Power SCENARIO

Your colleagues at work are constantly talking about the vice president in your area. He

is feared throughout the organization as a ruthless man who is not to be antagonized. It

is necessary for you to bring him a report and you are very nervous about having to deal

with him. However, you are very knowledgeable in your department and have prepared

your report with great attention to detail.

Use the following terms

Legitimate Reward Coercive Expert or Referent

$1.$ Referring to the SCENARIO, the vice president$$s major base of power seems to be

$.$

$2.$ Referring to the SCENARIO, you know that the vice president has the authority to

accept or reject your report. This is part his

power.

$3.$ Referring to the SCENARIO, the one base of power which the vice president does

not seem to have is $.$

$4.$ Referring to the SCENARIO, the one base of power which you have is

$\_.$

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT STYLE

Matt Stawnichy manages $30$ clerical workers in a large mail order business. Recently, Matt has

developed an interest in introducing a compressed workweek schedule, but in informal

discussions with the three supervisors who would be responsible for implementing the

compressed workweek, Matt learns that only one supervisor supports the plan and the other two

are against it$.$

Matt$$s compressed workweek would have employees work $10$ hours per day for $4$ days a week

instead of $8$ hours per day for $5$ days a week.

$5$

Now, Matt is considering the alternatives listed below that he might use to manage this conflict

situation. Matt has worked with the supervisor team for quite some time and trusts them

implicitly. He believes that the supervisors have the company$$s best interest at heart and

understands that there is a lot of time to decide on the issue.

$1)$ What conflict handling styles are represented by each of Matt$$s alternatives? Use one of the

following five choices for each blank: Avoiding, compromising, forcing, problem solving or

yielding.

a$)$ Give in to the $2$ supervisors so as to not cause problems within the department.

Style: $\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_$

b$)$ Work out an agreement where the new schedule occurs for a while, is stopped for a

while, and so on$,$ thus allowing each person to have his or her way some of the time.

Style: $\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_$

c$)$ Announce to the supervisors that the compressed workweek will begin immediately.

Style: $\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_$

d$)$ Drop the idea about any change for now and revisit the issue later.

Style: $\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_$

e$)$ Organize a meeting at which all relevant issues will be raised and encourage an

honest dialogue in order to work out the best possible situation for all parties

involved.

Style: $\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_$

$2)$ Which style is most appropriate for this situation and why? $(2$ marks$)$