Homework Question
Combine all the previous milestones into a cohesive final paper. Your final paper should include revisions based on the feedback you received from your instructor on each milestone.
For this milestone, you will complete a draft of the first two sections of your summative assessment. Read the transcripts provided for you for this case analysis. The transcripts can be found in the Final Project Case Study.
Based on the transcripts you read in Module Three and this module’s reading, analyze the heuristics of the transcripts and determine how they impacted the interactions in the workplace. Additionally, determine the influence of cultural differences on the conflict. The transcripts can be found in the.
Based on the case study transcripts provided, look for instances in which the characters employed communication to manage the situation, collect relevant information, and build common ground. Then, identify practices through which the team can rebuild trust. Finally, determine the best course of action for resolving the conflict and provide your recommendations for moving forward.
SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
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SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Summative Assessment
Patricia Vela
Manage Difficult Conversations
Virginia (Ginny) McMinn, MSIR, SPHR
Part I: Overview
Interpersonal conflicts are often inevitable in organizations. It is defined as conflicts that occur between two or more people in an organization as a result of various personal differences. Some of these differences may include but not limited to religion issues, culture, values, attitudes, and perceptions (Wright et al. 2017). What is most important in such a situation is understands how to mitigate their impacts or reduce their occurrence. In this case, religious discrimination and the organization culture are primary sources of the interpersonal conflict within the ABC Corporation which is an electronic device business trading in cellular phones and tablets. Religion discrimination has both material and physical impacts of an organization. Kareem was employed as a customer service representative at ABC Corporation after proving he could effectively manage the workload associated with the position during an interview. His pleasant phone voice and the yearning to please the customers were the other qualities that contributed to his hiring. However, he was a practising Muslim which would later be one of his undoing qualities.
As a practising Muslim, his religion dictates praying five times a day which required him to take numerous breaks in the day to perform his ritual. This also involves a series of movement, washing his hands and feet to be physically clean before praying spiritually, and Quran recitation. His workmate observed these practices even without Kareem thinking they were observing him. The organization culture at ABC Corporation is working hard, ensuring the numbers goes up and getting positive feedback from the customer. Therefore, Michael, through that Kareem was not working hard as required due to his religious practices and reported the matter to his supervisor, Jane. Jane observed the same and reported the case to Thomas, who is the call centre manager. Thomas followed closely and observed that Kareem was taking excessive breaks and decided to fire him even without any of all the three ABC staff discussing the issue of religious practices or the dropping performance with Kareem. Religion discrimination is, therefore, the primary source of bias in this case.
Customers and the employees are the primary stakeholders in this case. Employees are required to work for hand and ensure increasing numbers and customer’s satisfaction to ensure the company has repeat customers. However, the company should develop a suitable culture that allows each employee to practice their religion in a friendly manner rather than discriminating them based on religion or any other aspect.
Part II: Conflict Analysis
All the stakeholders provided concurrent information concerning the incident of interpersonal conflict that resulted in Kareem losing his job at ABC Corporation. The first stakeholder who influenced the conflict was Kareem. According to the information provided by Kareem during the interview, he was also afraid of freely expressing his beliefs as a practising Muslim. He hoped that he could practice his rituals and prayers secretly, which was not the case. A specific example was when he was unwilling to discuss this issue with Jane, the call centre supervisor when she was asked where he was going when he left the desk before the lunch break or the 15 minutes break. Kareem was not willing to discuss the issue during the meeting that culminated to his firing. Janet’s and Michael perceptions also contributed to the conflicts since they were unwilling to have a formal conversation with Kareem about his religious practices but observed him secretly and reported to their respective seniors.
Implicit communication practices were used in this case. All staff focused more on the ambiguous nature of the gestures, actions and vocal tones presented by Kareem (Gildert, Millard, Pomfret & Timmis, 2018). For example, Michael observed the strange religion practices by Kareem, which he thought he was talking to himself. He reported this to Jane, who also focused on the communication gesture when she tried to enquire where Kareem was going before the lunchtime or 15 minutes breaks. Thomas decides to secretly observe Kareem as he would pop up in his cube and notice his absence. The stakeholders did not focus on what Kareem could have said or written directly.
