Assignment 6

1. Each participant at the meeting presented their arguments in “you” statements. Throughout the meeting, each participant was defensive in his or her reactions, while focusing on the other person. In addition, it was evident that neither party was effectively listening to one another.
2. In observing the participants at the meeting, Participant A wanted to feel as if they were part of the team. Participant A desired to have a sense of belonging. Furthermore, Participant A wanted to be recognized by Participant B, who appeared to Participant A as informal leader. Participant A felt that their work performance was just as good as Participant’s B. Participant A felt and believed that Participant B was talking slander to others in the group; therefore, was not being well received by others in the team. Participant B wanted control of the group. Participant B felt that their tenure made them the informal leader and did not want to lose or share that with other group members.

3. Neither participant was able to be objective in their approach. Each participant remained steadfast in his or her opinion. Although they agreed to discuss their problem, they never were able to separate themselves from the situation, by remaining open in their discussion, ask probing questions to find out what was the interest that was causing this conflict. Ultimately, Participant A and B were not communicating, rather each person was accusing one another through his or her statements, which all started with you.

4. On their own, the participants did not find any mutually beneficial solutions to their conflict. The only agreed upon point was that a mediator would be used to help resolve their conflict with one another. As the mediator, I se...

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...mployee with respect, patience and caring; because, that will allow the employee to retain a majority of their self-esteem and confidence moving forward. Additionally, I would focus on not letting the conversations become about justification. Consequently, during our discussion, I would not ask questions that focused on “why not”. Secondly, I would remain focused on the content issues causing the conflict by asking the person for their help in finding a solution to the problem. In the meeting, I focused my questions around why types of questions. For example, I asked, “What’s your basic concern,employee 1 in wanting this appraisal changed from needs improvement to standard?”
The employee could help me save face by not making slanderous comments about me to the rest of my staff, rather keeping our negotiations and discussions between the employee and myself.