Avari Towers, Fatima Jinnah Road, Karachi 75530, Pakistan

UAN: +92-21-5660100 | Fax: +92-21-5680310

E-mail: towers@avari.com | Web: www.avari.com
UAN: +92-21-111-AVARIs (282747)

1
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

BISMILLAH-ER-RAHMAN-ER-RAHEEM

First of all we would thank Allah for giving us the guidance and knowledge in writing this
report.

We would also like to thank Capt. Shehzad Zafar Qureshi (Chief Security Officer) and Miss.
Sabita Mushtaq (The Human Resource Manager) for providing us with all the necessary
information and knowledge necessary in the formulation of this report and taking out time
from their busy schedules for us.

We would also thank our sir, Mr. Zeeshan Ali, for providing us with an opportunity and for
building in us a professional and practical approach to write this report which helped us gain
lot of q`2information which will prove very much useful in our professional lives ahead.
Last but not the least, we would like to thank our parents who were very helpful in making
this report, arranging our trips to Avari Towers Karachi and providing us with coffees and
teas when we were busy making this report!

Without the help and support of all the people we mentioned above, this report would never
have taken the shape in which it is now.

We thank all of them again in making this report “Really Complete”!

Sehrish Shehzad,

Anum Rashid Ashrafi,

Madiha Ahmed,

Sanober Khero,

Maheen Dawood

(BBA-6D)

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

S.No CONTENTS Page No.

1. Letter of Authorization 04

2. Letter of Transmittal 05

3. Introduction 06

4. Executive Summary 08

5. Conflict/Conflict Resolution Process 10

6. Analysis of The Questionnaire 16

7. Articles On Conflict Management 20

8. Causes of Policy Conflict At Avari 28

9. Conclusion 30

10. Recommendations 34

11. Appendix (Questionnaire) 39

12. Bibliography 43

ss

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 LETTER OF AUTHORIZATION

May 25, 2009.

Mr. Zee Shan Ali,

Bahria Institute Of Management And Computer Sciences,
Karachi.

Subject: Report On The Major Problems In Resolving Conflicts Facing An

Organization In Pakistan

We have been authorized by our professor Mr. Zeeshan Ali, to write a project report on “
The Major Problems In Resolving Conflicts Facing An Organization In Pakistan”.
We have chosen Avari Towers Karachi and made our report on it.

Yours truly,
Sehrish Shehzad,

Anum Rashid Ashrafi,

Madiha Ahmed,

Sanober Khero,

Maheen Dawood,
(BBA-6D)
Bahria University,
Karachi Campus.

4
 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

May 25, 2009.

Dear Mr. Zeeshan Ali,

We are thankful to you for providing us this opportunity to write a report on “The Major
Problems in Resolving Conflicts Facing an Organization in Pakistan”. This report has been
prepared by us as per your requirements.

We have selected Avari Towers Karachi as our ideal organization and have discussed all
those practices which are being followed by their management in resolving conflicts. It runs
these practices in very effective fashions. And, therefore it has always been one of the top
names in the hotel industry of Pakistan.

This report has been prepared after we have done some reasonable research work through the
interviews which we conducted during our course of visit and the questionnaire (a copy of
which is attached in this report).

We hope that this project report would suffice your requirements and all our efforts for this
report will be fruitful.

Yours truly,

Sehrish Shehzad,
Anum Rashid Ashrafi,
Madiha Ahmed,
Sanober Khero,
Maheen Dawood,

(BBA-6D),
Bahria University,
Karachi Campus.

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 INTRODUCTION OF AVARI TOWERS KARACHI (ATK)

Avari Towers Karachi is one of the well reputed names in the Hotel and Resorts Industry of
Pakistan. Though it’s a Multi-national organization, but it is having a huge response by the
local community. Avari Towers is not a new name in the Corporate Arena, it has a huge
background. Since 1944 the Avari family has built, owned & managed hotels in Karachi,
Lahore, Dubai and Toronto (Canada). Inside Pakistan, the group owns and operates the 5-star
"Avari Towers" in Karachi, the 5-star "Avari Lahore" and the seafront "Beach Luxury" in
Karachi. The Group also manages a 4-star deluxe property in Dubai, i.e. "Avari Dubai".

At every Avari Hotel you can be sure to receive the same warm welcome, be offered
comfortable and well planned accommodation alongside a varied choice of Food & Beverage
options all delivered will local flair and finesse.

At Avari Towers Karachi (ATK) the average retention period of an employee is 12.5 years,
which is certainly an amazing figure. As the employees are getting more and more degrees
and specialization in their respective fields, they try their best to get themselves inducted in
such an organization where not only their expectations are being met with, but also they
should be given some other major perks and benefits, are provided with the latest trainings
for their fields and where they have to encounter the minimum level of individual and
organizational conflict.

Most organizations fail to provide all these thins at the same time, due to which the
employees tend to leave the organization within a period of 1-3 years.
We chose Avari Towers Karachi because of its wonderful reputation of retaining the
employees for a minimum of 12.5 years as an average. There are certain employees at ATK
who have been serving their since the first foundation stone of ATK has been laid and are
serving their till date.

As our report is on “MAJOR ISSUES IN RESOLVING CONFLICTS IN AVARI TOWERS

KARACHI AND THEIR CONFLICT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES”, we are going to dig
down deep in the management practices of ATK and discover that hoe they are able to have
such a long retention period of every employee, how do they deal and resolve the conflicts
among the employees and the organization and what trainings are being offered by Avari to
its employees.

Development is growth at ATK. If a person is growing in his career domain and being
promoted, it is his development. They develop a person in its true essence. One of its biggest
proves is that the retention period of a single person at ATK is an average of 12.5 years.
When people become a part of ATK, they don’t want to leave. It’s a biggest achievement in
today’s scenario where the biggest problem the companies are facing, it is customer and
employee retention. Training and Development counts a lot and at ATK it means a lot.
Because of this one factor and of course, many others which are discussed further in this
report, ATK has reached huge levels of success and have also gained excellent employees,
retained them and have developed them to what they actually wanted to be.

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GRIEVANCE HANDLING

ATK possess huge number of employees, from different territories, cultures, backgrounds
and off-course having different languages, so there is an enormous probability of grievances.
This is not with the labor sector only; grievances might come across by any means from any
department because of the factors which are mentioned above. ATK has its own way to
rectify these grievances, they usually arrange dialogue sessions in which both the parties are
invited in front of the rectifiers and they get the equal chance for their justifications of their
points of view and the rest of the matter is worked out by the team. ATK believes that it is
the best way to resolve the problem no matter how critical the problem is, because of this
professional attitude in the entire history of ATK not a single unlike case has come across.

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Owing to the paradigm shift in the global business environment, the organizations in Pakistan
are becoming more and more challenging and dynamic. For the new entrants and also for the
existing multinational giants and other companies which are contributing towards Pakistan’s
economy, it is a big necessity to have such management practices which are not only
dynamic but also are flexible enough that they can easily adopt any change in them without
having any resistance and conflicts from the employees. If you are successful in managing
change without having conflicts from the employees, or in other words, it is more likely to
say here that if you possess the best conflict resolution processes only then you will not only
be able to generate huge profits and returns but also you will keep up much comfortably with
the pacing world.

