The Management of Differences of Employees of Selected Organizations

Abstract

In every relationship, group or organization, it is inevitable not to encounter individuals who do share the same views, beliefs, or opinions. The mishandling of these differences could greatly escalate into disagreements, disputes and major conflicts that could endanger an individual's relationships with others. Hence, it is essential that such differences be dealt with accordingly, and as constructively as possible. The study aimed to determine, based on Kindler's Management of Differences (MODISelf}, how employees of selected organizations manage their differences. It specifically intended to determine how employees of selected organizations fare in the nine approaches to managing differences namely maintain, smooth, dominate, decide by rule, coexist, bargain, yield, release, and collaborate. The study was also conducted to determine the official approach to managing differences of each selected organization. A one-shot design, employing a survey questionnaire (MODI-Self). and interviews and/ or document reviews were used in the Study. Convenience and purposive sampling techniques were utilized in selecting the respondents of the Study: the 3 organizations namely DOU-Systems Technology, Inc. (DSTI), Equitable PCI Bank U.N. Avenue Branch, and St. Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC), and the 10 employees per organization and the 2 high-ranking officials who served as respondents for the survey and interview, respectively. Survey findings revealed that the employees of selected organizations fared differently from one another in Kindler’s nine approaches to managing differences. The overall findings revealed that the collaborate approach had the top score which rendered it as the most used approach by DSTI. Findings for Equitable PCI and SLMC were similar — decide by rule was their most used approach. The study confirmed that DST! has no predetermined rules and procedures for managing differences, and instead rely on authorities of the organization for settling differences. In the interview, both DSTI and Equitable PCI branch resolve differences internally, without the interference of a committee or an external body or set rules. Meanwhile, as revealed by documents. Equitable PC! and SLMC were found to have the same composition of the official approach to managing differences - the grievance and arbitration procedures that imply the existence of a committee or a dispute resolution system, and the standard guidelines that employees follow in managing differences. In general, it was concluded that, based on Kindler Management Of Differences Inventory (MODI-Self}, employees in organizations such as DSTI actually depend on the opinion or idea of their highest boss in dealing with differences. On the other hand, employees in organizations such as Equitable PC! Bank and SLMC heavily rely on rules and grievance procedures set by the organization, and other institutionalized, objective bases in managing differences.