ABC Corporation needs to reconsider its communication strategy and the entire organizational culture. The company needs to create a culture that is sensitive to the employees’ diversity, including different religious beliefs. Discrimination in the workplace has negative physical and psychological impacts. Proper communication training and diversity training is essential for ABC Corporation to eliminate biases (Vickers, 2016). ABC should also communicate and employment equal opportunities policy to eliminate any discrimination case. The policy should be effectively communicated to ensure all employees are aware of both conscious and unconscious discrimination.
References
Gildert, N., Millard, A. G., Pomfret, A., & Timmis, J. (2018). The need for combining implicit and explicit communication in cooperative robotic systems.Frontiers in Robotics and AI,5, 65.
Vickers, L. (2016).Religious freedom, religious discrimination and the workplace. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Wright, R. R., Nixon, A. E., Peterson, Z. B., Thompson, S. V., Olson, R., Martin, S., & Marrott, D. (2017). The Workplace Interpersonal Conflict Scale: An Alternative in Conflict Assessment.Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research,22(3). MODULE FIVE: ANALYZING HEURISTICS TO DE-ESCALATE CONFLICT
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MODULE FIVE: ANALYZING HEURISTICS TO DE-ESCALATE CONFLICT
Module Five: Analyzing Heuristics to De-escalate Conflict
Patricia Vela
Manage Difficult Conversations
Virginia (Ginny) McMinn, MSIR, SPHR
Analyzing Heuristics to De-escalate Conflict
(A). Appraising the Heuristics in the Case
Performance evaluation is one of the essential elements of any organization. The module focuses on the critical mindsets that a manager should possess to solve conversation challenges successfully. The managers should lead with behavior, eliminate judgment, inquire with purpose, and, most importantly, be clear during their conversation. The four mindsets are essential, and every leader should ensure they have them for the smooth running of the organization. Leading with a behavior mindset often encourages the leader to focus on the employee’s behavior rather than their attitudes (Mitchell, 2013). Employee behavior is an essential indicator of a problem within the organization and can be observed through employees. In this case, Thomas failed to effectively recognize why Kareem had different behaviors from the rest of the employees. As a practicing Muslim, Kareem had the right for religion p4ractices such as perfuming the ritual and praying five times in a day. Being honest and open when providing observation feedback is vital in an organization. Despite Thomas, Janet, and Michael observing the behavior differences by Kareem, they were not honest with honest and open to him but observed him secretly. Despite Thomas observing decreasing performance by Kareem, he was not honest with him to discuss the issue.
(B). How this Heuristic Resulted in Impressions of Bias
Various heuristics can be observed in this case, which acted as an obstacle to the employees making the right decisions or acting in the right manner considering the situations presented. In the case, we can observe that Michael has the heuristic the resulted in a mindset that he worked hard for the organization while other employees such as Kareem were not committed as he was. It was these judgments heuristic that had driven him to reported Kareem to the supervisor. The judgments made Michael think that Kareem was not behaving in the right manner when he sneaked out of the office and performed his rituals as a practicing Muslim. In another instance, Janet is not specific with what is expected for the employees she leads, including Michael and Kareem.; after the issue is reported to her, she makes judgments to observe Kareem and realized decreasing performance. When she discovers that what had been reported to her was true, she used judgments heuristic to report the issue to the call center manager, Thomas. All this time, she does not explain to Kareem how he is expected to behave and his job performance. As the supervisor, Janet is expected to be specific and clear in her communication, unlike how she addressed Kareem’s behavior.
(C). Techniques to Positively Benefit
Conflict or misunderstanding is not necessarily a bad thing in the organization. What matters most is the technique used to address the misunderstandings o miscommunication between the employees. To help the stakeholders use their experience to interact positively, my collogues might recommend various strategies. Acknowledging the situation is one of the first strategies to ensure the stakeholder positively benefit from this situation. The employees at ABC Corporation must recognize each one of them has the right to religion. They must also recognize that Kareem religious practices are negatively impacting the performance and openly discuss it. As a team, they should discuss the impact of the conflict on performance and team dynamics (Team, 2018). Therefore, it is essential to 8understand the situation since this step alone can have a significant positive impact on resolving any conflict. The team should understand that Kareem is a practicing Muslim just as the other team member has their religion. Requesting an explanation from Kareem can effectively help them understand the situation compared with secretly observing him as he performs the prayer ritual.
