Con Conflicts ehavior A Project on Con flicts and G roup B ehavior

A Report subm itted to K C College of M anagem ent Studies as a Part of Organizational Behavior in partial fulfillm ent of the Requirem ents of the curriculum of PG D H RM for the year 2012E nded 2012 - 2013

SUBMITTED TO: Prof. D.I. Cabral SUMBITTED BY: Farheen Khan PGDHRM Roll No- 13
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IN D E X
Sr. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Acknowledgement Synopsis Company Profile Objective of the Project Methodology Study Make and Info Collected Unfilled Questionnaire Analysis of Questions Finding from the Data Conclusion from the Data Recommendation on the Topic Unfilled Survey Tabulation Bibliography Annexure Contents Page No. 3 4 5 7 8 8 9 10 14 15 15 16 17 18

KC College of Management Studies | Conflicts and Group Behavior

A CK N O W L E D G E M E N T

I, Farheen Khan, student of KC College of Management Studies, PGDHRM, its my privilege to acknowledge and remain indebted to the people who by their rich and varied contribution have helped me in various concepts of my project

This project on Conflicts and Group Behavior has been an enlightening experience for me. I would like to thank Professor D. Cabral for his encouragement, guidance, and constant motivation which served as a driving force in the successful completion of the project.

In Particular I am thankful to the CMS Team for giving me the permission and the employees of CMS, who openly discussed their views and concerns, which helped me in shaping up the project to best of my abilities.

KC College of Management Studies | Conflicts and Group Behavior

Prof. D . Cabral

SYN O PSIS
A conflict arises when individuals have varied interests, opinions and thought processes and is just not willing to compromise with each other. It is always wise to adjust to some extent and try to find a solution to the problem rather than cribbing and fighting. Groups are like relationship you have to work at them. It refers to the situations where people interact in large or small groups. The field of group dynamics deals with small groups that may reach consensus and act in a coordinated way. For understanding the same I have chosen employees of CMS Infosystems Pvt. Ltd. Post hiving off CMS Infosystems as a new entity. A Questionnaire was designed to analyze and understand Conflicts and Group Behavior interpretation in the organization followed up of values, beliefs and levels of Conflict between the Employer and the employees. The experience of interviewing them was amazing as some of the employees spoke their heart out and a few of them have also expressed and discussed on the recent dispute/Conflict happened between them and the Top Management which gives a clear picture of inevitable clash that can be possibly avoided from both sides (Employer and Employee). The objective is not to highlight the negativity of the company but to purely present the Conflict happened in the company.

I have made my best effort in presenting the views and opinions of all the employees regarding the Conflicts and their behavior of reaction towards the company.

KC College of Management Studies | Conflicts and Group Behavior

Com pany Profile

CM S Com puters Pvt. Ltd.
Overview
Founded in 1976 by the exit of three young IBM engineers-R.D.Grover, S Ramadorai and V.K. Prasad who decided to venture out on their own and make their hands dirty working on machines that IBM had left behind. They began their first steps to creating the empire by maintaining and supporting IBM machines. Thus was born CMS; which stood for what these men then decided to take up for a living. CMS Computers Limited started as a computer maintenance and services company. Today CMS Computers Limited is a Rs. 240 crore IT company with over 1000 qualified professionals. CMS was incorporated in 1976 as a third party maintenance company. It diversified into Systems Integration in 1981 & in 1982 CMS started manufacturing desktops. In 1984, It acquired Systime Computer Systems Ltd. from a UK based Systems Integration & Software Development Company. In 1988, CMS diversified into Traffic Engineering. In 1992, CMS was incorporated as deemed Ltd Co. In 1992, CMS also started the CMS Computer Institute which focused on Hardware & Systems Engineering training. Another fur was added to the cap of CMS in 1995 with the incorporation of CMS Traffic Systems Ltd. Where it has achieved a turnover of Rs. 185 Crores in 2008 Blackstone Group LP announced its majority stake in the IT infrastructure management and outsourced business services. The newly formed company CMS Info Systems consists of card, transaction printing and ATM cash management services. Rajiv Kaul serves as executive vice chairman and CEO of the new company. Since then there was no looking back. The trend of growth & success incessantly continues & is expected to multiply in the next millennium. Operating from 8 branch locations and 80 support centers, it supports over 500 customers nationally.

KC College of Management Studies | Conflicts and Group Behavior

CMS Info Systems is a leading IT & outsourced business services provider with extensive reach across India. CMS Info Systems offers a wide bouquet of services across the value chain, focusing on Retail Banks, Insurance, Telecom, Retail, PSU and Government segments. They have a strong client base in multiple Industries with over 700 large customers. These customers are supported by 21,000+ team members, spread across 100 offices in India.

