Informal Conflict Resolution Case Study

Anna Romo

South Texas College

ORGL 3311

Dr. Kristina Wilson

February 23, 2022

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Informal Conflict Resolution Case Study

Regardless of the employer, various types of conflict are unfortunately all too common in

the workplace. In order to maintain high levels of job satisfaction and performance, it is of the

utmost importance to make every effort to mitigate its adverse effects on the workplace, despite

its frequency. One of the most prevalent issues is harassment. Employees face while on the job.

Harassment can occur inside and outside the workplace, but it can still affect a person's ability to

work. Regardless of the nature of the issue, it is essential to work to gain control as quickly and

efficiently as possible. In contrast, it minimizes the amount of harm caused to either party. In this

essay, a disagreement happened outside of work and was not handled well, which led to more

problems.

 The conflict process is an extensive multistage process that comprises the following:

potential opposition or incompatibility, cognition and personalization, intentions and behavior,

and the consequences of those actions. After a few months at the editing company, Laura was

invited to a drink with a few of her coworkers. Laura accepted the invitation and had a great time

with the group, which included many laughs and a good time overall. After an evening out,

Laura discovered her evening was about to change. It is described as having a late-afternoon

happy hour with co-workers where alcohol was involved. Tim offered to share a cab with Laura,

but "Tim made an aggressive sexual advance toward her," the article says Laura responded by

telling him to get out of the cab. Tim ran out of the cab, horrified by what had happened. This

depicts the conflict process's potential opposition or incompatibility stage. The two parties

involved, Tim and Laura, did not agree or were incompatible in how they perceived that

interaction (Robbins & Judge, 2019).

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This immediately merges into the following stage, where cognition and personalization

occur. Again, both Laura and Tim perceived the interaction differently. In her own right, Laura

was not okay with Tim's unwarranted advances. Furthermore, Laura is new to the company, and

knowing Tim was a superior developed conflicting feelings as she felt this could jeopardize her

workplace environment. “On the other hand, Tim was embarrassed” (Robbins & Judge, 2019).

Laura's senior-level coworker, Tim, had found a taxi before she did. Laura did not think

much of Tim's offer to share the ride home and agreed to it because she did not find it out of the

ordinary. Tim embarrassed himself by making an unprovoked sexual advance on Laura in the

taxi. After Laura categorically rejected Tim's advances, she demanded that he immediately exit

the vehicle. Tim complied with her request and left the vehicle with reluctance. As a result,

Laura was very uncomfortable. “Tim said he was very sorry when he talked to Laura about what

happened the next day at work” (Robbins & Judge, 2019).

Tim immediately apologizes, which puts Laura at ease, until he repeatedly apologizes

when he finds himself in her presence. Although it may not have been his intention, this caused

another issue as Laura then found herself uneasy with the constant apologizing from Tim. Laura

then confides in a few co-workers, which causes them to act differently around Tim. “These

individuals' actions seem to have produced unintentional repercussions” (Hussein & AI-Mamary,

2019). Tim's constant apologizing caused further uneasiness in Laura and Laura discussed the

matter with her co-workers, which led to a change in the dynamic at work.

In the final step of the conflict process, the outcome, somewhat of a resolution, is

reached. Eventually, Laura transfers jobs to avoid the conflict altogether. However, she finds

herself unhappy with her new job. In the article, Laura finally decides to consult the company's

Ombudsman. An ombudsman provides confidentiality and can facilitate conflict resolution

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through informal channels by helping the person with the grievance, in this case, Laura, work

through their problem. I believe Laura could have sought help from the Ombudsman before

allowing this situation to escalate and speaking to her co-workers about the situation. After all,

the co-workers had no weigh-in on the case other than gossip. “In this sense, Laura inadvertently

created an issue as a private matter that is now common knowledge for parties that were not

involved and now have either a conscious or subconscious bias toward Tim” (Pluut & others,

2018).

When conflict between two people causes enough anxiety, another person or group is

drawn into the battle to alleviate the tension, and plotting occurs. An excellent example of this

pattern is Laura's decision to confide in her co-workers about her dilemma with Tim. She could

transfer the tension between Tim and her co-workers and the anxiety she was experiencing

toward Tim. They were concerned about Tim in two ways: they were dissatisfied with him and

concerned about a shift in their attitude toward him. “While this temporarily relieved Laura's

anxiety, it also spread and maintained it as a result” (Hussein & AI-Mamary, 2019).

