Running head: CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Learning Team D: Conflict Resolution

LDR531

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Learning Team D: Conflict Resolution

The following paper will address three storybook stories from week three of LDR531.
These storybook stories are; Communication Challenges: A Get Your Team to Talk to Each Other
Adventure, Breaking the News: A Tell Your Team About Downsizing Adventure, and Conflict
Management: A Get Your Team to Talk to Each Other Adventure. For each storybook,
communication styles and barriers will be addressed. Conflict and negotiation processes of each
storybook will be pointed out and the students will describe the strategies they would apply were
they to find themselves in the situations presented in each storybook.
Communication Challenges
This storybook spoke of Wimwam Sandwichery and the companys goal to increase its
presence through social media. To help move the company in the direction of its goal, a
marketing team meeting is held with Todd, Claire, Emily and this student who is the marketing
teams manager. Unfortunately, Todd was not completely forthright during the meeting and
practiced a barrier to effective communication known as filtering. Robbins and Judge states that
filtering is when a sender manipulates information in a way that it will be seen more favorably
by its receiver (2013, pg. 353). To address Todds filtering tactics, this student took the time to
speak with him in person. Todd was asked to always offer the truth and to never fear negative
repercussions for having done so. During the meeting, it seemed that Claire was preoccupied
with her thoughts. She picked up on some positive commentary and was happy to hear of the
meetings conclusion. The story goes on to reveal that Claire was focused on a newly acquired
work load and she practicing selective perception during the meeting. This occurs when the
receiver of communication processes information based upon his or her needs, motivations,
experience, and background (Robbins & Judge, 2013, pg. 353). As manager, this student

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addressed Claires selective perception by assuring her that her new workload would not be
affected should problems with the social media push arise. Lastly, the story addresses Emily who
seemed to want to speak up, but refrained from doing so. Emily practiced intentional silence out
of fear of her coworkers potentially making fun of her ideas. This student felt Emily would be
encouraged to share her thoughts on the companys new social media endeavor if she were to
receive an informal email that simply asked for them. This student has had experience with team
members practicing filtering and he would simply ask his peer to not allow it to happen again. It
was stressed that the team would never benefit from half-truths and could never make corrective
actions by not knowing exact circumstances.
Breaking the News
Downsizing is a scary word in itself. Due to past growth, the company expanded in all
areas. With the quick expansion, some of the departments have become inefficient. The
managers meeting discussed what departments will be affected by the downsizing. Even though
this particular department will not be affected, the employees in the department are still
wondering. Not knowing what goes on inside of company that is making changes causes
uneasiness among the staff. Uneasiness leads to even less productivity and gossip around the
coffee pot. It is best to be honest with the employees and let them be aware of what is taking
place.
Being honest with employees can backfire if not handled appropriately. Since the
department is not part of the downsizing, it is still important that the employees talk positively
about the downsizing to the other departments. The management team has decided to let the
employees know at a brief meeting that the department will not be affected. Having an informal
meeting with everyone from the team present shows that there is a sincere concern but will also

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ease the team members about what is happening and how it will or will not affect them. If the
management team handles the situation correctly, the company will successfully get through the
downsizing tasks a lot more smoothly.
Conflict Management
In Storybook three, the conflict presented is based on a team assignment which requires
specific deadlines before the project is due. Because the project is quite large, the whole team is
under stress which leads to two team members, Antonio and John to have a conflict amongst
each other.
John misses an important deadline due to his involvement with another project and
Antonio gets upset. Instead of verbally communicating to John, Antonio sends out a group email
to the team in a negative tone. He directed the email towards John, even though he did not
mention Johns name specifically and added more stress level to the team. This scenario
represents a communication issue. Assuming Antonio is the team leader, he should have
approached John personally and verbally discussed the issue. The approach towards John should
not represent the tone he had in the email, but to find out why John was late with the deadline.
John contributed to the aggressiveness Antonio had by responding in a negative way as well
which does not justify either one of their actions and both are at fault for having communication
barriers.
It is best in any team situation to avoid conflict. It may cause the team to not be efficient
with their work and cause team members to focus on the concerns of the other team members
who are being conflictive. Providing clear expectations prior to the start of the project should
have been established as well as brief weekly meetings to ensure everyone on the team was at the
level of work they should be on at each given deadline date. If anyone person on the team had

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issues meeting the deadline(s) established, proper communication to the team and/or team leader
should be initiated.
Conclusion
Each storybook situation could have had a negative effect if not handled properly. Team
D has looked at each scenario and has come up with positive outcomes. All three storybooks had
a common factor of communication. Distorted communication is as detrimental as lack of
communication. In storybook one, encouraging workers to voice their ideas, communicate
directly with employees that have provided filtered information and reassurance of job duties
prevented any barriers of communication among the team. In storybook two, the management
team felt that it was best to handle the downsize with honesty and with a formal meeting to
reassure and inform the team of what was going to happen. In the last storybook, the
management team avoided conflict by communicating what is expected before the project began.
These expectations were also reviewed during periodic project meetings. Evaluation of the
communication barriers that each company faces has to be reviewed on a daily basis and handled
the best way that suits the company and its employees.

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References

Robbins, S.R. & Judge, T. A. (2013). Organizational behavior (15th ed.). Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.