Susan S. Raines - Conflict Management for Managers: Resolving Workplace, Client, and Policy Disputes

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Copyright 2020 by The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. First edition published 2013 by Jossey-Bass, an imprint of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Names: Raines, Susan, author.

Title: Conflict management for managers : resolving workplace, client, and policy disputes / Susan S. Raines, Kennesaw State University.

Description: Second Edition. | Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2019] | Revised edition of the authors Conflict management for managers, c2013. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019014917 (print) | LCCN 2019015565 (ebook) | ISBN 9781538119945 (ebook) | ISBN 9781538119921 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781538119938 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Conflict management. | Interpersonal relations. | Personnel managementPsychological aspects. | Customer relations. | Conflict managementCase studies.

Classification: LCC HD42 (ebook) | LCC HD42 .R35 2019 (print) | DDC 658.4/053dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019014917

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.481992.

John and Elise are managers who strive to apply the principles and practices of conflict management in their everyday working environments. They come from vastly different organizations, yet both recognize the importance of proactively addressing conflict. By observing them we can see the techniques from this book at work.

Almost every day, John dreads coming to work. As soon as he walks through the door to the State Bureau of Reclamation, his administrative assistant practically tackles him and regales him with the emergency du jour. It is these constant interruptions and daily emergencies that keep him from doing his real job, which is shaping and leading his department so that it can fulfill its regulatory mandate in an efficient and productive manner. What are these daily emergencies? They tend to fall into one of three categories.

Inevitably someone on Johns staff calls in sick or announces that he or she is leaving for a position in private industry. Staff members cannot seem to work together well. They compete over scarce resources, blame each other for missed deadlines, or avoid talking altogether even when they are supposed to work on team-based projects. Occasionally employees file union grievances or discrimination complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Johns organization wins nearly all of these cases, but the paperwork and drama wear him down and cost his agency tens of thousands of dollars per year. He wants his agency to be a fair and pleasant place to work, but struggles to change the existing culture and disgruntlement.

Johns agency is part of the states Department of Natural Resources. Specifically, the Bureau of Reclamation issues licenses for coal mines and ensures that all coal mines operating in the state are doing so within the bounds of applicable state and federal environmental regulations. Because the turnover in Johns department is fairly high, it is difficult to meet deadlines for issuing permits and conducting mandatory audits. Sometimes his department loses applications altogether or makes mistakes in the paperwork so the applicant has to start the process over again. Every day that a mining company cannot work because of a missing license application means idle and unpaid employees as well as lost tax revenue. Calls come in nearly every day from citizens and companies who believe that the bureau is not doing its job well enough or quickly enough. When the call comes from a state legislators office, John knows things have really gotten bad.

On really bad days, one of the mining companies will be in the news for some environmental mess they created or other violation of the state or federal laws that Johns agency is supposed to enforce. The alleged violator will likely feign ignorance of the broken rule or law and try to avoid taking responsibility for the damages caused. The violators legal counsel might threaten to sue the agency. Lawsuits are inevitable and unavoidable. If John does his job right, then the corporations he regulates want to sue him for his overzealous enforcement of state and federal mining laws. If he backs off a bit, then citizens groups sue him for not adequately enforcing the laws. It is a no-win situation. No wonder turnover and absenteeism are so high in his department.

John has passion for the mission of his organization and he views himself as a committed public servant with good people skills who knows the mining industry inside and out. This should be the perfect job for him. So why is it that the bureau has not improved since he assumed command six months ago? John got this job by sharing some of his ideas for improvement with the agencys director, who quickly recognized Johns passion and competence. So far, none of those ideas have been implemented due to the nonstop crisis management style in which the bureau seems to function. How can John focus on fire prevention when he is so busy putting out fires every day?

Elise started with a good idea: provide local, organic, fresh foods to people in a caf-bookstore atmosphere. Customers buy freshly prepared foods, healthy groceries, and gourmet items; get one-on-one consultations from certified nutritionists; and listen to guest speakers on various topics. Her stores have become gathering places and focal points for the communities in which they operate. Her company is widely reputed to be environmentally friendly and socially conscious, a reputation gained through innovations in environmental management and significant charitable giving. She started in the early 1980s in California and has ridden the green wave into the twenty-first century by expanding from one shop to 425 stores throughout the United States and Canada. Elise plans to expand into European markets next year as well. Her company is consistently rated as one of the best places to work by