Discussion Questions
Prepare a response that describes:
- The focus or general construct of the conflict
- Your strategy for analyzing the conflict
- The macrofactors (leadership, trust, and power) and the microattributes (values, personality, conflict style, and emotional intelligence)
- How the two types of conflict (interpersonal and group to group) were present ?Your conclusions about the nature of leadership in conflict resolution
- Whether your discoveries from this exercise would alter the conflict resolution model you created in an earlier module and why or why not
All written assignments and responses should follow APA rules for attributing sources.
Discussion # 1
Amazon Delivers I Khalid Timbers were the cause of this problem. I as a Amazon driver was assigned one of the worse routes that all the employees are uncomfortable doing. Let's begin this assignment was assigned to me three times in a row. Which means some days are good and some days not so. Two days in a row this assignment caused me to fall behind in my delivery. Let me explain. Each route carries a lot of packages and Amazon are trying to figure out ways to get customers their packages quicker. Yet they have a service squad in particular for these packages. When they are overwhelmed they try to put flex workers work on us and if we fail we are sort of like the cause of wrongdoing. It's as if we are getting two days worth of work for the price of a day. Not only were I giving the most difficult route I had to pick my own route packages which is the job of Amazon meaning when we come to work all drivers are supposed to do is be ready to load the truck and prepare for delivery. These particular days I was assigned this route I had to find my own packages and this had me to be the last to leave the warehouse.
Let alone each route should only take ten hours to complete. I had to be rescued because I was still delivering packages at 9:40 at night. After other empployees finish their work they be ready to leave and having to rescue is like putting them in harms way so I denied anthem rescuing me and my boss told me this is a no no because if they send out a rescue I have to accept. I was the last one on the road and it wasn't my fault and I didn't want to inconvenience any of the other workers. The approach or my excuse to the other employees were that I had to pick my own packages because Amazon was in prepared and we all work together so they knew I was last to leave the warehouse. Power was my beliefs that since I come in do my work and leave that Amazon purposely disrupted my route to see how I would finish and I say this because it happens repetitively and this cannot be a coincidence that I am epithet assigned a awful route or something happen to my packages to where I have to start from behind.
The outcome was I wouldn't refuse any more rescuers and I picked up with better timing on other routes once I stated to the employer what they were doing to me. Amazon lags a lot and the trust is only when they are fair in business and when this is not the case be prepared to check after them with the packages anytime that they get careless on more then one occasion. Being unable to trust your employer can ridicule a relationship meaning employees only coming to do the bare necessities and that's it. Trust an employers have one putting much more effort in and trying to beat the ten hour route timings in a fashionable manner. My job could be in the line for moving slow because of the careless mistakes of the employer and them managing our routes properly because having to be rescued more than necessary can jeopardize your career. Open for council?
Discussion #2
Select and interview a professional who deals with conflict. This author chose to interview a professional with a large media group affiliated with a motion picture company. In order to maintain this person's confidentiality, I will fictitiously refer to this professional as Mrs. Smith who is employee with ACME Media Group. Mrs. Smith has been employed by ACME Media Group for approximately 8 years. Mrs. Smith's current assignment is as a Mid-Level Manager with a team of 5 subordinate employees (J. Smith, ACME Media Group, Sept 28, 2017). Ask this person to share his or her experiences mediating a difficult conflict situation by answering the following questions: Who was involved? Mrs. Smith stated, "I previously had an employee that continually challenged my authority and undermined my position as her boss. It just was not an isolated event, but it occurred frequently.
It came to the point that I was losing sleep and felt that she would make false accusations about me. I know I was her boss, but it didn't feel that way. I attempted to have our Human Resources Department help me out with her." What happened? "The stick that broke the Camel's Back was when this employee claimed that she was denied advancement in the company because I had a vendetta against her. Despite challenging my position, this employee even felt she was entitled to play games and do puzzles on company time." What obstacles were experienced? "This employee made complaints against me and other managers to the Human Resources Department. It was like she knew she could get away with what she wanted because of her track record of making accusations and complaints." What approach was taken to influence others? "She would socialize with two other employees from our small team during working hours and also during social activities during off hours. I felt like she was undermining my authority and leadership with our small team. Like to old saying goes, "misery loves company." What and how was power demonstrated? "The other employees in my team are generally good employees. They do as they are told and are in general hard workovers." "This disgruntled employee frequently questioned my authority in front of the other members of the team. The other members of the team got their work done, but it felt like they were being negatively influenced by this disgruntled employee." What were the outcomes of the power plays? "It felt like at times I was the boss in title only and was being undermined by this employee.
When this disgruntled employee would challenge me and my position the outcome was the loss of my credibility and position. It felt like she was frequently trying to get me in trouble in order to take over my position as her supervisor." Was trust an important factor? How so? What seemed to keep trust from building? "In a small team like mine, trust is essential. Our client has a multimillion-dollar account with our company. I always try to ensure that we were prompt, courteous and got the job done. On the other hand, it felt like this disgruntled employee for some reason was very disgruntled and she appear to be very skeptical of me as her supervisor, other supervision within the company and disgruntled with the company as a whole. I never thought that she was stealing or doing any other criminal or related activity. Yet, unless I was directly supervising her, she had a tendency of not utilizing her time at work to the best of her ability. It got so bad that she and some of her fellow co-workers thought it was appropriate to actually do puzzles during company time and in the presence of coworkers. They would even do puzzles at their desk.
