Conflict Resolution Paper

Conflict Resolution Paper

The background of the conflict that I was asked to consult on involves a publishing firm in Chicago. They hired Mary as a copy editor. Mary worked on a team with 8 other employees editing a journal produced by the company. After about 2 months of employment, Mary went out to happy hour with her fellow teammates after work. They had a lot of fun and also consumed some alcohol. A man on Mary's team, Justin, had a crush on Mary and offered her a ride home. She accepted, and when she got in the car, Justin made a sexual advance toward her. She asked him to stop the car, got out, and called a cab.

Mary was really anxious to go back to work and face Justin. How would she act around him? Could this affect her job? Justin was not her manager, but he did have more tenure. Justin pulled Mary aside later that day and apologized for being inappropriate and aggressive. Because he apologized, Mary did not go through the HR channels set up through her officce. She wanted to move on, and since Justin apologized, she figured all was well. She was a new employee and still in the process of proving herself and having people get to know her- she felt this could put her in a negative view.

All would have been well, but Justin kept apologizing every time he saw Mary, which was a daily basis. This got very awkward and uncomfortable. Mary finally asked him to stop apologizing, this apologizing was also unwanted attention. He did not stop apologizing, and Mary told a few collegues about the dilemma. Another position opened in the company and she asked to be transferred. This solved the issue of Justin bothering her, but she was very unhappy with the new position. She started to regret moving to the new position and in retrospect realized that the conflict with Justin it what got her to move into the new position. Mary decides to speak with HR.

Literature Review

First and foremost, management needs to have a strategy in place for managing conflict. This will give the organization more control over legal and policy issues than the employees. If the situation escalates and management does nothing, the legal costs can be huge, and it does not address the situation in a positive way for any party.

One way to do this is for management to have an open door policy and be trained in active listening and effective communication. Simply having a policy without training does not accomplish much.

Incorporating a third party

References

Blackard,