Organization

The operation of business organization centered round its customers. The product, price, promotions and distribution network (place), mostly referred as the 4Ps of marketing, are focused on customers and how to satisfy them and make them continue their patronage with the organization. Customers’ satisfaction and winning their trust goes a long way in determining the success rate of an organization. Marketing involves the process of strategizing in bringing goods and services to consumers when and at the price needed.

Thus, strategic marketing entails that the organization carries out an effective planning that would coordinate the whole marketing operates of the organization and make it adapt to its environment through effective utilization of available resources. Thus, the different marketing strategies; pricing strategy, distributive  strategy, promotional strategy, sales strategy, product creation and branding strategy, inter alia, these are synchronize in meeting the marketing  objectives of the organization. “Strategy is concerned with effectiveness rather than efficiency and is the process of analyzing the environment and designing the fit between the organization, its resources and objectives and the environment” (Proctor, 2000).

Adopting a pragmatic strategy for an organization is aimed at making the organization curve a niche over its rivals. Through an organization marketing mix structure, it can build for itself a strategy that would make it meet its objectives adequately. In doing this, the organization’s strategy should be centered round the customers through its marketing mix.

Here, strategizing should take acknowledgement of the product, place (distribution), the price, and promotional strategies in building a competitive base for the organization, through customer’s satisfaction. In this view, Oden (1997:3) argues, “many of today’s most successful organizations continue to survive because many years ago they offered the right product at the right time. Most product, market, and process venture decisions of the past were made without the benefit of strategic thinking or planning.

This write-up would give an analysis on Innocent Drinks has effectively utilize its marketing mix in its overseas operations.

Innocent Drink Organization Profile

Innocent Drinks organization started operation in the production of drinks since 1998. The name ‘Innocent’ for the organization is derived to symbolize the organization’s products that are naturally made and unadulterated. “We call them innocent because our drinks are always completely pure, fresh, and unadulterated.

Anything you ever find in an innocent bottle will always be 100% natural and delicious -and if it isn’t, get on the banana phone and make us beg for forgiveness” (Innocent Drinks, 2006).  The organization is a multinational corporation with operational base well established in European countries, which include United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Ireland, Sweden, France, Austria, and Netherlands.

Innocent drinks organization involve in the production of drinks derived from its cow milk and fruit drinks. The organization has variety of brands of drinks, which are produced to give delight to its customers. The different range of the organization’s product range from smoothies; with brand for children and other varieties; superfoods; a natural smoothies produced for specific purpose such as when one feels tender; big carton smoothies for home keep and refrigeration.

There is also thickies; live probiotic yoghurt, and juicy waters containing juice and spring water all mixed up to make customers feel wonderful and satisfy. This range of product from Innocent Drinks organization goes to testify that the organization is product oriented. Furthermore, the accomplishing supplementary services from the organization go to make the delivery of its products to consumer in the most delightful way and making them satisfied. All these supplementary services are built around the delivery of good products to consumers.

These supplementary services include the cooling of the organizations drinks in refrigerated van that are specifically designed in a cow image. Since the organization sell its drinks all over the place, it uses its cow van in making sure its products are well distributed. The cow vans of the Innocent Drinks are built in cow form, with horns and button that when pressed would make it make the moo sound of a cow. This brings about the creation of a specific branding of the organization products and creates great awareness of its product in the place of its marketing. An organization provides core services and goods to its customers.

This core services or products are the main organization’s operation, which they render or sell to customers. According to Iacobucci (2001:323), “An organization that provides services, either as its central provision or in a  value-added capacity in a bundle of attributes included in a customer’s purchase of some goods, may find it useful to distinguish those elements of the services purchase experience that are ‘core’ from the supplemental”. For Innocent Drinks, its supplementary services are built around its products to make the consumers of its product feel satisfied. Thus, it is arguable that the Innocent organization operates a product-oriented organization.

The product brand of the organization goes a long way in structuring the organization’s identity. To further support this proposition, the location where the organization operates from is named ‘Fruit Towers’. This also shows the reflection of the products of the organization in every of its activities. The organization also runs a voluntary foundation aimed at giving back 10% of its generated profit to countries in Africa and Asia where it gets its supplies for its product. This also, shows how product oriented the Innocent Drinks organization is structured.

The marketing mix of an organization is usually built around the customer in making sure the utility they receive in the consumption of the organization’s products or services are of the maximum.

Product

The products of Innocent organization are produced in ways that consumers get the natural taste of the drinks they consume. Here, pure, fresh, and unadulterated drinks are produced in their quality form for customer’s satisfaction. The products are 100% pure of fruits or milk according to the different brands. Thus, customers are guaranteed that they are consuming hygienic, natural, and unadulterated drinks. Furthermore, the Innocent Drinks organization has different varieties of assorted smoothies, made of fruits and milk.

The different brands of the organization are made to satisfy customers taste both young and old.  The prices of the Innocent drinks are moderate and customer friendly. The drinks come in small bottled pack, which costs are affordable by all and sundry. Given the quality and pure unadulterated drinks consumers get from the Innocent drinks product range, they get the worth for their money. The strategy embarked by the Innocent organization where it recycle its products containers and bottles, this goes to reduce the cost of production of the organization’s product, hence, the price set for its products are low.

“We are moving away from virgin finite materials to renewable materials, such as recycled plastic and plastic alternatives such as bottles made out of corn starch – a material known as Polylactic. To date, we have managed to get our plastic smoothie bottles to 50% recycled plastic (we’re working on the rest) and we have a corn starch, commercially compostable bottle due to launch in September 2006” (Innocent Drinks, 2006).

In ensuring that the organization gives its customers uniform quality products across the different countries it operates, Innocent Drinks has adopted five corporate ethics. These ethics that are observed include:

• Keeping its products natural. The raw materials used in the productions of the organization’s drinks are derived from cows without artificial sweeteners and chemicals
• The ingredients of the organization’s products in all its overseas operations are organized responsibly, in a manner that would not affect the environment.
• The organization engage in sustainable packaging for all its products across its overseas operational centers
• The different organizations units are expected to operate a resource-efficient business that is rewarding to stakeholders.
• The organization engages in good profit sharing among its investors and shareholders.

All these five ethics have helped in ensuring that Innocent Drinks come out with the best products for its customers across the different countries it operates. 

Place

The distribution of the organization’s product is carried out   through direct sales of the organization’s products to consumers by the aid of the organization’s cow van. The cow van helps to carry the organization’s product every nooks and crannies in the United Kingdom and other European Union countries where the organization operates. The similarity in product delivery through identifiable vans with cow shape gives the company its brand name. Product distributions are organized

Promotion

The promotion of the organization’s products is done through the strong brand it has built for itself. The cow van is easily recognized, and this serves as a medium of promoting the organization’s products as the vans engages in the distribution and sales of the organization varieties of drinks. The well-structured websites of the organization is another medium in which the organization promotes its ranges of products to a wider market in the international level. The organization’s websites are similar, even though they are configured in different languages, the same promotional tactics and product displays across the websites bear semblance for the different countries the organization operates.

Pricing

All these 4 Ps of the organization’s strategic marketing are integrated to bring about the effective increase in sales of the organization’s products. Each of the strategies for product manufacturing, pricing system, promotion and distribution all are built in an integrated pattern to bring about the effective distribution of quality product at an affordable price to customers. Moreover, satisfaction of customers taste is the overall focus of the Innocent marketing strategies.

Innocent Drinks has maintained a stable and similar pricing system across the ten European countries where it operates.

Why Innocent Drinks Has Adopted This Marketing MIX

The marketing mix operated by Innocent Drinks is one that has given it a brand name across the different countries its products are manufactured and traded. This brand name is very strong given the company’s logo and branding for its products. The cost of operating in the aforementioned ten EU countries is reduced by the aid of the adopted marketing mix. Similar strategy for product design, promotional strategies, pricing, and distribution channels have gone a long way in reducing the operational cost of the individual business units of Innocent Drinks.

The extra cost for designing new strategies for the organization’s 4Ps would have gone to increase its cost of operation and production. The adopted recycling cut across the operations of Innocent Drinks in these 10 countries it operate. This has further lead to cost reduction, thereby giving the organization’s customers the opportunity to buy its products at low price.