Further analyzing this scenario, Tim's unwarranted advances toward Laura in the cab

during their informal night out with co-workers and constant apologizing for his actions had a

lasting impact and changed the dynamic at the workplace. Even though Laura quickly stated that

"everything was fine," the article further depicts that she was upset to the point where she moved

on to another journalist position where she was dissatisfied with her new job situation. When it

comes to conflicts, there are three distinct types. Interpersonal conflict is a type of conflict that

occurs between two or more people, such as that between Tim and Laura. Another type of

conflict is intrapersonal conflict, in which the individual’s conflict is within. This is seen when

Laura faces the dilemma of handling the situation when she returns to work. In this situation,
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Laura may be experiencing intrapersonal conflict as she was uncertain about what to expect

when she returned to work after the incident took place. She weighs her decision-making over

how it will affect her workplace (Wilmot & Hocker, 2017).

Laura felt her worth in the eyes of those she worked with was diminished when she was

subjected to sexual harassment from Tim. It is frustrating when they cannot determine what is

causing their anxiety. The continued apologies from Tim only served to aggravate Laura's

already-heightened uneasiness over the situation. Seeing how the case did not resolve, she sought

assistance from her co-workers to deal with her situation. This, in turn, changed the dynamic as

her co-workers now knew about the incident, and their perspective of Tim altered as a result of

their gained knowledge. “A private disagreement between two people can immediately and

negatively impact all parties involved” (Wilmot & Hocker, 2017).

The Loci of a conflict are used to determine the framework within which a conflict may

occur. The Loci of conflict is therefore essential in understanding where the conflict occurs.

There are three types of conflict loci, including the dyadic conflict, which defines the conflict

between two individuals. Intragroup conflict occurs within a team, while intergroup conflict

involves conflict among different groups or teams. In this case, with Laura and Tim, it could be

both dyadic conflict and intragroup because the conflict started with Laura and Tim but ended

with the team. Intergroup conflict is between-group or groups (Hussein & AI-Mamary, 2019).

Communication skills were critical in escalation and resolution, especially in this case. In

conflict assessment and resolution assessment, the emotional patterns that emerge during anxiety

can be a warning sign that intervention is required. Ombudspersons frequently assist individuals

in resolving disputes informally by utilizing family systems theory to resolve their conflicts

independently. One of the main goals of the Ombudsman is to help people deal with life's
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difficulties more effectively, which is similar to the goal of differentiation in the theory of family

systems (Taylor, 2022). Conflict resolvers, such as mediators, can assist parties in engaging in

the lifelong differentiation process by sharing their understanding of common emotional patterns

in their interactions

Even a small step toward greater self-awareness and a reduction in one's reactionary

tendencies can significantly impact the likelihood of conflict turning destructive in the first place.

The situation could have been handled differently by Laura confronting Tim. Since she was new

at work, Laura felt she was unknown at home of work; I think she did not want conflict, so she

quickly tried to run from the problem, which led to her not being happy in the new department.

Then led to gossip in the work area by telling co-workers what had happened and speaking to the

ombudspersons. Those things could have been avoided when meeting with Tim Laura could

have let him know that he could stop with the apologies that she felt unconformable (Robbins &

Judge, 2019).

In conclusion, the situation between Laura and Tim has been categorized as a "Dyadic

Conflict," one of three types of conflict, in order to summarize and gain a deeper understanding

of the type of conflict Tim and Laura caused by using one of lumen learning's three loci of

conflict. This implies that the conflict originated between the two parties, or at the very least,

where it originated. Laura's communication with her other two coworkers about the issue

escalated into a multiparty conflict. Laura was highly uncomfortable with Tim's advances, and

the Ombudsman handled the situation flawlessly. Laura also made a mistake by engaging in

office gossip and switching departments when she could have told Tim that she was unconcerned

about the situation. In the future, Laura could confront the person causing the issue. Then merely

escaping the problem.

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References

Hussein, A. F. F., & Al-Mamary, Y. H. S. (2019). Conflicts: Their types and their negative and

positive effects on organizations. International Journal of Scientific & Technology

Research, 8(8), 10–13. https://www. researchgate.net

Pluut, H., Ilies, R., Curşeu, P. L., & Liu, Y. (2018). Social support at work and at home: Dual-

buffering effects in the work-family conflict process. Organizational Behavior and

Human Decision Processes, 146, 1-13. https://sciencedirect.com

Robbins, S & Judge, T (2019). Organizational behavior,18th Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson

Education https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315090269

Taylor, M. (2000, September). Informal conflict resolution: A workplace case study.

Mediate.com - Find Mediators - World's Leading Mediation Information Site.

https://www.mediate.com/articles/taylor.cfm.

Wilmot, W., & Hocker, J. L. (2017). Interpersonal conflict (p. 384). McGraw-Hill Education.

https://doi.org/10.1080/01463379209369841