The Conflict Resolution Toolbox, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER THREETHE CONFLICT STORY: A CASE STUDY

Throughout the Toolbox, each of the models described will be applied to the same conflict situation to illustrate both how the model can diagnose a conflict and how it can give guidance to the practitioner based on that diagnosis. The basic outline of the situation is given here.

A CASE STUDY

The parties were part of a small work team in a government agency. It consisted of two clerks, Bob and Diane. Bob had been in the same position for over 12 years, with a good performance record. Diane was new, with 1 year in the position. They were both union members and co-equals, meaning that they had the same pay and job classification, a CL-1. They did similar tasks in the office, but for the sake of efficiency and personal interest, Bob did more accounting work and Diane did more client-service work. The office supported a large group of professional engineers who were also union employees and reported to Sally, the manager. Bob and Diane also reported to Sally, who was new to the job as of two months ago.

After two months of settling in, Sally revealed to the whole department that she was there with a mandate to revamp the workflows, change and improve the way services were provided, and generally improve the department's slipshod performance and poor quality standards.

As she began to make changes and restructure, a number of staff members filed grievances, alleging that she was ignoring the collective agreement and requiring union ...