Case Study 6.4: HR Staff Member Intrapersonal Conflict
1.
What is the primary source of the conflict?
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Working through the seven questions to analyze the conflict situation you find the following:
a) Sandra might be resorting to avoidance and passive-aggressive behaviors because Richard is
disrespectful in his communication with her. Sandra feels embarrassed when Richard corrects
her in front of the student and raises his voice when speaking with her. Sandra may also be
intimidated by Richard since Richard has tenure in the office, has directly related experience in
the functional area that Sandra is working in, and he was also favored by the pervious Director.
Sandra may be feeling that she has no recourse in the matter.
b) Richard, on the other hand, is asserting himself. He openly confronts Sandra in the presence of
students. Richard raises his voice and humiliates Sandra in public. Since Richard was given
power over others by the prior Director, he exerts this power with Sandra. Richard might be
feeling insecure as Sandra is performing work in Richard’s area of expertise. However, Sandra
has her own way of handling matters, does not rely on Richard for guidance and clearly has
made some improvements in the process. Sandra has her own style and way of working.
Richard might perceive a loss of control and power.
c) There is a new director who is aware of the situation between Richard and Sandra but she has
avoided dealing with the matter. The office staff is also aware of the way Richard treats Sandra,
they seem to agree that Richard’s behavior and communication with Sandra is inappropriate but
have not intervened in the matter directly. The staff has chosen to inform the Director. The staff
is waiting for the new Director to deal with the situation. How the new Director deals with the
matter will set the tone for the rest of the office. The staff is waiting to see if the imbalance of
power, giving Richard preference over others in the office, will continue.
d) The primary source of the conflict is the existing HR culture and the imbalance of power
manifested in the interaction between Sandra, the newest member and Richard, a senior member,
in the office. However, the rest of the staff has participated in the imbalance of power and are
aware of the on-going conflict between Richard and Sandra.
2. Identify criteria to evaluate the success of the options you have chosen. Why did you choose
them?
The new director has to deal with the situation between Richard and Sandra immediately. The office
staff members have talked with the director and are waiting for the director to act. The office staff are
waiting to see what the new director will do and what the implications will be for all. Will the new
director sanction the imbalance of power that has existed in the office? How will she deal with Richard
who is a long-standing employee? What is the impact to the office if what the office staff knows is
changed? Will the new director support a new employee when there is a difference of opinion on how
work is to be carried out? How will Richard react to the conversation with Ellen?
Human Resources at the Cabinet’s Table Copyright 2012 Page 1 Options:
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The director meets with Richard alone to address his communication style with Sandra because
she has personally witnessed it.
The director meets with Sandra alone to discuss how she is doing in her job and specifically to
ask about the situation with Richard. It is important to pinpoint and isolate, if possible, whether
the interaction between Richard and Sandra is due to work style differences or whether Richard
or Sandra is providing incorrect information.
The director has discussions with both Richard and Sandra to determine together the division of
labor so as to clarify the roles and responsibilities.
The director lets the staff know that she would be directly supervising all staff and that although
she encourages staff to work together as a team, she wants to be included in the team discussions
for learning purposes and to have input whenever possible.
The director makes sure that all the staff has equal access to her and that she would assign work
based on talent, time and experience for a particular project or task.
The director sets up regular meetings with all the staff to work on setting goals that take into
account the changes that need to happen, making sure the work is balanced among the staff and
working together on the core values of the department. The Director would be making sure that
all the staff is working according to the new paradigm of a balanced office environment and
making sure that the old hierarchies do not continue. Now the staff would know that the team
approach is what will make the office successful.
The director meets one-on-one with Richard and Sandra to make sure that the relationship, the
communication and the customer service delivery is on a good track. The meetings would
continue to happen as long as they are needed.
Criteria to Evaluate the Options:
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The interaction at the staff meetings will indicate a collaborative effort with one another.
Discussions will move from things that do not work to ideas or brainstorming sessions on what
might be a way to move forward and own the work.
Staff members no longer complain to the director about the working relationship between
Richard and Sandra. Instead, they report that there is a marked change in how Richard
communicates with Sandra. Likewise, Sandra is happier and might further change the office
atmosphere if others are not tip-toeing around the front office area.
Customer service would improve and perhaps the director might get some positive feedback due
to the changes in how Richard communicated.
The director might seek out input from customers to see if particular situations have improved.
Communication between Richard and Sandra would be courteous and professional with the
shouting and other inappropriate behaviors no continuing.
Human Resources at the Cabinet’s Table Copyright 2012 Page 2 3. Which tool(s) do you recommend using to resolve the conflict? Why did you choose them?
The director might want to utilize a multi-phase approach to resolve the conflict between the two
employees as well as the office environment as a whole.
• Facilitation—The director can serve as the facilitator because she is “external” to the primary
source of the conflict. She can assist with getting to the causes of the issues and then assisting
with developing an agreement between the two employees.
• Facilitation Option for Viewpoint Conflict—It might be very helpful for the two employees to
switch roles to become aware of the reasons for the differing viewpoints on how the work is
done. It might help the two employees gain insight and understanding of how the negative
situation and communication is affecting their working relationship and the office atmosphere.
• Reframing—This approach might be very helpful in engaging the employees and the office as a
whole in coming up with their own solutions and options; agreements that the employees feel
that they own will be more effective.
• Appreciative Inquiry—Because of the time that the employees have spent working together, they
have an established culture and validation system. Changing the dynamics will be difficult to
overcome. The new director represents change as well as some stability. The new Director has
to make sure that the way things were done in the past does not continue because the goals have
changed. However, the staff needs to feel valued and appreciated in order to better deal with the
challenges ahead. The staff needs to know that the new director sees the value in their history
does not dismiss it and will bring the whole group together in the new process.
4. Develop your detailed plan for resolution.
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The director might engage in exploring or trying to understand the needs, concerns, values and
interests of both Sandra and Richard in her discussion with each of them.
The director might try to create a secure environment or relationship with her so that she would be in
a position to allow for Richard to talk about what is really upsetting him, ie, to release any pent-up
emotions just between him and the Director.
In her meetings with both Richard and Sandra, the director would affirm the value of the employee
and listen actively to what is being said and also what is not being said.
The director might call on some negotiating skills to try to come up with a reasonable and acceptable
solution to the conflict between Sandra and Richard; one that will work for the two and the rest of
the office in the long term.
If the director is able to reduce stress and achieve some open and sincere discussions with Sandra
and Richard individually, she might then move to facilitating a meeting with both of them. The goal
would be for Sandra and Richard to listen to each other. The director could help the two employees
reach an agreement that would resolve the on-going communication issue. The director might
facilitate a discussion around developing a plan on how to deal with the communication matter in a
positive manner and encourage the two employees to develop some alternatives that would resolve
the matter for both of them. The goal would be for the employees to own the agreement, the plan
and the actions associated with resolution to the situation.
Human Resources at the Cabinet’s Table Copyright 2012 Page 3 •
The director might ask the two employees to assume the other’s position and viewpoint with the goal
of the employees realizing the impact of their actions on one another.
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