...Functional Vs. Dysfunctional Conflict in a Work Group There are several factors that are important in creating an effective and efficient work team. Some, such as diversity, knowledge, and skill are obvious. However, the most important factor in building a strong team is conflict. Most individuals have a negative view of conflict. While there are negative aspects of conflict, it can also draw team members together and create an atmosphere conducive to a creative and thorough problem solving environment. In today’s business world it is extraordinarily important for individuals to work within teams well. Each team member must be able to consider differing opinions and adapt their ideas to make the decisions that benefit the whole team. There are two main types of conflict to consider when working in teams: functional conflict and dysfunctional conflict. Functional conflict allows for creative ideas and strong team performance. As stated before, many people have a negative view of conflict but it is the very diversity of opinions and ideas within a group that is the most important factor in good decision making. It is these differing opinions that will create alternative solutions, which best utilizes scarce resources. Multiple ideas allow for healthy debate and problem solving. Debate allows everyone with a differing view to state their case and describe why their solution is better, and allows the team to make decisions with more potential solutions. An increased number of...
Words: 941 - Pages: 4
...Analysis of Factors Affecting Work Life Balance among University Teachers: the case of Pakistan Noor Fatima: Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology, Pakistan. noor_e_fatimah@hotmail.com Dr Shamim A.Sahibzada: Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology, Pakistan. shamim@szabist-isb.edu.pk Abstract Balance in work and family life is an emerging challenge for both employees and employers. The present research categorises selected variables as work and family related factors to study work life balance. This paper analyses the determinants of work and life imbalance with respect to male and female university teachers. A total of 146 teacher’s responses from both private and public sector universities are included in the study. Statistical analysis reveals that partner support, colleague support and job resources are positively associated with the work life balance whereas unfair criticism at job is negatively associated with work life balance. Independent sample t-test is used to analyse the effect of independent variables on work life balance with respect to male and female university teachers. The variables, partner support, childcare responsibilities, elder dependency, and colleagues support have different effect when analysed by male and female university teachers as independent samples. Keywords: Work life balance, University, Teachers, 1. Introduction Work/life is commonly referred to as work and family. To balance between...
Words: 6862 - Pages: 28
...A Sino-U.S. Comparison of Work-Family Conflict and Its Implications to American Managers A SINO-U.S. COMPARISON OF WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT 2 Abstract In this qualitative study, work-family conflict in China and the United States is compared and contrasted based on national culture, traditions, norms, and living standards. The analysis results in a proposition that Chinese employees will experience less work-family conflict when faced with the same work and family demand as their American counterparts, because of differences in their work and family priority, perception of work-family relationship, national culture, conflict handling style, social support, work-family communication, and economic pressure. The implications to American managers are discussed. A SINO-U.S. COMPARISON OF WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT 3 A Sino-U.S. Comparison of Work-Family Conflict and Its Implications to American Managers Work-family conflict has been a concern of many researchers (Carlson & Kacmar, 2000; Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). Studies showed that work-family conflict had negative impact on employees, their families, and organizations (Beutell & Witting-Berman, 1999; Burke, 1988; Frone & Cooper, 1992; Goff, Mount, & Jamison, 1990; Martins, Eddleston, & Veiga, 2002). Recent changes in demographic characteristics of the U.S. work force have resulted in greater work-family conflict. Examples of these demographic changes include the...
Words: 4638 - Pages: 19
...Capital on Work-Family Conflict and Its Outcomes Amna Binte Shehzad Malik Ahmed Bin Shehzad Malik Kaniz Fatima and Asbah Shujaat University of Central Punjab Author Note Research Article written by students of BBA at Faculty of Management Studies, University of Central Punjab, for the completion of Research Methodology course under the instruction of Inam-ul-haq, Assistant Professor at University of Central Punjab Any correspondence regarding this article should be addressed to Ahmed Bin Shehzad Malik. Email: ahmed.shehzad5@gmail.com INTRODUCTION The success of any organization is highly dependent on how its employees work and perform tasks (Lambert, 1990). For quite some time, employees have been facing difficulties in the form of work-family conflict because they are unable to fulfill the roles of their work life and family life properly. Work-family conflict affects the productivity of an employee which, consequently, has impact on the outcomes for the organization. The recent explosion of interest in the work-family interface has given rise to a number of concepts that try to explain these two major fields of life in terms of work-family balance, accommodation, compensation, spillover, work-family enrichment and work-family integration etc. (Barnett, 1998; Edwards & Rothbard, 2000; Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000; Greenhaus &Beutell, 1985; Lambert, 1990). One term commonly used and cited in these research works is work-family conflict. The relationship...
