Resolving Workplace Conflicts: Apply a Plan

Although conflict is a normal part of every workplace, if unresolved, it can create hard feelings and reduce productivity.

Your Task. Analyze the following scenarios. In teams, discuss each scenario and apply the six-step procedure for dealing with conflict described in this chapter. Choose two of the scenarios to role-play, with two of your team members taking roles.

a. Team member Ashton is angry. Once again he has been asked to represent the company at an evening charity event because he  is not married, has no children, and therefore is available. Fellow team member Andrea declined saying that she has a family and children and must help them with their homework on school

nights. Other team members keep ducking these invitations saying that they have families and cannot be expected to give up their evenings. Ashton has represented the company at three events in the past year, and he believes it is time for Andrea or the others to step up.

b. A company policy manual is posted and updated at the company intranet, an internal Web site. Employees must sign that they have read and understand the manual. A conflict arises when team member Brian insists that employees should sign electronically. Fellow team member Erika thinks that a paper form should be signed by employees so that better records may be kept.

c. Domino’s Pizza is considering adopting new uniforms, called Domino’s Gear. The new outfits include colorful polo shirts with side vents so that the shirts can be worn tucked in or out. Crewneck shirts, page-boy hats, and denim caps give employees a number of options. Considered a perk, the new uniforms are favored by most employees at the company-owned Domino’s units. Employees of two franchised units, however, prefer the old uniforms with tradi- tional polo shirts and khakis. What’s more, the old uniforms require no new investment in clothing. The two sides must agree on new uniforms and who should wear them.

d. Two management team members disagree on a new company e-mail policy. One wants to ban personal e-mail totally. The other thinks that an outright ban is impossible to implement. He is more concerned with limiting Internet misuse, including visits to online game, pornography, and shopping sites. The management team members agree that they need an e-mail policy, but they disagree on what to allow and what to prohibit.

e. A manager and his assistant plan to attend a conference together at a resort location. Six weeks before the conference, the company announces a cutback and limits conference support to only one person. The assistant, who has developed a presentation specifically for the conference, feels that he should be the one to attend. Travel arrangements must be made immediately.

f. Customer service rep Jackie comes to work one morning and finds Alexa sitting at Workstation 2. Although the customer service reps have no special workstation assigned to them, Jackie has the longest seniority and has always assumed that Workstation 2 is hers. Other workstations were available, but the supervisor told Alexa to use Workstation 2 that morning because she didn’t know that Jackie would be coming in. When Jackie arrives and sees her workstation occupied, she becomes angry and demands that Alexa vacate “her” station.