Case Studies
- Reconciliation (Matthew 5:21-26, 38-48) is a critical concept anywhere, and especially in the workplace.
- A commitment to community (Romans 12:16, James 4:11 and 5:9) strengthens the whole effort.
- Office gossip (Proverbs 26:20) is always destructive
- Patience and self-control (Ephesians 5:22, 23) are essential when working with people.
- Man-made systems will always break down (Romans 5:12, Genesis 3:15-19) and need care and rebuilding.
- Christ wants to penetrate human systems (Colossians 3:23, 24 and 4:5,6) with a life-giving gospel.
A CASE STUDY IN CONFLICT
Thomas Boyle and Randy White
Jennifer is a woman in her mid-thirties who is responsible for staging and scheduling events for a corporation in Fresno, California. She has been effective in her relationships with the public and with vendors for the events, however, she has not followed internal rules on booking families as carefully as she should have.
Isaac, a mid-level manager in his forties, is responsible for the care, maintenance and supervision of the facilities. He’s tired of Jennifer’s failure to give him proper notification for scheduled events. He has a chip on his shoulder and means to take a stand.
Jennifer came to him with an event that needs to use one of the buildings that Isaac is responsible for; however, she missed the required two-week notification by one day, and Isaac said, "No, too late. You needed to get that to me yesterday in order to make it happen on time." He was very abrupt and even rude in his manner and made it clear that Jennifer had stretched the rules for the last time.
Jennifer returned to her office and thrashed about for awhile, spilling her story to all the clerical staff. She finally complained to her supervisor, Dave, that Isaac was not supportive of the office goals and refused to talk to her. "He’s inflexible, and doesn’t understand that, when we are dealing with the public, we have to work with their time-table as well." Dave listened, and went to his boss, the division manager, Albert, who is Isaac’s boss as well. Dave communicated that Isaac has "consistently" used a non-supportive style in his job, and that "it is high time that something is done about it." Albert listened carefully to the account that Dave brought him, and then sat with Jennifer to get her account.
One further problem complicates the issue. It emerges that Dave has had a long-standing feud with Isaac over a number of issues involving facilities and lack of support for the things Dave and his people are trying to do to enhance the program that the office offers. He sees Isaac as far too controlling, and he takes this opportunity to fuel the dispute with a "historical perspective" in which he cites all of the times that Isaac has not come through as he should have. It’s not a long list, but there appears at first glance to be a pattern of non-support from Isaac towards Dave and his people.
By this time, Jennifer was fairly self-righteous and had enlivened the story of Isaac’s rude behavior and failure to be supportive. The office clerical staff had heard the story several times by then and were muttering to themselves about Isaac "going off the deep end" and "thinking he runs the whole program."
Finally, Albert met with Isaac, and before saying anything about what he has heard, he elicited Isaac’s version os what occurred in the dispute with Jennifer. Isaac talks of the "several times" that Jennifer had not made the deadline. On further questioning, it turns out there were two other occasions. Isaac was tired of her not complying with simple rules, and so decided to make an issue of this one and "teach her a lesson that will cost her something with the public that she deals with." Isaac knew that Jennifer had made the commitment for the program and that she will be embarrassed publicly if it failed to come off. Now he’s angry that the whole office is talking about it, and that top management is now involved.
As a man who is committed to being a "Christian in the marketplace," Albert feels responsible to apply biblical principles in resolving this dispute. Which specific principles from the Bible should guide him? And, when he understands the principles, what should he say and do with Dave, Jennifer, and Isaac?
Here’s what happened
After listening to Isaac, Albert shared his vision of employee relationships. He talked first about the "development of employees" and that as manager types, "we are all teachers and trainers of people." There comes a time when employees have what he calls "teachable moments" where you can get someone’s attention in a very positive way and make the learning stick longer than one could accomplish by merely punishing them for an episodic failure of action. Albert talked of Jennifer and her willingness to do good work, but agreed that she lacked appreciation for some of the necessary details to make it all work together. He asked Isaac if he could think of a way to have handled this that would have taken advantage of the "teachable moment" in a positive way. Isaac thought about it, and after a moment or two he agreed that maybe his approach had not really had the results he desired. Maybe he could have helped her understand the consequences for assuming too much latitude in scheduling, in terms of the chance for double booking and losing customers. But, he still noted that using a more positive approach would have meant missing an opportunity to make a fool out of Jennifer in the eyes of the office! Not sure what to with this, Albert replied that the office is also thinking that Isaac is "off on his own" and "not willing to work with people unless it is on his terms and by his rules." This surprised Isaac, and he said, "But no one has said that to me!" Albert replied, "Oh, they’ve said it all right, only not with their words. You’ve just failed to see and hear the message they’ve been sending you." Albert suggested that all four of the people involved meet to hash it out.
When they got together that afternoon, they began to see that this was not a very complex issue. Albert made the point that a lot of energy had gone into this conflict needlessly. In the first place, it didn’t need to happen. Jennifer could have made the deadline with a little more effort. Secondly, if the deadline was missed, Isaac could have found positive ways to teach Jennifer about the need for meeting deadlines. Thirdly, gossip amongst the clerical staff had created "more heat than light" in the conflict, and it would have been better for Jennifer not to have complained so publicly. Further, Dave could have used the principles of "developing employees" even at a management level and dealt with the conflict directly with Isaac, without involving Albert at all. Finally, Albert shared that the issue here was how to create a climate where people help each other succeed at their jobs, knowing that in the end, everyone benefits. Everyone agreed, and the consensus was that this experience was going to help them be a better team in the future.
Principles Albert used:
Written for Fresno's InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Marketplace Study Group.
Used by permission.
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