Assessment Task 2

SITXCOM005 Manage conflict

Assessment Submission details:

1. Please include following details on the top of your assessment:

• Your Name
• Your Student Id
• Your Trainer’s name
• Title of your Assessment
• Assessment Due Date
• Actual Submission Date
Please Note: Any changes in the assessment due date must be approved by your trainer.

2. This assessment must be in Microsoft word format. Following settings should be made for this assignment
to keep consistency among all the assessments:

Body text Page setup

• Font: Times New Roman • Top: 2.54 cm

• Font size: 12 point • Bottom: 2.54 cm
• Line spacing: Double • Left: 3.17 cm
• Text style: Normal • Right: 3.17 cm
• Header: 1.25 cm
• Footer: 1.25 cm

3. Do not forget to attach the Cover Sheet at the front of the assessment.
4. Make sure you have signed the Cover sheet to declare this is your own work.
5. You can e-mail this assessment to your trainer’s e-mail address with following details:
In ‘subject’ mention your ‘student Id – Your name’.

Achieving Competence:

To be deemed competent in this assessment you must:

• Correctly address all of the assessment requirements as described in this task

• Correctly address all of the submission instructions
• Successfully complete the Assessment Questions
• Submit assessment on or before the due date with an assessment cover sheet

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Performance objective:

The purpose of this assessment is to assess your underpinning knowledge to complete the tasks outlined in the
elements and performance criteria for this unit of competency and relating to the following aspects:

a) Commonly occurring conflict situations in the tourism, travel, hospitality and event industries and their
typical causes
b) Conflict theory:

o signs
o stages
o levels
o factors involved
o results

c) Conflict-resolution techniques:

o assertiveness
o negotiation
o use of appropriate communication

d) Resources to assist in managing conflict:

o counsellors
o internal security staff
o mediators
o other staff members
o police
o senior staff

e) Communication techniques:

o active listening
o empathising with the person's situation while upholding organisational policy
o non-verbal communication and recognition of non-verbal signs
o language style
o questioning techniques
o those appropriate to different social and cultural groups

f) Organisational policies and procedures for complaint, conflict and dispute resolution

Assessment description:

The assessment for this unit of competency consists of two parts, Part A and Part B.

Part A consists of 4 different scenarios, each followed by a series of questions.

Part B consists of questions to assess your underpinning knowledge relating to workplace policies and protocols
which form the basis to deal with and manage conflict.

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You are required to address all questions to achieve competence. Your trainer will provide you with instructions
for time frames and dates to complete this assessment.

Once completed, carefully read the responses you have provided and check for completeness. Your trainer will
provide you with feedback and the result you have achieved.

Part A
Read the following scenarios and answer the corresponding questions for each.

Scenario 1:
You are working as part of the wait staff at a local restaurant. A customer you are serving has called you over to
her table and has complained that she has found a hair in her meal. However, she has finished her meal and
there is no hair to be seen. She is visibly unhappy and demanding a refund. This is not the policy of your
restaurant.
Question 1: Name 3 conflict resolution techniques and explain how you will use these to resolve this conflict:
1. Accommodating technique that can be fully satisfies the customer , under this the focus will only on to make the customer happy and
agrees on their terms.
2. A compromising technique that can be partially accepted by both the parties.
3. Collaborating technique can be used where an alternative best solution to the problem is given. This leads to a win-win kind of an outcome.
Here both the parties collaborates with each other.

Question 2: What are the dangers of leaving this conflict unresolved?

This will lead to loose the customer forever. She can tell the situation to other persons and can lead to bad reputation of the organization and
can hit the goodwill in a bad way. She can also complaint about it to the newspaper or on social media and on-line platforms.

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 Scenario 2

You are working at a hotel that is popular with international tourists. A foreign tourist approaches you with a
complaint about his room, but you are struggling to understand his concerns due to his accent and language
barrier. You begin to understand that the customer has an issue with the cleanliness of his bathroom. He is
becoming agitated, aggressive, raising his voice and speaking quickly. He has crossed his arms and looks stiff and
tense, as well as frowning at you. How will you manage this customer’s complaint? Answer the following
questions based on this scenario.

Question 1: What are the signs in this situation that conflict is occurring?
Signs that are indicating that conflict is occurring can be seen in customer's body language and tone. Following are some of signs by customer:
1. Angry tone
2. Raised voice
3. Staring
4. Becoming agitated
5. Aggressive
6. Speaking quickly
7. Crossed arms
8. Stiff and tense look
9. Frowning

Question 2: How could you overcome this communication barrier?

I would try to calm down the customer and explain my position first and would like to take help from my colleagues to help understand the
language much better by actively listening to the conflict of the foreign customer let him know I am trying to understand him and help him out
in a best way.

Question 3: What actions can you take to resolve this complaint?

Firstly I will respond to his complaints and if appropriate, apologize for the situation and propose a solution to the problem and take appropriate
action to ensure that the solution is followed up by informing the customer of the results so that they know that the situation has been in the
process of solution.

