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WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1-CONFLICT MANGEMENT
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1-CONFLICT MANGEMENT
UMUC HRMN365 WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1
Instructions: Locate an article describing the resolution of a recent business conflict. This article must be from a newspaper, academic journal, or credible online news source.
Cite the complete and proper APA reference for the article(s).
Use proper APA citations within the text as well as on a References page.
Explain what is meant by “the costs of conflict”?
From the viewpoint of the participants, what were the costs of this specific conflict?
If resolved, what strategies were used in the resolution?
If not resolved, what strategies would you recommend?
In responding, you must cite a minimum of three sources, one of which you identify as your key source for this recent business conflict. The other two sources support your discussion and responses to the assignment requirement
Small family-owned and operated businesses generate over 80 percent of the US gross domestic product (Garkovich et al.,1995). Subsequently, more than 600,000 new businesses are small business. Of the 600,000 new businesses, family owned business make up ninety percent of this figure. Family owned co-entrepreneurship is one of the factors that make them unique. The concept of family and firm is different from conventional or non-family- owned small business but family owned business has very challenging conflicts in contrast to non-family owned businesses. One company in particular, American harness racing industry had to overcome challenges of occupational sex segregation, interpersonal conflict and gender neutral work position struggles.
Harness racing industries early on were mostly male dominated business. The trainers, drivers and racehorse owners were primarily men with the exception of a few independent women workers. As standard-bred horses increased and more race tracks opened over the decades, positions such as trainer, driver and race horse owner became more and more gender neutral. Harness racing family businesses usually started out as co-trainer partnership between married couples and progressed to a co-owner hierarchy. Conflicts are prevalent in husband and wife occupational relationships, the further they succeed the hierarchy the difficult it was to avoid conflicts.
During stages of co-trainer amongst married partners, conflict can become severe, seemingly because of unresolved family or firm disagreements. The attempt to minimize conflict results in working on different task or different places to avoid conflict. Depending on how partnerships are segregated, vertically (same occupation but different stages of the career ladder) or horizontal (different occupations) are factors that led to conflicts as well as occupational sex segregation. American harness racing industries actively has conflicts as a result of occupational sex segregation. Females are giving jobs that aren’t as predominant as their male counterparts and the pay inequalities of martial co-trainers (male vs. female in general) are disparities that cause conflicts. Harness racing industries weren’t considered gender neutral positions decades earlier and that unchanged mindset still causes friction between marital owners today.
Each of the gender neutral positions such as trainer, breeder, driver, and horse race owner are seen as masculine position with wives helping or assisting their husbands as a separate entity. Although, husband and wife are equal partners and owners, the consensus was that males are seen as the decision-maker and sole proprietor by most customers and employees. Often times the harness racing male owner would make important decision without collaborating with his co-partner and this led to turmoil. The concept is typically accepted by males and manifested by those that prefer being the authority figurehead with their spouses in charge of decisions made at home. In some co-owner relationships the spouses would concede to the idea of positional power to avoid conflicts. Adjustments of some spouse’s to the idea of their husbands being the key decision aren’t welcomed. Majority of women were essentially dominant in their home lives which transferred over to business and the perceived power they had over their marital partners. A common ground could be found for those relationships with exceptional interpersonal skills but partners without good interpersonal skillsets struggled with conflict resolution.
Family owned and operated businesses have greater challenges of maintaining great interpersonal relationships. As with, American harness racing industry tumultuous work, social and family home environments are often times the cause conflicts. Disagreements about the direction of the business, financial stability, and depression and family arguments are common occurrences in this family owned business. Without the separation of family and firm weak interpersonal skills typically are disastrous for these entities.
The cost of conflict examines the economic, social, developmental, strategic and environmental costs associated in respects to parties involved in the conflict. Cost conflicts of occupational sex segregation facilitated unequal treatment, contributed to lower wages for women and lesser authority with less responsibility. This division of sexes further complicated work dynamics and home relationship which incited stressful environments for employees of harness racing industry. Gender neutral issues often made employees feel incompetent, isolated and not accepted which stifled decision making. Their commitment levels were lower which led to poor performance and none productivity. Harness racing lacked interpersonal skills this resulted to lack in communication, communication breakdown, in fighting, aggressive attitudes and occupational sabotage. The business was on a decline until the American harness industry found ways to manage conflicts.
