In the case study, determine the organisational behaviour theories/concepts you will discuss within the question

"What are the most common strategies used in resolving conflict? If you are in the role of managing changes at BNZ, what conflict management strategies will you prefer and why"

500078 Organisational Behaviour 2021 500078 Organisational Behaviour 2021 ASSESSMENT TASK 2: APPLIED PROJECT: ASSESSMENT TASK 2: APPLIED PROJECT: PART B :CASE STUDY PART B : CASE STUDY Case study: Employee empowerment at the Bank of New Zealand Background The Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) has introduced a new business model by empowering branch BNZ was founded in 1861 and, on the verge of bankruptcy, was purchased by the National managers to think and act like business owners. Chris Bayliss visited a store in Christchurch in Australia Bank Group in 1992. Part of BNZ's strategy was an increased focus on the performance June 2007, soon after joining the bank as the director of retail banking. It was just past 9.00 am of local branches (known as stores), which typically had four to seven team members - the store on a Tuesday, and the store was still closed. Most days it opened at 9.00 am, but on Tuesdays and manager, a few tellers, and a few salespeople. Wednesdays, it opened at 9.30 am to accommodate staff training. Corporate policy dictated the Chris Bayliss was appointed as the director of retail banking in April 2007 and decided that his exact same schedule for all the stores. The problem was the growing line of impatient customers first priority was to build competitive advantage by moving BNZ from a banking to a retail outside the store. Bayliss asked the store manager if this was a regular occurrence. She said it mindset. By doing this, he was aiming to better serve and impress customers. Chris strongly was, and that it was very frustrating. He asked if she would prefer to open earlier and reschedule believes that frontline staff know how to run their local branch, and he wanted them to feel and the training. She enthusiastically said she would and was given the go-ahead. act like it was their own business. Within days, news of the policy change had spread across BNZ's retail network. Soon Chris was fielding requests from managers throughout New Zealand, all of whom, it seemed, were eager for the same prerogatives that had just been granted the Christchurch store Bayliss decided to give all the bank's branches the flexibility to set their own hours. In Takapuna, Adapted from: a North Auckland suburb, BNZ became the first bank to open on Sunday mornings. This allowed Wood, J, Zeffane, RM, Fromholtz, M, Wiesner, R, Morrison, R, Mckeown, T, Factor, A, Schermerhorn, JR, Hunt, the store to serve the thousands of customers at the local farmers' market. In South Island ski JG, & Osborn, RN 2015, Organisational Behaviour Core Concepts and Applications, Wiley, Melbourne. towns, store managers chose to stay open until late in the evening, so skiers could use the bank after a day on the slopes. Within city centres, many store managers chose to align their schedules with nearby retailers rather than keep bankers' hours. Within six months, nearly 95 per cent of BNZ's 180 stores had altered their opening hours in some way. This shift raised concerns at BNZ's headquarters, where a policy change would ordinarily occur only after a lengthy risk assessment and input from all the major functional heads. Some of the objections were political, but others were more practical, and resulted in new processes that were meant to help the new policy succeed. For example, to deal with a concern from marketing that hand-lettered signs being used to advertise branch hours looked tacky, a software template was developed that allowed store managers to print out a simple sign displaying local opening hours. Bayliss kept encouraging store teams to take the initiative in coming up with ideas to better serve BNZ's customers. One of the more creative ideas was a 'trailer' bank that can be pulled behind a vehicle. A local store towed the trailer onto a beach on New Year's Day. BNZ staff clad in BNZ T- shirts blew up balloons, fired up a barbecue, and chatted with people in the gathering crowd about BNZ products. The HR team was concerned about possible perceptions that employees were being exploited by being made to work on New Year's Day, and that cooking sausages was breaching health and safety regulations. Bayliss wasn't really worried because the staff members felt empowered by the freedom to experiment. If they had been told to do it, it never would have happened. But it was their idea, and no one bothered to ask permission. Store managers felt like they had received a promotion. The bank hadn't really given them a promotion but had changed their roles. They were now expected to manage, inspire, and lead people; to deliver great customer service; to understand how the business worked; and to run it like their own. These are good example of changes and innovations initiated by employees - based on their knowledge and experience on the front line, supported by senior leadership, and backed up by policy and technology adjustments. Ultimately, it reflects well on the company's identity and reputation, and helps reinforce the fresh new branding the bank introduced in October 2008. Chris sums up the spirit of the change by saying, "What everyone learned is that when you treat people like adults, they act like adults."In resolving conflicts, there are five commonly adopted strategies. These are collaborating, accommodating, competing, avoiding and compromising. Collaborating strategy resolves the conflict by satisfying the concerns and needs of both the conflicting parties. While being in the role of managing changes at BNZ, I would use the collaborating strategy of conflict management. This is because it is used in the pursuit of long-term outcomes and maintenance of relationships as well. In corporate affairs, long term outcomes are the top priority and good relationships between the parties quicken the pursuit of outcomes