Introduction
Conflict is an occurrence in which individuals differ in terms of perception. Arguably, the difference results from cognitive divergence, which results in the tendency of an individual to disagree on the most effective opinion also conflict affect how individuals react towards diverging differences and have two implications, namely positive and negative extreme influence on how individuals to conduct are directed towards specific actions. for instance, aggressive actions have been associated with conflicts. Recent observations have indicated how higher levels of conflict have degraded society’s peace. Such repercussions have resulted in increased extremes of destruction and losses that, to some extent, lead to the loss of lives.
This paper will encompass an analysis and an overview of the conflict in the work setup. For innate, conflict entails a disagreement between the newly appointed manager of a company and the senior employee. The senior employee has been in operation for the longest period compared to the manager. The conflicting parties included the manner and the senior-most employee. For innate, the manager is new in the organization and appointed two weeks earlier. Initially, he was a senior-most employee; therefore, his appointment was promotional. On the other side, the conflicting counterpart is a male and is also considered one of the longest-serving. He missed the appointment as a result of his relatively low performance. The argument erupted between the two when the manager proposed a pay cut for the underperforming employees. Being a probable victim, the employee refuted the claim and confronted the manager’s actions which soured the operation and brought the entire organization to a standstill. The mitigation role was performed by the CEO, who settled both parties. Considering the existence of divergence in the manner conflict directs the actions of the individuals within the society, there is a need for an oversight analysis on the same. This paper will particularly focus on understanding numerous dimensions of conflict as well as analysis of the conflict concerning the stipulated theories.
Verbal aggressiveness
Cognitive theories are mainly characterized by the efficiency in understanding an individual’s actions and the result of such actions. Particularly, these theories aim at conveying the logic behind human reasoning and the impact of reasoning in an emotional manner. Similarly, verbal aggressiveness theory which forms the basis of cognitive theories was identified in correspondence to the analysis of the conflict. According to Chester and Dewall, verbal aggressiveness theory majorly focuses on understanding the impact of mental disturbance as a factor in addictive behaviors (Chester & Dewall, 2018). The theory under consideration entails verbal aggressiveness theory since it is, an integral theory that elucidates the vital element of conflict as part of verbal disagreement which is perceived internally.
Verbal aggressiveness theory has well suited the conflict between the newly appointed manager and the senior-most employee. For instance, the theory implies the existence of two aggressive communication traits that impact the nature of people’s actions whenever they engage in a conflict set up. Serval researchers have propounded Verbal aggressiveness as a function of the individualized character that predisposes a person to repel the ideological beliefs and cultures of the other individuals to safeguard their intrinsic desires as the cause of the argument (Bekiari et al., 2017). Based on the conflict, the theory’s applicability is highly manifested in the repulsive actions of the senior employee towards the manager. For instance, the manager’s actions to induce the pay cut were motivated by the intrinsic desire to enhance and improve competitiveness within the organization. Such was considered irrational, according to the employee. The employee based his argument on the discriminatory measure, which was used to signify the use of power to oppress the juniors; as a result, he refused the proposal.
Additionally, the protective actions often employee justified his reasons for aggressiveness theory. Arguably, aggressiveness is attributed to an increased desire to manifest protective features. Considerably, the pay cut would have significantly affected a portion of the employees whose productivity was deemed low (Theocharis, 2017). The result to uphold the protection of such victims highly contributed to the aggressive nature of the senior employees. As a function of aggressiveness, it is argued that individuals respond aggressively whenever they feel they are in pain or their sovereignty is being threatened (Fida et al. 2018). Therefore, the senior employee who felt his operational capability was being tested actively responded aggressively. The employee directed his anger and abused the manager for misuse of power. For instance, during the conflict, the employee stormed into the manager’s office and raised his voice, significantly signaling his agitation toward the communicated proposal. The theory was instrumental as it facilitated the attainment of inference through the generalization of the conflicting points of view. For instance, the valid difference in perception between the manager and the employee supported the resultant features of conflict.