American harness racing industry used effective conflict resolution techniques to resolve occupational sex segregation, gender neutrality and interpersonal issues. Mediation or third party assistance was used to resolve issues between husband and wife co-ownership disputes. Clear and concise duties and responsibilities were outlined and payment matched job responsibilities. An influx of female employees were hired which balanced out the male to female ratio workforce. A comprehensive human resources element was adopted to handle employee grievances and customer complaints. Effective communication training techniques were incorporated and a life consultant was added to the staff. This gave management and employees an outlet to discuss work or relationships issues without retribution. Instead of segregating by sex, more of the upper management duties were divided evenly by management experience.
Reference:
Garkovich, L., Bokemeier, J.L. and Foote, B. (1995) Harvest of Hope: Family Farming/
Farming Families. Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky.
Larsen, E. A. (2006). The Impact of Occupational Sex Segregation on Family Businesses: The Case of American Harness Racing. Gender, Work & Organization, 13(4), 359-382. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0432.2006.00312.
Marchand, J. F., & Hock, E. (2000). Avoidance and Attacking Conflict-Resolution Strategies among Married Couples: Relations to Depressive Symptoms and Marital Satisfaction. Family Relations, (2). 201.
Writer’s choice
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1). which occupations have higher and lower projected openings in the state of NH? The state of NH is most likely to have many opening of r registered nurses, as the data provided for the occupational projection point at the registered nurses having the highest number of openings, followed by retail outlet salespersons. However, construction laborers are not likely to have many opening in the job market as projected over the next 10 years. Other includes the office and administrative support occupations, which currently employs 103,490 personnel. Office clerks general is the highest at 12860 and the lowest is proofreaders and copy markers. The lowest is the farming, fishing, and forestry occupations with only 720 personnel. Logging equipment operators has the highest at 200 and the lowest is first line supervisors of farming, fishing and forestry worker at 30. Employment of small engine mechanic is expected to grow at 21% from 2010 to 2020, faster than the average in all other occupations. Those with formal training have very good job opportunities.
Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 1: occupation number of new jobs (projected), 2010-20 2010 median pay
3) On the basis of these projections, would you expect wages to rise or fall over the short term and the long term?Wages are likely to rise in the short run but after five years it is likely to stabilize based on the long run because, the at first the number of workers will be few and the companies will offer high wages to attract new employees. However, after five to 10 ears, many people will be attracted to the NH state resulting in an influx of workers. This will also will force the employers to either reduce or maintain the amount of money paid to laborers as the employees will be desperate to ask for pay increase fearing being dismissed, as there are many laborers
4). what do you think will likely happen to labor supply over the same period?
The supply of labor will increase in the short run, then reach an exponential stage, then stabilize. However, after on the long run, the supply of labor will decrease as the vacancies will have been taken and the unemployed will have to look for work in other states. On the other hand, the economic forces of demand and supply do not only affect the supply of labor, but there are also government regulation, technological impact that are also likely to change the scenarios and statistics. For example, factory automation of acquisition of various technologies is likely to affect the availability of jobs, and most of the laborers are also likely to seek employment somewhere else.
There is also a very significant correlation between the number of job opening and the number of laborers, for example, the labor supply for high skilled or specialist jobs is very low as compared to the labor supply for entry level jobs, and this is also likely to contribute to the changes in the components of the lour supply. While this is, there is also likelihood of new entrant from outside the state, or immigrant into the labor scene after along time of labor demand, thereby increasing the influx, the demand for labor is what initiates changes in the supply of allot in the state. However, academic qualification has little impact of the supply of labor due to the general mobility of labor.
