Conflict Identification and Resolution
A couple years ago I was internally recruited by my company for an expat assignment in South America. I was grouped with five other U.S. employees to travel down to Brazil for a three year assignment. With apprehension and excitement in my heart I packed up my life and my wife and started the journey. The team and our families arrived within days of each other to start our new adventure. During the first three weeks each family was assigned a local representative that would assist with locating an apartment for each of the families. With two viable locations near the facility to choose from my wife and I had a difference of opinion of a path forward. One location was one hour away from the facility …show more content…
When dealing with outside Brazilian suppliers we would encounter major issues with deadlines and contract issues. Due to the size of the project the majority of the local suppliers were asked to bid on projects with very little knowledge of exactly would was required in order to complete the task at hand. Their knowledge and grasp of the project was lacking. Due to the national laws it was a requirement that the company was utilize high a number of local suppliers. As the project progressed we quickly learned that the chosen suppliers were not prepared for the amount of work that we required. Most of the local suppliers were understaffed in order to reduce their overall cost, they were not accustom to working with an aggressive time line and they were definitely not prepared when the local economy started to head into a recession. The deterioration of the economy assisted with resolution of the majority of the external conflicts with suppliers. In the beginning our company would simply take the smaller supplier to court when they could not hold up their end of the contract. We would withhold payment while the case went into litigation. Various definitions of conflict exist. Some regard the overt …show more content…
The smaller supplier would simply walk away from the conflict and our company would find a different company to resume the work. These actions seemed to yield positive results as the remaining suppliers scrambled to hold up their end of the contract. However, when the local economy took a turn for the worst it became harder and harder to find local suppliers to fill the gaps. With the value of the Brazilian dollar, real, losing value it became very expensive to fill the gaps with exported suppliers. (The Brazilian government increased the taxes on all exported suppliers and supplier goods used on projects in their country.) Some negative consequences of conflict can undermine an organization’s efforts. However, handled correctly, conflict can benefit individuals and organizations by producing stronger, more resilient working relationship, improving creative output and generating innovative solutions (Omoluabi, 2001). Now in order to continue with the project the company had to deploy a win-win strategy while resolving conflict. By working with our suppliers in order to develop a solution that parties could live with we were able to resolve the deadline issues while improving the moral of all of the parties involved. We were able to assist with the growth and development of the supplier so that they would be able to understand what exactly was required and how to proceed when
A couple years ago I was internally recruited by my company for an expat assignment in South America. I was grouped with five other U.S. employees to travel down to Brazil for a three year assignment. With apprehension and excitement in my heart I packed up my life and my wife and started the journey. The team and our families arrived within days of each other to start our new adventure. During the first three weeks each family was assigned a local representative that would assist with locating an apartment for each of the families. With two viable locations near the facility to choose from my wife and I had a difference of opinion of a path forward. One location was one hour away from the facility …show more content…
When dealing with outside Brazilian suppliers we would encounter major issues with deadlines and contract issues. Due to the size of the project the majority of the local suppliers were asked to bid on projects with very little knowledge of exactly would was required in order to complete the task at hand. Their knowledge and grasp of the project was lacking. Due to the national laws it was a requirement that the company was utilize high a number of local suppliers. As the project progressed we quickly learned that the chosen suppliers were not prepared for the amount of work that we required. Most of the local suppliers were understaffed in order to reduce their overall cost, they were not accustom to working with an aggressive time line and they were definitely not prepared when the local economy started to head into a recession. The deterioration of the economy assisted with resolution of the majority of the external conflicts with suppliers. In the beginning our company would simply take the smaller supplier to court when they could not hold up their end of the contract. We would withhold payment while the case went into litigation. Various definitions of conflict exist. Some regard the overt …show more content…
The smaller supplier would simply walk away from the conflict and our company would find a different company to resume the work. These actions seemed to yield positive results as the remaining suppliers scrambled to hold up their end of the contract. However, when the local economy took a turn for the worst it became harder and harder to find local suppliers to fill the gaps. With the value of the Brazilian dollar, real, losing value it became very expensive to fill the gaps with exported suppliers. (The Brazilian government increased the taxes on all exported suppliers and supplier goods used on projects in their country.) Some negative consequences of conflict can undermine an organization’s efforts. However, handled correctly, conflict can benefit individuals and organizations by producing stronger, more resilient working relationship, improving creative output and generating innovative solutions (Omoluabi, 2001). Now in order to continue with the project the company had to deploy a win-win strategy while resolving conflict. By working with our suppliers in order to develop a solution that parties could live with we were able to resolve the deadline issues while improving the moral of all of the parties involved. We were able to assist with the growth and development of the supplier so that they would be able to understand what exactly was required and how to proceed when