Response 2:

You have been working with your project group for the last few weeks. During this time, you have had three meetings, and at each one, Corey has either come late or left early. Even when Corey is at the meeting, it seems that Corey’s mind is elsewhere. Everyone’s input on the project is needed, and you are concerned that his lack of participation and preparation is affecting the group outcome. You know that Corey is a smart guy and performed well when you happened to work with him on another team project last year in a marketing class. But something is different now – different about him, and different about how he interacts with others. He is not violent, but he is also not as easygoing as he used to be. You are not sure how to approach this situation.

1. What is your immediate reaction to the scenario? How would you feel if you were a member of the team writing about this situation?
2. How could this situation have been avoided?
3. What approaches to resolving this conflict are appropriate?
4. What are some things that, if done, would make this approach successful?
5. What are some things to avoid when attempting to resolve this conflict? Why?

Respond to the following student post: (150 Words)

(My Immediate reaction to the scenario given was concern. I worry that maybe Corey has personal issues going on at home or in his life that could be distracting him if I had worked with him in the past and he had been a good partner in the past. As a member of the team I am sure I would get annoyed that Corey was unable to perform his task given by the team, but the feeling of worry and concern would easily replace the annoyance. To possibly avoid the situation, I would remind Corey of how well he has done on past projects and ask if there was anything, he wanted to teach the group that we may have missed. “Conflict arises when we begin to feel that the other person is interfering with our ability to attain a certain objective.” (Janasz, Dowd, Schneider, 2019, pg 263).To Avoid any further conflict If asking for help did not work I would ask the group how they felt about the current situation and possibly build a team effort on how to approach and fix the situation since it would be affecting the team and our grade as a whole and not just myself. “Through discussion, members reduce ambiguity and focus energy on the real (as opposed to assumed) sources of conflict, enabling them to then work together to target remaining issues that need to be addressed.” (Janasz, Dowd, Schneider, 2019, pg 263). It would be very important to include everyone in the group when making a decision that affects everyone. Some things to avoid obviously would be aggression towards the situation as it most likely will only cause issues. But many times in awkward or conflicted situations team members like to avoid the issue and in this situation the issue should not be avoided. “When conflicts are ignored or poorly managed, they can be dysfunctional and even destructive. Negative (dysfunctional) conflict hinders the organization’s or the person’s performance or ability to attain goals or objectives and can lead to stress and anxiety, inability to take action, and loss of esteem or purpose.” (Janasz, Dowd, Schneider, 2019, pg 266). Ignoring the situation will in no way fix the situation or Corey.)  

Word Count :369 

References: 

de Janasz, S., Dowd, K., & Schneider, B. (2018). Interpersonal skills in organizations (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.