Now the question here is: How do these companies operate? Why are they so successful?
How are they bringing such great profits for our country? How they manage to meet the
challenges? What are their conflict resolution processes etc?
To carry out our research for this report, we managed to consult some senior management
professionals and ultimately decided to choose Avari Towers Karachi which, as we found
out, has no doubtedly one of the best management practices and conflict resolution processes
among the companies operating in Pakistan.

Avari Towers Karachi is one of the well reputed names in the Hotel and Resorts Industry of
Pakistan. Though it’s a Multi-national organization with a population of 465 employees and
is having a huge response by the local community. Avari Towers is not a new name in the
Corporate Arena, it has a huge background. Since 1944 the Avari family has built, owned &
managed hotels in Karachi, Lahore, Dubai and Toronto (Canada). Inside Pakistan, the group
owns and operates the 5-star "Avari Towers" in Karachi, the 5-star "Avari Lahore" and the
seafront "Beach Luxury" in Karachi. The Group also manages a 4-star deluxe property in
Dubai, i.e. "Avari Dubai".

Here, in this report we have gone through a number of research articles, did our analysis of
the questionnaire, explained their practices through a conflict resolution process and had a
thorough understanding of their processes and management practices.

We selected two articles of conflict management. In these articles we concluded some very
important findings. We concluded that conflict is an unavoidable part of our lives, whether
we are at our homes, at the work place or may it be any where in this world, we have to
encounter conflicts some where or the other and also in different forms and at different
levels. The process of conflict resolution should be taken as an opportunity for growth and
change in a work environment rather than be taken as a hurdle or obstacle lying in the path of
growth and success. If you want to succeed on the individual level, then you should have the
ability to solve conflicts in a very appropriate manner. In the same way, the overall ability of

8
a company to solve problems through collaborative efforts which acts as synergy, has a
strong impact on the organization's bottom line and overall success.

The second article talks about the emotions of the people involved in the conflict. We chose
this article because the decision to choose between the emotions and the organization’s
decisions is really very hard. The article has discussed this point in a much greater detail and
it also includes the issues pertaining to the emotional view point of conflicts and also
discusses a case study in detail.

The questionnaire discusses the conflict resolution processes and the management practices
at Avari Towers Karachi as we discussed earlier. It includes the analysis of the questionnaire
and covers issues like conflicts on the dress code policy, communication processes, different
types of powers being exercised by Avari Towers etc

We discuss the policy-driven conflicts and finally the recommendations and our conclusion
of the entire research report which we made.

From our research we concluded that at Avari Towers Karachi, they are truly people
oriented. Not only do they maintain the highest standards in operational and management
practices and enrich peoples’ lives through their services, they also honor their commitment
to their employees and to the members of the community within which they operate. They
strictly adhere to their policies and management practices and continue to serve their
customers, and our community through their initiatives and their relentless drive towards
“Making a Better World.”

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 WHAT IS CONFLICT?

We define conflict as a disagreement through which the parties involved perceive a threat to
their needs, interests or concerns. Within this simple definition there are several important
understandings that emerge:

Disagreement

Generally, we are aware there is some level of difference in the positions of the two (or
more) parties involved in the conflict. But the true disagreement versus the perceived
disagreement may be quite different from one another. In fact, conflict tends to be
accompanied by significant levels of misunderstanding that exaggerate the perceived
disagreement considerably. If we can understand the true areas of disagreement, this will
help us solve the right problems and manage the true needs of the parties.

Avari Hotels in this concern pays great deal of attention to solve the disagreements between
its parties as soon as possible through discussions and mediation. Often the discussions are
facilitated through face to face in front of conflict management committee.

Parties involved

There are often disparities in our sense of who is involved in the conflict. Sometimes, people
are surprised to learn they are a party to the conflict, while other times we are shocked to
learn we are not included in the disagreement.

According to the HR manager:

“On many occasions, our employees are seen as part of the social system (e.g., work
team, family, company) who are influenced to participate in the dispute, whether they
would personally define the situation in that way or not”

In the above example, people very readily "take sides" based upon current perceptions of the
issues, past issues and relationships, roles within the organization, and other factors.

Perceived threat

People respond to the perceived threat, rather than the true threat, facing them. Thus, while
perception doesn't become reality on people's behaviors, feelings and ongoing responses
become modified by that evolving sense of the threat they confront. If we can work to
understand the true threat (issues) and develop strategies (solutions) that manage it
(agreement), we are acting constructively to manage the conflict.

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Needs, interests or concerns

Workplace conflicts tend to be far more complex than that, for they involve ongoing
relationships with complex, emotional components. Simply stated, there are always
procedural needs and psychological needs to be addressed within the conflict, in addition to
the substantive needs that are generally presented. And the durability of the interests and
concerns of the parties transcends the immediate presenting situation. Any efforts to resolve
conflicts effectively must take these points into account.

Although conflict is a normal part of organization life, providing numerous opportunities for
growth through improved understanding and insight, there is a tendency to view conflict as a
negative experience caused by abnormally difficult circumstances. Disputants tend to
perceive limited options and finite resources available in seeking solutions, rather than
multiple possibilities that may exist 'outside the box' in which we are problem-solving.

A few points are worth understanding before proceeding:

 A conflict is more than a mere disagreement - it is a situation in which people

perceive a threat (physical, emotional, power, status, etc.) to their well-being. As
such, it is a meaningful experience in people's lives, not to be shrugged off by a mere,
"it will pass…"

 Participants in conflicts tend to respond on the basis of their perceptions of the

situation, rather than an objective review of it. As such, people filter their perceptions
(and reactions) through their values, culture, beliefs, information, experience, gender,
and other variables. Conflict responses are both filled with ideas and feelings that can
be very strong and powerful guides to our sense of possible solutions.

 As in any problem, conflicts contain substantive, procedural, and psychological

dimensions to be negotiated. In order to best understand the threat perceived by those
engaged in a conflict, we need to consider all of these dimensions.

 Conflicts are normal experiences within the work environment. They are also, to a
large degree, predictable and expectable situations that naturally arise as we go about
managing complex and stressful projects in which we are significantly invested.

 Creative problem-solving strategies are essential to positive approaches to conflict

management.

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 AVARI’S CONFLICT RESOLUTION PROCESS

1) ”Know yourself” and take care of self

The first step towards the resolution includes Self-awareness and care which are essential to
an effective approach to conflict management. The more the people of Avari are aware of
own biases and "hot buttons," the more likely they can prepare mentally, emotionally and
physically to respond in a preferred way. In addition, if they take good care of themselves by
exercising, eating properly and getting adequate sleep, that can help them listen well and
clearly express their needs in attempting to work out a solution to the conflict.

To take its employees care, Avari has its excellent lunch facility which is of superb taste and
hygiene to also maintain each employee’s and management health. It also provides discount
to its employees to take advantage of the amenities at its best!

According to HR specialist:

“We all have different ways of responding to conflicts, and those responses lead to
understandable consequences. These responses include our behaviors, feelings,
thoughts, and physical reactions”

2) Clarify Personal needs threatened by the dispute

The Avari manager added to our knowledge:

“Whenever we are confronted by a conflict, we have three sets of needs to be negotiated”

Substantive needs

Substantive needs have to do with the "stuff" of the conflict, often the problem that we feel
needs to be solved.

Procedural needs

Procedural needs relates to the process of addressing these substantive needs. Ground rules, for
example, are a process step that can help ensure that all stakeholders of Avari feel included in
a meaningful way.

