Conflict Case - You and Terry

You and Terry are unit managers in the shipping division of a pharmaceutical manufacturer. For the past year you have had serious arguments over the use of certain shrink-wrap, pre-packaging equipment. Terrys unit ships all of the plant's vitamin products, and they all use a common bottle design form. The equipment in question is designed to shrink-wrap around individual bottles in trays, and suits Terry's products perfectly. However, such use is a matter of convenience (though it does save costs in that it reduces the theft) of items in transit (it is very difficult to grab a few bottles out of a shrink-wrapped tray).

You believe your need for the equipment is greater because it is the only wrap that can be used for certain critical drugs that your unit ships. There are two reasons for this: first, it provides added security against tampering (as required by new Federal regulations); and, second, it ensures freshness (which is a big problem as these drugs go stale easily and returns are costly losses). You only need to use the equipment part of the time, but when you need it, you need to use it immediately Terry has been using the equipment heavily, and it is often unavailable when you most need it.

Your course of action is to:

1. meet with Terry and some of the packers who run the equipment to see what options can be developed to deal with your mutual problem.

2. prepare a detailed memorandum for the Division Head, explaining why your unit should have first priority in the use of the equipment.

3. meet with Terry to arrange a formal schedule that best matches the two units' needs and agree not to infringe on one another's scheduled use times.

4. get everyone in the two units together to discuss the need to share equipment use and to develop more cooperative attitudes.

5. tell your people to watch for times when the equipment is free and then use it before Terrys people can start a new shipment.

1. Explain which you would consider being the best choice, and the worst choice and why?