References
Mitchell, S. (2013). Driving workplace performance through high-quality conversations.Strategic HR Review.
Team, M. C. (2018). Resolving Team Conflict: Building Stronger Teams by Facing Your Differences.Mind Tools. Running head: RESOLUTION 1
RESOLUTION 2
Rebuilding of Trust after a Conflict in ABC Company
Patricia Vela
Manage Difficult Conversations
Virginia (Ginny) McMinn, MSIR, SPHR
Rebuilding of Trust after a Conflict in ABC Company
Conflict, whether healthy or unhealthy is inevitable in any human interaction systems. In most cases, conflicts arise when there is no or inadequate communication between the parties involved. Disputes usually occur when an individual feels that they have a difference in opinion, interest or needs and are not respected by the other parties (Katz et al., 2020). It is when individuals feel they have different opinions and cant possibly get to a middle ground when conflicts start.
According to the transcripts the interview who was a neutral party gave an equal chance for everyone to talk. In the interviews of all the members who were there he established their stand and gave his stand and then they came to an agreement. This is a good way of finding a common ground. Thomas as the boss should create an environment where employees perform but they do not always threatened in the sense that they can lose their jobs at any time. Job security and the trust that your boss is considerate is one thing that will help keep employees motivated in the work station. Employee retention is one of the results of finding a middle ground. Thomas believes that its high performance or nothing which is a wrong way of approaching the situation.
The interviewer leading the investigation uses open ended questions which are an effective way of making people feel like they are not losing control. For instance the interviewer asked Thomas Did you let Janet know if you were terminating Kareem or what did you do? the question allows that Thomas gives an answer with context and he does. The type of questions removes the feel that one is being accused or fingers are being pointed instead of truth being sought. The middle ground would have been found and probably Kareem would still have his job.
Kareem should have reported to his immediate supervisor that he would need five breaks during his work time for prayers. Janet would have in turn communicated it Thomas and by so doing everybody would have been in the light and maybe respect Kareems prayer time. Kareem was disappointed with his untimely dismissal because he felt that he was doing the right thing; however, whatever he felt was right to him wasnt right to his supervisors. This misunderstanding was brought by lack of communication between the two parties.
The supervisors on the hand didnt tell Kareem of his dwindling performance and his wandering around the office during working hours (Jagannath, Salen & Slovk, 2020). Thomas instead chose to fire him without having a discussion with him on the same. In a healthy working environment, Thomas would have called Kareem for a conversation about how he will juggle work and prayer time and maybe they would both have reached an agreement. Performance is important but the wellbeing of employees is equally important too.
Kareem has a desire to accomplish his work well, and he is passionate about what he does. Both the work and prayer are vital to him. The two parties would have engaged in a talk on how prayer would come in between working hours since Kareem needed to do both. He should be recalled to work since he was an unfair dismissal and given a new guideline on how he should carry out his work henceforth. The management should also engage him on how best he can conduct his prayers without it adversely affecting his performance.
The team should then give a clear and straight forward communication on what is expected from each one of the team members. Everyone should lay down their expectations in writing and not assume anyone will know what to do without laid down procedures (SALVATION, 2019). For example, if the team should be meeting once a week, the team leaders should communicate the plan in good time. This will help the other team members to be prepared for the meeting.
The use of correct media of communication is essential, and it should not be done in a discriminatory manner. All members should be communicated to on a similar platform so that the interface is not altered from person to person. The reporting hierarchy should not be complicated too so that whenever a conflict arises, the junior members know where to channel their concerns immediately.
Wrong messages might result in misunderstandings and confusions, and team members might lose trust in each other. Always make sure your communication is clear and without malice, measure if your message will cause harm to your colleagues who in turn will brew a misunderstanding and further conflict in the organization. Controlling your emotions and actions is essential in communication, and an effective way of managing conflicts in any organization.
The only way to regaining trust is letting go of all control on both sides. Kathy reported that the environment in this call centre was tense. She had worked for the company for five years but only six months for this call centre. This means that there are better ways of handling leadership without it being dictatorship. Communication in an organization should be two ways where information trickles down to the employees and feedback of frustrations or concerns goes up to management. A healthy relationship is what gives birth to good performance not a relationship based on performance. Again the human resource department of this call centre should make sure that seminars on common ground are taught.
