Conflict
Pre-Post
For this prompt, I believe you want us to relate and experience
which we experienced conflict either in the workplace or in an RSO and really dig
deep into the origin of the conflict and how it started. While describing it
from our perspective you also want us to put ourselves in the shoes of the
other person that we experienced conflict with. Fully describing the conflict
and the end result and how people reacted to the conflict once it became apparent
to the group involved. I also am going to analyze the conflict relating it to
some of the lenses is used in chapter 8 of Bolman and Deal. The chapter discusses
the motives behind people's behavior and leadership styles and how conflict is
handled in different ways based on leadership styles.
Post
At my Co-Op at Ashland, I asked by an engineer to send a
sample to one of the labs in New Jersey for testing. The sample was of high
priority and the task was to send a sample of a chemical called B1D express
shipping to the lab. They needed this sample to do a test because a big customer
of ours had problems with the product we sent then so the company wanted to
test the product to see what the problem was. The engineer that assigned me
this task wrote it on a sticky note to send B1D but his handwriting looked
like it said to send another chemical called BLO. It was the end of the day and
the engineer left already left and I needed to send the sample out as soon as possible
so I did not think to ask for clarification because of the urgency of the
problem. So I ended sending BLO and it was received the next day by the lab,
and that day the engineer called in sick because he ended up having the flu. Later
that day, in the office behind my cubicle I hear my boss screaming on the phone
frustrated that the wrong sample was sent. He storms out streaming asking what
sample I sent and saying that the sample needed to be B1D not BLO. The whole half
side of the office heard the mistake I made and I felt very embarrassed. I for
sure thought I had to send BLO and not B1D but in the moment I did not have the
courage to confront him on what was on the note and the engineer that gave me
the task was not there to claim his fault though I saved the note he gave me. I
frantically got the phone with an operator to get the correct sample of B1D
sent as soon as possible when I came back the office clerk saw that I was
stressed and gave me a big hug saying we all make mistakes. I felt like I did
not make the mistake but everyone viewed that I made the mistake. When leaving my
boss did not say go bye to me like he would normally do. I felt like he was
very disappointed. The other Co-Op in the cubicle next to me consoled me saying
he would not want to have a boss like said I only have a few more weeks here
and just to push through.
The next day I came back to the office afraid of another
encounter with my boss. He was on the phone later that day and the news sample
was received by the lab. The engineer that assigned me the project was back and
he heard about the problem. He then asked me what sample he wrote down and I
showed him the note. He then explained to my boss the mistake he made. Later
that day my boss called me into his office and apologized for yelling at me and
said he was thankful that I got the correct sample out so fast. I was somewhat
thankful that he apologized and recognized that it was not my mistake but I still
felt humiliated did not want my co-workers to view me as the “dumb intern.” I
could see why he handled the problem the way he did because of the miscommunication
and the lack of information he had. In his mind, he was probably rushed by this
project and wanted to get the lab results back as soon as possible. At the
moment he was definitely mad at me for making such a mistake and thought it was
100% my fault. When he apologized he probably felt humiliated as well for handling
the problem so poorly but that was his style of leadership. I think the only
reason he felt the need to apologize was because it was the engineer who told
him it was his mistake and not mine. The engineer probably felt bad for me as
well for writing down the wrong sample as he too has probably experienced a similar
situation for our boss, but he was also not there to witness the encounter. If
I were in my boss’s shoes would have called the person who sent the sample in
and ask why they sent the wrong sample and them give them a chance to send the
right sample. I would do it with the door closed and not scream for the whole office
to hear me. I feel like the situation was initially handle poorly and though some
effort was made to resolve the conflict it left me leaving my Co-Op not wanting
to come back to work for the company full time. I was upset and thought that
other people on my floor thought that I was not a good worker and wanted to
avoid contact with a lot of people for the last few weeks because of that
encounter.
In chapter 8 of Bolman and Deal, they discuss motives behind people’s
behavior. While analyzing the situation the motive of my boss was to get the
sample test done as quick as possible and that was because he did not want to
lose this customer. Losing the customer would make him look bad in front of his
boss and that is probably why he was upset. Not discussing styles, in the
chapter they discuss emotional intelligence and how personality traits dictate
how someone interacts in a situation of conflict. I would save my boss has more
of an assertive style of management and mainly cares about getting things done
as fast and correct as possible. I would say I am less receptive to the assertive
style of lead and would be more receptive to the accommodating style of leading
at the time mainly because I was and Co-Op and was still learning about how the
company works as a whole. Overall, I would say that this conflict though
resolve could have been handled better and was the main factor of why I decided
to not come back for a second term.
As dramatic as this story was, to make it more relevant for what the class is considering there needed to be a bit about before the incident, your relationship to your boss then, and a bit about after the incident, did it change things at work or not. Clearly there was a blow up here. But the question is did it blow over or did it created an overhang for the work after the episode.
ReplyDeleteOn the previous post, for some students I talked about making decisions when under a lot of emotional stress, which clearly happened in the story you relate, versus making a decision after calming down, when some semblance of rationality has been restored. In an ongoing conflict, there may be some calm, but also a sense of dread about further interaction. For that dread to be compatible with rationality, not merely paranoia, there must be future episodes where tensions play out. If you are on the receiving end in a real conflict, that's what it feels like.
Since you were only an intern at this job, you may not have had sufficient time after the episode to judge which it was. In this case you might have talked about it with that engineer who wrote the illegible chemical description. What was his relationship like with the boss? Since he apologized for his mistake, at least he felt comfortable enough to take ownership for the mistake in this situation. That's probably not sufficient evidence to go on, but it does suggest the relationship with the boss wasn't that bad, making this look like a one-off rather than a pattern.
I do want to say one other thing, which should be thought about. Even calm and warm people can act quite angrily when put under sufficient stress. If Ashland was struggling business-wise, not just with this one client, that indirectly could explain conflict within the unit where you did your internship. I don't know the particulars here, but maybe you do. It would be something to factor into thinking about this.
Thanks for your response. I feel like the situation blew over after the first week with my boss but I was still paranoid at work. I would say that my boss overall liked me and that is why he offered me to come back for the next term. At the beginning I said yes but after I had a summer home I realized that I was unhappy at that place and I think it was mainly because of my boss. Some days he was very nice to me and would bring food and other days he was very short. I would say my boss was never really a calm person and there was not really that much pressure by the company as it was performing better that it has been in the last 20 years. As for the engineer that made the mistake his relationship with the boss was very good because he was one of the more talented engineers on the team. So this one mistake he made was viewed as a one-off I would say.
ReplyDelete