The marketing strategy of the Innocent Drinks organization is one that is very rewarding in the sense that it is centered and focus in the promotion of the organization’s products. The strategy has effectively led to the recognition of the organization’s products. This has made the organization won many awards in its areas of operations. According to Proctor (2000), “Strategy is concerned with effectiveness rather than efficiency and is the process of analyzing the environment and designing the fit between the organization, its resources and objectives and the environment”.

The pure unadulterated product of the Innocent Drinks is purely done to bring about qualitative product and maximum satisfaction to consumers. The organization through its marketing strategy has registered its brand name in the industry it operates, whereby it is a household name brand, given the corporate identity of the organization built around its products.

The risk involve in the marketing strategy adopted by the organization is that it may not be able to spread its operation easily to other countries where the technology and materials for conducting its business is not well developed. For instance in some country where the roads are not well accessible the cow van cannot easily operate in such terrain. Furthermore, the refrigeration of its product requires adequate electricity supply. Some underdeveloped countries have epileptic power supply; thus, it marketing strategies would tend to face some tasking challenges in these areas when the organization intends to franchise its operations internationally.

Suggestions on Innocent Drinks Future Marketing MIX

At the present time Innocent Drinks operates in European Countries that to a large extend share similar cultures. In some years to come Innocent Drinks would want to expand into other continents with different cultures, thus, in this case it will face the challenge of building a marketing mix that would be adopted to make the organization’s operations a smooth one.

For firms like Innocent Drinks that is expanding, in their bid to expand operation to other foreign countries there is the need that the issue of environment is critically considered in line with the organizations existing corporate culture. “…a number of theoretical perspectives related to the role of firm-specific knowledge in competitive strategy-resource-based view of the firm, dynamic capabilities knowledge-based view of the firm, organizational learning-have began contributing to our understanding of international strategic alliances” (Simonin, 1999).

Moreover, it is germane that modification to existing corporate culture is made to be in tune with the features of the environment that are on g round. The importance associated with paying attention to a country’s culture and environment in the management of business operation, especially as applicable to fruit drink, this is for the organization to operate effectively and adequately apply its resources in order to adapt to the environment and to meet set objectives at the most efficient manner. “Given the global strategic perspective, the corollary that it should be accompanied by a universal standardization is difficult to sustain as such a stance is product oriented and in defiance of the marketing concept.

It is also apparent that different nationalities buy similar products for different reasons and different versions of a product for reasons of values, custom and preference as well as price” (McCall & Stone, 2004:5). To buttress this argument Ulijn et al (2000), illustrated that, “when a multinational firm, such as Philips, operates in the United States, it is accepted almost as a U.S. firm since it is loosely related to the individualistic U.S. society where interaction is explicit, low context, and monochromic.

On the other hand, to be successful in Japan, Philips should behaves as a Japanese firm, where national culture and corporate culture overlap in a tight, collectivistic society where interaction is implicit, high context, and polychromic”. The above illustration shows that every country has its own cultural characteristics and variables that would compact with the environment in which business operation is done.

From the fore going, it is admonish that Innocent Drinks should built its marketing mix in such a way where the culture and taste in a country, that is, the national culture is respected. It is not as if one is saying that they should loose their cooperate culture and concepts, due to expansion, but people’s custom, taste, preferences, reasons for patronizing a firm’s product and service, all these are different. So it becomes germane that for the firm to operate adequately well in the international arena, these considerations need be put in place for proper marketing strategy.

Furthermore, pricing strategy and promotional strategy should reflect the economy stand of the country where Innocent Drinks is expanding to or currently operating where culture reveries from its home country.

References

1. Iacobucci, Dawn (2001), “Services Marketing and Customers Service’ in Iacobucci, Dawn (ed.) Kellogg on Marketing. New York: Wiley
2. Innocent Drinks (2006),  “Our Drinks” http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/our_drinks/ (02/01/07)
3. Innocent Drinks (2006), “Our ethics” http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/us/?Page=our_ethics  (02/01/07)
4. Innocent Drinks (2006), “Our Story” http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/us/?Page=our_story (02/01/07)
5. Innocent Drinks (2006), “Our Vehicle” http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/us/  (02/01/07)
6. Innocent Drinks (2006), “Packaging Materials” http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/us/?Page=packaging_materials (02/01/07)
7. Innocent Drinks (2006), “recycling” http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/us/?page=recycling (02/01/07)
8. Innocent Drinks (2006), “The Innocent Foundation Organization” http://www.innocentfoundation.org/ (02/01/07)
9. McCall, J.B.& Stone, M.A. (2004), International Strategic  Marketing: A (N) European Perspective. New York: Routledge
10. Proctor, Tony (2000), Strategic marketing: An Introduction. London: Routledge
11. Simmonin, Bernard L. (1999), “Transfer of marketing Know-How in International Strategic Alliance: An Empirical Investigation of the Role and Antecedents of Knowledge Ambiguity” in Journal of International Business Studies Vol. 30, No 3
12. Ulijn, Jan et al (2000), “Innovation, Corporate Strategy, and Cultural Context: What is the Mission for International Business Communication?” in The Journal of Business Communication .Vol. 37, No 3. p 293

Identify the key cross-cultural issues faced by the Airbus consortium and relate these to the Globe’s projects clusters of business cultures. Critically evaluate the usefulness of this research in understanding the issues involved and in devising viable solutions. What lessons can be learned for companies embarking on international projects? Introduction Cross-cultural management describes “organisational behaviour within countries and cultures” as a result it compares the organisational behaviour across various countries and cultures and most importantly it seeks to comprehend and advance the “interaction of co-workers, managers, executives, clients, suppliers, and alliance partners from countries and cultures around the world. ”

A company that has experience of cross-cultural management and thus has its roots in several European countries is Airbus SAS. Outlined on the company’s website they express their desire to overcome “national divides, sharing development costs, collaborating in the interest of a greater market share, and even agreeing a common set of measurements and a common language” (Airbus. com cited in Browaeys and Price, 2011, p 67). However, as time progressed evidence suggests that this has not occurred as demonstrated in key cross-cultural issues experienced by the organisation. Introduction not yet complete (Try to make a generic view of CrossCultural Management beyond companies ie consider how CC management is dealt with across industry sectors ( most prevalent in telecoms organizations) also what are the “roots” of CC management and how does it address new global challenges/provide new solutions.

Should compare apples with apples ie list all significant issues, select an issue eg Economic Patriotism and evaluate the approach taken by both parties / im arguing for creating A table to do this we can talk… Key Cross-Cultural Issues faced by Airbus (Related to Globe’s Cross-Cultural Approach) Problems Faced by Airbus (enumerate and modify in your own words) Socio-cultural & technical problems. The workforce at the aircraft manufacturer is geographically distributed in proportion to national ownership stakes.

In an instance of economic nationalism, government distort private transactions among economic actors by discriminating against foreigners in the name of national interest. This lead to the decrease in the productive efficiency. It is because of the various differences of management styles and way of communication. For e. g. : comparing with the French people, the Germans prefer collective decision making, whereas the French prefer centralised decision. At the same time the Spanish are flexible but have inferiority complex, so they have tendency to be vague and unreliable due to which they respond very less. Ian Stokes, 2006). The main problem is when EADS company of Airbus was created, two chief executives German and French headed it. It was maintained even due to knowing the fact of the crisis caused by problems in development in A380 began. Looking from the Hofstedes cultural dimensions the French likes high power distance whereas the Germans prefer low power distance. So while making decisions Germans tend to interfere in the conversations while it is being dislike by France people. So this unintentionally hurt the ego’s of the French people and creates a conflict between them.

