Essay: Mistakes and inconsistencies in management style

Introduction
The coherence of individuals in some cases, can prove difficult for any manager. Whether or not these individuals are passionate about their field; problems can arise without proper leadership or motivation. A manager must be effective and efficient when leading a team to ensure success and overall satisfaction among colleagues. Hence, Craig Bedell’s poor management style has led to his team’s rapid demise. The failure to properly communicate with his employees’ Allison Scher and Penelope Ryan, has imposed significant risks to his company, Impressions Corporation, such as resignation of valuable staff, decreased productivity, the loss of current clients and a potential to decrease profit margins overall. This report will outline the mistakes and inconsistencies in Craig Bedell’s management style which led to this conflict between Allison and Penelope. Additionally, this report will provide solutions to hinder any further risk to the company.
Functional and Dysfunctional Conflict
Conflict in its simplest form is a disagreement, however, there can be functional and dysfunctional conflict for a business (Rahim, M.A., 2017). Businesses always have to be competitive to stay relevant and ensure the standard of work is upheld, whether it be externally or internally. Functional conflict ensures healthy competition between colleagues within an organisation. This is advantageous to a business as it is a ‘constructive’ way of keeping and/or improving the quality of work. On the other hand, dysfunctional conflict disrupts a work environment’s productivity.
The Importance of an Effective Manager
A key component of any efficient team is an effective manager. Within their units, managers build and maintain their teams. This involves bonding people into cooperative groups, resolving conflicts within and between these groups so that they can get on with their work and stepping beyond the authority (controlling) to intercede in situations and coordinate activities responding to the need for contact or human intervention (Mintzberg, 2009, pp. 67-68). In theory, the rules of management should not change no matter what the circumstances entail. Especially, in the case of a manager supervising colleagues who are in disagreement in the work environment. However, communicating online is not as simple. Telecommunication will never be as effective as speaking with someone in person and observing their facial expressions and body language. In a practical sense, managing employees on off-site locations or ‘virtual teams’ means that a more rigid management approach is required. Hightower and Sayeed (1997) found in their study that virtual teams, in fact, exchange information less effectively than face-to-face groups. With all this being considered, Craig Bedell is an inefficient manager who was unaware of the signs of the initial conflict and was negligent to the fact that his virtual team was not suited to this format of communication.
Problems and Solutions
Lack of Face-to-Face Communication
Craig Bedell clearly did not recognise the need for a change in his behaviour. He failed to identify the ineffective nature of electronic communications when resolving disputes and conflict, or even managing a team in general. Also he failed to realise that these individuals may not be suited to a virtual team framework. If Craig had foreseen the problems that could have arisen, the conflict between Allison and Penelope may have been resolved in an effective and orderly fashion. A mixed-up series of communications by voice mail, e-mail, and in person has created dysfunctional conflict, leaving the business at risk of decreased productivity among colleagues and therefore, a potential to lose significant profit margins and clients. Craig’s approach to management left little clarity between team members in terms of leadership and who was at fault. In a flexible environment, the establishment of formal organisational authority and responsibility are critical. Craig should have, from the onset, set in place the stages of team development: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning (Tseng, T.L.B., Huang, C.C., Chu, H.W. and Gung, R.R. 2004, pp.147-159).
Craig Bedell should resolve this problem, by first, taking the blame for the current conflict and misunderstanding. Also, Craig should bring to attention the ways in which the team can work together for the best interest of the client. Secondly, Craig should establish who the leader will be to the entire team; to reduce confusion in this area. Additionally, he should set up a formal review schedule to track the team’s progress on its various projects; all the team members should participate in this meeting face-to-face, and the team leader should direct the discussion. Overall, Craig should rely on the most effective forms of communications to prevent small misunderstandings turning into major conflicts. If this new approach proves too difficult for Craig. He may consider Maggie Pinto to have more input on this dispute as the company’s head of human resources or even, allow her to take full control on the situation.
More Effective Training of Managers
Maggie Pinto should rethink her strategy in response to conflicts in general. Rather than working ‘reactively’, Maggie should consider preventative measures. As the head of human resources, Maggie should not implement the flexible work arrangement companywide and also, should implement clear guidelines to employees already on the existing flextime arrangement. This would aid not only Allison and Penelope, but also Craig as it gives more structure to the teamwork.
The company’s managers have to be encouraged to participate in an intensive management retraining. The retraining must to enforce a way to establish and communicate clear, realistic objectives and expectations; a way to outline what work is due when; a way to clear, and specific feedback to their employees; a way to demonstrate openness and loyalty; and a way to mentor staff to be more independent. Off-site employees need similar training too. Also, on-site employees also need training to adapt to the new environment. Once the company has clear policies and guidelines and a strong training program in place, off-site work arrangements can result in increased productivity and morale (Australian Institute of Business, 2018) for all employees including Allison and Penelope.
Impressions Corporation’s poor framework and guidelines
Working in a mobile environment gives employees tremendous advantages. Being able to work at home part of the time allows them a better balance between work and home life and can substantially increase both productivity and morale. But those advantages can only be effective for the company when its managers and employees have a definite understanding of the guidelines and a commitment to communication, in this case, face-to-face communication. Although, the ineffective management styles of Craig Bedell contributed this conflict’s escalation. Processes within the business can be altered to prevent some of these problems that have arisen. The company has no proper assessment process to determine whether an employee is a suitable candidate for an alternative work arrangement, or in this case, a flexible time agreement for most workers. Employees are permitted and even encouraged by management’s unspoken endorsement to use alternative arrangements to mix work and personal obligations. But the company offers no clear guidelines that explain when people must be “at work” and when they are at liberty to handle personal affairs. The program has no process to ensure at least a minimal amount of face-to-face interaction. The problem is made worse by the colleagues’ total reliance on telecommunications to maintain contact. Once the company fixes these inconsistencies, problems similar to this case can be prevented. The company may achieve this by setting up meetings with all employees to access their suitability and also, to establish the guidelines surrounding a flextime work arrangement.
Conclusion
Overall, any effective team needs a good manager. In this case, problems could have been prevented if Craig Bedell identified the minor problems within the team. The application of face-to-face communication will aid in preventing these miscommunications and therefore, possible conflicts in the future. However, Craig’s poor management style could have not only been prevented by Maggie Pinto, but also, the company’s guidelines.