MGNT 803: Organisational Behaviour and Management - Critical Analysis - Assessment Answer

Critical Analysis Assignment

Assignment Task

Correct citation style includes addressing BOTH aspects whenever you submit a piece of academic writing:

• How you acknowledge particular authors or their material when you want to use their particular points during the BODY of your text. This is known as IN-TEXT REFERENCING.
• How you acknowledge all the authors that you cite at the end of your text. This is known as the REFERENCE LIST. If you have read a wider list of sources but do not use their material in your writing, this is known as a BIBLIOGRAPHY. For the purposes of Assessment 1 Annotated Bibliography – despite the rather confusing term – you should only provide a reference list.
• There are different ways to present books, book chapters, journal articles, news articles, online sources in a reference list. Ensure you know the rules for each different kind of citation source and apply them accurately.

Exercise 1

Correct any in-text referencing errors in the texts below: Exercise 1 The existence of Generation Y as a distinct group is also assumed in the second body of literature. The purpose of this research is to explore the implications of an apparently distinct new group and provide ideas for managers in coping with this new and different cohort. This literature can be seen in such areas as managing employment (Beaver & Hutchings, 2005; Eisner, 2005; Walker, 2007), the complexities of managing different generational leadership preferences within the defence force (Jorgensen, 2003), the management of universities (Nimon, 2007), learning styles (Weiler, E.F, 2004), labour force development (Rowarth and Goldblatt, 2006, p.3) and financial services Rugimbana,2007, pp5-15.

Source: Adapted from Treuen and Anderson (2010)

Exercise 2

In the past few years, team learning has become a debatable topic for many authors. The number of literate reviews on team learning has increased since 1990 (Haar, Segers&Jehn 2013) as it is believed to remain as an important factor for improvements in business. According to Revilla &Knoppen 2012, teams are identified as a fundamental source of learning. It is believed to become a key role in driving businesses forward which can only succeed when people work together collaboratively (Hills 2011). Generally, team learning is determined as “a compilation of team-level processes that circularly generate change or improvement for teams, team members and organisation” (Decuyper, Dochy&Bossche 2010, p.128). It is a two-way communication of interaction and exchange among team member by “asking questions, seeking feedback, experimenting and discussing errors or unexpected outcomes of actions” (Edmondson 1999, p.353).

Source: Adapted from a Masters student assessment submission on an Organisational Learning subject; used with prior permission for teaching purposes only

Exercise 3

Modify the following to conform with Harvard referencing style.

Rodriguez, R. O., Green, M. T., & Ree, M. J. (2003). Leading generation X: Do the old rules apply? Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 9(4), 67–75.

doi:10.1177/107179190300900406.

Rothstein, H. R., Sutton, A. J., & Borenstein, M. (2005). Publication bias as a threat to validity. Chichester: Wiley.

Roth, P. L., Huffcutt, A. I., & Bobko, P. (2003). Ethnic group differences in measures of job performance: A new meta- analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(4), 694–705. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.88.4.694.

Ryder, N. (1965). The cohort as a concept in the study of social change. American

Sociological Review, 30(6), 843–861.

Wieck, KL, Dols, J., & Northam, S. (2009). What nurses want: The nurse incentives project. Nursing Economics, 27(3), 169–177.

White, A. T., & Spector, P. E. (1987). An investigation of age-related factors in the age-job satisfaction relationship. Psychology and Aging, 2, 261–265. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.2.3.261.

Critical Analysis

Conflicts occur in any organization. In the 1970s, Kenneth Thomas and Ralph Kilmann recognized that management understands the reasons behind conflict and its effects on organizations (Taylor 2010). In this critical analysis essay, I will compare two journal articles to demonstrate the role of managing conflicts in organizations.