CMS offerings span application services, systems integration, IT infrastructure management, IT training businesses with market leadership in outsourced cash logistics, transaction printing, card personalization and self service solutions businesses. CMS is currently in the process of leveraging its enormous scale and wide reach to expand its offerings of high value and innovative end-to-end solutions in the IT and outsourced business segments.

CMS Group of Companies CMS group provides various IT Solutions to Simplify Business needs of Our Customers in a cost effective manner. This is achieved by its various specialist product groups that focus in their activities efficiently and independently.

CMS Computers Ltd. Traffic Solutions Energy Management Solutions E-Governance Solutions Enterprise Security Solutions Broadcasting Solutions

CMS Info Systems Managed IT Service

SYSTIME Computers D Edwards Enterprise Solutions Business Intelligence Services Infrastructure Management Services

Kaycee Industries Electronic Components Industrial Switches

CMS Ident

System Integration

Card Personalisation

IT training

Meter Solutions

Print Services Card Services Cash Management

Application Services Products & Solutions

CMS Ident

Card Solutions

KC College of Management Studies | Conflicts and Group Behavior

O bjective of the Project

The main objective of this study is to understand and analyze the Conflicts between the employees and Top Management of CMS Infosystems Pvt. Ltd. And to understand the Group Behavior better that obviously varies from Situation. Team Work, Active communication plays an important in forming the Group together that leads to the growth of a Team. Conflict arises when there is Lack of trust and Information deficiency. In this case, I have approached and targeted an Outsourced Team of CMS Infosystems Pvt. Ltd. to IHCL to analyze how conflict take place and drives the situation which effect Group behavior. Increment plays a vital role in any employees growth in the company; CMS Infosystems does follow a cycle of yearly Increment, Conflict arises when employees were supposed to get increment for Four months where it reduced to four months and was suppose to be delivered with the Salary of Sept. 2012 where again it postponed to Oct. 2012 that leads to Information deficiency between the Employer and the employee. They did receive Increment for four months but it wasnt up to their expectation that leads to the aggression and later turns to be a Conflict. The Team has decided to take an action against Management where the team were together as a group and went on Strike and shuts the work. The problem being faced the employees interests me to go in to the detail and to get the Conflict insight of the team. I prepared a subjective open ended questionnaire and spoke to the Team of CMS Infosystems where they can openly express their views and opinions. Few of them being the ones who have been with the company from 5-10 years with CMS Infosystems, The questionnaire were designed in such a way that it would touch all the aspects to know the Conflict better. I got an insight on the thoughts, experience and emotions that people go through when Company fails to be on employees expectation even though if the employer cannot fulfill all the expectation but can avoid to make a Gap between its employees that leads to a Conflict and affects employee sentiments.

KC College of Management Studies | Conflicts and Group Behavior

M ethodology
I have selected an open ended Questionnaire and a survey analysis method in order to evaluate and understand the concept of Conflicts and Group Behavior.

For filling up the questionnaire, a Team of CMS Infosystems Pvt. Ltd was selected. They are an Outsourced team to Indian Hotels Company Limited (Taj Hotels) at Colaba in Information Technology.

This Questionnaire and survey consists of five questions which are designed in such a way that they touch and cover all the data related to the Conflicts and Group Behavior.

Through these questions I have tried to study the positive and negative impacts and aspects of Conflicts and the Group Behavior.

Since I knew few of the respondents personally, I had a healthy discussion with all of them, the length of the individual discussion being between 10 to 20 minutes. Descriptive answers enabled me to gather as much as information needed to understand and present the details of the Conflicts and Group behavior.

Study M ake and Info Collected

I have conducted an open ended Questionnaire and a survey analysis as a tool through which I had gathered a lot of information which helped me throughout the entire report. Under my study I have covered different class of people to know their perception and Behavior to the Conflicts. I analyzed that mentality differs from situation to situation where Team work plays a vital role. Disagreement, dissatisfaction towards a company creates Conflict. I have also analyzed that all the respondents were not happy to the outcome result of the Conflict, but they seek for a change in the payroll cycle in the future for the betterment of one living.

KC College of Management Studies | Conflicts and Group Behavior

Q uestionnaire
Respond to each question by writing an answer that you think best describes your preferred style for handling differences or conflicts between our self and others.

Q.1: What was the preliminary discussion, situation or action that led to the conflict?
Ans: _____________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________

Q.2: Who initiated the conflict? (Employee/Employer), what is the Reason Behind it?
Ans: _____________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________

Q.3: Was every member of the group united while protesting? Is the Company promoting Growth of a Team/Individual on timely basis?
Ans: _____________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________

Q.4: What measures/alternatives can be taken to avoid Conflict Situation?

Ans: _____________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________

Q.5: What were the after effects of the conflict?

