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 outlined in Figure 11.6. on page 367. Choose two of the scenarios to role-play, with two of your team members taking roles.

a. Meghan, an accountant, cannot complete her report until Matt, a salesman, provides her with all the necessary numbers and documentation. Meghan thinks that Matt is a procrastinator who forces her to deliver a rush job thus causing her great stress and increasing the likelihood of error. Matt believes that Meghan is exerting pressure on both of them and setting unrealistic deadlines. As the conflict is intensifying, productivity decreases.
b. A company policy manual is posted and updated at the company intranet, an internal website. 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. The author of a lengthy report refuses to collaborate with another colleague on future projects because she feels that the review of her document completed by the peer was superficial, short, and essentially useless. The report author is angry at the lack of attention her 25-page paper received.
d. Two management team members disagree on a new company social media policy. One wants to ban personal visits to Facebook and Twitter totally. The other thinks that an outright ban is impossible to implement and might raise the ire of employees. 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 a social media policy, but they disagree on what to allow and what to prohibit.