Human Resource

1. Hsu Xianli (Hsu) boasted to Guan Han that the big boss really liked him and that the SOCP general manager and controller really knew little about the business. Also,

there was no adequate communication in the project team.

2. Many employees were confused by HsuЎЇs two different attitudes. The employees in GuanЎЇs department often received direct and some confrontional instructions from Hsu.

3. Guan was disappointed, stressful and dissatisfied after he tried to resolve the increasingly negative relationship with Hsu.

Underlying problem

Guan was responsible for all administration staff and his peers and also responsible for production-related staff; both working on a pilot project for the SOCP. Shortly after the project started, tensions were increasing between them and among other members of the project. However, Guan failed to manage the conflict between him and Hsu.The conflict led to negative impact on the team project.

Analysis

In reviewing the Resources of Conflict in Organizations (McShane, 2001 p.388), conflicts arises from different values and beliefs. Mergers often produce conflict because they bring together people with divergent corporate cultures (McShane, 2001 p.388). SOCP was a joint venture between an American company (IOCP) and a Chinese company (Fazhan). In this case, Guan had worked as the manager of imported and exported operations in a joint venture (Fazhan had established the joint venture with another global corporation) before he joined the project team. So he believed that he would be able to manage imported and exported operations successfully in China due to his past experience in this area. Moreover, before starting to work for SOCP, Guan got the directions from Zheng Jun, the chairman of Fazhan and SOCP, about his expectations of both the company and himself. He was confident in his new job and wanted to achieve a successful experience at SOCP to advance his career. Also, he liked Mito MitsukuniЎЇs management style than Hsu XianliЎЇs.On the other hand, Hsu had worked for IOCP for more than 12 years. He was accustomed to the organizational culture and structure of IOCP and eagerly wanted to learn the Chinese business culture. Guan and Hsu came from different cultures and had different backgrounds and different experiences. These factors made them have different values and beliefs toward organizational decisions and events. For example, after the pilot project started, Hsu became more aggressive and made comments about firing staff inside and outside his department. He wanted to control the import/export department and owe all achievements to himself. His attitudes towards Guan also changed, so when they worked together in the same project team, conflict occurred between them. Their behaviors were different in the organization and led to tensions among other members of the project. We can conclude that when individuals come together and work in teams their differences in terms of values and beliefs based on unique backgrounds, expericens, or training contribute to the creation of conflict.

Conflict often occurs due to the lack of opportunity, ability, or motivation to communication effectively (McShane, 2001 p.390). Firstly, the conflict between Guan and Hsu arose from the lack of opportunity to communicate effectively. When Guan tried to resolve the increasingly negative relationship with Hsu, Hsu always said he had no time to talk and walked away. Furthermore, he often ignored GuanЎЇs greetings when they met in corridors. As thus, both of them tended to use stereotypes to explain past behaviours and anticipated future actions. Stereotypes can distort the meaning of an opponentЎЇs actions, thereby escalating perceptions of conflict. Secondly, as the director of administration, Guan lacked the necessary skills to communicate with Hsu. When he wanted to discuss the issues with Hsu, he did not try to communicate with him in another way, such as inviting Hsu to a dinner to improve the communication. He failed to find a diplomatic, non confrontational manner in resolving this situation.Hsu talked to Guan in an arrogant way, but Guan did not adopt appropriate way to communicate with Hsu. As a result, the situation led to a conflict between them. Although Mito Mitsukuni paid a lot of attention to communications, the lack of motivation to communicate existed between Guan and Hsu.Both of them felt uncomfortable and awkward interacting