The first article named “Constructively Managing Conflicts in Organizations” was published in 2014, and it was written by Dean Tjosvold, Alfred S. H. Wong and Nancy Yi-Feng Chen. In the article, the authors depict a vivid picture of conflicts in organizations and how they affect their smooth running. The journal analyses various concepts and tries to create an understanding of the dynamics and conditions that lead to conflicts in organizations and how it can be constructively be managed. It also identifies the relationship and skills that can help employees and managers be able to deal with the increased conflicts in the workplace. It considers the interpersonal conflict that develops between people engaging in mismatched events within the organization. The management of conflict arises when the parties involved are well aware of its existence and work on ensuring that it is handled. The journal does not, however, consider the interpersonal conflict that directly involves the incompatibility within one person (Tjosvold, Alfred & Chen 2014).

The journal is divided into seven main sections. The first section defines conflict as an incompatible activity that does not confound competition with conflict as it has been done in various traditional definitions. This section goes ahead to define conflict, comparing the traditional and modern definition. The second section of the journal argues on the prominent approaches that help in the understanding of the management of conflicts within an organization. This has shown that discussions based on open-minded contribute a greatly to a helpful struggle. The subsequent part shows the mutual benefit that results due to open-minded discussions as a way of resolving conflict within the organization. The fourth section uses the available research on open-minded dynamic discussions in the identification of norms, and skills employees and managers need to be able to constructively manage conflict. The fifth section of the journal outlines the best way to develop relationships of mutual benefit that is essential in resolving conflicts within an organization. Considering that conflicts involve protagonists from different cultures, the sixth part of the journal highlights study that backs the use of models in similar situations. Lastly, the final section of the journal identifies the possibility of the forthcoming investigation that can address the opinions offered by the journal (Tjosvold, Alfred & Chen 2014).

The second article titled “The conflict-positive organization: it depends on upon us” was published in 2008, and was authored by Dean Tjosvold. This journal argues that organizations need to be positive about conflicts since conflict is potentially highly constructive and inevitable. The journal has four main parts that define and explain how the organization should ensure that they consider conflict as a positive aspect of the organization (Tjosvold, 2008).

The first part of the journal starts by defining positive conflict as being in a position of solving conflict within the organization and understanding that conflict is unavoidable in any organization. The second section explains the presence of conflicts in all sectors within the organizations that includes accounting area, leadership, collectivist cultures and how to avoid conflict. The third part of the journal explains why the conflict has a bad reputation. Conflicts result in confusion and can wreak havoc on individuals, relationship as well as in organizations. Conflicts in all areas are usually handled in a painful and costly way and the solutions to many of them may not necessarily satisfy all the parties. This part evaluates the challenges of conflict supervision and the contribution of research to the conflict resolution. The last section of the journal discusses the knowledge on conflict management and how organizations should ensure that they are aware of different ways of resolving conflicts that usually arise (Tjosvold, 2008).

Comparative Analysis

In the first article, the journal argues that the organizations should understand different concepts of dynamics and conditions in which the conflict can be managed constructively. It proposes that open-minded discussions be allowed so that the protagonists can express their views and be allowed to understand and listen to the opposing opinion (Tjosvold, Alfred & Chen 2014). Then, the information is evaluated to resolve the conflict. In the second article, the author terms conflict as inevitable and highly constructive that should promote the organizations to ensure that they deal with conflicts in the best possible manner (Liu, Spector & Shi 2007). Unlike in the first article where the constructive management and resolution of conflicts helps all partly during a conflict through dialogue that strengthens the relationship, the second article perceives conflict resolution as a painful and costly way and that all not all parties involved in the conflict are satisfied with its manner or method of resolution.

The first article clarifies the importance of open-minded discussions since the method is termed as effective in all situations. This allows all groups to listen, share and deal with others (Tjosvold, 2008). The second article does not propose any alternative way of solving a conflict since not all parties will be contented and advocate on ensuring that the organization understands the positive conflict. The role of conflict management in both articles is different from the first article supports the adoption of constructive measures of solving conflict, while the second articles calls for organizations to consider conflicts in a positive way.