Bradley becomes even more reclusive at work and avoids talking to the other programmers, especially Martin. He communicates with them mainly by email messages, even though he’s only a few yards away from some of them. He no longer collaborates closely with Martin; instead he tries to work on projects without involving Martin. Unfortunately, if he encounters a problem that he needs Martin’s help for, Bradley will try to solve it himself. Often, Martin won’t even know there is a problem that needs to be solved until Bradley realizes he can’t solve it alone and the problem becomes a crisis.
Questions
1. How would you describe the conflict that has arisen between the members of the web programming department?
2. Is the conflict a relational conflict? If so, what type of relational conflict? Is there a content dimension to this conflict?
3. Using Fisher and Ury’s method of principled negotiation, how would you separate the people from the problem? What do you think is really, really going on in this conflict?
4. Using the Kilmann and Thomas conflict styles, how would you characterize Sanjay’s conflict style? What about Bradley’s? Do Rosa and Kris have a style as well?
5. How could Martin use fractionation and face saving in attempting to resolve this conflict?