Words: 7588 - Pages: 31
...of the company 5 1.2 Products and brand name 6 1.3 Business Objectives 6 1.4 HSBC bank to commitments to its employees 7 1.5 Human resource manager system 8 II. RESEARCH INTRODUCTION 9 2.1 Problem statement 9 2.2 Main construct 9 2.3 Research objective 9 2.4 Research questions 10 CHARPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 11 I. JOB STRESS 11 II. TYPES OF JOB STRESS 13 CHARPTER III: RESEARCH MODEL AND HYPOTHESES 16 I. RESEARCH MODEL 16 II. RESEARCH HYPOTHESES 17 2.1. Work Interference With Family and Family interference with work. 17 2.2 Job –Family Role Strain Scale……………………………………………......19 2.3 Work to family Conflict Scale 21 CHARPTER IV: RESEARCH METHODS 24 I. RESEARCH DESIGN 24 II. RESEARCH METHODS 24 2.1 Data collection method 24 2.2 Measures 24 2.2.1 Work interference With Family and Family interference with work…….25 2.2.2 Job- Family Role Strain Scales 28 2.2.3 Work to family conflict 29 2.2.4 Control over areas of work and familu 31 III. DATA ANALYSIS AND REPORT 33 3.1 Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents 34 3.2 Reliability Analysis 36 3.3 Descriptive Analysis 38 3.4 Correlation of all Variables Statistics 39 3.5 Hypothesis Testing 40 CHARPTER V: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 45 I. DISCUSSION...
Words: 12613 - Pages: 51
...Organizational behavior Q1. What are the causes of stress to Phil’s life? Give evidence from the case to support your views. Firstly, it is the work overload stressors. For the case mentioned, Phil worked six days a week. He worked for too many hours per week and his workload was heavy. Also, as Phil was one of six vice-presidents, he needed to maintain and build a positive image to his colleges and subordinates. Therefore, he might demand himself to do better. Secondly, it is the low task control stressors. It means the jobs required high responsibilities. Phil had many important responsibilities. He might need to have some important meetings. Or he might need to decide a long term strategy and goals within the company. Besides, he wanted to be promoted but the competition was quite keen. Finally, it is the work family conflicts. As Phil used too much time on work so he might ignore the communication in the family. He had insufficient time to satisfy his non-work roles of being a father. For example, he had nothing to say with his daughter. He may feel stress for that. Q2 What are the consequences of the above stressors to Phil’s professional (work) and personal life? Firstly, Phil didn’t have time to relax. Besides golf game, he had no ‘extracurricular interests’. Just sit in front of the computer and lack of enough exercise would lead to some health problems like heart diseases, especially he was in the middle age. Secondly, Phil might have some health...
Words: 698 - Pages: 3
...Master of International Business Administration Business Research Methods for Managers-Fall 14086 THE REASONS BEHIND EMPLOYEE TURNOVER, ITS’ EFFECT AND THE METHODS TO REDUCE IT Supervised By Dr. Ashraf Elsafty Presented by: Yasser Hassan El Sayed Created Date: Oct 10, 2014 Last updated: Dec 11, 2014 Table of Contents LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 3 1. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 4 1.1. AN OVERVIEW 4 1.2. PROBLEM DEFINITION 4 1.3. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE 4 1.4. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 5 1.4.1 MODEL VARIABLES 6 1.4.1.1 Dependent variable 6 1.4.1.2 Independent variables 6 1.4.2 RESEARCH ASSUMPTIONS 6 1.4.3 RESEARCH LIMITATIONS 6 1.5. RESEARCH QUESTIONS 7 1.5.1 MAJOR QUESTIONS 7 1.5.2 MINOR QUESTIONS 7 1.6. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 7 1.6.1 RESEARCH TYPE 7 1.6.2 SAMPLING 7 1.6.3 DATA ANALYSIS METHODS 8 1.6.4 DATA ANALYSIS METHOD 8 1.7. THESIS STRUCTURE 8 2. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 9 2.1. INTRODUCTION 9 2.1.1 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 9 2.1.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH 9 2.2. PREVIOUS STUDIES 9 2.2.1 REASONS BEHIND EMPLOYEE TURNOVER 9 2.2.2 SYMPTOMS THAT ORGANIZATION FACE IN RESPONSE OF TURNOVER 10 2.2.3 COSTS OF EMPLOYEE TURNOVER 11 2.2.4 MANAGING TURNOVER THROUGH SELECTION 11 2.2.5 THE FORMATION OF AN EFFECTIVE RETENTION MANAGEMENT PROGRAM 11 3. CHAPTER 3: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND RESEARCH DESIGN 12 3.1. INTRODUCTION 12 3.2. PROBLEM DEFINITION 12 3.3. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE 12 3.4. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 13 3.4.1 DEPENDENT VARIABLES...