References
Jagannath, K., Salen, K., & Slovk, P. (2020). “(We) Can Talk It Out…”: Designing for Promoting Conflict-Resolution Skills in Youth on a Moderated Mine craft Server. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 4(CSCW1), 1-26.
Katz, N. H., Lawyer, J. W., Sweedler, M., Tokar, P., & Sossa, K. J. (2020). Communication and conflict resolution skills. Kendall Hunt Publishing.
SALVATION, M. D. (2019). Communication and Conflict Resolution in the Workplace. Dev Sanskriti Interdisciplinary International Journal, 13, 25-46. WCM 620 Final Project Case Study
Company Overview
ABC Corporation is an electronic device company selling cellular phones and tablets. It is a global
company with both sales and service departments. The technology industry is highly competitive, so
ABC Corporation focuses on after-sales service levels in order to ensure it has repeat customers. It has
eight call centers worldwide and each call center handles a multitude of customer issues. There is an
extremely high expectation that the call centers resolve customer issues in a timely fashion and to the
customers satisfaction. The call center managers are focused on ensuring their center is the best and
that their center handles the most calls, has the highest-rated customer evaluations, and wins the most
recognition for performance. Customer service is at the heart of the ABC Corporations mission.
Employees
Thomas is the call center manager and runs a tight ship. Thomas has been recognized for having the
most productive unit in the organization year after year. Thomas is very proud of his unit and the
recognition it receives and he holds his employees to very high productivity standards. Although
customer service is critical to the organization, Thomas does not transfer that same mentality to his
employees.
Janet is a call center supervisor, one of 10 in the call center. She has been working for Thomas for some
time and follows his lead with respect to managing the center and the employees. She tends to focus on
her work, rarely takes a break, and is completely dedicated to the success of the center.
Michael is a customer service representative and has been with ABC Corporation for two years. He likes
his job but gets frustrated when others do not work as hard as he does. He is the first to know how hard
one has to work to be successful in this call center. The calls come in nonstop, you always have to be
polite, and the customers can be very upset at times. He prides himself on not only surviving this
environment, but succeeding.
Kathy is also a customer service representative. She has been with ABC Corporation for five years but at
this call center for about six months. She enjoys her job but feels like the environment in this call center
is competitive and hostile at times. She is always nervous that she will lose her job. Her performance has
always been good but she finds success more of a struggle since joining the new call center run by
Thomas. Kathy and Kareem became friendly since they started in call center at about the same time.
Kareem was hired as a customer service representative after an interview process that proved he could
manage the workload, had a pleasant phone voice, and had a desire to please the customer and
represent the company well. Kareem is of Indian descent and is a practicing Muslim. His religion requires
that he pray five times a day. This involves a series of movements and recitations from the Quran and
there are various standing, bending, and prostrating postures. Kareem worked for ABC Corporation for
eight months before being terminated.
Over the duration of Kareems employment, Kareems number of calls dropped and he was often
missing from his workstation.
Michael noticed Kareem sitting on a mat, talking to himself, and making strange movements with his
body often throughout the day. Michael thought this was odd and could not believe how often Kareem
was away from his workstation; he reported this to his supervisor, Janet.
Kathy also saw Kareem leaving his workstation but since they were friends, she asked him about it. He
told her he was a practicing Muslim and was required to pray five times per day. He also told her that
before he prays, he has to wash his hands, face, arms, and feet to be physically pure in order to
spiritually pray. She thought this was fascinating.
Janet then began to focus her attention on Kareems performance and the times he was absent from his
desk. She determined it was excessive and spoke with Thomas.
Thomas kept an eye on Kareems performance closely after discovering the performance deficiencies.
After a few weeks, Thomas made the decision to terminate Kareems employment for unproductive
work time, excessive breaks, and not meeting performance standards.
Kareem was very upset and decided to consult with an attorney as he felt that he was treated unfairly
by being terminated.
Kareems attorney sent a letter to ABC Corporations employee relations department and you, the ER
representative, are tasked with investigating this concern.
Complainant Transcript
ER Rep: Hi, Kareem. How are you doing today?
