Managing Conflict in a Diverse Workplace

Group 5 Ankit Gupta: 13P064 Ganapathy S: 13P074 Manu Mehrotra: 13P084 Nitin Dangwal: 13P094 Gopesh Nakra: 13P104 Sonakshi Gupta: 13P112

Case I: Intent vs. Perception

Antoinette Mayer Mayer a senior software engineer at DigiSys

Jay Strong, her boss & potential CEO of company

Mayer believes Strongs behavior has changed and is inappropriate In-fact Strong is trying to be friendly with Mayer as he doesnt want her to feel left out.

Strong is himself unsure of how to approach this and the miscommunication between both has led to Mayers complaint

What, according to you, is Strong's intent? Is it justified? Would it have mattered to Mayer if she knew what Strong's intent was?
Strongs Intent is to bring Antoinette in the loop However his method was crude We cant say it was justified as, Antoinette never raised any issue, Strong presumed that such was the case with her. Yes had there been a clarity of intent, maybe Mayer would have appreciated her bosss intent at the same time shared her perspective on it This feedback would have been more than useful as he would have got the ground situation in DigiSys

Would it have mattered to Strong if he knew how he was being perceived by Mayer?
Again yes, Had Strong known how Mayer saw his actions, he could have backed-off or cleared the air, then and there. Even without that, his methods were crude.

Had he known Mayers perception, he could have altered his methods also.
There is a lack of trust between Mayer and Strong.

Case II: Power and Access

Nikki Bliss Nikki is a hard working and driven, wants to work on a trading floor in Wall Street. Gets to work at Haskell and Higgins, under Bertram Law. The trading floor is an aggressive place with vulgar language and sexual jokes being thrown around. Initially Nikki accepts it, but in a short while it starts to get on her nerves.

How is this situation different from Mayers

Strongs Intent is to bring Antoinette in the loop However his method was crude We cant say it was justified as, Antoinette never raised any issue, Strong presumed that such was the case with her. Yes had there been a clarity of intent, maybe Mayer would have appreciated her bosss intent at the same time shared her perspective on it This feedback would have been more than useful as he would have got the ground situation in DigiSys

Do all trainees go through some of these moments?

Not all trainees go through such environment. The environment in the organization can vary on many factors: Type of Work Type of Historic Work Culture Type of Leader Policy of the companies

Case III: Is Equal Fair

Moses Wu Moses Wu embodies a quintessential Asian story in America bright student, studied at best universities, tasted success at a young age Even though he never experienced explicit discrimination he felt he was not able to rise in career due to his Chinese background Julia Mack Mackenzie She has made a name for herself in a work setting dominated by men in numbers. She was the only woman in a hot shot team responsible for critical product assessment She enjoyed every bit of her work and loved spending time with her teammates. But after she became pregnant, she realized that may be she has sacrificed her femininity to be part of the group Stewart feels this discrimination is not right, but is in dilemma how he can address this situation. He is worried about the long term implication of his stand.

Should Wu be considered for a manager's role at ETech? Why or why not? What is the biggest learning for all of us from this caselet?
Yes, Wu should be considered for a managers role at Etech A managerial position is not about from which part of the world you belong it. It depends on your ability to work with people, how comfortable are you to work in the office culture and whether can you emerge as a leader when its required Wu was respected both at personal and professional level He certainly had the credentials for the position Even though his working style was different, he brought considerable results in his projects. Biggest Learning: There are barriers to success in the workplace if you are not one of the herd.

What are the 'unforeseen costs' that Julie is worried about? Is this worry justified?
Julie is worried that whether in pursuing the path to success, she has sacrificed her identity the femininity, this is the unforeseen cost she is worried about. Yes, she is justified as many findings have pointed out that managerial positions are usually associated with traits biased towards men

Case IV: Creative Conflict

Cassandra Barton is a successful design team lead in a car manufacturing company Her first product as a team lead was Atalanta which was very successful Cassandra puts forward idea of designers, engineer and marketers to work as a team to reduce time delay occurred due to redesign She was given the task for designing truck for women Phoenix in which she led team of designers, engineers and marketers

Her first meeting with team was not as per her expectation, as people were not listening to others ideas and they were not working as a team.

Does diversity really help? Are there specific industries / sectors where diversity should be fostered? Can it also harm the organization?
Lack of diversity if useful when only timely delivery of the project is important and creativity is not much of a requirement. Diversity should be fostered in industries which have creativity as their brick and mortar such as advertisement industry, product design Yes, It can also harm organization in case diversity is causing difficulty in flow of information among the team members, Reasons can be different languages. Sometimes minority face difficult in putting their point across in a team

How important is the type of diversity?

Diversity in form of team members having different background/culture, education, gender, age are appreciable and come with their own benefits if diversity does not hinder the information sharing

Case V: Bystanders and Third Parties

Everett Evans Discrimination based on color; local clubs dont allow entry of persons of color Everett Evans worried about his team members being discriminated in a local club Should he go to that club and risk racial discrimination against his team? Dwight Stewart Dwight Stewart was disturbed by office politics against Donald Cumberland promotion. Donald Cumberland is being overlooked for promotion because of his sexuality preferences. Stewart feels this discrimination is not right, but is in dilemma how he can address this situation. He is worried about the long term implication of his stand.

Should Evans care / take action if the African American mangers are not concerned? Would you? A situation should be analyzed from all the angles best positive and worst negative alternatives to be evaluated In this case the worst negative can be potential embarrassment to his team if the colored members are denied entry. Being a leader it is right on Evans part when he is worried about the dignity of his team members Based on the above rationale, I would definitely take action. One of the action could be to make a pre visit to club to gauge present situation. I can also ask others about any mishappenings If the club is hostile towards colored section of the society, then I would chose other club

Case VI: Freedom of Expression

Jillian Reese An African American, took immense pride in her ethnical background She was not perturbed by what other communities think of her unique ways She decided against her friends decision to change their hairstyle to appease the American co She was confident of making her own without changing her identity Jacqueline LaRue Jacqueline LaRue worked for GCG based in Europe She came to America to lead a project for American Office On her arrival, she was immediately judged for her European Ways. One of the client made a highly derogatory remark about her legs not waxed

Case VI: Freedom of Expression

Nahum Prager An award winning photographer was commissioned to work for The Times coverage of the upcoming presidential elections. After sometime, the publisher received a memo from Prager, indicating that as per Sabbath Laws, he would not be working on weekends The publisher is perplexed and dont know how to react to this situation Terry OLeary Terry OLeary is vice president for New Product Development at Tech Toys Inc. A decision was to be made regarding who would lead the Robo Boy Project Out of the two best project leaders he rejected the one on the basis that she was a black woman and will not be able to manage high pressure project