Words: 4850 - Pages: 20
...stress and work-family conflict Abstract Stress, work-family conflicts and flexible scheduling are three of the most important elements in organizational studies. The focus of current study is to understand the effect of Stress, work-family conflicts and flexible scheduling on employee’s performance and also to understand whether flexible scheduling helps in reducing stress and work-family conflicts or not. A survey has also been conducted to strengthen the idea comprising of a sample of 70 employees from different organizations. 53 of them responded and the respond rate was 75%. Descriptive statistics is used to analyze the data. Results show that stress and work family conflict negatively affect the employee performance and flexible scheduling has a positive effect on employee performance. Primary study as well as literature review showed that flexible scheduling also helps in reducing stress and work-family conflicts. However, results are strongly based on the literature review i.e. secondary data. Introduction Work family balance is one of the most emerging concepts in the field of business and in the corporate world. Organizations are trying to reduce this conflict for the betterment of organization as well as for the employees. Western researchers have done a considerable work on this concept of work-family balance (Berg et al., 2003; Frone, 2003; Rossi, 2001; Marcinkus et al., 2007; Young, 1999). Actually work-family balance is used to reduce the work-family conflict...
Words: 2000 - Pages: 8
...attitude toward achievement,” where my favor of seeing successful people fall was 24 and 47 for seeing successful people rewarded. Basically what it says is that I think highly of people who become successful and believe they deserve all the benefits that come along with success. This is true about me because I am all for success and I feel like if I work really hard at it that I deserve the outcome. I guess the 24 points of my favor in them falling come from the question I answered no to them being publicly glorified. Just because you are successful doesn’t mean you deserve to be put on a pedestal above anyone else I also took an assessment on my “ethic value”. Where I averaged out with most people, and on the “what time of the day I am the most productive,” I scored a 37 meaning I am intermediate when I have something not so important to do I am an evening person but as far as working I rather get it out the way early so I can have the evening with my family because in the morning my children are in school so its best that we are all home together, on the “am I experiencing work family conflict,” I scored 24 meaning work doesn’t completely make my family life miserable but it has its affects on it, and a few minor changes can help out to calm...
Words: 410 - Pages: 2
...the work family conflict which is in simple term refer to the situation which occurs due to the imbalance in the working area and family where an individual cannot fulfill the role in the both areas. The main purpose of this paper is to unfold what the work family conflict and dual professionalism is. Furthermore, this paper reviews the article that pinpoint the factors that is responsible for work family conflict. The main aim of this paper is to figure out how the factors like gender, culture, job satisfaction and stress end up in work family conflict. Likewise, this paper also reviews the ways to control the work family conflict to some extent. Keywords: Work family conflict, Gender, Culture, Job Satisfaction, Stress Introduction Work-family conflict has been the important issue in the present scenario. Today both the couples are working in a particular field in order to pursue their goals. In the past decades, mainly women were responsible to balance the work and family. As the time changes, men have been also responsible to balance family and work. Female were only supposed to stay in home in the past era. These days the idea is completely changing. Both the couples work and pursue their dream. These days it is clear to us that both the couples work and share the responsibility of the family and care giving. (Greenhaus et. al, 2000). Both the couples are finding difficult to balance the work and family life. The term work family conflict and family work conflict seems...
Words: 1264 - Pages: 6
...relationships Goleman (1995). Researchers today are interested in finding the effects of emotional intelligence on employees and thereby, organizations, and analyzing the various other facets of EQ. Emotional intelligence improves individual and organizational performance. It plays a significant role in the kind of work an employee produces, and the relationship he or she enjoys in the organization. Work – Life Balance is a challenging issue for IT leaders, managers and has also attracted the attention of researchers. Work/life balance, in its broadest sense, is defined as a satisfactory level of involvement or ‘fit’ between the multiple roles in a person’s life. In this climate managing the boundary between home and work is becoming more challenging. Organizations need to ensure they not just encourage but mandate a practical and workable work/life balance policy, benefiting and meeting the needs of both the organization and its employees. Organizations not providing real opportunity for employees work/life balance are opening themselves up to increasing numbers of dissatisfied and unproductive employees and hence increased attrition rates. Merely creating a work/life policy framework is not enough; fostering an organizational...