Due to the government involvement respective countries, cost cutting measures were delayed as state aid comes to rescue their respective partner first. From this situation it seems that power id distributed unequally. The government is being self centred and looking after its own motives. Even no action id being undertaken by the group members of the company in order to tackle this issue. It is in this area that a culture shows the extent to which it ‘tolerates and fosters pecking orders, and how actively members try to reduce them’.  One of the main causes in delay of the launch of Airbus A380 for two years was owing to the fact of having a complex wiring design system for it. There were 1,200 functions to control the plane that takes 98,000 wires & 40,000 connectors. The system has 500,000 models, which needs to be kept in sync from different countries. It was complicated and very much time consuming due the fact of the engineers being at different locations. Even the aircraft parts were built at different locations.

For example: nose sections are built in France, fuselages in Germany, wings in Great Britain and tails in Spain. And the final assembly were done in Toulouse (France). It unnecessarily increased the transportation cost, communication problems and foremost aspect time consumption.here was a problem with regards to software and knowledge as well. The engineers in Germany and Spain used the older version V4 of the CAD program in order to design the wiring system, while the engineers in France and England used the newer version V5.

This created trouble and delay while transferring the data because the some data was lost while transferring files from one system to another. With regards to knowledge, French were familiar with the software while the Germans were not inexperienced compared to French. According to Hofstedes1 it seem that the French are more of individualistic in nature because they were least concerned about the training of its partner company’s. Due to the lack of integration in engineering it resulted failure in execution. When the HRM team was most needed to train the employees ; communicate between them regarding the software problems, they were very busy with responding to the new legislation- such as those concerned with labour working hours and the French directive on rights of individuals to choose their own training. As the French are more type of individualism because of the preference towards centralised executive, they tend to first sort out their problems that made them busy in doing things which was not important compared to training problem. Ian Stokes, 2006) 1. The top managers were busy struggling for the senior position in the consortium and lobbying for influence. These lead political goals get in the way of project goals. From this it seems that that the top managers were very much individualistic in nature. They were more interested in getting the name an enjoy being superior in the organization. They seemed to be self-achievement oriented and least concerned about the problems going on in the company.

This dispersed the decision making power which was most needed in problems like this. (Hofstede, 1991) All this problems lead to the delay in launch of Airbus A380 for two years that was scheduled to launch in 2006. Delay in delivery forced some airlines to cancel their orders. This gave them loss of euro 2 billion due that they had to make drastic cuts in the size of its workforce and closure of some plants, which in turn dented their image in the market. Efforts taken by Airbus to tackle the issues. In order to tackle the design of the wiring system and the software problems, Airbus made special investment to train its employees with the help of the software supplier.  They even tried to set up intercultural sessions to inspire a warm feeling of mutual understanding, but it failed to address adequately the fundamentals of co-operation.The EADS managers most of the times tried to draw attention to the common areas and similarities, rather than differences in order to tackle the cross-cultural differences with regards to perceptions and doing things. They have distributed their workforce in proportion to the ownership stakes geographically because they thought that this would increase their productive efficiency. Put Table A in here Critical Evaluation of Research (based on analysis of table)  Many organisations are forced to develop and expand themselves into new markets overseas due to the increasing maturation of domestic markets and foreign competitors. In order to gain a competitive advantage over their competitors they are recognising their identity that can help them to sustain.

The main motive behind this step is that by enlightening the only one of its kind personality or character of an organisation or group, all the way through symbols, communications and behaviours, it will help them to create favourable corporate image in the minds of these groups. Such differentiation will help them to create an image based on the uniqueness of its own identity, as well as creating a tendency in the minds of the people or groups as a basis for developing long-term profitable relationships.  Economic patriotism is most of similarly related on these theories.

Economic patriotism means, “supporting one’s country”. Economic patriotism is the coordinated and the promoted behaviour of consumers or companies (both private and public) that consists of favouring the good or services produced in their country or in their group of countries (wikipedia) 3. According to me economic patriotism means favouring the people and practices done in ones own country, right or wrong. The main motive of the people living in their own country is to promote its thoughts, beliefs, way of doing business, etc. this is automatically done because they had been under the influence of such practices since their childhood.

It’s like expressing that they love their country and ready to sacrifice for it. Economics patriotism can be done with the help of many activities for e. g. : imposing tariffs on imports, quota system, or encouraging consumers to purchase own domestic services and products. Nowadays a new type of economic patriotism has came up that does not allows foreign investors to develop or acquire companies in one’s country. For e. g. : Arcelor acquired by Mittal (Largest steel industry). Government and political bodies are playing the main role to promote economic patriotism.

Even in the Airbus case study economic patriotism has played a significant role in problems created by governments of different countries. The workforce at the company is geographically distributed in proportion to national ownership stakes. So this makes the workforce far from each other. According to the company it may help them to increase productive efficiency. But in an instance of economic nationalism (whereby the people support their respective rights and countries), the government of respective countries changed private transactions according to their thoughts and practices in order to protect the local economic interests.

They discriminated foreigners in the name of national interest. So political bodies came into role in order to support the local people. Their economic motives include the preservation of employment or attraction of economic activity to a certain area. And the company’s strategic motives were to include national security in order to capture rents abroad in monopolistic market. But the patriotic approach of the company proved ineffective because it conflicts with the economic efficiency, which derives from the protection of the interests of the local lobbies. The company tried to integrate all its employees and create a sense of togetherness but the “economic patriotism” practiced by the people and government in respective countries failed the company’s objectives. The politicians want to win the votes from people by supporting their interest. The damaged caused by economic nationalism indirectly created inefficiency and poor performance of corporate governance. Due to this damage Airbus reputation was dented. The government did not supported because it conflicted with the ideas and thoughts of the government.

The cost-cutting measures were delayed because the state aid first comes to rescue the government-supported company. The competition increased because government supported companies had privileged access to infrastructure and procurement contracts. This delayed all the process in the company and unnecessarily increased the loss and the cost of production. Indirectly the Airbus suffered from takeover threats from the more efficient organisations. Finally, the national efforts to support one’s interest proved to be self-defeating as other countries react in kind, neutralising the initial attempt to gain competitive advantage.

Reflection of the way the company was organised. One of the causes of the delay was the complex wiring system and the software compatibility. The digital system has 500,000 models that need to be kept in sync. Despite of the fact that even a single mistake can create problems the company operated from different regions further complicating the wiring system. The seems to be communication gap between the employees because engineers in Germany and Spain used the older V4 version of the CAD program to design the wiring whereas engineers in France and England used the newer V5 version.

Although it has been said by the software developer that both the version were compatible but the company should not have taken risks of going with different versions. Although there was claim by developer regarding compatibility the data was lost while transferring files from one system to another. The suppliers were also not involved in a collaborative effort to anticipate problems. There was lack of training and communication among the engineers as well. It can be seen because the engineers in France were familiar with the software while the Germans did not have much experience with it.

This shows that there is centralised decision in the company that made other engineers lack of knowledge. They built the different parts in different region, which further complicated the assembling system due to the lack of communication related to knowledge and software problems. Author Hellemans notes that ‘what happened in Germany was not just technical problems related to software but it was an execution failure due to lack of efficient knowledge’.  From the problems that Airbus faced, the company was not properly organised because it seems that relied mostly on the software developer regarding the solutions.

There was even lack of training, communication and transparency within the organisation. It seems that mostly the decision were made in headquarters only, not with the consent of other people. The merger of the national components in 2001 only integrated themselves officially but mentally they were far away from each other. It even seems to be inequality from lack of technological development equally because when France & England upgraded themselves to V5 version, the German and Spain were still on the V4 versions what are the lessons learned from this specific research ie outcomes from analysis of the table/also comment on the quality of the research / ie selection of evaluation “parameters” to compare, what if scenarios / heuristics / deductions / further research) In the real world there is not any specific best way to integrate diverse cultures within an international joint venture. It solely depends upon the situation and the kind of cultures involves. But I am trying to be closer to individual’s perception and actions that may lead to a common ground where everyone accept each other.

Proper research needs to done before setting up such a culturally diversified company. Research should be on the basis of the cultural dimension of Hofstedes1 i. e. power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculine vs. feminine, short-term vs. long-term orientation, what they like and what they don’t. It helps them to integrate all their activities on the common grounds and come up with a solution that maybe acceptable to everyone. Collectivist’s approach: As we don’t have any idea about what people’s want and desires are, a collectivists approach will explore the ideas and perceptions about each other.