2008 2009 2010 2011p I II III IV
TOTAL2 -7.3 -3.6 11.1 1.0 14.3 16.0 6.4 8.2
Total2 (excluding Construction) -6.7 -3.1 11.6 1.0 15.2 16.5 6.5 8.5
Goods Producing Industries -12.4 -2.3 24.5 5.5 32.7 37.8 10.9 19.2
Manufacturing -11.2 1.5 32.2 7.7 45.3 48.2 13.8 25.5
Construction -1.2 4.2 0.5 -0.2 1.0 5.2 1.1 -4.3
Services Producing Industries -3.6 -4.4 6.1 -0.5 7.6 7.7 5.1 4.1
Wholesale & Retail Trade -1.5 -6.2 12.2 -2.4 15.0 16.0 10.9 7.2
Transportation & Storage -2.1 -10.6 6.5 1.1 8.8 8.6 5.8 3.0
Accommodation & Food Services -9.0 -5.9 7.1 -0.1 8.3 10.8 5.9 3.7
Information & Communications 0.0 -0.8 -2.8 -8.5 -0.3 -1.6 -3.4 -5.7
Finance & Insurance -7.1 -0.2 6.4 1.5 14.5 5.3 2.0 4.7
Business Services -5.2 -1.6 0.4 -2.7 1.7 1.9 0.0 -1.8
Other Services Industries -4.4 -0.3 8.1 2.5 1.0 10.2 10.2 10.8
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2 Based on GDP At 2005 Market Prices 5) What do you think will likely happen to worker movement in or out of the state of NH in these occupations? The worker movement will be sensitive to vacancies and pay packages. Those occupation offering better packages are likely to attract many workers both in the short run and in the end. However, that occupation that has poor packages will not attract many workers. On the other hand, the number of workers will increase for that occupation that have many vacancies as projected such as nursing and retail sales persons. However, other occupation that require specialist are not likely to have much activity in the short run, but are likely to have attract many employees as proactive employee will seek special qualification in order to fill in those jobs. However, this is not very realistic. The number of employees for the entrée level jobs is also likely tom increase significantly due to availability and worker population explosions result of fresh school, lever and graduates
5. What special factors for each occupation affect the ability of labor supply to change?
Registered Nurses Salary,
Retail Salespersons Employment opportunities
Home Health Aides Employment opportunities
Personal Care Aides Employment opportunities
Office Clerks, General salary
Registered Nurses salary
Retail Salespersons School and salary
Home Health Aides salary
Personal Care Aides salary
Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast Food Government regulation
Customer Service Representatives Contracts and economic factors
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers Economic factors
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand falling industry employment, technological advances, changes in business practices
Postsecondary Teachers salary
Nursing Aides, Orderlies, and Attendants Working conditions
Childcare Workers salary
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks Salary, the implementation of office technology
Cashiers Salary and economic factors
Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education Salary and government regulation
Internship/residency Salary and school
Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners Landscaping and Grounds keeping Workers factory automation or the implementation of office technology
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products Economic factors
Construction Laborers automation or the implementation of office technology
SOURCE: BLS Occupational Employment Statistics and Division of Occupational Outlook
References
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-13 Edition, Career Guide to Industries, on the Internet at HYPERLINK “http://www.bls.gov/ooh/about/career-guide-to-industries.htm” t “_new” http://www.bls.gov/ooh/about/career-guide-to-industries.htm (visited April 05, 2012).720
Working on the commission is one of the best payment structures in the world because individuals are paid for what they deliv
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Commission structures
Working on the commission is one of the best payment structures in the world because individuals are paid for what they deliver. The current commission structure used in the company is not effective. This is always proportional to their efforts. However, I have a have a few issues with the current structure that the company is using to calculate my pay. My point is; freight brokerage is particularly difficult, and the business world is filled up with a lot of challenges that are beyond the control of both the company, and the account managers. Nevertheless, in spite of the challenging business environment and the economic cycles, I could still make it in the business. This is enough evidence of my capabilities, potential and willingness to work in the company because this is where I belong.
It is also necessary to understand the fact that most of the people who were there before me could not take that long in the company. This is because of a number of factors that they felt were not favorable for them. Some of the main reasons that could have led to their exit included the following and some of my specific recommendations follow directly:
Determine commission
The commission that the company pays for every sale is somewhat minor that the current industry standards, this makes it hard for the company’s freight executives to last in this company. Most of the people who used to work here were demotivated by the volume of freight to commission ratio. Under your current structure, an employee has to convert so many leads to produce am remarkable freight volume that could help in the realization of the company’s goals. Perhaps the company needs to increase its commission percentage on the achievement of the baseline goals. If this is increased by by 2 %, freight brokers would be motivated because at the current rate, the freight brokers would not be able to stay with the company for long. The company return on investment would drop so low, that the company would be a launching pad for the graduates where the graduates come for training and then move to other companies
Freight accelerators
The company should consider a commission structure that motivates super freight persons. For example, these employees who hit the freight target should be awarded 5% commission. This includes those employees who hit between 75-100% of the freight target. Additionally, those employees who achieve higher freight than the original freight volume should be eligible for an additional 8% commission on the freight on top of the targeted 100% sale freight volume.
Bonuses
The company needs to consider giving bonuses to freight people who hit their target. These employees should be awarded cash in additional to their freight commission. However, if the company feel this is not practical I have amidst of companies which have implemented this idea and the profit that the company has realized after implementing this commission structures (Ogunjobi, pp. 13–19).