Reciprocity theory
The interaction involves understanding the nature exhibited by the individuals during the interaction. The reciprocity theory suggests that human beings often perceive themselves as key and important in the course of interaction; hence, they objectively give meaning to self, objects, and others. Such earnings are then considered the ends at which informed decisions regarding a particular situation arrive. In this regard, the reciprocity theory will be ideal for the analysis.
Reciprocity theory adoption was used to showcase employees’ reactions towards the unkind works of the manager. Reciprocity theory implies how individuals in the course of their interactions appreciate actions that are considered kind gestures while punishing unkind and discriminatory actions. According to this theory, it’s clear that interactions result in ineffective monitoring and consideration of the actions of individuals. The occurrence of a negative perception of actions attracts direct punishment (Sasaki et al., 2017). In response to the conflict, the interaction between the employee and the manager resulted in a conversation regarding pay cuts. The senior employee perceived such conversation as unkind gestures toward his effort. They have worked in the organization for the longest time. He felt disrespected, and as a result, refused to acknowledge instead of confronting the manager directly.
Further, the manifestation of distrust and negative intention of the manager highly contributed to an increased commotion between the two. While the manager insisted on maintaining a pay cut to motivate increased productivity, which would have been positive, the employee maintained a violation of his trust and loyalty to the service. Divergent interest further intensified the actions hence continuity of conflict. Being static on his stand of operation improvement, the manager sustained his point of view (Trischler,2018). Normally, a manager expects to influence his juniors; his actions were justified as policy implementation to improve productivity. However, the fear factor resulting from the employee side highly disregarded the manager’s positive intentions for the employee. Such indicated the manifestation of conflict and disagreement factors.
Furthermore, lack of special attention highly constituted to increased conflict. According to reciprocity, theory attention forms the most important portion of interaction actions. For instance, special attention is offered to a critical element of interaction which avoidance would signify unwanted occurrences. Analytically, the conflict was manifested between the senior-most employee and the manager, who had a work history in the same organization. The manager outraised the need for considerate attention towards the needs of the senior most. Further, the manager failed to acknowledge the influence of the senior employee who was below him in the rank of the hierarchy as protocol implementation of policy entails consultative meetings between the individual involved to devise mutually agreeable concepts. The efficacy of this theory positively resulted in the realization of the outcome as it oriented out the necessity for further consultative consideration before the implementation of a policy. Being part of the organization employees forced key importance; hence they should never be left behind in policies.
Comparison and Conclusion
In brief, the two theories are in comparison, particularly in how conflict occurs. Under this, it is observed that conflict is a resultant occurrence associated with fear of negative outcomes from a resorted measure. Both theories agree on the effects of threatening actions on individual sovereignty and how much influence their actions.
Also, there is convergence on how individual perceptions regarding particular behavior influence the conflict. Such agreement is manifested whereby the theories support the desire to engage in conflict as an intrinsic factor of mind which is decided to realize a particular goal that is self-oriented. Both theories have the basis of conflict as the desire to prevent self from hurt, pain, and negativities associated with actions such as embarrassment and fear.
In contrast, verbal aggressiveness mainly focuses on conflict resulting from verbal communication. Such communication influences how an individual perceives the actions of others and engages in conflict to sustain their sovereignty. While reciprocating them mainly focuses on how individual interaction results in the identification of unkind gestures which adequately result in conflict.
The most useful theory was verbal aggression theory which formed part of cognitive theory. For innate, verbal aggressiveness pointed to individual perceptions as attributed by the traits and how much they influence their reasoning toward the conflict. Therefore, cognitive theories entail a set of effective reasoning. Finally, a critical understanding of conflict entails effective evaluation of the same to develop a desirable solution. Failure to acknowledge the existence of conflict highly impacts the nature of the problem, resulting in more devastating impacts. The effectiveness of understanding should also be focused on the origin of conflict. Such enhances the decision-making ability of the individuals cognitively and highly impacts their accommodation level regarding the conflict. While conflict could result in devastating effects, effective understanding will result in an accommodative view of diverging perceptions to attain a highly specialized and well acceptable inference. Having an insight on origin will impact individuals’ actions on vital aspects to be natured to avoid drastic consequences associated with conflict in the event of the organization such as instrument as it will enhance synergy through significant reduction of the cases of conflict.
References
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