It will gradually help to know each other’s ideas and beliefs that can be helpful to achieve the desired goals and objectives. Initially it may create problems but at the later stage when everybody has been known to each other it help people or employees to understand regarding what to do and what not to do. Diffuse relationships: The company employees need to be considered as members of a group or an organization. They should be involved decision-making process. It helps the employees to build rapport between themselves that in turn explore each other’s ideas and beliefs.

Their relationships with each other helps us to find how efficient the organization is and what steps need to be taken in order to tackle the cross-cultural issues. Teambuilding session should be conducted in order to create a feeling of oneness, which can increase the efficiency of a company. (Trompenaars, 1993; 8-11) 1. Equality: If we integrate diverse cultures within international joint venture equality should be always there in term development, technological advancement, knowledge, etc. n the Airbus it failed because Germany ; Spain had V4 version of the Cad programme whereas France ; England had the latest V5 version. So always proper standardisation should be adopted within the whole organization at a specific time. Global knowledge, local understanding: the approach should be to indulge diverse cultures but the process should be local. It means any activity done should be on the basis of the activity carries out in the home country of any organisation. Proper training should be given to its employees from the engineers at headquarters because they know it better than anyone else.

This helps them to consume less time and achieve perfection, stabilisation, which is considered to be vital in any industry in order to achieve goals and objectives. Training can even be of language, way of doing things, actions, etc. Due to lack of proper training the Germans were not familiar with the software, it more delayed the project while executing the fuselages. Time focus (polychromic): Initially the top managers need to be polychromic in time i. e. the top managers need to focus on several tasks ; should be less dependent on detailed information hile doing these tasks. Their main focus should be on involvement with people. This helps the employees or the partners in business to be much more expressive and approach the management whenever they feel to do so. (Hall ; hall, 1990).

The Germans felt the French were imposing the new system upon them, causing them to reject it. In relation to the GLOBE theory, this act can be identified as an action of assertiveness from German employees, due to the fact that they would rather emphasis on results rather than relationships. Furthermore, Webber (cited in Clark, 2006) expressed this when he explained that “changing over to new software is costly and time consuming. As a result, German employees faced French imposition with confrontation. German and French governments also had extensive involvement causing increased economic patriotism. Will add government issues here and relate to individualism from Hofstede Reorganisation of company Airbus required a reorganisation of the company in order to improve “co-ordination, reduce the costs of production and the time between conception of planes and their introduction into service. ” However this was not planned efficiently, due to the fact that culture differences would arise. A significant issue Airbus faced was the problem of having two CEO’s, one from Germany, the other from France.

Introduction

Before we begin to explore whether it is a worthwhile exercise to seek to change an organisation through a planned approach we must first begin with a definition of our terms. What might we mean by “deliberate”, “change” and an “organisation” To do so will help us explore under what circumstances planned change may be worthwhile or even possible. Huczynski & Buchanan (1991) define organizations as “social arrangements for the controlled performance of collective goals”.

This definition fits well those who would propose a deliberate change approach as it suggests an element of control of the organisation is possible. It also pictures the organisation as a separate entity whose goal is to control and that there is agreement by the members on what these goals should be. The fits with the roots of Organisational Development that the performance of the organisation can be enhanced by exerting control in some way over the structures, processes and individuals that make up the organisation.

Some would take issue however with the concept of the organisation as a seperate entity: Morgan (1986) “organizations are complex and paradoxical phenomena that can be understood in different ways” thus change of the organisation is a much more complex issue. In Morgans view, the idea that we can identify the elements that make up the organisation, in the same way that you might dismantle a machine, does not allow for the complexity that exists. As our view of the organisation affects our perspective our definition of the type of change we are examining will also affect the scope of our investigation.

Schein (1969) defines change as “the initiation of new patterns of action, belief and attitudes among substantial segments of the population”. Change is something that is started by someone (a change agent), but does not necessarily need to involve everyone. For Schein, change is deep rooted in that it goes beyond the surface level change of process and goes to the core of behaviour: beliefs and attitudes. Lippett (1973) uses a broader definition: “any planned or unplanned alteration to the status quo”.

We will explore whether, using such a broad definition, the planned approach might be more suitable to particular contexts. Our final term in need of definition is “deliberate change”. Ford & Ford (1995) define this as “when a change agent deliberately and consciously sets out to establish conditions and circumstances that are different from what they are now and then accomplishes that through some set or series of actions and interventions either singularly or in collaboration with other people”.

Thus deliberate change involves intent that distinguishes it from change which is not consciously produced and instead occurs as a series of side effects, accidents or unanticipated consequences of actions.

The Arguments for Deliberate Change

• Performance is enhanced by the controlled introduction of change rather than allowing it to happen haphazardly. It is worth noting that the classical approach, from which this argument derives, was developed during a period when the management approach was fairly reactive and adhoc.

The scientific approach to management was an attempt to create order and efficiency. Fayol (1949), suggested the role of mangers is to plan, organise, command, co-ordinate and control. Critics of the approach would attack the concept of leadership portrayed by Fayol and others e. g. Collins who speaks of “Level 5” leaders who are more servants than charismatic controllers; those who would look in the mirror when performance dips and praise their team for the successes achieved. Those who would act more as facilitators than controllers.

There is also wider criticism of the notion that planned change is good for organisations per se. This seems to be a notion that permeates much of OD literature, that individuals need to be controlled for change to be effective. Croch et al challenges the view that because leaders see unprecedented turbulence they act as a buffer to the organisation to minimise this by resistance, denial or inaction. Leaders are inherently obstructionist in their stance. Burnes & Stalker (1961) found that rather than act as a blocker to change; leaders seized the opportunity to initiate action.

Thus one could argue that rather than needing to control individual action it may be more appropriate to allow individuals the freedom to seize the opportunities that prevail around them. One could also question the view that planned change is more effective than “unplanned” change. Studies examining the success of transformations have suggested that 66% of organisations fail in their change efforts. Change now takes place at an ever accelerating rate, if managers do not plan how to deal with change there is a danger that the organisation will be driven by vagaries of its environment.

Some critics would question the notion that change is as rapid and all pervasive as some writers would suggest. Weick (1985) would argue that the turbulence is only created in the perception of those who create the turbulence rather than by the events themselves. One could argue that rather than planned change perhaps there is a call for planned stability. Individuals may be getting tired of the changes that are imposed upon them and instead seek stability in their environment.

Some would argue change has always been with us, others would argue that stability is equally as prevalent. The notion that change is a given is built on Darwinian concept that all things evolve in a common way to attain improved circumstances.

• Planned change is the most effective way to deliver the performance as organisations need long term strategic plans to enable them to attain the results they require. This build from a top down view of the organisation guided by a group of rational individuals who make decisions for the good of the organsiation and its members.

Taylor (1911) and his scientific view of management “the work of everyman is fully planned out by management” supported the concept of leaders as rational decision makers, fully able to plan every task of the workers who in turn simply carried out the tasks assigned to them. John Harvey-Jones and would support this managerialist position by building a picture of the “hero” manager fully capable of implementing any change they see fit. The argument also portrays the change process itself as rational capable of being controlled e. g. Leighs (1988) who identifies a list of internal and external triggers to change that can enable the control to take place. Pettigrew (1985) criticises the approach for taking an acontextual, atheoretical and aprocessual stance: organisations are not this independent entity that the writers suggest. Clegg (1990) suggests organisations are embedded in a network of wider social relationships. Organisations don’t just reside in an environment; they are part of its fabric. Thus even if the leaders have the skills the control of the complexity would be beyond them.

There is also criticism aimed at the assumption that planned change results in the intended outcomes. Grevenhoest et al (2003) “The outcome of the change process is often different from what was planned and new projects are often started before previous ones have finished properly” Other studies have questioned the success rate of planned change in achieving their initial goals.

What would be the “success rate” of unplanned change? How much change takes place as a reaction of internal and external forces rather than through some strategic planning process?