Ans: _____________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________

KC College of Management Studies | Conflicts and Group Behavior

A nalysis of question no. 1

What was the preliminary discussion, situation or action that led to the conflict?
Conflict sometimes has a destructive effect on the individuals and group involved. The company pay structure motivates and encourages employees to perform better to earn a good amount of their performance pay. Very Less Increment led to the Conflict. There is NO continuous growth of employees on regular basis, CMS Infosystems follows an Increment Cycle on Yearly Basis and does a Performance review accordingly to the Probation Period. Few of them are working with CMS for More than 5 years and there is no Effective training, value driven, participatory management. The whole team went on a Strike for the entire day in protest of Delayed Less Increment. According to the CMS Team, they were supposed to get an Increment from April but it was announced by the Management team that Increment would happen from July 2012 that was to be accumulated in the salary of Sept. 2012 but again got delayed to one more month saying that the letters are in Printing. This is definitely shows a Gap between the Management and the Employees, Management should communicate their decision to employees in a proper manner so that the employees will not feel that they have not given a consideration and not lose their temper and should rely on the Company before taking any tough decision on their own or before going on a strike. Company should always keep in mind that Employees are valuable assets and perform as a Backbone to the Company. Conflicts can definitely be avoidable if there is No gap between employees and management. Increase in Pay does plays a very important for any employee, every employees in CMS seems highly unsatisfied with the organization from their Increment to their Growth in the company.

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A nalysis of question no. 2

Who initiated the conflict? (Employee/Employer), what is the Reason Behind it?

Organizational Conflict is a state of Discord caused by the actual or perceived opposition of needs, values and interests. Every one responded that, there has always been a Conflict regarding Increment every year. And this time they had to take a tough decision against company as there was no one to listen their problems. According to the team, they have been facing issues with this since 5-6 years and Management was not willing to revise the increment which was quite obvious to happen as employees thought of getting a good appraisal but whatever they received was only five to six percent of increase. According to few, who have been working with the Company for more than 6 years now, have a basic mentality that they have given their valuable years in the company, they want nothing but required Management to at least review and appreciate their work. An organization should give required and appropriate training to the employees so as to keep them motivated and should provide an equal chance of promoting their self and give a suitable growth in the Company.

A nalysis of question no. 3

Was every member of the group united while protesting? Is the Company promoting Growth of a Team/Individual on timely basis?

Each and every member of the member had a same concern, according to the very senior member of the team; every member of the Group was united at the time of protestation though few of them said they did not find the unity when the Management came in the evening to review the situation. Few of them said we are a team of Twenty in Mumbai we discussed many points prior to the meeting but no one opened up the issues in front of the Management.

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Thus, Group Behavior and Team Work is very important in such situation to be united when each and everyone has got together for One issue. Almost everyone agreed to one point that CMS is not promoting employees, forget about the team there is no growth on individual level, moreover there was one more point highlighted was employees hired on executive profiles have to serve two long year of Probation period.

That means they cant claim for their confirmation in the company till they serve the probation period where as Program manager has only six months of probation period. Everyone was true to the point that they are not asking for diamonds, they just need an appropriate reasonable hike in their salaries according to their performance so that they can live better. However everyone looked calm when asking the question and seem genuine to their answers.

A nalysis of question no. 4

What measures/alternatives can be taken to avoid Conflict Situation?

Once again Salary is the best parameter that can motivates anyone the best in a company. According to the Team, their main concern was ONLY for the Increment and it was obvious which give rise to the Conflict because the outcome result was not as per their expectation. All agreed to a point that there has to be a proper mode of communication between them and the management so that they can communicate directly regarding whatever problem they are facing at the site at least for the Increment/performance appraisal because they are already managing the site well. The company should consider employees views and opinions, there has to be a checklist for them so that management can review and appraise accordingly. The vision, mission, policies and procedures does not seem to be in place because each and every employee seems dissatisfied with the Company that means there is a Handling failure as the long term success of a group depends upon how it deals with failure.

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The company should take the feedback and should also review their policies in terms of avoiding such scenarios in the future. We would be more than happy if there was no Increments but such a small amount in a year specially when Inflation is also increasing would not make a much difference in our payment.

