Case Study for Selecting a Conflict Management Strategy

Not all conflicts are alike; therefore, they cannot all be managed in exactly the same way. Effective managers are able to assess accurately the true causes of conflict and to match each type of conflict with an appropriate management strategy.

Task:

For each of the three case studies, select the most appropriate conflict management strategy. Answer these two questions for each case study:

1. What are the salient situational factors?

2. What is the most appropriate conflict management strategy? Refer to Table 7.4 in the textbook for assistance in matching situational factors with strategies.

As you complete this task, please apply "evaluate" and "analyze" from Bloom's taxonomy to enhance your critical analysis.

Uncommon Desk

Your start-up has a contract with a shared workspace company called Uncommon Desk (an example of this type of workspace is WeWork). Your contract with Uncommon Desk says that you will have two private offices on the second floor in the Trammell Crow building in Dallas.

Your first week goes great. You have two offices in a private area near the stairway and you and your small team get a lot of work done in your new space. Thereafter, you realize that the company with offices next to yours hires new interns every two weeks. This means that there is a group of interns crowding around your office space at various times during the day.

On Wednesday during a conference call with an important client, you hear interns outside your office near the elevator laughing and making a lot of noise. So much so that your client hears it as well. Your impression is that they are celebrating some type of special occasion.

Your team members are also annoyed, as once again their work is interrupted. You finish your conference call and realize that as the CEO of your company, something has to be done.