Read the following case study. Imagine that you are a human resources officer to whom this person is relaying the information. How would you advise this person to operate more effectively in his or her group given the information you have learned in this chapter?

When I began working at my new job a little over 18 months ago I found that I always had to prove myself to my coworkers. Where I am employed, we often work as a team to get the job done. Perhaps it was my coworkers’ way of “testing” me, but whatever the reason I found it frustrating. Even my good ideas would be brushed off simply because I was the “new guy.” After a while I stopped arguing and took my ideas straight to our boss. The team got really upset over that. Now we aren’t working together at all.

a. What kind of conflicts did this person encounter?

b. What stage of development is this group?

c. How have roles created conflict in this group?

d. What strategies from this chapter did he or she use to address the conflicts that arose?

e. What strategies from this chapter might have produced better outcomes?