Discussion Board Scenario: You have just been transferred to a new department at your place of employment.
Your first task in this new department is to take a lead project management role on a project that has been taking longer than the company had anticipated.
This is a vitally important project as it is linked to the launch of a new product that the company has been working on for a number of years.
You decide that a great way to get to know the team is to have a lunch meeting in a private room at a local restaurant. You want to have a nice lunch and an informal conversation about the project to get a feel for why the project seems stagnant.
The team consists of Marisa whose specialty is in training and development, Joe whose is the subject matter expert on the new product, and Christopher whose specialty is in information technology and programming. Everybody goes around the table and introduces themselves.
Your initial observations of each team member:
• Marisa seems to be very confident and driven in her statements. She has a rich background in training and development.
• Joe is very confident in his knowledge of the subject matter but is a perfectionist.
• Christopher is very quiet and reserved. You are unsure as to what country of origin he is from, but it is clear that English is a second language for him. You have heard that he is very good at what he does.
You begin the conversation with discussing the project and inquiring as to why things seem to be stagnant. Immediately Marisa begins talking and blaming the projects lack of success on Joe taking too long to get her the information she needs. Marisa's role is to create the trainingplan for selling the new product.
Marisa needs to take the training plan and work with Christopher to developing the program to launch the training to employees. Joe immediately becomes defensive and begins to yell at Marisa and tell her he is not putting his name on it until it is ready.
He continues by telling Marisa that at this point she does not have the brain capacity to understand the product enough so he has to dumb it down for her.
Christopher jumps in and tries to offer his insights and Marisa turns to him, tells him that his job is simply to create what she tells him to create, then continues to argue with Joe.
Christopher looks down at the table and stops talking. Things are really starting to get heated and it is clear that this informal lunch meeting is quickly getting out of hand.
Using your interpersonal communication skills learned in this course,write up a plan for resolving the conflict, getting the project back on track, and repairing the relationships of each individual involved. Your discussion should include the following:
• Using your interpersonal communication skills, discuss how you would resolve the conflict presented in the scenario and get the project back on track.
• You should address each of the individuals in a respectful manner as well as take what they have said and done into consideration.
• Within your discussion, you should bring up key communication terms, such as the pattern of conflict that is occurring with each individual, application of power, listening skills, asking questions, cultural and personal sensitivity, empowerment, reframing, and any other conflict resolution strategies you find appropriate.
• You should also address how each individual can work to repair the relationships that have been harmed in the conflict.