Words: 2390 - Pages: 10
...Conflict arises when there is some indifference among two parties. In any working group conflict is almost unavoidable. When most people hear the word conflict, they often tend to take the term in negative manner. Almost everyone perceives conflict to be a malefactor and that it often hinders the development process of any group. Although usually people think of it as a bad thing, conflict on the contrary can be a positive occurrence within a group to bring about change. Comprehensively conflict refers to a situation in which there are opposing demands or ideas and a choice has to be made between them. So, it means without conflict there wouldn't be any opposing demands or ideas in which case the choices are obvious and easy. This can often mean there would be no innovation or no opposition to the idea presented hence no alternatives just a straight path ahead. A group must think of all possible ways for an idea to thrive most effectively and efficiently. Hence, conflict not only is salient but also encouraged in a work group. Generally conflict is caused by a number of reasons. For example, conflict can arise because of poor communication among the group members, other reasons can be lack of openness and/or failure to respond to everyone’s need by the head of the group. The belief that all conflict is harmful must be avoided. Conflicts must be believed to be natural and inevitable. It must be dealt accordingly, a conflict can not only be a positive force in a group but it is...
Words: 1442 - Pages: 6
...Autonomous Work Groups The dynamics of a workforce is ever changing with management, diversity, and the collaboration between management and employees. With all the changes it is important that employees and management, as well, remain motivated. Therefore there must be a workflow design that works well for both management and employees. It must create an alliance, collaboration, a line of trust, decision making, and create a sense of empowerment. Autonomous work groups offer this and so much more. There are pros and cons about autonomous work groups and why they work and do not work, but it is a work design that many companies are beginning to consider based upon research. The Effectiveness of Autonomous Work Groups Autonomous work groups, also known as self-managing work teams, are a team of employees granted autonomy or independence over the work they do within an organization (Kokemuller, 2014). This autonomy includes independent decision-making related to a specific work function, project or job and independent freedom to assign individual members specific tasks within the group (Kokemuller, 2014). An autonomous work group (AWG) can hire, fire, and make the necessary decisions for their department. An AWG replaces the role of having a boss and usually someone is elected to stand as leader to help facilitate within the group. What makes AWG effective groups are that they are able to work together toward a common task or project goal. They typically come up with broader...
Words: 816 - Pages: 4
...International Conference page 15 CONFLICT IN WORK TEAMS: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS Brittany Sikes, Florida Institute of Technology Robert D. Gulbro, Athens State University Linda Shonesy, Athens State University ABSTRACT Conflict is almost certain to occur in work teams due to the fact that they are comprised of different people possessing different perceptions, personalities, and behaviors. Although incredibly effective, work teams may stumble upon barriers which must be overcome to allow for growth and continuation towards the common goals of the group. It is quite possible that a work team may perform without the presence of conflict, but oftentimes certain measures have been implemented to prevent such conflict from occurring. Occasional conflict, if managed appropriately, can lead to creativity, better decision-making, and improved results. However, too much conflict can lead to a decrease in performance and group cohesion. In global organizations there is an opportunity for cross-cultural differences that may increase conflict. Contained herein are both the positive and negative consequences of conflict, as well as courses of action to understand, prevent, and resolve conflict that occurs within work teams or groups. THE VALUE OF WORK TEAMS A work team is defined as an organized group, committed to the individuals within the group, whose members share the same intent of accomplishing a common goal. Managers have become more inclined to utilize work teams when presented with missions...
Words: 2676 - Pages: 11
...enter text. Group Name: Click here to enter text. Rate yourself and your level of contribution to the group on the five attributes below. Demonstrates ability to Work Collaboratively | Mark | Did not show any interest in working with others in the group. | Did not really work well with the other group members. Tended to work alone rather than in collaboration. | Showed the basic ability to work in collaboration with others in the group. Eg Talked through ideas with the group during planning. | Showed constructive and cooperative work with others. Eg Initiated talking with others and checking how the group was progressing. | Showed very good cooperation with others. Worked constructively with the group. Eg Kept in contact and checked regularly with all other members to ensure progress was happening. | /10 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Mark? | Contributes to Group | Mark | An unproductive contributor. | A productive contributor on occasion. Eg a few contributions but only in response to requests from others. | Was generally a productive contributor to the group. Eg a few helpful contributions initiated beyond responses to others’ questions but showed little initiative in taking on different roles such as leading and delegating. | Was a consistently productive contributor to the group. e.g. constructive, relevant tone and comments; had flexibility in...
Words: 3424 - Pages: 14