Percentage kicker for cash upfront
Companies are run on revenue, and in most cases, most companies end up cash trapped because, most of the freight transaction were done on credit, the company need to consider the fact that most of my freight were paid for upfront, thereby reducing the company’s expenses on credit management. The company needs to develop a commission structure. These structures should focus on which those freight people whose customers pay upfront. These freight brokers should be awarded some amount maybe 2% of freight to motivate employees. Employee motivation is extremely beneficial, but the most noteworthy is how to motivate employees.
The company had had a number of employees who were motivated to deliver like me, and could not think of leaving the company but had to leave the company when they realized that employee motivation and development is not part of the company. All employees are a human being, and rational human beings are likely to look for work in companies where the prospects of career development are high. The company should work towards developing their employees, and should start with employee motivation.
Increasing Freight Pipeline
The company should be geared at increasing the company’s freight pipeline. The number of opportunities should be increased; however, the company is not trying hard to retain its customer based on the experiences. Most of the customer the company has ever had are scared away from the company after the company fails to deliver. This is seriously hurting the freight efforts of the freight executives. The company needs to offer some form of bonus to those employees who bring substantial freight business. For example, those employees who have customers with long running contracts should be awarded a bonus or incentives so that they can work with their customers to increase their freight pipeline (Ryan, 77).
On the other hand, companies should develop better freight representative’s compensation plans that consider their quota and volumes of on target earnings. The compensation plans should be structured around, a basic salary and additional variable commission compensation. This variable compensation is configured around a number of factors such as freight volume, frequency or repeat purchases etc. The variable compensation is a basic commission which the employees must earn based on the freight volume. It is also disheartening to realize that there are months that freight brokers could not make any significant freight, but they are not offered anything. These are people who are in employment and have debt obligation that they must discharge, offering a basic salary would go a long way in ensuring that they get what they need to cover their basic need (Ogunjobi, pp13-19)
The on target earning (OTE) is an immensely creative approach to compensating employees and the company should consider implementing this system as it also motivates the employees. The company should consider the 50/50 ration. This means that the ration between the salary and the commission is one half each. The company needs to consider the volume and the velocity of its freight funnel
The company needs to consider the following factors while compensating me and other employee:
The number of leads that one sale produces
The number of leads that I have turned into meetings,
The number of meetings that I have turned onto opportunities
And the number of business opportunities that I have closed
Some other factors that the company needs to reconsider while compensating us include the fact that all freight cycles usually take much longer to complete, therefore, making it hard for freight representatives to hit their target based on the average of the previous three months. In some months, business is good while in other months, business is extremely distressing. Most companies close shop while some employee quit and engage in other income generating activities as you have noticed with your previous employees
According to Bloch, (pp. 18-26), the average deals size is also another factor that your company does not consider when setting targets. For example, the company uses the previous deal sizes to set the current target; this should be done in consideration of the prevailing environmental conditions. Most of the freight volume that I have achieved was also composed of renewals. And by now the company should realize that the renewal rate of my freight deals is exceptionally high, making me eligible for a better package.
The company also need to know that there are a number of opportunities out there for up sells as well as cross sell, which I can take advantage of and if I am motivated by incentives and other benefits
A perfect basic compensation plan for a freight executive is as bellow:
Base Salary:
$ 100k
On Target Earnings:
$200k
Variable Compensation: OTE – Base Salary =
$100k
Quota =
$1,000,000
Commission Rate: Variable/Quota =
8%
The company should also build an accelerator, in this way the employees would strive to achieve their quotas and then be eligible for the sweet rates. This means that when the freight brokers reaches 110% of the quotas, they are eligible for an extra commission of 13%. I personally would pour on some gas when I am in this zone, because every dollar or revenues that I shall have brought to the company attracts 13% rate.
Conclusion
The company needs to develop incentive-specific compensation plans that would help them win the market, retain the company market share, retain the company’s existing customer and grow its contract length. Above all, the company should consider the fact that it needs to deal profitably in all occasions by motivating both the customer and the employees. These are not complaints but my feelings about this job and the commission structure in use, in this company. I hope my recommendations shall meet your kindest considerations.
Works cited
Bloch, B “Multilevel marketing: what’s the catch?” Journal of Consumer Marketing 13:4 pp. 18-26. (1996)
Ogunjobi, T. SCAMS – and how to protect yourself from them. Tee Publishing. pp. 13–19. (2008).
Ryan G. Business Students Focus on Ethics (Praxiology): The international Annual of Practical Philosophy and Methodology Volume 8. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. pp.75. (2000).