hey peeps~! this is the compiled Q2~!! =) good job everyone~! cheers!

PERCEPTIONS
The problem lies in the misperceptions of the employees and management in the organisation. The management is held with high regard by the employees and most of time, they find themselves too intimidated to speak up or offer anything in return to the organisation. Usually, the management will make demands and the employees will just follow accordingly.

SELECTIVE ATTENTION
The perceptual process, which is illustrated in Figure 1, begins when environmental stimuli are received through our senses (McShane and Travaglione, 2005). Because the employees were used to the indifferent treatment from the management, John, was probably apprehensive when George approached him personally to explore the idea of a possible promotion. ‘Difference in perceptions result in different people attaching different meanings to the same stimuli’ (Mullins, 2005).
‘Although largely unconscious, selective attention is also consciously influenced by our anticipation of future events’ (McShane and Travaglione, 2005). Due to their unpleasant encounters in the past, John has perceived George to be indulging a personal grudge while evaluating his performance.

MISINTERPRETATION

A reason as to why John was upset could be due to misinterpretation of George’s intention. This features the communication barrier, perception, which was highlighted earlier. ‘Corporate leaders are matched closely by employees, and the most inane words or gestures are interpreted with great meaning even though they often occur without intention’ (Mc Shane & Travaglione 2005, p.334). Thus, John misinterpreted George’s gesture of sending him to a management skills seminar as a means of conveying to him that his performance was not up to mark. In fact, George was acknowledging his good performance and was considering him for a promotion instead.

NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

The impact of non-verbal communication could be another reason why John was upset. George’s facial expressions, body position and other physical gestures probably did not convince John that the message which was being conveyed was a positive one. An individual’s body language and tone of voice plays a large part in conveying meaning (Wood et al. 2004). George’s failure to exhibit positive body language and tone of voice could be the result of John’s negative reaction.
STRATEGIES FOR MANAGING CONFLICT

There are many reasons why conflict occurs. A common definition of conflict is that it is usually associated with negative features and situations which give rise to inefficiency, ineffectiveness or dysfunctional consequence. In the case of AEC, there are a few sources of conflict. However, there are a number of ways which George can take to avoid the harmful effects of conflict. One would be to review the leadership and management. A more participative and supportive style of leadership and managerial behaviour is likely to assist in conflict management (Mullins, 2005). George should create a work environment whereby everybody can work cooperatively together. By bringing down the barriers between the floor employees and the management, AEC can achieve the organizational goals more effectively. Another way would be to have group activities. This will further help to improve ties between the employees because it allows them to communicate with each other.

DIRECT COMMUNICATION

One of the things the author could do is to persuade John and George to have face-to-face talks to build up trust and eradicate the misunderstandings. The author has set himself as a role model for many management staff by trying to reach out to the floor staff. Such behaviour should be encouraged by George to improve the communication within AEC.

LIMITATIONS

However, it is important to note that such direct communication may aggravate situations when the employees are not good listeners or are not sensitive to choice of words used.


ACTIVE LISTENING

To prevent the above from happening or aggravating, the author could suggest developing a listening improvement programme in AEC. From a Havard Business Review on Effective Communication, the basis to improve listening should “build awareness to factors that affect listening ability” and “the kind of aural experience that can produce good listening habits”. The author could encourage or propose such listening programmes for both the floor and management level. With appropriate skills of listening and efforts of direct communication, they would become more sensitive with words used and aware of the different styles of communication. Furthermore, George and John’s rift can be significantly improved if both of them listen to each others’ difficulties in various situations.


MOTIVATION ON AN INDIVIDUAL LEVEL

Both George and the author, being higher management staff, could adopt a more personal level of approach to motivate the staff, eradicating the use of memos. Personal praise and acknowledgement could also be applied to help the staff feel more important and appreciated in their jobs.

(765 words inclusive of citations and sub-headings)