Managing Conflict

You have just been part of a merger. You have each been chosen to head up your department and merge the two groups into a self-directed work team. Work with each other to lay out a plan describing how you will develop a new team within your department or departments. It is natural that there will be some confrontations between people. Look at the stages of team development and use that knowledge to work with the team. It is recognized that some employees will refuse to be part of the team. In fact, the new ownership expects that there will be some who lose their jobs because of these issues; however, that is a last resort. Use all your skills to negotiate with employees in an attempt to resolve conflicts and pull your team together.

Because you are working together as a team, it is seen by the ownership that if one is successful, you are all successful. Likewise, if one fails, you all fail. The future success of the company is dependent on your mutual success.

Consider the following:

• As a team, you must come up with a plan and be in agreement because you have to implement it in your departments.
• For each step you take, provide a brief explanation of your reasoning.
• Use the library and the Internet to research these issues.

2 pages

Guidelines for Writing Paper (APA)

1. Running head, Abstract, and Cover Page

2. Introduction: set the table for the assignment - introduce concept or topic to the reader- tell the reader what he/she should expect to read about - use a premise or hypothesis or problem statement (2 paragraphs). Header is title of the paper

3. Situation Analysis: What is going on in the scenario (2 paragraphs)

4. Mergers (what happens in mergers both good and bad) (2 paragraphs)

5. Team Development Cycle or Process (Tuckman Model, and probably Bakken)
Primary strategy is developing a Charter
1. Builds unity, commitment and ownership
2. Clarifies roles and tasks, including leadership
3. Establishes goals and expectations
4. Describes appropriate behavior
5. Identify how to resolve conflict
6. Identify  ground rules
7. Creates timelines and metrics
8. Describes communication and collaboration process- everyone has a voice
9. Mandates reporting
10. Identifies how to adjust or adapt to changing conditions