Conflict Management

Beth, I really need to talk to you about something.

Thanks for dropping by, Beth. I know you’ve got your hands full, but there is something I think we need to discuss.

Beth, we have some important issues to discuss.

Do you know why we’ve had increase in customer complaints lately?

What can you tell me about the problems your division has been having lately?

Beth, I want to know if you’re taking care of the problems with the portfolio management software.

Beth, I wanted to talk to you about the increase in complaints we’ve been experiencing.

Beth, I am really concerned about the increase in complaints regarding our new portfolio management software

I heard customer support was handling a lot of complaints. What are you going to do to take care of the situation?

I was told this morning that the customer support is still handling a significant amount of complaints regarding the stock portfolio software.

I heard customer support was handling a large amount of complaints. May be they are just blowing the problem out of proportion.

I’ve been told that customer support is still handling an alarming amount of complaints from angry customers who can’t access their stock portfolios. Are you aware of these complaints

Customer support is swarmed with complaints from angry customers who can’t access their stock portfolios. Is your department incapable of fixing the problem?

I disagree, I think this problem is really hurting the company

Are you kidding? This problem is ruining the company’s reputation and future sales of this product.

I disagree. I spoke with the call center manager. He feels that the number of complaints can seriously affect our reputation and future sales of this product.

This situation could cause us to lose a lot of valuable business. Are you willing to be responsible for that?

I don’t want to hear how you managed problems in the past. I care about how you’re going to handle this problem.

Beth, this is a serious problem. We need to take care of this matter before the damage is irreversible.

I know you have, but this situation is different.

Beth, your division produces outstanding products. However it’s clear that there are some problems with this software. We need to get the bugs worked out as soon as possible.

Beth, your division created this problem and I want you to take care of it immediately.

Beth, it seems that your division is having some problem with this software. I thought that the program was ready for market, but now I’m learning otherwise.

Beth, what is your division prepared to do to take care of this problem?

Are you willing to help solve this problem or not?

That’s obvious. I don’t remember our company ever having a software problem of this magnitude.

I’m not concerned about who’s is responsible for this situation as long as we take care of it as soon as possible.

Good, I’m sure we can find a way to get the software running properly.

I certainly hope so. If we don’t take care of the software problem, this company’s future could be in real danger.

Good, I think if we work together, we can get to the source of the problem and maybe identify some areas in need of change.

Why has your department had so many problems with the software?

Tell me what you think the main problems with the software are?

What exactly do you see as the main problems with the software?

Is your department incapable of incorporating all the features into the software?

We are not offering that many more features than other software packages we’ve developed in the past.

That shouldn’t have been a problem. You knew ahead of time what features this software was going to offer.

We gave your team a list of the features to be offered.

Do you feel we are offering too many features?

That’s impossible. I know for a fact that my development team provided you with a feature report. You had all the software details you needed.

Let me get this straight. Your team wasn’t given a feature report with all the software details?

That can’t be right. My development team should have provided you with a feature report that included all the software details.

I thought you have all the information you needed.

That wasn’t my understanding. You must be mistaken.

It was my understanding that my development team submitted a complete features report to your division.

You mean my team didn’t submit a full feature report to you?

There weren’t any late feature additions.

I wasn’t aware of any late feature additions.

And these late feature additions created problems for your team?

Were you given an explanation why late additions occurred?

I’m sure my team had good reasons for any late additions.

If there were late additions I’m sure they were critical to the success of the software. Besides, that’s just part of the job.

Did you ask my team why they had late additions? I’m sure they had valid reasons.

My team knows what they’re doing. I’m sure they had their reasons for the late feature additions.

Even if an explanation wasn’t offered, I know there must be a valid reason why the late feature additions were made.

Since they didn’t offer any clear explanation, what do you think caused the late feature additions?

That deadline was appropriate. We need deadlines to ensure that projects get completed on time. Otherwise, nothing would ever done around here.

Why do you feel that way?

What does the deadline I set has to do with anything?

This problem has nothing to do with the deadline I set for my workers.

If I hadn’t set the deadline when I did, we wouldn’t have been able to get the software out on the market before our competitors.

That deadline was what got our product on the market in time.

Why exactly do you feel the deadline was unreasonable?

Look, if some of my workers had a problem getting you the software details by the deadline, I’ll speak with them and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Do you think adding features affects your team’s performance that much?

Tell me how these late feature additions affected your team’s development of the software.

I want to prevent this from happening again. Is my team giving you substandard work?

Your team should be accustomed to implementing new features. It’s not like they haven’t had to before.

I’m sure it is, but I thought your division could handle the pressure.

When you say ‘quite a task’, what exactly do you mean by that?

Is the work too much for your teams to handle?

I can appreciate the extra work these late additions created for your team, but how does that situation relate to the overall quality of the software?

