Anywhere you have a group of people
together for an extended period of time; there is a large chance for conflict
to arise. This is especially true in scenarios where individual personalities
clash and people don’t always work well together. From an organization’s stand
point where the same people are together for an extended period of time most
days of the week, conflicts can easily arise. This behavior can be normal in an
organization, and can have some effects on the overall productivity. If the
conflict is extreme enough it can cause individuals to focus their attention on
issues both within and caused by the conflict, which prevents them from being
able to finish their desired outcome within the time limit.
Reading this prompt I was initially
reminded of a conflict that arose at a place I worked a few years ago. I was
the head lifeguard in charge of a team of 8 other guards for the day. All nine
lifeguards must collectively watch the pool and other facilities in order to
insure the safety of all of the members and other visitors at the pool. If the
team is unable to work well together, the safety of all of the members is in
jeopardy. In this case of the workers deciding to get in a conflict, they are
unable to watch the water, which could create an issue at the pool. As head
lifeguard, part of my job description in addition to watching the water, is to
manage the team of guards so that they work well.
One day a few summers ago, a
conflict arose that put the patrons safety in jeopardy. I must add that at all
times of the day, 8 of the guards are covering a specific section of the
aquatic center while one is inside on break. It is the responsibility of the
guard on break to start the rotation early enough as well as the other guards
to finish rotation so that the guard at the end of the system may be allowed to
go inside on break. If people take too long changing positions, or the initial
guard on break starts his rotation too late, the guard going on break can get
his own break cut short. This is perhaps an issue in the rotation system, which
was created by upper management, but this is the issue that created the
conflict that arose a few summers ago.
Most of the time when an issue
would arise due to slow rotations, the person effected would just tell the
other people to please rotate faster so that they too can get their full break.
However, one day one of our younger guards decided that he was getting shafted
in his break times. Instead of addressing it in a professional way, he acted
out on his anger. Instead of walking inside to go on his break, he filled up a
cup of water and went across the pool and dumped it on another guard, which he
believed was the reason he was missing his break. The two guards then started
to argue about who was really at fault for the conflict. Due to the nature of
the job being outdoors working with all of the citizens, everyone was able to
see the conflict happening and was instantly alarmed. The biggest issue is that
this occurred in the shallow end, which was mainly occupied by young children.
These are the type of swimmers that need the most attention from the guards.
Thankfully I was able to diffuse the situation by getting the guards to realize
that they should resolve the conflict out of the eye of the swimmers. Had the
conflict escalated, there was potential for the safety of the patrons to be in
more danger. Thinking back to this now, this conflict is one that was pretty pointless. However, it has made me aware how easily a conflict can arise in an organization.
The situation you describe is reminiscent of fights I would have with my younger brother (we shared a bedroom growing up). If memory serves, we'd have some outburst almost every day, over the course of many years. But then that would be done and for the most part we'd get along.
ReplyDeleteSo in the story you told, did the lifeguards know each other out of work? That would be one question. The other is about what happened after you intervened, say the next day? Did things return to normal or was there tension between them.
On the logistics of this - how long were the breaks? 15 minutes? a half hour? And how many breaks a day did the lifeguards have? Given that you said people might take too long on break, was there a better way the situation could have been managed to prevent an incident like this from happens?
Professor Arvan,
DeleteI must say that my post on a conflict within an organization was quite elementary as compared to what you probably received from the rest of the class. I'm sure as I work more in a professional setting I will gain more experience of conflict in a workplace. Getting at the questions you asked, yes the lifeguards went to school together and weren't really friends, but acquaintances that saw each other on a regular basis. Also, for the most part, their work together wasn't completely effected the next couple of days as both guards realized the stupidity associated with their actions. They weren't "best friends" after the altercation, but it could have been worse.
In addition, the breaks as well as spot rotations were each 15 min long. The idea was that would be the best time allocation to manage attention span as well as overheating in the sun. In previous years before I worked there, I have heard that they had 30 min rotations, and although the breaks would be longer they were more infrequent. This would leave guards towards the end of the rotation less interested in their job and more focused on getting an ice cream or checking their phone once they were on break. Perhaps an easy way to combat this would be to have more than one guard on break at a time. This would aid in rotations as well as solve conflicts like the one described in my initial post. However, this would also require staffing one more guard which would cost more.
Bill,
ReplyDeleteGreat post, I myself worked as a lifeguard for years and can clearly picture what you have described and relate to it very much. However I will say you must have worked at a larger aquatic facility than I as the maximum amount of guards I worked with on rotation was 4 of us at once with two on break. Even in that scenario where we would work for an hour than have a half hour break people would still get very pissy at each other if you were late to come relieve them from the chair. Luckily it seems you used your manager prowess to diffuse the situation and I assume educate the younger guards on how it was neither of their faults for the rotation lag. Luckily no patrons were hurt during this scuffle between the guards due to your quick action.
Great post,
ReplyDeleteI have never worked in a lifeguard situation myself but I can relate to your post. At my logistics company we had to have a rotation of warehouse employees because product needed to be shipped out of the warehouse at all hours of the day. Ten people would be working at all times and two people would be on half hour lunch break starting at 11a.m until everyone was done eating. If one person were to take too long on their break and not be back in time it would make another employee work longer and cut their lunch break short. This held everyone in the warehouse accountable to not extend their break any longer than the half hour because they know they would not want someone doing that to them.
I wonder if the conflict in your story might have been averted with a more concrete way of meting out breaks, like setting up a timer with an audible ring in the break area. Were there any other staff members at the pool regularly besides lifeguards? Maybe other staff members could have been involved in making sure that all the lifeguards had an equal amount of break time. Maybe disciplinary measures could even have been taken in the case of employees that regularly overextended their breaks.
ReplyDeleteI would like to challenge the idea that the conflict was "pointless". The breaks would have been a chance for the lifeguards to recharge their attention span and take a break from the heat of the sun. The lifeguards who were taking breaks that were too long might have been endangering the health of both the pool guests and their fellow lifeguards by possibly leaving the other lifeguards exhausted (and less able to watch the pool) and overheated. Taking this into account might have provided some incentive to resolve the source of this conflict before it came to a boil.