Planned change enables the change agent and those implementing the change to take into account a range of issues that would not otherwise be included. Although this may be true it does not necessarily follow that this means they are able to influence or control these factors. The argument, by adopting a scientific approach assumes that by identifying the issues the individuals then have the skills and ability to manipulate the “issues” to make the change more effective. Such capacity, even if it is possible, presumes highly sophisticated skills. Would the individuals possess such skills? . Planned change enables leaders of the change to ensure that the changes are introduced in such a way that they are accepted by the individuals within the organisation. Ford & Ford (1995) point to the power of communication in driving change. “everything, including prevailing conditions and circumstances, is seen as created by and in communication… in the absence of communication there is no intentional change. ” Such communications follow fairly simple patterns and the drivers of change can use different types of conversation to make the changes happen.

At a more macro Level Lewin (1951) placed the individual in the group to which they belong which forms the individuals perceptions, feelings and actions. He maintained the status quo is held together by various field forces which, when identified could be strengthened or diminished to bring about the necessary change. By “unfreezing” the status quo, then “moving” to the new state and finally “re freezing” the changes become effective. These concepts seem to adopt a rather simplified view of individual behaviour and of the change process itself. They imply change can be mapped as a set of stages hat individuals go through and which can then be planned and controlled, e. g. by the use of communication techniques. Bandura (1986) questions this simplistic approach to individual behaviour and instead proposes a social cognitive view “ people are neither driven by inner forces nor automatically shaped and controlled by external stimuli…behaviour, cognitive and other personal forces and environmental events all operate as interacting determinants of each other. Arguments against Planned Change Burnes and Salauroo (1995) aim four criticisms at the planned change approach:

• Much of OD on which it is based was designed for top-down, autocratic; rule based organisations, which operated in a predictable and stable environment. Such a picture of the organisation is one that the management Guru’s of the 1980’s and 1990’s fought against (Peters & Waterman, Kanter) arguing instead for an organisation that was bottom up, that was built around team working rather than hierarchy. Involving matrix management and extended ps of control rather than vast hierarchical structures to exercises control over the workers.

Handy (2001) now argues that such vast hierarchical organisations will be few in numbers and instead the workforce will be epitomised by “fleas” living in some symbiotic relationship but over whom the large organisations have little control. Thus one should not attempt to apply the principles to a business environment that undergoes constant change and whose watchwords are consultation and facilitation rather than authority and control. However to suggest that all organisations have moved away from a top down, autocratic stance is perhaps a little naive.

Many may advocate a consultative approach but it is still the board of directors who make the strategic decisions. There is also the argument highlighted previously that the notion of rapid continual change is one of perception rather than concrete reality.

• The focus of planned change tends to be on incremental change, taking place through a series of defined and controllable phases (Lewin) and so it is unable to incorporate radical transformational change (Schein) Planned change involves detailed diagnosis of the issues, action and then evaluation before further action and evaluation in an iterative cycle.

It recognises change needs to be self-sustaining. Quinn (1980) draws a picture of the executive who seeks out, through various channels, a range of data before proactively taking steps to “implant support”, form coalitions, and constantly re evaluate the direction of the organisation as he moved it gradually in the direction he seeks. Such planned change, could be very costly and labour intensive. Payne & Reddin’s study of a major change at a tobacco factory calculated the cost as 25-person manager years of OD.

1. Is such a cost justified in light of the research that suggests much of the changes would prove ineffective?
2. In the case of rapid, radical change a coercive approach might be more appropriate than the planned approach. Does change really take place in such a controlled, phased way?
3. Are change agents able to introduce change in such a controlled way?
4. What about the role of power and politics? Buchanan & Badham suggested that politics is a reality and by necessity change agents have to get involved otherwise the changes are likely to fail.
5. However, would the change agent have the skills to engage in such behaviour successfully?
6. If the change involves culture change, difficulties start at the analysis stage as culture is difficult to define therefore how can you then plan to make changes?
7. Where would the start and end point be and how would you evaluate the differences?

• Planned change makes the assumption that there is common agreement between all parties and that they all have a willingness and interest in making the changes.

It seems to adopt a unitarist approach to change that suggests organisations are essentially co operative, that little conflict exists amongst the members on the overall aims of the organisation. Both the pluralist and radical schools would argue much conflict exists in reality. The radical school might go as far as to suggest that the workers need protection from management, as the drivers of the two groups are completely different. Certainly the planned approach seems to view the managers as rational, altruistic individuals who always act for the good of the organisation and its members.

Bowman C. (1999) suggests that changes to the status quo tend to emerge from action and rarely come from strategic analysis. It is far better then for changes to take place as a stream of decisions over time than agreeing some common vision of the outcomes intended by the changes. The Marxist view would challenge this by suggesting that as their focus is on increasing profits, by necessity that involves the exploitation of the members of the organisation .

• The planned approach assumes the approach is suitable for all organisations. Pettigrew & Whipp (1991) instead suggest that no such universal rules exist and leading change actually involves a flow of actions that need to be appropriate to the context rather then working through some recipe for success as is suggested by some texts e. g. Leighs (1988) “Effective change: twenty ways to make it happen” Pettigrew (1985) criticises the approach for concentrating on change episodes rather than the “processual dynamics of changing”.

Few have undertaken longitudinal studies to explore the process of change which would enable you to place the changes in the context within which they occur: For Pettigrew it is these structures and contexts which give the changes “form, meaning and dynamic”. He also criticises planned change for assuming managers work to achieve an end state that is knowable and achievable whereas change is a complex process that doesn’t occur in bite size chunks. You need to explore the process of changing and not just the change itself.

This is perhaps rather a harsh criticism, as it was not suggested that the approach would suit all situations at all times. In fact the focus is very much on incremental change however even here critics question the basic tenets of the approach built on the idea that change takes place as a steady flow of incremental changes towards a common goal. Gersick (1991) suggests a “punctuated equilibrium paradigm” through which to view change to challenge the view that individual systems develop along the same path.

Gersick proposes the notion of periods of equilibrium punctuated by revolutionary periods that cause upheaval in the change process rather than some gradual incremental step to the end goal. Van de Van & Poole (1995) suggest that rather than take the “one shoe fits all approach” we need to look at the different perspectives through which writers view change and explore where they are inter related. One could also argue that the planned approach to change suggests that conflict needs to be eliminated and organisations need to strive for a smooth transition from one state to another.

The notion goes back to the notion that change occurs in phases and the concept that individuals reaction hen faced with change is to attempt to block it. There has also been much criticism of the planned approach in that, although it attempts to tackle “how to implement change” when it comes to specific guidance the writers provide little substance.

The planned approach seems to view change as episodic, the result being that it takes the view that the organisation exists in a stable environment which is interrupted by periods of change which need to be controlled to ensure a smooth transition from one state to another and recreate the stability. The role of the change agent is to create the change by focusing on leverage points that will help ensure any conflict is resolved.

Change instead of punctuated equilibrium is a pattern of endless incremental modifications that is driven by a range of internal and external forces. As such rather than using a set recipe for success the individuals involved in the change need a vast range of skills to enable them to adapt to the forces affecting them. Change is not an end state but a process that is cyclical. The role of the change agent is to facilitate rather than create, to redirect the change that already takes place rather than create change.

However Weick and Quinn argue that because episodic change examines change at the macro level and continuous change at the micro level it is possible to reconcile the two approaches. “ Change is a mixture of reactive and proactive modifications, guided by purposes at hand, rather than an intermittent interruption of periods of convergence”. Collins (1998) “change and continuity are not alternative objective states…. Because they are typically coexistent…what constitutes change or continuity is perspective dependent”.

