b$.$ Describe two or three evolving conflicts that you have observed among employees. Did you or your manager intervene in these situations, or did they escalate? If you intervened, what were the results? How were matters resolved?

c$.$ Describe two or three deeper conflicts you have observed among employees. How did they evolve to deeper conflicts? What could you or your manager have done $($if anything$)$ to prevent these conflicts from occurring? What measures were taken to address these situations?

CASE: TRIGGERS

OBJECTIVE

To gain insight into the kinds of triggers that can cause conflict in an organization and to learn ways to address them in order to prevent conflict or minimize its effects.

Problem

In Joe's evening class on Managing Conflict in Work and Life, Professor Timothy Justice lectured on the causes of conflict in an organization. Joe started to consider all the possible situations at More Power that could be sources of growing conflict. In fact, there were a number of issues within the customer service, warehouse, and delivery functions he managed. Joe learned from Professor Justice's lecture of the importance of being proactive in identifying $(1)$ the potential sources $($or triggers$)$ of conflict and $(2)$ measures to address these sources to prevent or minimize conflict. Joe has a good idea about the most common issues within his group that could be sources of conflict, so he jotted these down quickly $($see the following list$).$ However, he wants advice on strategies for addressing these issues to prevent conflict.

Joe's List of Conflict "Triggers"

Tina Tumultuous has been experiencing a lot of personal problems lately. She can be volatile, which could affect her relationships with coworkers and customers.

There seem to be minor turf battles and skirmishes between the delivery and warehouse teams. Fred Staid's and Sally Ambitious's personalities and work styles are so different. This could lead to difficulties if I require them to work together.

The way we maintain inventory and store items in the warehouse is archaic. This leads to delays in retrieving items for pick$-$up by customers or delivery to their homes. It doesn't help that the warehouse and delivery teams are not communicating well.

I need a new team leader for the customer service desk. Customer complaints have increased. Jim Talent is telling me to fix the problem quickly. Yet, it's not that simple.

I sometimes wonder if Kim Khan is trying to undermine my efforts. Talent tells me I can learn a lot from Khan. Yet it's like pulling teeth to get information, and then I$\text{'}$m not sure I$\text{'}$m getting the full story. Does Khan resent me for some reason?

PROCEDURE

Break up the class into five teams. Assign one trigger each to the five teams. Each team then selects a spokesperson to summarize the team discussion. Have each team spend ten minutes doing the following for the

$30$

PART I: The Theory and Context for Managing Conflict