Question was: Imagine that you are a manager and that two of your employees are blaming one another for a recent project not going well. What factors would you consider in deciding whom to believe? Who else would you talk to before making a decision? What would you do to try to reduce the likelihood of this happening again?

Write a 300 word descriptive response to all three sections:

1. If I was a manager and two of my employees are blaming each other for a recent project gone wrong, I would have to take a seat and really process this situation. "When faced with the novel and complex situations, it is better to process available information logically, analytically, and methodically." (Niedermeyer et al. pg. 27) The factors that I would use to consider who is wrong would take me some time. I would have to ask them questions separately, and really understand what the true reason that they got into it. Once I get the information from them, I will start asking them questions on how much work they put in. This tactic usually brings the truth out of someone if they have done something they werent supposed to. If someone in the group did less you would think that they are the person that is in the wrong, but in truth it can go the other way as well one of the employees could've done more work just to get away from the other person. If it gets too tricky for me to decide I will have to resort to talking to some of the other people who they work around and do a slight investigation to see if I get some more deciding information that may skew my previous thoughts. I would then proceed to talk to them both I would tell them at the end of the day the project needs to get done and that they must work together, if there were any discrepancies, I would tell them that I will try and put them with someone else if this keeps happening. Unfortunately if this was something that kept occurring with these people I may have to think about terminating one of the two because it is obviously a trend.

Bright et al. Principles Of Management, Openstax (2019)

2. One major barrier that I would be forced to face is conflict. to make an effective decision, I would first need to talk to the employees to hear both sides of the conflict. Upon hearing both sides I will need to determine if this is a relationship conflict or a process conflict. I think the best route to resolve the issue would be to make a nonprogrammed decision. Conducting research, utilizing critical thinking skills, and analyzing long-term and ethical implications. Are the employees just unable to collaborate and work well together, or is there a personal vendetta and dislike? I would then look back on both employees' previous performances for the company. How well they worked alone and how well they may have worked with others on team projects. Understanding what type of conflict is at play. I can then begin to generate alternatives and solutions. A relationship conflict would imply there is a deeper issue than just the project at hand. This would require me to speak to both employees individually and then reach out to past team members or managers within the company to get a better understanding of personality traits and if the employees have a history of relationship conflict.

For a process conflict, I would try to determine what is contributing to the ineffective teamwork. Is there a communication issue, was there a malfunction with the project in terms of functionality? A process conflict would not require me to speak to anyone other than the two employees. I would make some suggestions to both employees on what we could do to fix the situation and talk to them both together, I would want them to collaborate and work together on generating some ideas on how to move forward. I would want to resolve any communication errors so that there is not a relationship conflict developed later.

The book states that with relationship conflict, a manager should "give feedback and keep feedback focused on behaviors and activities (how things are done) rather than on the individual." To prevent relationship conflict from arising again, I would have a discussion with the employees and offer advice. I would determine who should receive a verbal warning for instigating the conflict (if necessary). Should this be a habitual conflict for an employee I would need to evaluate the long-term effects of keeping the employee with the company. "The manager needs to have a conversation with that employee to correct the behavior, but the employee is not going to like the conversation and may react in a negative way." Regardless of the decision made, there is a likelihood that one or both employees will not agree with or like the outcome. As a manager, I must be willing to make these tough decisions and not be afraid to face conflict for the betterment of productivity and the company.

principles of management. OpenStax. (n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2023, from https://openstax.org/books/principles-management

3. To begin with, there are certain factors that I would look in before deciding whom to believe. I would set aside both employees and discuss their frustrations in a private setting. I want to be able to hear both sides of their stories and see why they are frustrated with each other in the first place. Both employees are mentioning failures on a recent project so I would look into the project and find information on why it failed in the first place. It is important to know the whole situation because both of those employees' stories are going to be bias against one another.

I would then go to the supervisors of the employees and the project and see why these employees are blaming one another for the failures on the project. I would take employees on the project and the supervisors and hear their side of the story to see which side's statements are more supportive in the situation.

Once I make the decision, there are a couple things I have to factor in before I decide which one to believe. Emotional intelligence is a huge part in making my decision because either alternative is going to result in the other employee being frustrated with that decisiona and I have to be able to empathize with them. I also have to understand that the decision I am going to make is the correct answer. With supporting evidence, witnesses, and hearing both sides, I know that I am able to make the right decision given the moment. I also have to know that I cannot avoid conflict in either situation but the best decision will always almost involve conflict.

Overall, in order to reduce the likelihood of this situation happening again, I would implement policies that would benefit all employees given the situation, whether it results in positivity or negativity.

Bright, David S, et al. Principles of Management. OpenStax, Accessed 26 Mar. 2023.