“We have too much conflict in this organization,” said Larry Parette. “Nobody agrees on anything. It’s beginning to get to me.”

“Nonsense, Larry,” said Mack Porter. “We need conflict. Our best ideas come when smart people disagree, not when everyone goes along just to get along.” Parette and Porter are the founders and managing partners of P&P Design, a firm they have grown from just the two of them to more than 300 employees.

“Well, this conflict you like so much has cost us two good employees this month,” said Parette. “Both of them told me that working here had become too stressful because of the constant arguing and bickering.”

“All right, we lost two good designers,” said Porter. “But just last week we saved $250,000 on the Morgandale project because one of our junior designers refused to go along with the crowd and practically forced us to consider his ideas. His ideas caused a lot of grief in several meetings, and some of our senior designers even went after his job.

But now that his ideas have worked so well, suddenly everyone claims they agreed with him from the beginning. We need this kind of conflict.”

QUESTIONS

1. Who is right in this case? Is it Parette, Porter, neither, or both?

2. What, if anything, should be done about the conflict at P&P Design?