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 Question 4: What actions can you take to prevent this situation from happening again in the future?
I will talk to the relevant Staff that is responsible for cleaning procedures in the hotel.
Try to investigate the problem that why the room was not cleaned and will communicate to know the exact reason.
After finding the reasons, will direct the staff to improve efficiency level and direct them to have zero complaints in the future by timely
management of cleanliness and hygiene activities.
If any staff is at fault because of busy hour, they can take help from other staff members of the team and a strict action will be taken as it will
not be tolerated in the future.

Question 5: What actions could management take to assist employees to improve their communication with
international customers?
Training courses for languages are good.
Having a diverse workplace and employing people that speak additional and different languages can be helpful as well.
Encourage employees to learn another language is a good idea and educate employees to deal with this kind of customer complaints.
Employees should deal with patience, this should be added in the training.

Scenario 3

Some hostility has been occurring among your work team as Sarah and James always receive the weekend off,
and the rest of the team is required to work both Saturdays and Sundays. The other employees are beginning to
resent Sarah and James for always receiving the weekend off work. The team rarely works with Sarah and James
due to this rostering, and when they do, there is conflict. The other employees hold fixed opinions about Sarah
and James and as a result, the working environment has become tense and there has been a lot of gossip. The
conflict has not been resolved and is therefore increasing in severity. As a result, arguments have occurred
between Sarah and other employees. There has been a notable decrease in productivity.

Question 1: Conflict theory can be divided into the following parts:

1) Signs
2) Stages
3) Levels
4) Factors involved
5) Results
Using the scenario, apply the situations to the relevant parts of conflict theory listed above. Which
aspects need to be addressed by you as the manager?
Sign- gossiping and resenting Sarah and James due to always receiving weekend off
Stages- Tension stage
Level- Level is inter group. Manager would be involved this case and all team members.
Factors involved - James and Sarah always receive weekends off, and it causes the rest of team members have to work on weekends. Therefore, there is
conflict between team
members and both of them.
Results - Arguments have occurred between Sarah and other employees. There has been a notable decrease in productivity.

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As a manager the aspects that need to be discussed are the weekends off taken by James and Sarah and the work is being done by all
other employees as they see them getting special treatment and increased work load on them. I will try to solve the issue as soon as possible
before it affect the organization and reaching to the worst case of employees physical fights or termination of employment.

Question 2: As the manager of this team, describe why you believe this conflict is occurring between Sarah and
James and the other team members.
Because always the weekends off are being taken by James and Sarah and the work is being done by all other employees as they see them
getting special treatment and increased work load on them. They are not feeling equal treatment.

Question 3: During the initial stages of this conflict, team members were uncomfortable about the rostering
situation but did not argue about the issue. Describe the stage of conflict that this situation has reached. What
will happen if it is ignored further?
The issue has led to a crisis stage as the overall productivity has dropped and arguments. This is the breaking point for the relationships in
the organization. By this stage all communication will focus on the conflict if it will further delayed or ignored. The situation may get violent.
Teamwork is vital for any business to run well. Ignorance will result in low efficiency, low productivity and an accumulation of issues internally
and it will reach to the customers very soon. Worst-case is that the employees might take severe action – dangerous and abusive or may be physical fights,
or it may happen that an employee would resign and leave the team which adds pressure.

Question 4: How can you use communication techniques to effectively manage the conflict within your team
and work well with the other members?
The effective communication and listening to both the parties and make them calm is the best solution at hand to minimize the tension to going
beyond the limit as the consequences can be worst so there should be good communication first and then the involvement of management
is necessary afterwards to reach a conclusion to end the conflict. It can be to amend the rostering or approve me to do so, so that every
employee is given the same benefits that includes the occasional weekend off with no favoritism to any employee unless there are certain
situations like emergency.

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 Question5: How can management work with you to determine and implement a possible solution to this
conflict?
The rostering is the issue that can be seen in the organization that other employees think that Sarah and James are taking off always and
they seem to treated special so management can work with me to amend the rostering or approve me to do so, so that every employee is given
the same benefits that includes the occasional weekend off with no favoritism to any employee unless there are certain situations like emergency.

Question 6: What results will be achieved if this conflict is managed effectively?

This can improve the communication and the relations can become more strong after the fight and arguments as these conflicts often bring

people together after patient communication and knowing each other situation and this will prevent the conflict of same kind for the future and

could help to potentially prevent similar situations from occurring again. This can bring up the level of productivity and strengthen the bonding.

Scenario 4

A customer at your bar appears to have become drunk and disorderly. He is knocking over drinks, talking loudly
and has begun arguing with a new staff member working next to you at the bar when she refuses to serve the
customer. You notice that his behaviour is becoming increasingly threatening to customers and your fellow staff
member, who is becoming frightened of the situation.