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Psychological needs
Psychological needs relate to a fostering a safe environment, one in which people are willing
to take the risks involved in honestly communicating their differences, concerns and potential
similarities to one another.

In any dispute, all three types of needs are present and must be addressed. . If we are going to
really try to build a meaningful agreement, we will need to understand how these various
needs are present for each person in the situation.

These are some of the points which are relying upon Avari’s policies and thus they are
negotiated according to their needs the employees trust are formulated within the organization.

3) Identify the safe place for negotiation

Safe Space

In order to have a constructive conversation, Avari’s employees and management generally

needs to feel that they are in a "safe place," which generally means a place where they can
take the risks involved in honest communication about meaningful issues.

Therefore Avari ensures that their interaction is surrounded by looking at their concerns!

Appropriate Time

To be sure that the time is also acceptable and appropriate Avari does not even try to
negotiate a complex agreement in fifteen minutes! If time is limited, they agree on a scope
for the discussion and then set up an opportunity for follow-up.

4)Take a listening stance into the interaction

There is a listening stand at Avari to facilitate interaction between all of the parties involved.

5) Asserting needs clearly and specifically

At this point, it is important to get the Avari’s management concerns communicated as

clearly and specifically as possible. The challenge, of course, is to do so in a manner that is
likely to be heard and understood by the other person. Assertive communication is the
process of conveying one's needs and concerns clearly and specifically, while respecting the
needs of the other party.

Be prepared for a defensive, even hostile, response to your assertions. Just because you have
demonstrated your ability to listen well doesn't mean the other person is able to do so!

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6) Avari’s approach towards problem-solving with flexibility

The following outcome occurs when the stage is reached of the problem solving at Avari:

At this stage of the discussion, good rules for problem solving and analysis apply. Using
whatever tools and processes Avari may have at their disposal in order to engage in a creative,
and productive process, as well as the use of an external facilitator or mediator if they feel it
would be beneficial to the group engaged in negotiations.

The HR manager said:

“Be sure to take one issue at a time, starting with an issue that both of you agree is
worthy of discussion. Try to make it a "bitable bite," rather than the most difficult
issue of conflict”

Avari generating other possible solutions to the problem,

"Brainstorming" ideas or otherwise making sure that all parties participate in the process. At
this stage, it is important to defer judgments and evaluations of potential solutions, for to do
so prematurely risks creating a "chilling effect" on the further generation of ideas. If one idea
is rejected too quickly, other ideas may be similarly rejected without appropriate
consideration. Even if they quickly identify an acceptable solution, it is useful to explore a
few additional ideas before settling on the best answer to the problem.

Clarify the criteria

Avari tries to clarify the criteria that are used for evaluating options, sometimes this can be
an important insight for parties as they negotiate, because they may have different notions of
what they value in a good solution. For example, one person may value a quick solution,
while the other wants one that is longer lasting. One person may want to do something that is
inexpensive, staying within our current budget, while the other person may feel that it is okay
to spend more today to save money and stress in the future.

Avari believes:

“Good solutions to problems emerge from mutually acceptable criteria being applied in
a clear decision-making process”

It may be important to acknowledge the larger issue or another concern that is beyond your
control, but it is important to prevent such concerns from becoming "tangents" that take up
the time and energy in less constructive ways. If it feels like the discussion has drifted into
another area, check for clarification of the agenda at hand

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7) Avari managing deadlock with calm, patience, and respect

It may also be true that certain issues will not present immediate solutions, and an impasse
will be reached regarding such issues. Impasse is the point within a dispute in which the
parties are unable to perceive effective solutions.

It does happen at Avari that employees feel sometimes stuck, frustrated, angry, and
disillusioned. As a result, they might either dig their heels in deeper, anchoring themselves in
extreme and rigid positions, or they might decide to "take their marbles and go home,"
withdrawing from negotiation. Either way, impasse represents a turning point in our efforts
to negotiate a solution to the conflict. As such, rather than avoiding or dreading it, impasse
should be viewed with calm, patience, and respect which Avari tries to achieve at our best
possible efforts.

8) Avari Agreement Building That Works:

If unexpected problems or challenges come up (for example, someone gets sick or

unexpected workload changes make it difficult to pay attention to the agreement for a few
days), Avari communicates openly with every person involved about these challenges.

As appropriate, Avari has its way by sitting down again in order to renegotiate solutions on
the basis of new information.

People generally try their hardest to make things work, and it is important to communicate
with each other about potential pitfalls before they fester and become crises.

It is often useful to build into the agreement an opportunity to "check back" with each other
to evaluate progress towards implementation. In this way, any concerns about the agreement
can be uncovered in a timely way, rather than waiting for problems to worsen. Such a
meeting also provides an opportunity to recognize the good work and progress together.
Finally, such a meeting can be quite important for providing a safe space in which to explore
additional issues and concerns, especially those that were not viewed as "safe" to explore in
the previous conversation.

According to HR manager:

“By peeling away another "layer of the conflict," we may get to important
conversations, even if they prove to be difficult. In that event, it is important to return
to the first steps of the process, and proceed with patience, flexibility and respect”

15
 ANALYSIS OF QUESTIONNAIRE

Q1) What is Avari’s policy on professionalism? For which designation does your dress code
policy applies? Explain.

In few departments wearing of uniforms is made compulsory (like in gas department). It does
creates conflict. People wear uniforms who are from lower class (mostly) but we
(management of Avari) think it is convenient for them, because wearing new clothes on
regular basis will cost them more. But to avoid discrimination at the same time, we ensure
them that they will be treated equally.

Q2) Inconsistency in communication always creates conflict. How does your organization
support this aspect? Explain

Yes, communication barrier is present because the Avari’s General Manager

is Scottish and that is why employees feel difficult to interact with him. His PA plays a role
of interpreter.

Q3) Do you exercise coercive power? In which situations ? The conflict if created, how do
you resolve it?

In some cases the management of Avari used coercive power which also has its reasons
which is evident from one incident that took place at Avari’s locker rooms where lower level
employees changes uniform. Employees started a very unethical act that is they carry spitting
over there, so to prevent that we have started doing physical search.

Management also tries to resolve conflict with mediation and having discussions with
employees to know their point of view. If the conflict arises between the employees then we
try to resolve it among them.

Q4) Does the management of Avari gives such flexibility to employees that they can
challenge them for any dispute that occurs?

Employees have the right to say and give their suggestions against the conflict they have, to
have a way through the management of Avari organizes meetings on monthly basis.

16
Q5) How does the management makes employees trust them at Avari?

(a) Changing its own behavior

(b) Improving its management process
(c) Setting clear standards
(d) Offering training and help
(e) All the above.

Management uses all of the above tools to develop employee’s trust on them. Training and
development is very important and also plays a major role in building trust of employees on
management. It also helps as motivational tool and also increase overall productivity of
organization.

Q6) Does your organization practice bonus policy/ reward policy for any desired behavior to
minimize the conflict?

Yes, the management of Avari does give bonuses for such behavior shown by employees.
Giving away rewards to employees for such things always provide positive results, and
employees participate actively in resolving conflict which helps management to resolve
conflicts quickly and also motivate employees in future to take active part in resolving
conflict.

Q7) Resolving conflict and working together leads to improved communication, which
means that employees now surface their underlying basis causing additional conflict? Do you
agree?

Yes, the management of Avari totally agreed with it. And for that purpose management
organize monthly communication meetings with Hod’s in these meetings employees are free
to talk about the problems they are facing regarding workplace or any other thing. Because of
these meetings interaction between employees and management increases.

