Use of Cell Phones in Meetings: A Case Study Agnes Smith is the executive director of a nonprofit educational child care provider in upstate New York. She runs monthly meetings with her staff to get updates from her staff, provide valuable professional development on work-related topics, and discuss future strategies to achieve strategic goals. She has not had a written policy since she believed there was a psychological contract of mutual respect among the employees. However, she is increasingly frustrated with the use of cell phones by her staff while she is running the meeting. This includes constant texting, social media usage, and browsing websites. She feels that the devices distract her staff from being present at the meetings and compromise the quality of the meeting.

She has expressed her feelings on the matter and her expectations regarding cell phone usage at meetings. The behavior halts temporarily and then starts back up, with the same intensity as before.

At the next meeting, she decides to announce that she would like for the staff to come prepared to draft a policy for cell phone usage during meetings. The staff arrives for the meeting.

Identify issues/causes for the apparent conflict.