Organizational Behavior, Third Edition

Chapter 12. Conflict, Negotiation, Power, and Politics

Exploring Behavior in Action: Green Conflict

In November 2007, Thomas Falk, the CEO of Kimberly-Clark Corporation, arrived at the University of Wisconsin where he would deliver an address on corporate governance as part of the annual Director's Summit (a meeting designed for the continuing education of board members from various companies). As he began to work through his PowerPoint presentation, the audience noticed some peculiar slides, slides that pointedly protested Kimberly-Clark's use of old-growth forests for its tissue paper products (Kleenex, Cottonelle, Scott, and other brands). After terminating the presentation and adjourning early for lunch, the directors and others in attendance found interesting menus at their tables. Those menus included entries such as "Songbird Stir-fry" and "Caribou Clearcut Cake." The appetizer was "Social Conflict Scramble." Clearly, Greenpeace activists had been active that day!

After speaking at the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas in 2003, Michael Dell was confronted by a group of angry environmental activists from the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. They were dressed as prisoners and shackled to PCs. The protest was against Dell's then-practice of using prison labor and unsafe practices to recycle old computers while competitors such as Hewlett-Packard were using much safer and more effective means. In 2005, Greenpeace activists dumped hundreds of used PCs outside of Wipro headquarters ...