According to our analysis monthly communication has its valued employees for the
organization to prosper as a whole.

Q8) Surprises are not accepted by the employees its better to make them understand earlier to
accept the upcoming change. What do you think?

Yes, surprises are often disliked by the employees so we have to make them beware of it. At
Avari we make employees aware of upcoming change 1 year before, to reduce the risk of
arising of conflicts.

Q9) Right workforce also plays an important role in minimizing conflict, what do you thing?

Yes, it plays an important role in minimizing conflict, at Avari the management tries to hire
right person for right job, and also maintain right workforce to minimize conflicts.

17
Q11) Do you follow an open door policy?

Yes, Avari have open door policy for all employees. This means, literally, that every
manager's door is open to every employee. The purpose of our open door policy is to
encourage open communication, feedback, and discussion about any matter of importance to
an employee. Our open door policy means that employees are free to talk with any manager
at any time.

Q12) If any policy is creating conflict among employees how do you handle the situation?

(a) Change the policy

(b) Change the attitude of the employees toward it

Avari does not have any policy that creates conflicts. But if any conflict occurs then we will
discuss it with employees, and will first go for changing the attitudes of employees towards
the policy, if we fail to do so then only we go changing the policy.

Q13) Do you have any separate department which handles conflict situations?

Avari does not have any separate department to handle or resolve conflicts, all conflicts come
to Hr department and they resolve it.

Q14) Do you have a fixed group of people who handle the conflict situation or different
related groups are formed at the time of conflict?

Avari tries at its best to resolve conflicts at department level. It all depends on situation ,
firstly it comes to Hr manager then to General manager and in last to Head of department
(HODs). Hr manager GM and HOD all are together to resolve the conflict then it is called
conflict department committee.

Q15) When management wants to bring the change in organization, employees resist the
change. In your opinion they resist it because they think change is not fruitful for the
company or they are afraid of loosing their jobs?

Dealing with human capital is very difficult, in our opinion employees resist the change
because of both the factors mentioned above, but they are more worried about loosing their
jobs, so Avari have to explain them which type of benefit they will get from it. Like
employees where so much attach with their old uniform they don’t want to change it then
Avari make them agree on it.

18
Q16) Some policies reduce the control employees have over their life, is it correct?

Yes it is absolutely correct, but at Avari they don’t have such type of policies and we are
totally against of these types of policies. According to them they doesn’t’ likes to spy on their
employees and they wants the employees to have trust on them and employees trust is very
important for us.

Q17) Is 360- Degree evaluation for performance practiced in your organization?

If yes, than how do you resolve conflict arising from the unfair evaluation of any employee
by his peer or boss etc?

360- Degree is not practiced whereas there is 180- Degree evaluation.

Q18) If condition such as theft, fighting, harassment, fraud etc occur in your company, how
do you resolve this conflict?

These types of conflict are handled by security department. And in case of fighting and
harassment we try to resolve it the discussion but in case of theft and fraud Avari try to
resolves with discussion but if it is of serious nature then they directly go for firing the
person.

Q19) How do you handle the conflicts arising from brain storming session in your company?

Avari gives preference to resolve conflict among the employees and if it remains unsolved
then concerned departments work together to resolve it.

Q20) Keeping in mind the present economic condition how you people are dealing with
overstaffing or understaffing?

Avari is not touching the number of staff. They are not doing rightsizing or downsizing;
instead they are carrying a wonderful practice that is they are increasing the salaries by 25%
to motivate employees to work hard to fight with recession.

According to them:
Because of this policy we are getting revenues in this recession period.

19
 ARTICLES

Conflict Resolution in the Workplace

by Christine Kemp-Longmore

Conflict is an inevitable aspect of life. If the process of conflict resolution is viewed as an

opportunity for growth and change in a work environment, the potential for a positive
outcome is great. On an individual level, the ability to solve problems or manage change
plays an important role in one's success. In the same way, the overall ability of a company to
solve problems through collaborative efforts, has a strong impact on the organization's
bottom line and overall success.

When conflict is unresolved, it takes on a life of its own and eventually produces damage that
could have been prevented. As an example, consider the NBA lock out last basketball season.
The players may never have anticipated such a dispute and in that way failed to identify a
problem. Because of whatever communication breakdown there was, defining the problem
became impossible because it self-destructed. On the surface, the problem was about money
but obviously there was more to the story and more than enough money to go around. The
problem was not managed effectively, so the opportunity to decide to work together was lost.
Everyone ended up losing out as a result, even the fans. A more extreme and unpleasant form
of unresolved conflict is war.

As a college student preparing to graduate, you can attest to the fact that the life of an
African-American student is challenging, rewarding, fun, and full of obstacles to overcome.
As you prepare to enter the work world, be armed not only with the many academic
accomplishments and credentials you have painstakingly earned. Take with you the
additional skills you have developed from solving problems and resolving conflicts that
you've encountered along the way. Whether it was facing discriminatory attitudes, figuring
out how to balance the work with the study of a work-study job or transforming the four
walls of your dorm room into a home away from home, you have undoubtedly exercised
creative problem-solving and conflict management skills.

When you began your academic career, you began by planning. Just as living up to the
requirements of your chosen major has required a detailed plan of accomplishment, your
career planning will require a carefully thought out series of steps to get you where you want
to be. During the course of carrying out your career plans and in the day-to-day routine of
working, you will encounter difficulties and obstacles that you can begin preparing for now.

20
Richard Duran, senior director of Human Resources for Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc. had
this to say regarding the topic of conflict resolution; " I have come to expect it {conflict} as a
part of my everyday routine in dealing with business issues. If we walk away from conflict
and don't understand it, we are doomed to repeat and recreate the conflict. Not working
through problems just slows down the process of understanding. Avoiding conflict creates
tension and frustration. On the other hand, if I work through the conflict, I can both
understand the other person's point of view and express my perspective. The process then
begins to build trust and understanding. I would not be successful, nor a survivor, if I did not
deal with conflict openly. It would eat me up inside or cause me political problems within the
organization."

What Does a Company Stand For?

Being familiar with your current or prospective employer's grievance policies, statements of
commitment to diversity, and equal opportunity practices is very important. Most companies
have policies that provide guidelines for conflicts. Unfortunately, many of these policies
were created from a reactionary perspective, not a preventative one. They have been
designed to address problems and conflicts at the point that a problem requires intervention
for damage control. Forward-thinking companies strive to create an atmosphere with built-in
opportunities to voice concerns and participate in the process of change on a continual basis.

A wise person once said, "you learn more from listening than speaking," It seems rather
obvious but it's amazing how many people don't know how to listen effectively. Because
communication skills are essential in conflict resolution, taking it upon yourself to improve
these skills should rank high on your list of things to do upon entering into today's
workplace. The fine art of listening is a great starting point for increasing your
communication skills. Aside from understanding whatever information is being presented, an
important second outcome of effective listening is that the person speaking feels heard. When
someone feels heard, positive rapport begins to develop. When it comes time for this person
to listen to you, you will have a willing listener.

Important Do's and Don'ts for Active Listening

• Do maintain appropriate eye contact.

• Don't look down.
• Do paraphrase at the appropriate time (for example…Is what you're saying?…).
• Don't interrupt.
• Do be aware of your own body language and your tone of voice.
• Don't assume.
• Do listen.
• Don't mismatch your style.