References

1. Armenakis, A. A. and Bedeian A. G. (1999) Organizational Change: a Review of Theory and research in the 1990s. Journal of Management 25 (3) 293-315. Bandura, A. 1986 Social Foundations of thought and Action: a social cognitive theory.
2. Bowman, C. (1999) Action Led strategy and managerial self-confidence. Journal of Managerial Psychology 7/8 555-568.
3. Buchanan, D. and Badham, R (1999) Politics and organizational change: the lived experience. Human Relations 52 (5) 609-629.
4. Burnes, B. 2000 Managing change: a strategic approach to organisational dynamics.
5. Collins, D. (1998) Organizational Change: Sociological Perspectives. Doolin, B. (2003) Narratives of Change: Discourse, Technology and Organization Organization 10
6. Ford, J. D. and Ford, L. W. (1995) The role of conversations in producing intentional change in organizations. 20 (3) 541-570.
7. Francis. H and Sinclair. J. (2003) A processual analysis of HRM-based change. Organization 10 (4) 685-700.
8. Gersick, C. J. G. 1991) Revolutionary change theories: a multilevel exploration of the punctuated equilibrium paradigm. Academy of Management Review 16 (1) 10-36.
9. Gravenhorst, K. M. B. Werkman, R. A. & Boonstra. J. J. (2003) The change capacity of Organisations: general assessment and Five Configurations. Applied Psychology 52 (1) 83-105.
10. Greenwood, R. and Hinings, C. R. (1996) Understanding radical Organizational Change: Bringing together the old and new institutionalism. Academy of Management Review 21 (4) 1022-1054.
11. Hardy, C. (1996) Understanding Power: bringing about strategic change. British Journal of Management 7 (special issue):S3-S16. Hoskings, D. M. and Anderson, N 1992 Organizational change and innovation: Psychological perspectives and practices in Europe.
12. Petigrew, A. and Whipp, R,1993 Managing Change for competitive success. Pettigrew et al (2001) Studying Organizational Change and development: Challenges for future research. Academy of Management Journal 44 (4) 697-713
13. Quinn, J. B. (1980) Managing strategic change. Sloan Management Review 21 (4) 67-86.
14. Rajagopalan, N. and Spreitzer, G. M. 1996 Toward a theory of strategic change: a multi-lens perspective and integrative framework. Academy of Management Review 22 (1) 48-79.
15. Sturdy, A. and Grey , C. (2003) Beneath and Beyond organizational change management: exploring alternatives 10 (4) 651-662.
16. Tsoukas, H. (1998) Chaos, complexity and organization theory Organization 5 (3) 291-313.
17. Van de Van A. H. and Poole, M. S. (1995). Explaining development and change in Organizations. Academy of Management Review 20 (3): 510-540.
18. Weick, K. E. and Quinn, R. E. (1999) Organizational change and development. Annual Review of Psychology 50: 361-386.
19. Weick K. E. (2000) Emergent Change as a universal in organizations in “Breaking the code

In order to promote cooperation among countries, international organizations are formed and designed to function for the common public interest under a specific purpose. The United Nations as an international organization is a specialized general assembly which requires compliance of membership criteria and approval open to all nations of some international organization has a specific function like the World Trade which equitably works around matters relative to commerce, the United Nations in its principles stated its main purpose of maintaining international peace (UN, art. 1. 1).

The principles of justice in the United Nations aims include the suppression of injustice and works by trying to enforce nations to abide with international laws in the settlement of disputes. Friendly relations are encouraged among nations in order to strengthen equality and in order to promote peace. For the UN, international peace can be achieved through solutions that solve the problems involving economic, socio-cultural or humanitarian character in order to promote and encourage respect for human rights and freedom for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion (UN, art. 1. 3).

In summary, international organizations operate worldwide around these concerns and almost on all issues imaginable, from peace building to technical standard setting; from promoting literacy to public sanitation in order to influence the lives of many people around the world (Dijkzeul and Beigbeder, 2003:1). International organizations differ mainly in functions where its membership are only open to members from a particular region or continent of the world, like European Union, African Union, ASEAN and other regional organizations (Dijkzeul and Beigbeder, 2003:2).

The United Nations on the other hand and in its aim to meet the needs of the international community extends its arms on a global scale to other nations by existing around diverse aims that helps to increase international relations, promoting education, health care and economic development, environmental protection, human rights, humanitarian efforts, inter-cultural approach and conflict resolution (Dijkzeul and Beigbeder, 2003:27).

The definite aims and purpose of an international organization are ascribed and defined in their charter or document as guidelines for the group’s existence. The UN since its inception in 1945 has continued to grow in order to adapt to the changes of a modern world while remaining pat and firm towards its original maintenance of peace and security (Krasno, 2004:3).

Abstract

This essay seeks to illustrate how organizational conflict cannot be avoided. It will demonstrate the various ways in which conflict may arise within organizations and classify them into a range of groups. There will be a thorough analysis to show if the conflict is positive or negative towards the growth of an organization. Findings of the previous will then lead to different mechanisms that can be used when managing conflict to ensure positive outcomes in an organization. The aforementioned will be supported by relevant theories, which will assist in reinforcing the validity of this essay.

Introduction

In this era of rapid development organizations are formed as a social entity to foster an environment of financial, economic and social growth. Organizations can range from large governmental bodies to small business. Organizations have evolved through different stages, from its birth to maturity. During these stages organizations tend to be adversely affected by crisis of leadership, autonomy, control and bureaucracy.

Consequently these crises make conflict unavoidable. Additionally, an organization may be exemplified where two or more individual establish a relationship in order to accomplish and acquire a desired goal. There are various schools of thought as it pertains to conflict including the Traditional View, Human Relations View and the Interactionist View. More so conflict exists at different levels namely Intrapersonal, Interpersonal and Intergroup. However there may be some techniques available to manage conflict like Negotiation, Mediation, Arbitration, Conciliation and Consultancy. The following paragraphs will further explain the scopes of conflict and how it can be managed.

Conflict

It is a process that begins when one part perceives that another party has negatively affected, or is about to negatively affect, something that the first part cares about. An organization is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals, which controls its own performance, and which has a boundary separating it from its environment.  Schools of thoughts with regards to conflict.

The Traditional View

This view was prevalent in the the 1930’s and 40’s where it was conceived that the existence of conflict can only be harmful to the growth of an organization. Therefore in that era conflict should have been avoided, this resulted in less focus to research on the causes of conflict.

The Human Relations View

The human relations position pioneered that conflict was inevitable in all groups and organizations. It could never be eliminated and it also sometimes proves to be beneficial to a group’s performance. This was dominant in the late 40’s and mid 70’s.

The Interactionist View

This view encourages the existence of conflict at an ongoing minimum level, enough to keep the group viable, critical and creative. After looking at the above views it will not be feasible to say that conflict is good or bad. It can only be analyzed as bad or good based on the type of conflict. (The schools of thoughts were taken from “Stephen Robbins, Organizational Behaviour, 10th ed. 2003”)

Functional: Interactionist view does not see all conflict as good but those conflicts that supports the goals and improves performance is called functional conflict or constructive conflict.

Dysfunctional: On the other hand conflict that is dysfunctional relates to the conflict that promotes alienation, inefficiency and generally has adverse effects on productivity. To know if a conflict is either functional or dysfunctional, the types must be known.

Types of Conflict Task

• Conflict- this relates to the content and goals of the task that is to be performed, Relationship
• Conflict- this focus on interpersonal relationships, and Process
• Conflict- this relates to how the task gets done. Studies show that Relationship conflict most of the times turns out to be dysfunctional.

Task, relationship or process can perpetrated in the following ways Intrapersonal Conflict occurs within us: when we are at odds with ourselves, when we are torn between choices we need to make, when we are frustrated with our goals or accomplishments. Conflict within us very often leads to conflict with others. Interpersonal Conflict occurs between two or more individuals. We might get into a heated debate in a meeting, get in an argument with a coworker, or have a bad encounter with our boss. This is the type of conflict we are most concerned with in this workshop, although our discussion has bearing on the other types.

Intergroup Conflict occurs between groups: nations, gangs, work areas, etc. For example, your department at work might have an ‘us vs. them’ attitude about some other department. Intra/ Interpersonal and Intergroup was taken from a Business Management skills article from Dave Neal found on . The Process of Conflict diagram will help illustrate why conflict arise in organizations, this was taken from Stephen Robbins, Organizational Behaviour, 10th ed. 2003 .

Stage 1 shows some of the conditions that has the capacity to develop conflict A break down in communication is significant in contributing to conflict . The true sense of communication is for the receiving party to understand what the sender is communicating in order to attain the right feedback. The bereaucratic nature of an organization facilitate the process of unsuccessful communication. This is so as information passed on to subordinates may be prone to deterioration. This may be so as the subordinate or receiver may not attach the urgency of the message that the sender intended.

