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Sylvia Chris
60040: Information Institutions Professions
Professor Lensenmayer
7 May 2017
Memo to the Director: Conflict Management

For the memo, I have decided to study the topic of conflict management. I want to

present this topic to the Director because being able to manage conflict is an important

part of the library. By addressing conflict management in our library, we will be able to

better improve both individual and organizational outcomes and improve morale and

communication among the employees. I researched five articles in order to better

understand conflict management, and to create a concise and informative memo for the

Library Director.

1. First, to define “conflict management”, I interpreted it to mean how members

of an organization react and attempt to resolve the inevitable conflict through

various conflict management styles between individual workers, groups of

workers, and workers and patrons to reduce stress and negative feelings and

actions. Mallappa and Manoj (2015) define conflict management as “the

ability to be able to identify and handle conflicts sensibly, fairly, and

efficiently”. Upon looking at the research presented in the articles, I found this

definition to be appropriate because negative feelings were a consistent theme

through the articles, as were conflict management styles, and being able to

detect conflict within the workplace.

2. The research findings of conflict management indicated that conflict is

inevitable and can occur within any age frame (Beitler et. al., 2016). It was

found that conflict arises from feelings of negativity, which occur when
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individuals work closely together in a team setting, thus relying on one

another on a constant basis (Chun-Chang et. al., 2015). Although the five

articles are able to explain conflict management in various work

environments, a limitation that may be considered to be problematic would be

self-reporting. This is mentioned in the study conducted by Johansen and

Cadmus (2016). The other studies also had participants fill out questionnaires

and surveys, which could have been inaccurate or inconsistent if participants

did not complete the survey, answered the same question twice, or were not

honest with their responses.

3. The library staff needs to have a clear idea of what conflict management is,

and how to handle conflicts as they arise in the workplace. Communication is

also important for library staff in order to handle conflict between staff

members or between staff and patrons, so it is important to have good

communication skills with one another to reduce misunderstandings as much

as possible

4. Some objectives that the library could take to pay more attention to conflict

management in the work place could include putting employees and managers

through conflict management training (in person or webinars) so that they

know how to detect conflict, and are better aware of effective measures they

can take to ensure that they solve the issue at hand, rather than allowing it to

escalate to the point of the staff not being able to work well with each other or

the patrons. Another initiative would be taking a day for staff team building

where the staff could get to learn more about one another and learn about
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different conflict management skills that may be more effective than the ones

they are currently using. The study conducted by Younyoung (2013)

suggested that employees who utilized a collaborative method of conflict

management were happier with their jobs, overall, so it would be worth to

take time to learn about collaborating as a team.

5. By addressing these goals and objectives, some positive outcomes that I

predict will occur within the library are better communication between

employees and patrons, as well as fewer major conflicts overall. Another

positive outcome that I anticipate seeing is increased job satisfaction and

improved workplace culture. Younyoung’s (2013) study concluded that

collaborative conflict management in the workplace led to higher workplace

satisfaction, which can have positive impacts on retention and teamwork.

Overall by better understanding conflict and different styles of managing it,

the workplace environment will become a more positive place for employees

and patrons, which will help the library in being able to fulfill its mission.
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References:

Beitler, L.A., Machowski, S., Johnson, S., & Zapf, D. (2016). Conflict management and

Age in service professions. Internationak Journal of Conflict Management

(Emerald), 27(3), 302-330. Doi:10.1108/IJCMA-10-2015-0070

Chun-Chang, L., Yu-Hsin, L., Hsin-Chung, H., Wei-Wen, H., & Hsu-Hung, T. (2015).

The effects of task interdependence, team cooperation, and team conflict on job

performance. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 43(4),

529-536. Doi:10.2224/sbp.2015.43.4.529.

Johansen, M. L., & Cadmus, E. (2016). Conflict management style, supportive work

environments and the experience of work stress in emergency nurses. Journal

of Nursing Management 24(2), 211-218. Doi:10.1111/jonm.12302.

Mallappa, V. v., & Manoj Kumar, K.m. (2015). Conflict management in management

library professionals. DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology,

35(3), 200-206

Younyoung, C. (2013). The influence of conflict management culture on job

satisfaction. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal,

41(4), 687-692. Doi:10.2224/sbp.2013.41.4.687