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A slightly more involved aspect of active listening is developing the skill of recognizing
personality types and styles of communication. Many communication consultants and
trainers have over the years used charts that categorize people into groups of personality
types. While I have always found these personality type charts to be too complicated, there is
a lot of value in being familiar with the information. The art of "speaking someone's
language" and adjusting your style appropriately to fit or blend with someone else's style
(sometimes referred to as 'matching') is a good strategy for producing a positive outcome of
any interaction.

Communication is the key to managing conflict, solving problems, and producing your
desired outcome of any interaction. Here are some suggestions that can be useful in a variety
of situations such as interviews, sales meetings, and communicating in difficult situations.
Start with any basic question such as, "Do you have a pen I can use?" Asking for help puts
people at ease and most people like to feel helpful. Initially, let the other person do the
talking by asking relevant questions and listen. Through your eye contact, responses, and
body language, let the person know that you are listening. Avoid chit-chat and refocus the
conversation with a question if the person strays from the topic at hand. Make a mental note
of the person's communication style. Does he or she speak fast or slow, quiet or loud? What
is her tone? Is she upset, excited, unenthusiastic, or upbeat? After making a quick assessment
of these few details, adjust your style appropriately. If you tend to be more relaxed in your
style of communication and this person has a quicker pace, pick up your pace a bit. Make a
note of whether the person is asking you or telling you something. A person, who asks in
general more than he/she tells, likes to be asked rather than told.

During the course of your conversation with someone you are negotiating and/or working
with, pick something out about the person you notice such as, "What seems to be important
to this person? Is it attention to detail, compliance, or productivity, for example?

At the point in the conversation where the person begins asking you the questions, he/she is
prepared to listen. Whatever you have to present at this point will most likely be received
favorably. A request, constructive criticism, sales pitch, or identification of a problem now is
best because you have engaged the person, assessed his/her style, and gotten the person's
interest in what you have to say or offer.

If you are attempting to resolve a conflict, the process can be simple or complex. It can take
no more than a single meeting of the minds while other conflicts may take an ongoing
process and in some cases the use of outside mediators. The importance of creativity in
resolving problems cannot be emphasized enough. Having spent a number of years assisting
people with disabilities in employment, creativity has been a necessity. Sometimes being
creative means taking a look at a problem from a different perspective.

22
Taking a creative approach to conflict management often results in simplifying the problem
so that the solution becomes obvious. Whatever approach is taken, if it is well thought out, it
will at least begin to move the situation toward resolution.

Use Documentation as a Tool Whenever you find yourself in a conflict on the job,
documentation is important for many reasons. If solutions are tried and don't work,
documentation of the process that led up to that point can serve as a tool for going back to "
square one." Concerning issues of harassment, discrimination or otherwise unfair labor
practices, documentation can make or break a case should it turn into a legal matter.
Documenting the process of conflict resolution when it has worked well can produce a
format that can be used again.

Moving On Always be prepared to compromise and/or move on. Everyone involved in the
process of change should be prepared for the possibility that things won't go their way.
Moving on may be difficult, but it is completely necessary. The world of work is moving and
changing at an incredible rate and none of us can afford to get stuck in the yesterday's
problems. Conflict is a very natural part of our lives. If we expect positive outcomes of
change, we'll create and find them ourselves. If we don't, well you know the saying, "stuff
happens." Choices about how we learn and grow from changes on the job or in any aspect of
life are ours to make. The question is, " Do we want to let things happen, or make them
happen?"

23
 Conflict Management
by Prof. M.S. Rao
“Never look who is right and wrong. Always look what is right and wrong.” –
Prof.M.S.Rao

When you look at individuals there will be involvement of egos and emotions. On the
contrary, when you look at the issues there will be no individual preferences and prejudices.
Better judgment prevails.

Susan was working in a multinational company in India as an Human Resource (HR)

Manager. Her role was to recruit the candidates for the company and to ensure smooth
functioning of office administration. She was a smart worker and built a reputation for
herself from superiors by working for six years. The top management also respected and
consulted her on several occasions. She did not talk to anyone unnecessarily at the work
place and she meant business. She was 33 years old. She was bold and beautiful. She was
polite and well mannered. She was a woman with strong character. But she was stubborn by
nature. She disliked office politics.

Ron joined in the same company who was hard working and was yet to prove his abilities
and establish his credentials. Prior to joining this organization, he had 18 years of industry
experience in several companies and he was 39 years old. As per the rules of the company,
Ron had to work with Susan initially. He was a hard worker and rose from ranks. He learnt
bitter lessons in his life and knew the value of life. But he was adamant by nature. Both Ron
and Susan respected each other and had been working together.

Susan was introvert, by nature, and hardly mingled with other employees. At the same time,
she never kept ill will against anybody. She was a principled woman having exposure to
outside world. She was combination of education, intellect and beauty with grace which was
a rare combination. She was good at heart and helpful. Seeing the close and cordial relations
between Susan and Ron, a few people working in the office felt jealousy. Since Susan never
socialized with others and her cordial relations with Ron upset a few of their colleagues.

Ron also never socialized with anyone as he believed in his office work although he was an
extrovert by nature. Ron initially moved closely with a colleague by name John. But John
started speaking ill of Susan to Ron which Ron did not like. Gradually Ron distanced himself
away from John who tried to settle his scores with Susan as they worked together in the past.
Ron was basically an independent thinker and never listened to others and he followed his
heart rather than looking things from the mind of others.

24
Ron’s gelling with Susan in a friendly manner upset a few and especially two female
colleagues. They tried to create rift between them by talking ill of Susan with Ron. Ron never
liked to entertain negative people and was totally against office politics. Since the plan failed
to work, they attempted to poison the mind of Susan who initially resisted the same. But over
a period of time, Susan stopped talking to Ron and the latter did not know the reasons but
Ron sensed some problem. However he began interacting with Susan with the same spirit to
keep the things going on smoothly. Since Susan began neglecting Ron, he also began
concentrating on work and avoided Susan totally except whenever there was need for official
interaction and communication.

In fact, Susan touched the subconscious mind of Ron. As a result, Ron began thinking about
Susan frequently and deeply. Ron was not able to concentrate on his work properly. For Ron,
Susan was the second woman to enter in his life and the first woman was his wife.

At heart, Ron was thankful to Susan as she helped him to groove within the system. He
developed admiration towards her but never revealed to others at the workplace even to
Susan. In fact, Susan touched the heart of Ron.

One day, Susan told Ron to collect resumes from the candidates who came in for walk-in
interview. Ron got up from his cubicle and asked her whether to give the same to Senior
Manager. She said, “Yes”. Ron was energetic by nature; he rushed immediately to get the
resumes and collected from the candidates. Subsequently, Ron rushed to the Senior Manager
and handed over the resumes and chatted with him for some time.

Susan who was waiting outside the Senior Manager’s cabin took Ron to nearby room with
anger and shouted at him. Both had heated conversation for some time.

Susan questioned Ron, “Who told you to hand over the resumes to Senior Manager?”

Ron replied, “When I asked you, you told to hand over to Senior Manager. Therefore, I
handed over to him.”

Susan shouted, “You rushed inside the room. But I told you to hand over to Jim.”

Ron said, “You told me to hand over to Senior Manager. Therefore, I handed over the same.”
And he added, “Why do you make it a big issue?”

Susan shouted, “You did not listen properly and your behavior is not good”.