A nalysis of question no. 5

What were the after effects of the conflict?
This was the most important question which has made it clear that when the organization does not pay a considerable attention to the problems. Management had a discussion with all the employees which clearly shows a disappointment on employees behalf. The result of the meeting was zero as management has typically said that there was no profit in the business last year and diplomatically said either you live with it or you are open to take the other opportunities. Not justified at all because if the employees are working with a company for more than 5 years so definitely they would expect something from the Company they are working for. If an employee is unable to perform as per the company expectations, the company should provide adequate training and opportunities to ensure maximum efficiency and productivity from that particular employee; this is commonly known as PIP (Performance Improvement Plan). Company should provide a favorable environment to its employees. According to one of them, the performance appraisal should also consider the seniority of an individual. An employee after certain years of experience at a particular position should be Promoted to the next level and company should provide adequate Training and development facilities for the same. Last but not the least one employee suggested that keep your employees motivated because if you keep them motivated in a good direction they would definitely give their best and will keep up a good working environment around, although the company has a medium of communication through mail but nothing seems to be followed on regular basis however we are not criticizing the company but the problems because its US who are suffering from the problems if not anything but company should console and plan better plans for the future so that we also can work happily and can also refer others to join our company.
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Findings from the D ata

I wish to mention that my study at CMS Infosystems has given me a lot of insight on the emotions, experiences, changes and adjustments that organizations and its employees have to go through when there is a Conflict with Management. I found there Is a big Communication gap between the company and its employees. Prior announcements would avoid such situation before declaring the Increment when there is very low increments. There should always be a preventive measure to avoid Conflicts, obviuosly You cant make everyone happy but Employees are companys asset and company is bound to look in to employee matter. The way employees protest was obviosly wrong because they are on Customer site, they have to be customer centric first, the one day strike did effect users, they could have routed through their Manager. Each and evry employee was dissatisfied with the Increments, according to them it was not according to their performance, the company should strictly follow appraisal cycle and then decide Increment accordingly. A positive approach is always a suggestive way to get your things done. Team work is very important, though everyone was united at the time of Conflict, management should analyse group behavior and provide them with an equal chance of Opportunity. The Team would like to have training on timely basis so as to upgdare their knowledge and be productive for the company. There was no motivation, employees should always be motivated to take any kind of task assigned to them. Each and every employee should participate. Timely feedback (Positive/Negative) can also keep your employees in the loop.

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Conclusion from the Findings

Coming to the end of this project, I had a wonderfull and a healthy discussion with all the respondents, and the information provided by them helped a lot in concluding my project however, here it is important to undesrtand and analyse the problems and action it accordingly though there was no Outcome after the Conflict but it is definatly not suficable From management side who did not consider their senior employees to apraise them. The company need to work on the methods to avoid Conflicts and even if so there should always be a preventive measure to cure it. Communication has always been an effective tool in any organization, there should be a proper communication between the Employees and the company. The company should encourage employees s every employee posses experience and capability to grow and excel in the company. Should promote Team Work. According to the Team, they are ready to take challenges and can perform the task wee, but the only thing that rises in their self was the disappointment that led to a Conflict.

R ecom m endations on the Topic

As mentioned thoughout the Project, It is recommended as follows; Company should appreciate employees/team (in the form of weekly/monthly free gift vouchers so That would keep them motivated.) Avoid situation that will lead employees to go against the company Management needs to build a trust with its employees so that employees will directly approach its top authority before taking any decision on their own. The company should provide an environment to compete so that employees can also explore the challenges and work. The company should Make sure that good relationships are the first priority, the level of hesitation in approaching the company should be avoided. Company should Pay attention to the interests that are being presented, the employees should show the level of interest in taking the challenges.
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Respond to each question by marking a tick that best describes your answer

1. What rises to a conflict? o o o o Dissatisfaction Distrust Anger Mixed feelings

2. Is the management/Company responsible to give a rise to the Conflict? o o o o Strongly agree somewhat agree strongly disagree somewhat disagree

3. Is there a communication gap between the company and the employees? o o o o Strongly agree somewhat agree strongly disagree somewhat disagree

4. Do you feel there is Team work being followed up? o o o o Strongly agree somewhat agree strongly disagree somewhat disagree

5. Do you feel there is a need of company to provide better understanding and group cohesion for improvement? o o o o Strongly agree somewhat agree strongly disagree somewhat disagree

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Tabulation

Question No.1 Ans out of 10

Dissatisfaction 8

Distrust 1

Anger 1

Mixed feelings 0

Ques.

Strongly agree

Somewhat agree 0 2 3 6

Strongly disagree

Somewhat disagree

Ans 2 Ans 3 Ans 4 Ans 4

10 8 7 2

0 0 0 0

0 0 0 2

In many cases, conflict in the workplace just seems to be a fact of life. We've all seen situations where different people with different goals and needs have come into conflict. Where everyone seems strongly Agree with the reason behind the Conflicts, employees somewhere has unlinking to the decision made by the company on the yearly Increment. The outcome seems aggression of the employees to the management, though they still feel if they would get a proper information whatever decision the company is taking they would not gone to the strike and would surely solve the problem in a positive way. They should be given an environment to compete so that they can also explore the challenges.

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B ibliography

Handouts on Organizational Culture given to me by Cabral sir.

Websites : www.cms.co.in www.angelfire.com www.google.com cmssupport@tajhotels.com

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