Kareem: Fine, thank you.
ER Rep: Well, first, let me thank you for meeting with me today to share your concerns. I
appreciate that you are willing to discuss your concerns with me. I am here as a neutral party to
objectively investigate your concerns. Now during this process, you should know it may be
necessary for me to speak with others to gather additional information. Its very important that
I gather all sides of the story before making any decisions. So now that Ive explained my role to
you, do you have any questions or concerns before we get started?
Kareem: No.
ER Rep: Good. I also want to assure you that I will maintain confidentiality and only discuss this
information with those who have a direct need to know. I would also encourage you to keep
the contents of this investigation confidential to protect the integrity of the investigation. Do
you have any concerns about your ability to keep this confidential?
Kareem: No, I understand, thank you.
ER Rep: Great. OK. So, as we talk today, I will be looking for complete and truthful information
and any specific detail you can provide me regarding dates, times, or examples that will help
me better understand your concerns. Ill also be taking notes on my laptop as we talk so that I
can accurately record what you are telling me. OK, that was a lot of me talking. Lets shift gears,
and you tell me what happened during your employment with ABC Corporation.
Kareem: Well, I am just really upset by what happened. I really loved my job and thought I was
doing a good job; I was really caught off-guard.
ER Rep: OK. Id like to understand what you mean when you say that you thought you were
doing a good job and were caught off-guard. Tell me what specifically has made you feel that
way.
Kareem: Well, I thought I was doing a good job and I would get good feedback from my
customers and Janet told me from time to time I was doing a good job. My numbers were good
compared to the other reps and no one told me anything different.
ER Rep: Did Janet ever have any performance conversations with you?
Kareem: No, she really just said things in passing like Good job, Kareem or You did a nice job
with that customer. I never had any formal performance conversations since I started.
ER Rep: What about Thomas? Did he ever give you any feedback?
Kareem: No, he is really intimidating. He watches over the call center like a hawk. He is very
focused on all of us customer service reps taking as many calls as possible and keeping our
numbers up. This call center wins awards every year for productivity. At times, getting my call
numbers in was sort of hard for me since I have to take many breaks throughout the day.
ER Rep: Why did you need to take so many breaks throughout the day?
Kareem: I am Muslim and, as part of my faith, I have to pray five times a day. I would simply
sneak away from my desk and go to a hidden corner of the service center and complete my
ritual.
ER Rep: Did you ever tell anyone what you were doing or that you needed to do this daily?
Kareem: Well, no, I did not want to ask for any type of special treatment; I really thought I
could sneak away and pray. I just hoped no one noticed.
ER Rep: Did anyone notice?
Kareem: I dont think so. I do know that Michael walked past me a few times and gave me
strange looks. I just assumed he did not know what I was doing. He never asked me about it.
ER Rep: Did you ever approach Michael to tell him what you were doing?
Kareem: No.
ER Rep: So then what happened, how did you get terminated?
Kareem: Well, I felt like after Michael saw me a few times praying, things started to change.
ER Rep: How so?
Kareem: I noticed that Janet was watching me more closely; she asked me once where I was
going when I went to pray and it was not a lunch hour or 15-minute break time. I also felt like
Thomas was walking past my cube more, standing and observing more and just paying more
attention.
ER Rep: Did you speak to Janet or Thomas about how you felt?
Kareem: No. I just put my head down and worked. I just did not want to draw attention to
myself.
ER Rep: Ok, so then what happened?
Kareem: I got called into Thomass office and I was told that my numbers were not up to
standard for a customer service rep and that I was taking excessive breaks and my time away
from my desk was causing too much unproductive time at work.
ER Rep: Did you say anything to Thomas or Janet?
Kareem: No, I was so shocked and so upset that I left as fast as I could.
ER Rep: Did you talk to anyone about what happened that day?
Kareem: No, I just left. I was so embarrassed and I was so proud of having this job and then just
disappointed for being terminated.
ER Rep: Ok, Kareem, thank so much for telling me what happened. Is there anything else that
you want to share with me? Anything else you can think of that pertains to your situation?
Kareem: No, I think that is it.
ER Rep: Ok, I will be looking into your concerns and will follow back up with you by the end of
the week. If you do think of anything else you can share with me, please call me.