Ron did not want to hurt her and asked, “Ok! Tell me in which way my behavior is bad? And

25
I will change my behavior.” And he added further, “You keep something else in your heart
and talk something else outside. I don’t like this. I am straightforward. I respect you a lot
from the core of my heart. But every time, you listen to negative people and rush to wrong
conclusions about me.”

Susan said, “Stop talking all that! Next time don’t repeat like this.”

Ron pacified, “Ok! I will not do like this. But it all happened due to your miscommunication
and let us close the issue here itself.”

Susan cooled down her temper and said, “Now you go outside the room.”

Ron left the room puzzled, shocked and it was first time in his life a woman took him to task
for none of his mistakes. But since he respected Susan at the core of his heart he didn’t like to
hurt her in any way.

Outside the room, a few office friends asked Ron to find out what had happened. He did not
reveal what really happened inside the room as he was basically a confidential person by
nature.

After some time, Ron called Susan telephonically and explained his stand that things went
wrong due to improper communication. And he apologized her for the incident. Susan said
that she was in a position to take action against him but said that she would not initiate any
action against him. Ron asserted that he was not bothered for any kind of action but more
worried if Susan was hurt.

The issue depressed Ron for many days as he failed to analyze where he went wrong. He was
not worried about the incident but more worried as he liked Susan very much. Ron kept
internalizing her and thinking of Susan all the time. It disturbed his peace and sleep. He tried
to communicate the same with Susan number of times but the latter never gave such an
opportunity.

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After reading this, please post your valuable comments directly on the blog itself:

Was it a conflict?
If it was a conflict, what led to this conflict?
Was it due to miscommunication?
Was it due to improper communication of Susan?
Was it due to lack of understanding of Ron?
Was it due to clash of egos?
Who was responsible for this conflict - Susan or Ron?
Was there anything hidden between these two personalities?
Did the real issues come up or anything still hidden between them?
Was there any role of third person for this rift?
Was the conflict worth calling for attention?
Who was wrong?
What were the other hidden reasons?

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 CAUSES OF POLICY CONFLICT

UNFAIR AND UNREASONABLE REQUIREMENTS

Avari towers goes beyond this point. Avari has its fair policies and reasonable requirements
that are in confrontation with socially accepted norms and culture and for that reason there is
an employee retention rate of 12 1/2 years.

Looking at the situation in Pakistan where there is no guarantee of violent activities to occur,
Avari has its employees to leave at their standard time and not make them sit for long hours
to avoid in- competency and lack of concentration.

For which employees feel a sense of strong bond with the organization and they live like a
family.

LOSS OF CONTROL

Avari does not make such policies that focus on loss of control of employees, instead
employees feel a sense of ownership in the organization as a whole which leads to
increased motivation and acknowledgement.

UNHEALTHY COMPETITION

Avari towers have policy such as pay for performance or bonus programs that allow
employee action to determine the allocation of rewards are often used provide incentives for
desired behavior. They may be healthy and encourage improved organizational by:

• Communicate what management believes is important.

• Communicate the need for excellent performance.
• Provide incentives for excellent performance.
• Communicate the need for poor performers to improve.

Avari tower have health competition that’s why there is so high retention rate otherwise no
any other organization have such a high retention rate for 12 years. They give rewards and
incentives to motives employees.

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POOR COMMUNICATION

Avari tower not have poor Communication but they have effective Communication with
employees Avari management always try that there Communication should be clear to all
employees as they all get them. Avari tower’s General Manager is Scottish so for employees
it became difficult to interact with him that’s why his PA plays a role of predictor.

For effective Communication Management organizes monthly communication meetings with

Hod’s. In these meetings employees are free to talk about the problems they are facing
regarding workplace or any other thing. Because of these meetings interaction between
employees and management increases.

INFLEXIBLE APPLICATION

Policies typically cover future, so its necessary to make policies which can be altered
according to the change of environment. At Avari all policies are flexible enough; they can
be change or altered with the passage of time. If employees want any change in the policy
then they are free to discuss it with the management in monthly meetings. Because of having
flexible policies Avari not have to face conflicts regarding policies.

DISCRIMINATORY APPLICATION

When too much flexible applications are formed, and specific individuals are exempted from
following some policies from their discrimination started taking place and can create
conflicts among employees or between employees and management

Like at Avari uniform wearing is compulsory for lower staff, this can create conflict, because
they might think that they are not being equally treated by the management. But management
of Avari says that they discuss this matter with the employees and they make them
understand the advantages of wearing uniform at workplace. By this way they eliminate the
root cause of conflict.

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 CONCLUSION

At every Avari Hotel you can be sure to receive the same warm welcome, be offered
comfortable and well planned accommodation alongside varied choices of Food & Beverage
options all delivered with local flair and finesse. The Avari Towers Karachi is the most
exclusive hotel for the distinguished business leaders on the move.

Wherever there are choices to be made, differences may provide challenges or opportunities.
One difficulty is the possibility that differences will result in increased contention.
Supervisors may have to act as mediators and arbitrators from time to time. The advantage of
mediation is maintaining responsibility for problem solving and conflict resolution at the
level of those who own the challenge. Selecting an outside mediator often makes sense.

Several roles taken on by the mediator include understanding each participant’s perspective;
setting ground rules for improved communication; coaching participants on effective
interaction styles; equalizing power; and helping participants plan for future interaction.

Avari has its mediation practices and resolves through discussions to actually eliminate the
conflict. They consider that in due issues which cannot be resolved easily there should be a
supervisor that acts in the role of an arbitrator, it is more important to make a fair judgment
than to try to please all workers involved.

The ability to resolve conflict in the workplace is a valuable skill to have. When workplace
conflict is not managed efficiently this can lead to disastrous repercussions. Employer-
employee resentments create office politics and unpleasant workplace atmospheres. When
faced with conflict, employees are faced with a notion to either fight or flight.

The best thing to focus on when faced with resolving conflict in the workplace is your main
objective and the relationship at stake. How important is your goal and to what lengths are
you willing to go in order to achieve this?

Similarly, consider the relationship with the person you are conflicting with. At best in any
challenge there is a winner and a loser. How do you feel about possibly damaging an
important work relationship? While faced with such a paradox you will eventually have to
come to a conclusion.

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Conflict resolution is an ideal term but it is now being frequently used because it gives a
sense of hope to those people who are under the shadow of endless sense of insecurity and
fear. When human mind tends to be violent, aggressive, egocentric and chauvinistic, the
outcome has been the frequent outbreak of wars and other forms of hostility. Does it mean
that unless human mind is restructured and is made peaceful, we will continue to face the
outbreak of conflicts? Is it possible to change the psychological and sociological behavior of
people so that aggressive, chauvinistic and violent tendencies of human mind are
neutralized?

Conflict management refers to the long-term management of intractable conflicts. It is the

label for the variety of ways by which people handle grievances—standing up for what they
consider to be right and against what they consider to be wrong. Those ways include such
diverse phenomena as gossip, ridicule, lynching, terrorism, warfare, feuding, genocide, law,
mediation, and avoidance. Which forms of conflict management will be used in any given
situation can be somewhat predicted and explained by the social structure—or social
geometry—of the case

One particularly damaging form of conflict avoidance is to send someone else to deliver a
message or confront another on our behalf. At best, the individual not spoken to directly will
be hurt that such a tactic was taken. At worst, the go-between person cherishes the power trip
involved, allowing himself to become a sort of arbiter in the conflict.

