MSLD520 - Module 6 - Conflict - Madeline Campbell


Honestly, I have not been involved in conflict resolution. Of course, within all corporations, there is always conflict at hand. Thankfully in my past work experiences I was the one witnessing the conflict and not directly involved. For my current position, avoidance is the typical approach with conflict. Whetton and Cameron’s research reveal that managers typically utilize conflict avoidance versus other approaches to conflict resolution (2017, p. 307).

During my first position with Mariott, I witnessed much conflict which resulted in a high turnover rate. One specific instance was with an employee who was the main maintenance technician. He was a hard worker, put in over-time, stuck to all the rules and regulations, put his best foot forward and wanted to excel in his position. One evening (working the evening shift) he had asked me if I had received my 90 day raise. I informed him that I had only received a ten cent raise, and he then was extremely discouraged, as well as upset at the general manager of the hotel property. He did in fact use profanity, not towards our manager, but towards the situation at hand. As Whetton states, “…communication at work…is always social and public.” This employee had been looking forward to his 90 day review but when he heard I did not receive one he became frustrated. He was upset at the situation and lack of decent management. Unfortunately, there was another employee (head of housekeeping) who overhead what he had said. At this point in time, our manager was good friends with this co-worker despite her unprofessional work. The following day, she informed our manager of what the maintenance worker had said. Our manager hastily and furiously pulled me into her office and asked if the maintenance man had said terrible things about her. I was transparent and said no, to which she responded and said “well it doesn’t matter because I fired him immediately anyway.” I was shocked, upset and disappointed. This worker loved the Marriott property, worked hard and did not say the things our manager alluded to. The worker who said he spoke in such a manner had lied and due to her friendship with management, had him fired. Amongst other things within this team, I was again disheartened and upset. The manager did not focus on the facts or issues, but her emotions (Whetton, et al 2017, p. 308). The maintenance man came back to the property a few weeks later to pick up his final paycheck as management refused to mail them. He still carried a bit of anger, but thankfully was glad to be out of such a hostile work environment.

Even though I was 1) A proponent to the maintenance anger and 2) A bystander to what he was saying, observing this conflict unfold and how it was resolved was eye opening. The only participants in the negotiation were the head of housekeeping and the manager. The maintenance man was not asked about the conversation and situation and the manager did not truly want others opinions before firing the individual. She did not take the person out of the situation to view the problem at hand, and she did not take her emotions out to the situation. Conversely she acted on her emotions as the general manager. As Ury stated in his TedTalk, “Peace…it’s not easy, it’s simple. It us, it's us who act as a surrounding community around any conflict, who can play a constructive role” (2010).  He continues to states that when angry, it is easy to loose perspective and that is what I believe my manager did. She lost perspective of this hard working individual and believed lies from a different worker. If I had been the manager in this specific situation, I hope I would have had the foresight to view it from altering perspectives and take myself out of the situation.  As a manager, one needs to take in the criticize them others offer to see what the root cause/issue is (Ury, 2010).


References

Ury, W. (2010). Transcript of "The walk from "no" to "yes"". Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/william_ury/transcript?language=en

Mckenzie, D. M. (2015). The role of mediation in resolving workplace relationship conflict. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 39, 52–59. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2015.01.021

Whetton, D. A. & Cameron, K. S. (2016). Developing management skills, 9th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson.

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