Major conflicts can occur between buyers and production supervisors who use the products and services. For example, a fulltime buyer may spend a lot of time tracking down good buys, only to see excessive waste and spoilage in food preparation. Although the control of purchased items eventually passes from the buyer to the user, the chef may blame the buyer for purchasing inferior merchandise if food costs are too high because of waste. Conversely, the buyer may blame the waste on the chef's lack of control over the kitchen employees. Either way, the owner-manager has a problem deciding whom or what to believe.

For this discussion, let's evaluate how conflict can be reduced between the buyer of products and the end user - supervisor/employee. In your answer address the following:

Review the above scenario, if you were the manager/owner and the food buyer and chef were standing in front of you blaming each other - provide three immediate steps you would take to tackle the conflict.

Discuss how you could prevent such conflicts in the future - outline 3 strategies that could make the two work better in the future.