As such, this reluctance may cause the final message or information to be significantly ambiguous, which would result in conflict. Additionally, another source of conflict is structural factors as it pertains to size, Staff Heterogeneity, Participation, Line-Staff distinction, Reward Systems, Resource Interdependence and Power. In terms of size an organzation tend to operate more effciently and with less conflict when it is small. The manger has more direct influence in the company in terms of supervision and the overseeing of delegated tasks.

However where the company grows in size the reins of controll are strained. There may now be increased specialization and bereaucracy. Consequently there may be increased opportunity to for misconception of information and hence conflict. For example, an interview was done at a renowned company, WASA in Trinidad and Tobago. The manager of the Construction Services Department North is responsible for various pipe laying projects therefore it is mandatory for him to retrieve materials for the various projects.

The retrieval of these materials does not lie in his hands, thoroughly, but this function is mainly dependent on the Manager of Corporate Services-Supplies to source the right provider of the materials. This process of sourcing these materials may be long at times therefore putting the pipe laying projects sometimes on long delays. Consequently there is the possibility of having conflict between these two managers but note carefully that the structure of certain procedures within the organization is the main cause for the conflict.

The issue of staff heterogeneity appears to have an adverse effect as it pertains to conflict. There are many issues which may arise due to differences in staff. For instance the junior staff in a company may feel that the senior staff may be too inflexible. They generally wield more power in organizations and junior staff may be subjected to their redundancy and myopic work approach. Thus conflict may tend to arise. Moreso, Partcipation, in terms of decision making, is a source for conflict. A subordinate may need to be able to express their opinions. Where employees re given a forum to express their decision making opinons it may be noted that conflict is more likely to occur. According to Robbins, an atmosphere of conflict may be created as the employee is unable to prevail with his point of view due to his lack of authority. Futhermore According to Allen 1955, line and staff distinctions may be another cause for conflict. It may be noted that Line units perform tasks that are directly related to the core activities of the organization. However, staff units perform tasks that support the line function. This definition was taken from the book Organizational Behavior by K. W. Thomas. This may be exemplified in the aforementioned WASA scenario where a line unit member involved in the installation of pipe was hampered in carrying out his task. This may result in conflict as the staff unit may be removed and not place as much emphasis on the centralized operations of the company as a line member. It may be also noted that conflict may arise in terms of reward systems. This refers to the fact that one party may receive a reward at the expense of the other. As such conflict would tend to arise. and that i Personal Variables, this is basically personality differences.

An important factor is found in stage 2 due to the fact that the antecedents of conflict must be perceived or felt. This is so because all the possibilities in stage 1 could occur but the feelings associated with stage 2 may not necessarily transpire. Further observation of the above diagram with regards to stage 3, which are techniques to handle conflict can also encourage conflict, for instance competing (this speaks for itself) and also avoiding due to the fact that the matter is never resolved leaving the parties unsatisfied and also no growth was made towards achieving the organizations’ goals.

In Addition stage 4 can also promote conflict depending on what happened in the previous stage. If the conflict handling techniques (stage3) was destructive then behaviours (stage 4) may be verbal attacks, threats and ultimatums, aggressive physical attacks or overt efforts to terminate the other party. Therefore it can be analyzed that stage 3 can also initiate more conflict. There are other major fields of study within organizational behaviour that can be a recipe for conflict. Some of these are as follows.

Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction is an integral aspect in organizational conflict. The employee needs to feel truly a part of the company and that his contribution is instrumental to the company’s progress. He must also feel challenged by his work load and not bogged down by mundane and alienating tasks. Personalities and emotions- (express on this factor and mention the following in the right context) there is the Myers- Briggs Type Indicator (a test of 100 questions that asks people how they react to a certain situation and then this break down into sixteen personality types.  Leadership skills- this is where studies were done analyzing the type of employees to see what type of leadership skill will be best suited in order to facilitate an ambiance of little conflict/ functional conflict thus enhancing the organization’s performance. Hersey and Blanchard’s situational theory reiterate this. In other terms if a manager does not have the right type of leadership skills to suit his staff conflict can occur. Organizational Change- if change is not accepted this can cause conflict especially if this change affects the culture of an organization. For example, a technology change may cause conflict if workers perceive they are not ready to handle it. (use other examples)

Techniques to Manage Conflict

Conflict may be managed If conflicts results in destructive outcomes then it must be managed. The various ways of managing conflict are

• Negotiation- this is a process in which two or more parties exchange goods or services and attempt to agree on the exchange rate for them.
• Mediator- A neutral third party who facilitates a negotiated solution by using reasoning, persuasion, and suggestions for alternatives.
• Arbitrator- this involves a third party to a negotiation who has the authority to dictate an agreement.
• Conciliator- A trusted third party who provides an informal communication link between the negotiator and the opponent.
• Consultant- an impartial third party, skilled in conflict management, who attempts to facilitate creative problem solving through communication and analysis.

The definition s of the former four was taken from Organizational Behaviour, Stephen Robbins, 2003. Also the positive ways of handling conflict (stage3 of the diagram) Collaborate, Compromise and Accommodate (expand on these points) Other ways are Superordinate goals; this is creating a shared goal that cannot be attained without the working together of the conflicting groups. Smoothing- de-emphasizing on differences while looking at the common interest. Behavioural Change techniques can be used to alter personality. Structural Change Techniques can be used to avoid interactions between the conflicting groups .

Conclusion

In in an organization is inevitable. In essence, in the 1930’s and 40’s the Traditional View enveloped that all conflict as destructive and hence should be avoided at all cost. Additionally conflict is unavoidable in all organizations and it can never be eliminated. It has been proposed that conflict may also be advantageous to a group’s performance. The aforementioned denoted the Human Relations View which was prevalent among the late 1940’s and mid 1970’s. Moreover, the interactionist view states that a minimal level of conflict is necessary for the stimulation of creativity.

Furthermore conflict can operate on various levels namely Interpersonal, Intrapersonal and Intergroup. It is caused mainly through communication, structural and personal behaviour factors. Communication factors pertain to the distortion of information along the communication line. Structural factors that lead to conflict may include size, staff heterogeneity, participation, line staff distinctions, Reward systems, Resource Interdependence and Power.

Conflict is a state of opposition, disagreement or incompatibility between two or more people or groups of people, which is sometimes characterized by physical violence. Military conflict between states may constitute war. Definitions In political terms, “conflict” refers to an ongoing state of hostility between two or more groups of people. Conflict as taught for graduate and professional work in conflict resolution commonly has the definition: “when two or more parties, with perceived incompatible goals, seek to undermine each other’s goal-seeking capability”.

One should not confuse the distinction between the presence and absence of conflict with the difference between competition and cooperation. In competitive situations, the two or more parties each have mutually inconsistent goals, so that when either party tries to reach their goal it will undermine the attempts of the other to reach theirs. Therefore, competitive situations will by their nature cause conflict. However, conflict can also occur in cooperative situations, in which two or more parties have consistent goals, because the manner in which one party tries to reach their goal can still undermine the other.

A clash of interests, values, actions or directions often sparks a conflict. Conflicts refer to the existence of that clash. Psychologically, a conflict exists when the reduction of one motivating stimulus involves an increase in another, so that a new adjustment is demanded. The word is applicable from the instant that the clash occurs. Even when we say that there is a potential conflict we are implying that there is already a conflict of direction even though a clash may not yet have occurred.

Bibliography

1. K. W. Thomas, “Conflict and Negotiation Process in Organizations,” in Dunnette and Hough (eds. ), Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 2ne ed. , vol. 3, 1992
2. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Organization
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Audible was on a verge to success when its customer base was increasing tremendously through 1997-1999. However, in 2002 the decline began to affect audible when its expenses exceeded its revenues continually to the extent that the stock moved from national market to small cap market to over the counter market by early 2003. Currently, the environment of the internet media is on a downturn, it is different from what it was in the 1990’s and has made it difficult for internet ventures to succeed.

