered the autocratic style of management in the beginning, but it should be shifted to the democratic style in the later portions.
He said that although the centralized system slows down the process of working, but it will also decrease the conflicts between the employees. The Director said that, if you (Employee) have to be successful in the company, then you have to become a big “YES SIR”.
He also mentioned that horizontal conflicts are more common. Super seeded persons normally indulge in making conflicts. He said that super seeded persons should be terminated in place of super seeding them. Dress code can experience the resentment from the employees due to Ethnic affiliations to some dresses.
The Director of NSTLE was strongly in favour of “Coordinator”, he said that a coordinator channels the communication process between the manager and the top management. He also gave the following ideas to prevent the possible conflicts in the organizations:
o Training
o Annual Confidential Report (ACR)
o Motivational Tools (like Achievement bonuses)
o Promotions
o Clear line of Authority
o Not more than one employee from same Regional locations and same institutions/Universities.
“INSTREMENTS OF DATA COLLECTION”

Considering the research we under took and the characteristics of population we considered questionnaire to be the best data collection method and also at times we used the other sources like observation and interviews.
A screening questionnaire is prepared for the employees, managers and top management. This questionnaire is as follows:


Section 5

“Data Gathering & Analysis”

“Responses Of The Employees”
Out of 20 sampled employees from organisation, the following responses were obtained:
“Frequency Table”
Friendly but incompetent ColleagueDifficult but competent colleagueA competent but difficult bossA lenient but incompetent bossContractual (Attractive Salary) JobsManagement is easily accessibleLevel which should be held responsible for that:Key posts’ appointments should be through:Employees usually face communication problems with:




“Graphical Presentation”

















“Analysis of the Responses”
There were three types of questionnaires designed for top management, middle management & employees below the manager level. As the nature of all the organizations is always like a pyramid, therefore the questionnaires distributed at the top were least and maximum at the lower level.
Due to the abstract nature of the topic, the non-verbal responses of the respondents were also gathered at the time of the filling of the questionnaires.
Maximum number of the employees preferred to work for a cooperative competent subordinate and boss. On the whole difficult but competency was preferred.
Maximum number of employees admitted that, they received assignments with proper resource allocation and were in full support for the dress code, (on papers). But the managers’ statements were totally contrary to that of employees; they claimed that employees were against the dress code.
Employees strongly favored the permanent jobs the people always want to play safe. Thus whole permanent jobs were preferred.
Almost all the sampled employees faced the ethnic problems vertical and/or horizontal. The responses sampled from the Lahore branch was highest in number in facing ethnic problems.
The maximum respondents blamed the manager for the hierarchic conflicts whether vertical or horizontal. According to the employees, the manager is a key post and he should be perfect on all grounds and if not, conflicts would emerge of all types.
employees were in favour of termination of the superseded employee, . Promotions not direct appointments, was the response, one reason was that, every one who is in job would vote against his professional growth if he preferred the direct appointments. But the top management argued in favour of direct appointments.
A large proportion of employees blamed in consistency of the strategies as core reason for the vertical conflicts.

“Conclusion”
“The Organizational Conflicts” is itself not a problem, but it is a serious symptom of some factors that are usually ignored while designing the organizational structures. From the literature review, theoretical framework, , taking samples (convenience) & analysis of the data gathered, some factors are identified that usually are the root cause of the conflicts. Some of these are:
o Ethnicity
o Personal Jealousy
o Arrogant behaviours (low temperament)
o Communication problems
Due to the nature of the issue the responses from the top, middle & lower management were totally contrary with each other. For this purpose the structured interviews were conducted and intentionally the format of the questions in interview and questionnaires were kept same. That made the deductions possible by comparing the non verbal responses and the rephrasing the same questions two-three times to check the consistency of the replies.
The ethnic issue is the most important and it justifies the hypothesis. Due to ethnicity no sampled branch has been successful in implementing the dress code yet. Even though, all the respondents favoured it.
It is observed that employees belonging to NWFP are very low tempered. Their frequency of jobs switching is higher than others. It proves that they cannot work in teams and work with an arrogant manager.
To conclude, who should be held responsible for conflicts? The Manager. The manager is the key person who channels the communication whether upward or down ward.
“Recommendations”
The current thinking should be for the maximum utilization of the company’s resources and to push the power and decision making authority down the hierarchy of the organization. This can create more power and flexibility within the company as a whole.
Good leaders should not have any problem in delegating power and responsibility.
Disagreement with the supervisor should be encouraged as long as it leads to productive results.
It is critical for the manager to get diverse work force to work well together and respect their differences. Diversity should be encouraged because it can help the organization in future to adapt to the changing global market.
All problems can be prevented from happening and/or rectified, if the middle management (Manager) of the company justifies its position. Middle management plays an anchor role. Manager should be able to deal with all the employees who have different cultural backgrounds, personalities & priorities. Hiring experienced and matured managers and providing them training could help the case.
On job training of the employees.
Open house discussions should be there at least one a month.
While assigning the groups to the employees for tasks, it must be assured that all the groups are properly matched.

View the original article here