Bill and Saul's Conflict

Running head: BILL AND SAUL'S CONFLICT

Bill and Saul's Conflict

Jennifer M. Torres, Jessica Johnson, Laretha Strandberg and Rebecca Angeles

Cardinal Stritch University

Terry Zimmer

ASB 107

Learning Session 3

July 12, 2012

In the case of Bill and Saul's conflict, the reader finds that Bill is telling Saul to fill a huge order in a matter of two days. The issue here is that Bill has promised the customer a time frame that the production manager cannot meet due to other sales that are pending. In this scenario, Bill is very concerned about losing the sale and Saul knows that it will not be possible to fill and is willing to wait for the manager to call him and place the request. In consideration of Bill's perspective, Saul has filled orders for him previously when claimed that they were big orders. This demonstrates Saul understands how important these sales are to the company. However, based on the phone conversation, Saul is not willing to fill the order, not only because it is not possible, but because Saul may think that Bill is not considering Saul's position and the procedure that needs to be taken in order for Bill's order to be shipped. Saul was able to be assertive and reminded Bill of the standard delivery time, Bill noted that he was fully aware of the five day delivery time frame and continued to insist for Saul to place the order. Although Bill continued aggressively and demanded for Saul to fill the order, Saul was able to stick to his answer and not give in to his orders. Saul even attempted to resolve the conflict by offering to get the shipment out in four days oppose to five. Bill was not pleased to hear that it was not going his way.

Bill's behavior reflects his past experience with orders that were placed in short notice. Knowing that Saul has been able to make it happen in the past, Bill expects the same behavior this time. There is a possibility that Saul never mentioned that big orders in such a short notice is a problem, therefore, Bill's lack of knowledge have led him to believe the time frame offered to the client is acceptable. When Saul responded that it was not possible, Bill reacted aggressively and childlike when he threatened that he will bring it to the attention of upper management and blamed Saul if he didn't meet his quota. Since Bill was not expecting this type of response from Saul, he found himself in a position of having to justify why Saul needed to fill the order.

The major issue in this case is the lack of communication that has been taking place during the previous orders. If Saul would have been clear with Bill and told him that filling those first orders were an exception and that in the future, the orders will be shipped in standard time, Bill would have based his sales on those terms. However, because it was not communicated during the first request of shipping in short notice, Bill thought that it was fine to promise the customers big orders will be shipped in less than five days.

Another issue that took place during the conversation is how Bill managed to offend and threaten Saul in order to get the shipment out. The reader will find that Bill's approach to solve the problem was aggressive. He demonstrates aggression by demanding to fill the order, violating Saul's integrity by asking him if he was his mother and used force to get his way when he mentioned that he will involve higher management. There was no resolution discussed in the phone conversation.

There many reasonable assumptions that can be made about a proper resolution to their conflict. Bill can go back