We often are too quick to assume that a disagreement has no possible mutually acceptable
solution. Talking about disagreements may result in opportunities to strengthen relationships
and improve productivity. Obviously, talking problems through is not so easy.

Confronting an issue may require:

(1) Exposing oneself to ridicule or rejection

(2) Recognizing we may have contributed to the problem,

(3) Willingness to change.

Team conflicts at Avari:

At Avari there are no as such team conflicts, but if so it's important to move in a positive and
proactive way to reduce conflict and get the team back on-track. Remember, all teams go
through the Storming Stage. If a team says they haven't, they're kidding themselves, and you,
too! To get beyond this stage, it is critical to encourage and facilitate honest and open
discussion about disagreements. The Storming Stage can be marked by high levels of
frustration and/or apathy, so addressing these issues quickly can be the difference between
true conflict management and just "sweeping it under the rug," the old "Let's agree to
disagree." High performing teams successfully address these issues and then move on to the
next stage of team development.

31
According to Avari manager

There are several foes often combine to create contention:

• Our first enemy is the natural need to want to explain our side first. After all, we
reason, if they understand our perspective, they will come to the same conclusions we
did.
• Our second enemy is our ineffectiveness as listeners. Listening is much more than
being quiet so we can have our turn. It involves a real effort to understand another
person's perspective.
• Our third enemy is fear. Fear that we will not get our way. Fear of losing something
we cherish. Fear we will be made to look foolish or lose face. Fear of the truth ... that
we may be wrong.
• Our fourth enemy is the assumption that one of us has to lose if the other is going to
win: that such differences can only be solved competitively.

Conflicts created by Misuse of power are eradicated at Avari:

Conflict can also arise as a result of the misuse or abuse of power (for example in the case of
bullying or harassment). At certain times at least, therefore, preventing conflict is likely to
involve making sure that policies and procedures in relation to bullying and harassment are in
place and are actively used, rather than simply being pieces of paper on a shelf gathering
dust. The same can be said of discrimination. Where an individual or group is being unfairly
discriminated against, we should not be surprised if the situation leads to conflict.

Value Differences are eliminated at Avari to minimize conflict:

Conflict can also be closely associated with value differences. For example, it is often said in
relation to particular teams that there is a lack of teamwork because of personality clashes
within that staff group. However, it can be argued that differences in value positions play a
much greater role in team conflict than individual personality differences. For example, it is
not uncommon for people to be able to get on well together socially (and therefore have no
apparent personality clashes), but still not be able to work effectively together because of
their different approaches to the work task. These differences of approach are likely to owe a
great deal to differences of value perspective. A further important way of preventing conflict,
therefore, is to be clear about the value base of a team's work and attempt to deal
constructively with any differences of perspective.

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Policy Driven Conflict At Avari:

When inquired with the HR manager at Avari:

According to her,
“Avari hotels do not have any such policy which is a way through for conflicts, but if
still there is, they resolve it through meetings and discussions involving management
and employee under the supervision of conflict department committee."

But if still there is any problem or any disagreement that leads to conflict they solve it
through discussions and mediations and in serious cases arbitration is also used at Avari
Hotels.

COMMUNICATION MEETINGS AT AVARI

Avari has its monthly communication meetings with head of department where employees
freely can convey their concerns by challenging the management as well. Avari hotels have
completely eradicated the worst form in communication by not sending someone else to
deliver a message or confront another or behalf. Which is not avoided could hurt the
individual not spoken directly that such a tactic was taken and would ultimately leads to
conflict.

At Avari Conflict resolution is an ideal term but it is now being frequently used because it
gives a sense of hope to all those people who are under the shadow of endless sense of
insecurity and fear.

33
 RECOMMENDATIONS

The good news is that there are simple and effective tools to spin positive solutions and
strengthen relationships out of disagreements. But let not the simplicity of the concepts
obscure the challenge of carrying them out consistently. Certainly life gives us plenty of
opportunities to practice and attempt to improve

Each circumstance is different, but, generally speaking, there are three levels at which value-
laden conflicts can be addressed, and this should be done through the use of skilled,
experienced facilitators. They can:

 Assist stakeholders to discover and agree on shared principles and interests,

 Help participants reach agreement on processes for relating to each other, making
decisions, gathering and releasing information, and managing disagreements, and
 Guide ongoing and fundamental shifts in participants’ view of themselves and their
values as specific decisions are framed and negotiated.

For such objectives to achieve Avari should practice:

• ACTIVE LISTENING AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Avari has its inconsistency in communication due to Scottish GM, employees find it difficult
to understand that is why they should try to deal with the underlying reasons for conflict;

• UNDERSTAND AND THEN UNDERSTOOD

Use your active listening skills. With a clear understanding of how the other person sees
things, you are now in a position to go further into a discussion and bring forward some of
you criterion, needs and goals.

• FOCUS ON OPTIMISM

Focus on the positive side of each person's differences. Each person brings a different
strength to the table.

HIGH PERFORMANCE MODE

If you want your team to be high performance, then you also need to be in a high
performance mode, especially if you're the Team Leader or Facilitator.

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REDESIGN THE JOB

If possible, redesign the job or role to maximize group effectiveness.

IF MULTIPLE CONCLICTS

If you are dealing with multiple conflicts, start with the one that seems easiest to resolve. Go
for the quick victory. That will set a tone of success in conflict management.

AVOID OVERLOOKING

Do not overlook the possibility that you may be causing or exacerbating the conflict.

THIRD PERSON INTERVENTION

If necessary, bring in a third person to act as a mediator.

REMEMBER THAT ALL CONFLICTS ARE NOT BAD

A moderate amount of conflict is healthy and essential to a well-functioning team.

FOCUS “OUT” BEFORE FOCUSING “IN”

Focusing "out" means understanding the other party's point of view before expressing your
own. Why does this matter? Because it puts the other person at ease knowing that their
concerns have been heard and validated

DON’T COMPROMISE THE ORGANIZATION’S PRINCIPLES

If Avari considered everything and believe that some things must stay the way they are, they
should explain their reasons and then stick with it. This applies both to a situation between
management and workers and between workers themselves. Not every rule or every situation
will be loved by all. Trying to please everyone is both impossible and unhealthy.

AVOID FAVOURTISM

Of course managers have favorites. But don't let that change how they deal with people in
these situations. Don't let personal favoritism color your impartiality. It's not wrong to like
some people more. It's wrong to act on that in an unfair way.

35
COUNSELLING

When personal conflict leads to frustration and loss of efficiency, counseling may prove to be
a helpful antidote. Although few organizations can afford the luxury of having professional
counselors on the staff, given some training, managers may be able to perform this function.
Nondirective counseling, or "listening with understanding", is little more than being a good
listener—something every manager should be.

NEGOTIATION

Although it is difficult to negotiate with someone when that person doesn’t want to do so by
transform the situation into one where the resistant person recognizes the potential benefits of
a negotiated process, it may be helpful.

If Avari personnel could encourage others to explain their side first, they will be more apt to
listen to them.

TRAINING

Avari should teach everyone conflict-resolution skills and expect people to use them

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

If we come right out and tell someone, "I disagree," we are apt to alienate that person.
Successful negotiators are more likely to label their intentions, such as a desire to ask a
difficult question or provide a suggestion, and are less prone to label disagreement.3 Problems
are likely, however, to increase if we put all our needs aside to focus on another person’s
perspective. The other party may think we have no needs and be quite taken back when we
introduce them all of a sudden, almost as an afterthought.