Many employees and colleagues did not think such actions were appropriate and finally we had to tell them that they could not do that on company time. It may sound like common sense that you wouldn't be doing puzzles at work but because of this employee sense of entitlement it appeared that she felt she was entitled to do so." What risks and trade-offs were evident in the conflict resolution? "There were various times I had to counsel her that her actions and work performance was unsatisfactory. Prior to her leaving the company, I chose on an abundance of caution to always cancel her in the presence of a third party or employees from the Human Resource Department. The use of a mediator like this or just having a third party there was sometimes helpful. It felt like at times that the mediators and all of us were walking on eggshells with this employee.
Downsizing occurred in our company and this employee was eventually let go. She was given a sizable compensation package and benefits when she left. The problem sort of took care of itself. In the future, I will be very mindful as a leader and how just a small percentage of a company's employees could drastically impact the entire the entire work environment. I'm proud to work my team and I do, we pride ourselves on the good work we do for our client and how important teamwork in trust is in a small group." The focus or general construct of the conflict. The General Consulate of the above-mentioned conflict appears to be related to an isolated employee that is disgruntled and is in a long-term conflict with her direct supervisor. It does not appear that any other employees whereas disgruntled like the above-mentioned employee was. It appeared that said employee was jealous and felt entitled to do questionable activity while on the clock. The disgruntled employee also appeared to feel jealous or intimidated by her manager's position and that she felt entitled to certain activates and perks." Your strategy for analyzing the conflict When analyzing any sort of conflict, one has to assess the totality of the circumstances at hand. In this case there appears to be a disgruntled and had a history and track record of complaints against her.
I would also examine the track record of the manager (Mrs. Smith) and see if the manager had any questionable run-ins with other employees. Due to the potential liability for the company from this disgruntled employee, I would interview other employees, utilize anonymous questionnaires and surveys, and review the Personnel Packages of the employees involved. I would then interview each of the employees involved in the conflict and then recommend an appropriate course of action to mitigate and address the conflict. Due to this disgruntled employee track record, I would have my recommended course of action be reviewed and approved with stakeholders in the company and the Human Resources Department. What are some of the macro factors (leadership, trust, and power). The macro factors of leadership, trust and power certainly come into play for the above scenario. Some of the leadership tenets that I learned during my career in the Marine Corps and law enforcement was to accomplished the task at hand while also ensuring for the welfare of one's subordinate. Displaying tact, initiative, enthusiasm, bearing and understanding are just some of the leadership traits that are the foundations for a sound leader.
When a leader displays these leadership tenets trust being earned is generally the natural result through my experience. The concept of leadership by example also builds trust between leaders and followers. Micro attributes (values, personality, conflict style, and emotional intelligence) Micro attributes of this employee's personality and values is questionable in my opinion. The disgruntled employee's emotional intelligence and feeling entitled to challenge a supervisor's leadership helps to enforce my opinion that she is lacking in this department. The disgruntled employees conflict style was certainly confrontational and undermining especially with her track record of what appears to be making frivolous complaint. What types of conflict (interpersonal and group to group) were present? As mentioned above there certainly appeared to be an interpersonal conflict between the disgruntled employee her supervisor (Mrs. Smith) that I did the interview with. The supervisor I interviewed is an educated and articulate woman and at face value I take everything she told me to be the truth. Unfortunately, I'm only getting one side of the story, without knowing the entire totality of the circumstances and having both sides of the story I am somewhat limited in offering a course of action to address to conflict. Yet taking what the supervisor at face value it would appear that an interpersonal conflict was at play. The disgruntled employee what's just that, disgruntled and had a sense of entitlement and a track record that helps to substantiate her poor work performance. Once the disgruntled employee left the company, the supervisor (Mrs. Smith) indicated that the general atmosphere within her small team had improved drastically and that the employees are more personable and there is a pleasant overall atmosphere when all the employees are together as compared to the tense atmosphere that the disgruntled employee created.
Your conclusions about the nature of leadership in conflict resolution Whether your discoveries from this exercise would alter the conflict resolution model you created in an earlier module and why or why not After completing the above exercise, I would certainly reassess the methodology related to conflict resolution I proposed in a previous assignment. When a leader gives an inch, some employees feel entitled to take a mile. It would certainly appear that was one of the contributing factors for the above scenario. As a leader, I would need to ensure that I am fair and balanced while also assessing the dynamics of the organization. I wouldn't need to be mindful that some employees may feel a sense of entitlement and also feel protected for their negative actions by threatening to sue and making frivolous complaints. I as a future leader will have to ensure I know what tools and resources I have available to me when dealing with such challenging employees as mentioned above.
Reference
Argosy University. (2017). Conflict Management.