According to Porters model, the suppliers of Audible have considerable bargaining power as the company is highly reliant over its suppliers. The books, newspapers and magazines are supplied to audible for sale. For them, audible was important as owing to the time sensitivity of print media such as newspapers and magazine, cassettes and CDs were not suitable. There are minimal barriers to entry for online businesses hence; audible is expected to be faced with growing competition. Due to the high growth rate of the digital media industry there is high risk of substitutes as more and more companies indulge in providing audio books and contents. Currently, audible is not faced with extensive competition as audio content is a relatively novel concept and Audible can be considered as a pioneer in the audio content industry. Nevertheless, competition is taking a toll and audible is facing dangers of alternatives in the market.

Audible follows its strategy of promoting the brand through increased web-site traffic aided by online marketing and by maintaining strategic alliances with cable operators, CD-burning software providers and retail partners. Audible is very suitable for consumers that are always on the go and do not have time to sit and read books or material. It is convenient and handy for people who are busy and are more likely to prefer audible reading material. Hearing text allows mobility and flexibility; it saves time through multi tasking and can be more interesting than reading. Moreover, audible is an ideal solution for the visually impaired population who is unable to read text and could now hear text that for them was a farsighted notion.

With the passage of time and the advent of globalization, information technology is becoming a widespread phenomenon. The use of the internet has been on a constant rise and with the change in lifestyles there has been a growing trend in technologies such as the digital media commerce which allows users the convenience and accessibility any where and at any time. The scope of this area is of key interest to software and IT related companies as well as all the organizations related to the entertainment and information media due to the prospects of the company in the future. The digital media industry is expected to grow to an extent where the information and entertainment economy is reliant over digital delivery and distribution of media.

In order to become profitable audible needs to cut down its expenses. It needs to build its brand recognition among the consumers and distinguish its brand offering from that of other companies. For new technologies that diverge consumers from their current lifestyle it is important to communicate with them the benefits of the new medium and how it could make their life easier. Audible should attract more customers through extensive marketing and free trials. Alliance with book stores would also help audible in reaching out to its target consumers through book stores. Audible should keep up to date and become agile of the evolving technology. In order to be profitable, it should give its customers what they want and add functionalities as they become widespread, Such as easily downloadable material for smart phones and Mp3 players. Audible should create alliances with more media providers as well as consumer electronic manufacturers such as Nokia and Blackberry. Also, since the majority of sales of Audible are of its audio content, it should focus more over this aspect of its operations and provide larger variety to the consumers.

Partnerships

A partnership generally describes the type of business entities whose owners share the business profits and losses. When asked to choose between partnerships and corporations most entrepreneurs prefer partnerships for the reason that they are not exposed to dividend tax levies. This means therefore that the profits distributed between partners are mostly free of tax.  However this is not the obvious case as it will depend on the partnership structure that has been chosen by the entrepreneurs and the jurisdiction the partnership is operating in.

For me and my friend contemplating about going into a partnership may mean that we have to look at the different partnership structures available and then pick the one that suits us best. A partnership can either occur in form of a general partnership, a limited liability partnership or a limited partnership.

General partnership.

A general partnership describes the association of two entrepreneurs or more who co-own a profit business. This form of partnership may be created by simple written or oral agreements.  In such an arrangement partners share the business liability including losses and profits. Profits are taxed as part of the personal income of every individual partner. The partnership agreement usually lasts as the long as the partners want it to last.  However there is an option of going to the Office of the Secretary of State and filing a partnership agreement at a fee that may not be less than 20 dollars.

Limited partnership

A limited partnership unlike general partnership is more closely and strictly regulated.  When a partnership is in this structure the entrepreneurs must file their agreement with the Office of the Secretary of State. Such an arrangement requires a minimum of one general partner who has the responsibility of managing the business. This general partner is personally and fully responsible for any claims that may work against the business entity.  This arrangement also accommodates entrepreneurs who play no part in the daily management of the business. The liability of these entrepreneurs to the business is directly related to the amounts of their investment (Eugene, 1908).

Limited liability partnership

A limited liability for the most part operates like the general partnership except that the co owners are not individually held liable for any claims that are made against the business entity. It is the business itself rather than the partners who are responsible for negligence or errors caused by third parties or individual partners (Tisch & Weber, 2004). As is the case of general partnerships the profits are taxed as part of an individual partner’s income.

Domestic Corporation

A domestic corporation on the other hand refers to a more complex structure of business organization. A corporation in its own right is a legal entity. These entities usually have their own privileges, liabilities and rights which are independent from the influence of the individuals that formed it. Corporations continue to exist even if in future the shareholders change. A Corporation may be sued, can sue or own property.

Additionally it is mandatory for corporations to file their tax returns (Montefior, 2008). Corporations are usually managed or run by a board of directors. In the case of a new corporation the shareholders usually have the chance select their directors whose number is determined by the existing articles of incorporation. Furthermore in the case that such an entity fails the only thing that the entrepreneurs stand to loose is their investments.

The idea of forming a domestic corporation for our chain may be a bit more complicated. The proposition therefore would be to form a partnership for our Pizza stores. Corporations experience much more conflict than partnerships as each of the shareholders compete to have the bigger say in the affairs of the corporate. The legal requirements for starting a corporation are also immense and huge amounts of funds which are not available right now will be required. Compliance costs and taxation rates are furthermore higher for corporations than partnerships.

Communication problems and their corrective measures

Both partnerships and corporations are prone to communication problems due to the fact they are managed by people who perceive issues differently. Most communication problems in such settings manifest in the form of ethical dilemmas, business secrecy and deception which can easily result to fraud, inflammatory statements, inflammatory media and hostile stereo types (Lewis, 1987). Communication problems occur in business setting and should not be left to worsen.  One of the major steps that shareholders or partners  can take to ensure that  communication problems do not occur include first and fore most  clearly drawing  up and making every shareholder aware of the division of  responsibilities(Cook, 2004).

 It is vital for each partner to understand their particular roles in the business so that they do not interfere with the duties of others and thus lead to misunderstandings.  It will also be necessary to draw up procedures that indicate how disputes and ethical dilemmas will  be sorted out This will ensure that conflicts or conflicting situations  do not mature to levels of causing animosity which is a barrier to effective communication in itself. Generally unresolved disputes have the potential of causing major disruptions in business (Goldhaber, 1986).

Additionally the members should strive to instill within themselves the habit of creating time to carefully listen to each others needs this will work to ensure no communication problems arise. Additionally attending training sessions that target to enhance effective communication in the business is necessary (Jablin & Linda, 2004).  Exposure to such training sessions will ensure that shareholders have the appropriate listening, body language, speaking, presentation, problem solving, writing, and public speaking skills which are critical in ensuring effective business communication.

In conclusion the most preferred structure for our business would be the limited partnership for the reason that it will additionally enable us to attract other investors who will come in as limited partners. With the additional resources we will be able to easily expand and even consider the idea of forming a corporation.

Reference list

Cook, T. (2004). Communicating with employees. Jackson Wells Morris White paper.      Retrieved on August 6, 2009, from      http//474.125.77.132/search?q=cache:vo30aRrwoZEJ            trevorcook.typepad.com/wblogfiles/EmCom.pdf+EMP      OYEES+AND+COMMUNICATION

Eugene A.  (1908). Cases on the law of partnership: including limited partnerships          United States: West Pub. Co, p.102

Goldhaber, G. (1986). Organizational communication. Iowa: Wm.C. Brown, p.4.

Jablin, F. & Linda L. (2004). The New Handbook of           Organizational Communication:       Advances in Theory, Research, and Methods. Thousands Oak: Sage, p 512-513.

Lewis, P.  (1987).Organizational communication: the essence of effective management.   New York: Wiley, p.15-16.

Marshak, R. (2009). Reflections on wicked problems in organizations. Journal of  management Inquiry, 18(1), p. 58-59.

Montefior, H. (2008).The Taxation of Corporations in New York. Charleston:      BiblioBazaar, p.1-5

Tisch, J.  & Weber, K. (2004). The power of we: succeeding through partnerships. New  York: John Wiley and Sons, p.163