FruitCo is a fruit grower and processor located in a rural area of the western United States. It several agricultural fields as well as three fruit processing facilities where produce is sorted, cleaned, packaged, and shipped to customers. It operates with 40 year-round staff, 10 of these conducting mechanical duties related to the upkeep of physical fruit production areas and equipment, and 30 complete office jobs, including budgeting, business strategy, human resources, and marketing. In addition to permanent staff, 300 seasonal staff are employed on average for 4-6 months of the year from late spring and into the late summer to harvest the fields and process the fruit. The company operates with a flat structure where all employees, except the owner, work at the same status/level. Seasonal employees have the same status as permanent employees in that each person is equally responsible to complete their job and move the goals of the enterprise forward. To further eliminate status, employees are not given job titles and people are only referred to by their given name or described according to the general job they complete. *Differences between human beings are a natural and necessary aspect of life, especially in the pursuit of excellence. Differences may vary from how to answer the phone, to what type of oil to use in a gearbox, to what equipment to purchase to improve operations, to whether one is following our principles or advancing our mission, to how a person combs their hair," says the owner. Conflicts are categorized as process if they exemplify issues related to work scheduling (e.g.. breaks during work, shift designation, overtime, compensation, equipment allocation), relationship if the conflict surrounded employees not 'liking' each other, and task if the conflict was about a job being completed incorrectly or inefficiently. FruitCo policy indicates that self-managed conflict resolution should be collaborative in that solution should yield 'mutual satisfaction." Despite annual training, there was evidence that it is a matter of working at FruitCo for long periods that helps employees become more comfortable with self-managed conflict resolution procedures