Jamie Turner Case
Problem Statement: After working at Modern Lighting Industries (MLI) for a short time Jamie Turner is confronted with differences between the president, Pat Cardullo, and himself. Jamie is concerned that the relationship between he and Pat has grown to be unpredictable and frustrating, which is causing much uncertainty.
Analysis:
1. It may be that the hierarchy in the organization struggle with conflict management. While working at his first job out of college Jamie’s boss had taught him that a cardinal rule when handling subordinates: “Praise in public, censure in private.” Jamie had notices after a few months at MLI that Pat treated other employees more volatile and unpredictable. More often in meetings Cardullo was using profanity and raising his voice. Jamie felt that Pat’s behavior was extreme and unnecessary. He was starting to have concerns that the manner in which Cardullo was managing were turning out to be destructive. Another conflict that came about was when Juanita Swenson brought Jamie Turner a spreadsheet which showed some cash flow concerns. When they approached Julie Chin about the situation she gave an explanation and stated that the cash flow of MLI is strong. Unsatisfied with the explanation, Turner went to Cardullo and they all had a meeting that afternoon. Pat could not see the problem and disregarded the matter as unimportant. This incident diminished the relationship between Julie and Jamie. These types of conflict situations are discussed in the article “Too Hot to Handle? How to Manage Relationship Conflict” (Edmondson and Smith, 2006). They describe the difference between task conflict and relationship conflict. While the conflicts within MLI start off as task conflicts, they tend to eventually become relationship conflicts. MLI meetings tend to debate the hot topics regularly with the same points being repeated. After a while the discussions start becoming more personal, it is at this point when Cardullo
Analysis:
1. It may be that the hierarchy in the organization struggle with conflict management. While working at his first job out of college Jamie’s boss had taught him that a cardinal rule when handling subordinates: “Praise in public, censure in private.” Jamie had notices after a few months at MLI that Pat treated other employees more volatile and unpredictable. More often in meetings Cardullo was using profanity and raising his voice. Jamie felt that Pat’s behavior was extreme and unnecessary. He was starting to have concerns that the manner in which Cardullo was managing were turning out to be destructive. Another conflict that came about was when Juanita Swenson brought Jamie Turner a spreadsheet which showed some cash flow concerns. When they approached Julie Chin about the situation she gave an explanation and stated that the cash flow of MLI is strong. Unsatisfied with the explanation, Turner went to Cardullo and they all had a meeting that afternoon. Pat could not see the problem and disregarded the matter as unimportant. This incident diminished the relationship between Julie and Jamie. These types of conflict situations are discussed in the article “Too Hot to Handle? How to Manage Relationship Conflict” (Edmondson and Smith, 2006). They describe the difference between task conflict and relationship conflict. While the conflicts within MLI start off as task conflicts, they tend to eventually become relationship conflicts. MLI meetings tend to debate the hot topics regularly with the same points being repeated. After a while the discussions start becoming more personal, it is at this point when Cardullo