That is the easy part. The difficulty comes in fulfilling such a resolution to really listen to
resist the tendency to interrupt with objections no matter how unfounded some of the
comments may be.

Instead of telling someone that we understand (just so they can finish and give us a turn to
present our perspective), Avari may have to refine our statement until the other stakeholder
approves it as a correct understanding of his position or need. It is necessary not only to
understand, but for the other person to feel understood. Only now can they begin to explain
our perspective and expect to be fully listened to. Once they have laid out our concerns, we
can focus on a creative solution. If they have had no history with someone, or a negative one,
we need to use more caution when disagreeing.

The potential for a disagreement to be side-railed into contention is always there. It helps if
Avari have made goodwill deposits over time.

36
MEDIATION AT AVARI

Mediators facilitate the process by:

• Understanding each participant’s perspective through a pre-caucus.

• Increasing and evaluating participant interest in solving the challenge through
mediation.
• Setting ground rules for improved communication.
• Coaching participants through the joint session.
• Equalizing power (e.g., between persons in different organizational levels).
• Helping participants plan for future interaction.

BE PROACTIVE

Instead of waiting for a conflict to occur before practicing these eight simple rules, why not
start today by enhancing your working relationships and applying the concepts in this article
to the smaller, more manageable office issues and disagreements. After all, the goal here is to
develop some momentum and patterns of success now so that you'll be better prepared to
take on any bigger, more volatile issues and conflicts in the future.

Keys:

• Be proactive both individually and as a work group, as follows:

Individually:

a. Solicit feedback from others on your strengths and weaknesses as it pertains to

managing conflict.

b. If there are areas to improve, enroll others in supporting you by helping you
manage conflict more effectively as well as providing you with feedback
when you're not.

c. Handle any and all issues when they occur.

d. Periodically check in with coworkers to assess how your working relationship

is going and could be improved.

37
As a work group:

f. Schedule biannual teambuilding sessions to further develop your working

relationships, established norms, group communication, and team cohesion. Allow for
any specific issues brought up by or affecting the whole group to be raised as well.

g. Incorporate more humor in the workplace. Do fun activities as a work unit together
periodically. You'd be surprised at the impact laughter can have on creating cohesion
in a group.

h. Learn more about each other's personalities and communication styles. The Myers-
Briggs Type Indicator and the True Colors Personality Profile are great in helping
your work group better understand each other.

i. Should an incident/conflict occur within the group, don't be afraid to debrief it with
the group after it has been resolved. This will provide an opportunity to assess how it
was handled and to reinforce the group norms in the future.

Conflict, if managed effectively, can be a tremendous asset in helping individuals and groups
maneuver through issues, disagreements, and problems that are common in today's
workplace. Hopefully Avari Hotels will pave way through and fly with its wings and
eradicate the evils of counterproductive conflicts at workplace and ensure employee safety
and their individual concerns at their outmost priority which will lead to organizational
excellence as a whole.

38
APPENDIX

QUESTIONNAIRE

Q1: What is Avari’s policy on professionalism? For which designation does your dress code
policy applies? Explain.

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Q2: Don’t they differentiate in dress code policy applying to different designations creates
conflict?

a) Yes
b) No

Q3: Inconsistency in communication always creates conflict. How does your organization
support this aspect? Explain

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Q4: Do you exercise coercive power? In which situation? The conflict if created, how do you
resolve it?

a) Yes
b) No

(Explain)

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Q5: Does the management of Avari gives such flexibility to employees that they can
challenge them for any dispute that occurs?

a) Yes
b) No

39
Q6: How does the management makes employees trust them at Avari?

(f) Changing its own behavior

(g) Improving its management process
(h) Setting clear standards
(i) Offering training and help
(j) All of the above

Q7: Does your organization practice bonus policy/ reward policy for any desired behavior to
minimize the conflict?

a) Yes
b) No

Q8: Resolving conflict and working together leads to improved communication, which
means that employees now surface their underlying basis causing additional conflict? Do you
agree?

a) Yes
b) No

Q9: Surprises are not accepted by the employees its better to make them understand earlier to
accept the upcoming change. What do you think?

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Q10: Right workforce also plays an important role in minimizing conflict, what do you
thing?

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Q11: Do you follow an open door policy?

a) Yes
b) No

40
Q12: If any policy is creating conflict among employees how do you handle the situation?

(a) Change the policy

(b) Change the attitude of the employees towards it.

Q13: Do you have any separate department which handles conflict situations?

a) Yes
b) No

Q14: Do you have a fixed group of people who handle the conflict situation or different
related groups are formed at the time of conflict?

a) Yes
b) No

Q15: when management wants to bring the change in organization, employees resist the
change. In your opinion they resist it because they think change is not fruitful for the
company or they are afraid of loosing their jobs?

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Q16: Some policies reduce the control employees have over their life, is it correct?

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Q17: Is 360- Degree evaluation for performance practiced in your organization?

If yes, than how do you resolve conflict arising from the unfair evaluation of any employee
by his peer or boss etc?

a) Yes
b) No

If yes, than how do you resolve conflict arising from the unfair evaluation of any employee
by his peer or boss etc?

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41
Q18: If condition such as theft, fighting, harassment, fraud etc occur in your company, how
do you resolve this conflict?

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Q19: How do you handle the conflicts arising from brain storming session in your company?

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Q20: Keeping in mind the present economic condition how you people are dealing with
overstaffing or understaffing?

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“THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION”

42
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

• INTERVIEWED:

We the group members paid our personal visit at Avari towers Karachi and took the interview from the HR manager
Named MISS SABITA MUSHTAQ. She assisted us all through our whole visit. Adding to our knowledge was the
Security officer Capt. Shehzad Zafar Qureshi.

• Conflict Dispute Resolution process

www.academicleadershipsupport.com

• Articles

1) Conflict Resolution in the Workplace

by Christine Kemp-Longmore

About the Author

Christine Kemp-Longmore has been an employment specialist for 15 years. After managing a community-based
employment program called Project Hire, she founded Human Solutions, an organization specializing in consulting,
diversity awareness and sensitivity training, and workshops for human service professionals in the state of Vermont.
She also provided employment development and support services for people with disabilities and their employers.
Currently, she works as a freelance writer.

2) Conflict Management
by Prof. M.S. Rao

Author's Bio
The author, Prof. M.S.Rao, has 27 years of experience. He is a trainer, teacher, writer, orator, editor, mentor
and researcher. He has 6 qualifications - MBA, MA, PGDBM, PGDCLL, BSc, DME (Aeronautical). He is a
Freelance Corporate Trainer in Leadership Development conducting training programs for various corporate
and educational institutions. He is a Motivational Speaker and delivers 'Guest Lectures' upon request. He is
a specialist in Soft Skills and Leadership Training. His areas of interest include Soft Skills, Corporate
Training, Entrepreneurship and Leadership Development.

He is currently working as a ‘Consulting Editor’ in IBS Research Center, Hyderabad, India. He successfully
edited books titled “Soft Skills for Better Employability” and “Secrets for Successful Public Speaking”. He
has number of articles to his credit published in various global websites, magazines and journals. He can be
reached at: profmsrce@yahoo.com, profmsr7@gmail.com. His hobbies are traveling and gifting. He has a
Blog: profmsr.blogspot.com

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