The situation

Kay, the finance manager at a large company faces a dilemma. Robert, who is one of the Accounts Directors and a union member, has requested an 8 percent raise for his work unit. His request is based on recent finance reports showing that his department has substantially contributed to a 15 percent profit increase for the organisation. He feels that his team should be compensated for the hard work and long hours they have put in over the last few years to achieve this outcome.
Kay knows the value of Robert’s team and readily acknowledges their achievements. However, she knows that the company has plans to expand and diversify. This new project will use up the majority of the profit increase for at least the next five years. She is willing to sit down with Robert and talk about how his team can get involved in the new project. There could be new job opportunities, some overseas assignments, and possible promotions to various leadership positions within the new project. Kay has flagged this with Robert; however, he is adamant that his team needs to be compensated with a monetary increase. He went as far as threatening to get the union involved if his request is unsuccessful.

Conflict Handling Style

Accommodating
Accommodating style refers to forsaking your own personal needs or desires for other. This style is applied when you want peace, feel like you are in the wrong or you do not care about the issue.

Avoiding
Avoiding style refers to hiding from the conflict. You do not do anything to get involved with the conflict and avoid it whenever it happens. This style is applied when you feel like you have no winning chance, or afraid to be condemn by people involved.

Compromising
Compromising style refers to finding a solution that everyone unwillingly accepts. You find a solution that will still leave some unsatisfied but better than having no solution. This style is applied when a deadline is near or need a temporary solution.

Collaborating
Collaborating style refers to finding a solution that everyone accepts gladly. You find a solution that leaves everyone satisfied. This style is applied when the parties have important relation with each other or the final solution has to make everyone satisfied.

Competing
Competing style refers to refusing to accept any idea except for your idea. This style is applied when you are standing up for your rights or morals, ending a long-term conflict between two parties or prevent another terrible decision from being made.

Robert

The conflict handling style used by Robert is the competing style. Kay has suggested to sit down and negotiate with Robert about the ways that his team could be rewarded instead of monetary increase. Kay also pointed out that the company would be expanding and does not have money to spare for his idea. However, Robert refused to listen to the request and instead threatened to involve the union in order to achieve his goal with no regards toward the company’s progress. Robert do not want to listen to any idea other than the idea he proposed, which fits the criteria of the competing style.

Bargaining approach

There are 2 types of bargaining approach:

Distributive approach

Distributive approach is often referred to as the ‘fixed pie strategy’ where a finite resource is split among the parties involved. With limited resources, everyone is in the ‘every man for himself’ mentality and tries to grab as much resource as possible while perceiving each other as enemies.

Integrative approach

Integrative approach is the opposite of distributive approach, where the parties involved work together to help increase the payoff for everyone. This approach is usually beneficial for all parties involved and all parties perceive each other as friends and collaborators.

Robert is using the distributive approach in the current situation. Instead of working together with Kay to find out a better way of rewarding the employees, Robert perceive Kay as an enemy in his way of receiving more monetary rewards. With the limited resources the company has, Robert tries to hog as much cash as he could without thinking of the greater benefit that the company could have.

Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal communication refers to the process of exchanging information between two or more people with verbal or non-verbal methods. In the situation given, Robert is displaying signs of poor listening skills. Kay have assessed the situation and came up with the idea of negotiating with Robert about the reward that he wants, however he does not listen to the solutions proposed by Kay. Robert’s poor listening skills and competing attitude have led to poor working environment for Kay and his team, as well as undermining the effect his request on the company.

Hall’s context model

From Robert’s actions, we can conclude that he displays the behavior of a low-context culture. He plainly demands an 8% increase in salary due to good working performance and does not hide his demands. Although Kay tries to negotiate with him, he insisted on his demands and tries to threaten her with the union and thus displaying weak interpersonal bond with others. He also does not care about the company or anybody else except for himself, showing that he is a self-centered person.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this case study demonstrates how important it is to have a good communication skills and listening skills. If Robert had both of these skills, he might obtain even greater benefits not only for his team, but also for the company. This will lead to even greater benefits in the future. It could have ended up in a win-win situation but he messed it up with his poor listening skills and communications skills. Therefore it is important to learn from this case study and use it in the real life.