Case Study A

Roommate Woes
Aeriel, a sophomore, and Tara, a senior, are roommates in one of the university
dorms and have been enjoying spending time with each other. Most of the time the
two women get along very well and conflict is limited to simple conflict. Recently,
Aeriel has been leaving dirty dishes and personal belongings in the communal area
she and Tara share. This has started to annoy Tara, as she is becoming
overwhelmed with the messy room, increased class assignments, and the stress of
her upcoming graduation. Tara feels Aeriel is taking advantage of her and being
disrespectful.
This morning, after stepping on one of Aeriel’s wire clothing hangers and lacerating
her foot. In anger, Tara threw Aeriel’s cell phone against the wall and shattered the
screen on Aeriel’s phone. This act enraged Aeriel and she started pushing Tara and
yelling profanities. The RA was contacted and resulted in Aeriel being arrested for
assault.

Pre-test:
 If you were Aeriel, what would you have done?
 What could Tara have done/said to have a better outcome?
 Could something have been done to prevent such misunderstandings?
The manner in which an individual handles conflict will determine if the conflict is
good, bad, or neutral.

Questions:
Working from our case study with Tara and Aeriel, answer the questions below in
one short paragraph consisting of at least four sentences.

1. What type of conflict did the women enter into?

2. What were some of the triggers that created the conflict?
3. What approaches did the women take and what could they have done to
improve their conflict?

CASE STUDY -B

The conflict in this case arises from the management styles of two managers,
Ralph and George, who head two different departments in the same
organization. Ralph’s problem with George is that the latter is taking staff from
his department without his approval. On the other hand, George feels that he is
doing the right thing by taking staff from Ralph’s over staffed department.

The situation is compounded by the fact that most of the people who work under
Ralph are asking to be transferred while Ralph feels that his department is not
overstaffed. He feels that George is interfering with his duties while George is
sure that Ralph would do well with a leaner workforce. John, the director, has to
help resolve the conflict between the two managers after they bitterly confront
each other in his presence. Apart form George’s and Ralph’s viewpoints the
director also has to consider Henry’s opinion about the conflict. Henry is the
immediate Lab manager who was recently replaced by Ralph. He had the same
problems that Ralph is having with George, but he was able to take care of them
without directly confronting George.

Analyse the issues and provide solutions/suggestions to this problem.