Resolving Workplace Conflicts: Apply a Plan Although conflict is a normal part of every workplace, if unresolved, it can create hard feelings and reduce productivity.

Your Task.
Analyze the following scenarios. In teams, discuss each scenario and apply the six-step procedure for dealing with conflict described in this chapter. Choose two of the scenarios to role-play, with two of your team members taking roles.
a. A company policy manual is posted and updated at the company intranet, an internal Web site. Employees must sign that they have read and understand the manual. A conflict arises when one team member insists that employees should sign electronically. Another team member thinks that a paper form should be signed by employees so that better records may be kept.
b. Domino’s Pizza adopted new uniforms, called “Domino’s Gear.” The new outfits include colorful polo shirts with side vents so that the shirts could be worn tucked in or out. Crewneck shirts, page-boy hats, and denim caps provided a number of options to employees. Considered a perk, the new uniforms were immediately worn by all employees at the company-owned Domino’s units. Owners of two franchised units, however, preferred the old uniforms with traditional polo shirts and khakis. What’s more, the old uniforms required no new investment in clothing.
c. Two management team members disagree on a new company e-mail policy. One wants to ban personal e-mail totally. The other thinks that an outright ban is impossible to implement. He is more concerned with limiting Internet misuse, including visits to online game, pornography, and shopping sites. The management team members agree that they need an e-mail policy, but they disagree on what to allow and what to prohibit.
d. A manager and his assistant plan to attend a conference together at a resort location. Six weeks before the conference, the company announces a cutback and limits conference support to only one person. The assistant, who has developed a presentation specifically for the conference, feels that he should be the one to attend. Travel arrangements must be made immediately.
e. Customer service rep Jackie comes to work one morning and finds Alexa sitting at Workstation 2. Although the customer service reps have no special workstation assigned to them, Jackie has the longest seniority and has always assumed that Workstation 2 was hers. Other workstations were available, but the supervisor told Alexa to use Workstation 2 that morning because she didn’t know that Jackie would be coming in. When Jackie arrives and sees her workstation occupied, she becomes angry and demands that Alexa vacate “her” station.