Kareem: Ok, I will. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me.
Alleged Interview 1 Transcript (Janet)
ER Rep: Hi, Janet. How are you doing today?
Janet: Fine, thank you.
ER Rep: Well, first, let me thank you for taking the time to meet with me today. I appreciate
that you are willing to discuss a situation at ABC Corporation with me. I am here to objectively
investigate some concerns raised by a former employee. But, before we get into specifics, its
very important that I gather all sides of the story before making any decisions. So now that Ive
explained my role to you, do you have any questions or concerns before we get started?
Janet: Well, what is this all about? Am I in trouble?
ER Rep: I am here to look into a situation regarding the termination of an employee here at ABC
Corporation. It is Kareem; he reported to you for about eight months.
Janet: Ok, well I remember Kareem but Thomas fired him, not me.
ER Rep: Oh, I understand, but it will be helpful as I look into this situation that I get your side of
the story.
Janet: Alright, but you are not going to tell anyone what I say, are you? This makes me very
nervous; everyone is out for themselves here and I cannot lose this job!
ER Rep: Ok, that is good to know and Im glad you asked. I want to assure you that I will
maintain confidentiality and only discuss this information with those who have a direct need to
know. I would also encourage you to keep the contents of this investigation confidential to
protect the integrity of the investigation. Do you have any concerns about your ability to keep
this confidential?
Janet: No, I understand. Thank you.
ER Rep: Great. OK. So, as we talk today, I will be looking for complete and truthful information
and any specific detail you can provide me would be appreciated. Ill also be taking notes on my
laptop as we talk so that I can accurately record what you are telling me. OK, that was a lot of
me talking. Lets shift gears; what can you tell me about former employee Kareem?
Janet: Ah, yes, I remember Kareem. He was not here for long, maybe eight months.
ER Rep: OK. What can you tell me about his performance?
Janet: Well, I thought he was doing a good job and I would get good feedback from his
customer service call recordings. His numbers were fair.
ER Rep: Janet, did you ever have any performance conversations with Kareem?
Janet: No, he was not really here long enough. I think there were a few times I made comments
to him in passing like Good job, Kareem or You did a nice job with that customer. I never
had any formal performance conversations with him.
ER Rep: Is that standard process to not have any performance conversations with employees?
Janet: Well, we really only conduct performance evaluations once per year.
ER Rep: Even for new employees?
Janet: Yes, we dont have any different processes for new employees.
ER Rep: What about Thomas? Did he ever give Kareem any feedback?
Janet: Not that I know of.
ER Rep: So what led to Kareems termination?
Janet: Well, I began to notice that he was missing from his workstation several times a day and
his numbers were dropping.
ER Rep: Did you speak with Kareem about this?
Janet: No, I did not, but Michael, another customer service rep, reported to me that he saw
Kareem in the bathroom washing his hands and feet and that he also saw him on a mat in the
corner of the service center making strange movements with his body and speaking softly.
ER Rep: Ok, so when Michael reported this, did you talk to Kareem about it?
Janet: No, I reported it to Thomas. You know, this is a high-productivity environment. We have
to work. We dont have time for conversations. The expectations are very high. And I dont
know what Kareem was doing but it will not be tolerated here; the focus is on productivity.
ER Rep: Can you tell me about your conversation with Thomas about Kareem?
Janet: Well, I just reported to him what Michael told me and what I had observed and he said
he would monitor Kareem and handle it.
ER Rep: Ok, so what happened next?
Janet: I started watching Kareem more closely. I asked him once where he was going when he
left his desk and it was not a lunch hour or 15-minute break time. He did not say anything; he
just kept walking. I also noticed that Thomas hovered a bit around Kareems cube and was
observing him as well.
ER Rep: So when did you and Thomas decide to terminate Kareem for his performance?
Janet: Well, we really didnt. Thomas does not really talk to any of us. He is kind of intense and
when he makes his mind up about something, we all go along with it. So, Thomas called me into
his office and said that he had made the decision to terminate Kareem and he asked me to be
there to witness the conversation since I was Kareems supervisor.
ER Rep: What did you say to Thomas?
Janet: Nothing. You dont question Thomas; you do what he says. So I stayed and he called
Kareem in the office and terminated him. I must admit, I felt bad that th