Question 1: How might this situation escalate if you do not respond appropriately?
The customer is knocking over the drinks and talking loudly that is threatening for the other customers and the staff members, it can lead to the
customers rush out of the place and without paying and several complaints will come for the same by the customers and it can lead to bad
reputation. The customer is drunk and he is physically causing damage and abusing people – the staff are in danger of physical violence and
customers are at risk too along with property damage also. Conflict left unresolved usually builds more triggered emotions and resentment and
makes the situation worse by impacting on other customers. The danger of not dealing with conflict is that situation can go beyond the control
such as throwing things and shouting at innocent customers, and staff members.

Question2: What actions will you take and what resources can you use to effectively address this situation and
prevent escalation?

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 I will try to calm the drunk customer and ask him politely to have control over himself and behave before having the authority/supervisor
or the manager involvement. If the customer will not behave and will not leave the premises then I will call security staff to remove the customer
from the premises and if the situation still not controlled then will call police to handle the customer.

Question3: Which documentation do you need to complete in this instance? List 3 instances which must be
recorded associated with conflict situations in a workplace and explain the reasons why this needs to occur.
An incident report need to be completed on this incident.
Details on location, time, date,
Details of the incident – what was the issue or the reason was
Outcomes of the incident – What action was taken to overcome?
Persons involved - Name of the employee, and the manager or supervisor involved and the customer details.

Part B

Questions Workplace policies and protocols to deal with and manage conflict

Question 1: Outline the common procedures and policies which could be part of a company policy regarding the
requirements for reporting and management of conflict. What does this need to include?
Following are the procedure and policies that could be a part of company policy for reporting and management of conflict:

Patiently talking to the customer and talk in a separate place to calm down so that he does not feel insulted and agitated.

Clarify individual perceptions involved in the conflict.

Practice taking an active and empathetic listening.

Generate options with the vision of a win-win outcome.

Seek outer help if the situation goes beyond the control.

Use conflict management techniques.

Report to the concerned persons like manager or supervisor and get involved them and use mediation policies.

Record the incident with each and every detail.

Question 2: What are the regulatory, industrial and legislative requirements related to the handling of disputes?

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 Employees have access to the dispute resolution procedure set out in the award or agreement that covers them under the Fair Work Act.
This procedure can be used to settle disputes related to that award or agreement, or to the National Employment Standards
Under the Awards
Dispute resolution clauses can vary between awards, but generally have a similar approach to resolution procedures, including:
Resolution within the workplace - The employee and their manager must first try to resolve the dispute through discussion. If this is
unsuccessful, then senior management discusses the matter with the employee to try and resolve the dispute.
This could involve one or more escalations to senior managers, depending on the structure of the business.
Resolution outside the workplace- employee, the employer or their representatives may refer the dispute to the Fair Work Commission after
all appropriate steps have been taken within the workplace. The Fair Work Commission can deal with a dispute through conciliation,
mediation or, if agreed by the parties, arbitration. If the dispute still isn’t resolved, the Fair Work Commission can use any method of dispute
resolution permitted by the Fair Work Act that it considers appropriate to ensure the dispute is settled.
Question 3: Explain the variety of communication skills which could be employed to ensure the effectiveness of
dealing with conflict and conflict resolution?
Patient and active listening
Tread Carefully
Encouraging All Points of View
Minimizing the Impact of Conflict
Open body language and neutral point of view
Establishing and Agreeing on the Problem
Determining Possible Solutions
Implementing Conflict Resolution and recording of the whole process
Question 4: What are the procedures where conflict involves drugs, alcohol or violence?
This requires skilled and sensitivity approach to achieve the best outcome. When establishing a policy, consideration should be given to

designating and training persons to approach person who is displaying signs of being under the influence of alcohol or other drugs.

Suitable persons may include managers, supervisors, health and safety representatives or other persons who have appropriate knowledge,

experience. The procedure can involve eliminating the customer from premises if his/her behaviour is violent and if needed, get assistance to

remove the person. This may involve asking your manager for help or calling security or the police. This can include calling bouncers or police

also when conflict gets out of hand.

Question 5: What should be covered in an induction program with regards to conflict situations?
1. It should cover the company's procedures and policies which established in the policy area for conflict situations.
2. It should have the requirements for reporting and management of conflict.
3. Should elaborate stages of conflict and different techniques also.
4. Should have a training clause for effective communication skills for conflict resolutions.
5. It must provide with the skills to deal a tense situation and how to tackle it.

Question 6: To whom (other than the HR department) should escalated conflict situations or problems be
reported in an organisation?
Manager / supervisor

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Question 7: What is the purpose of evaluating conflict situations? Provide examples how this could be achieved
effectively?
The purpose is very crucial as it facilitates the business to make necessary future modifications to work practices to prevent similar problems
from occurring again. It is good practice to know your conflict resolutions techniques and evaluate their success. This provides an opportunity
for all parties involved in dealing with the conflict to think about the process and whether the outcomes have been successful. If some parties
are still unhappy or the matter has not been completely resolved, then further steps must be taken. The evaluation process could be as simple
as a supervisor or manager initiating a discussion after service about how a situation was handled. In more serious situations, a formal
evaluation such as an incident report may be necessary or a discussion can take place on the same.

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