What does that have to do with the software quality?

That still doesn’t explain why the software has so many bugs.

It’s your division responsibility to handle these additions when they’re necessary. I don’t see how this affects the software quality.

You do realize that the late requests are going to happen now and then, don’t you?

I understand why a complete report is helpful, but you do realize there will always be a chance that we’ll need to add new features.

We can’t always submit complete reports. That’s something your division is just going to have to accept.

What can be done to help you to be better prepared to handle late requests?

So then what’s the problem?

Then I don’t see why you had a problem with the late features of this project

That’s an idea, but I’m not sure if we can give a list that would be beneficial. The software features can fluctuate quite a bit.

I’ll keep that in mind.

That sounds reasonable. Compiling an early feature list would probably be useful for us as well.

I’ll see what I can do getting you early feature outlines.

Fine. I’ll see what I can do about providing your teams with early feature outlines. Will that take care of this matter?

So the issue here is that you can handle late requests as long as you have already anticipated that they’re likely to happen.

What else do you want to talk about?

You are using an attacking approach and failing to identify the other party’s needs.

Let’s talk about it. I don’t want to leave any concerns unaddressed.

I’m not aware of any problems.

What do you mean/ there is a problem?

What are you talking about? Our departments get along fine as far as I can tell.

We ask for your division’s opinion all the time, Beth. I don’t know what you’re getting upset about.

I had no idea you felt this way, What specifically makes you feel that there’s a problem?

What do you mean? We’ve asked for your input before.

I guess I had never considered including your division before.

I guess I’ve never considered having a member of your division sit on the development process. We tend to get pretty wrapped up in our responsibilities.

Beth, my division bears a huge responsibility for this company. All your division needs to be concerned about is taking the plans we give you and incorporating them into software.

You’re right. Both of our divisions have significant responsibilities to this company; it makes sense that we should consult one another more.

Yes, you have to understand that my division sometimes has to make decisions on our own. That’s the position we hold in this company.

That’s a good point. May be you should sit in on more of our development meetings.

Look your company needs to develop the best financial management software on the market.

My goal is to make sure that this company develops the best financial management software on the market.

It sounds like our divisions want the same thing to produce the best financial management software on the market. Am I right?

I understand completely. Our division operates the same way. How can we ensure that we will both get the bonuses we want this year?

Our division operates the same way. I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure my division gets their bonuses.

That’s how our bonuses are determined as well. Regardless of the situation, if we don’t perform, we lose our bonuses

I agree. The production process could use some work. Let’s decide what we’re going to do.

What are you going to do to make sure your division is pulling their weight in the production process?

I agree. Let’s talk about the communication problems our divisions have had. What can we do to eliminate future confusion?

Why don’t you just send someone from your division to our weekly development meetings?

Then send someone from your division to our weekly development meetings, you’ve attended them before.

Is it possible for you to send a representative to our weekly development meetings?

I’ll have my teams start producing those from now on.

Well, I suppose I can get those to you if you really think they’ll help. They are subject to change, though.

That won’t be a problem. I think the early the feature outlines will be helpful to my division as well, even though they are subject to change.

What do you think should be done about the deadline issue?

We touched on the issue of the deadlines earlier. You feel that I need to extend the feature report deadlines for my workers correct?

I’m sure you want to discuss the deadlines I set since you think they’re so unreasonable.

That’s not even an option. There’s a reason we set deadlines, and without them we get nowhere.

I don’t think I can adjust my deadlines. If I do, you’ll have to extend your deadlines as well, and that would push back the release dates of the products.

I really don’t think that the deadlines can be adjusted. It would have too much of a negative effect on overall productivity.

I don’t think that‘s such a good idea.

I don’t sure if I feel comfortable going to him with this kind of request. You know he’s not going to be very pleased.

You are failing to recognize the importance of requesting assistance.

I disagree. I don’t want to look like I’m incapable of doing my job. You can talk to the vice president if you want but count me out.

I don’t know. That sounds a bit extreme. Why don’t we just try to keep up with the current deadline schedule?

That’s true. If it would increase the overall quality of our software, I think it’s an option worth looking into.

I’m not moving the deadlines. You’ve got to come up with a different idea.

Moving a deadlines is a definitely a possibility. However, I think that there are other solutions available.

I just don’t think we should move the deadlines. There’s got to be other alternative.

I think we should have a joint meeting with all the tam leaders. They might have other ideas that we have overlooked.

I could we could talk to some of the team leaders to see what they think.

I don’t know. I guess we could ask the team leaders for their input, but I hate to take them away from what they’re working on.

It’s going to be difficult for them to find time for this meeting.

When is the most convenient time for your team leaders?

We’ll have to determine a time that is good for the teams to meet.

Well, I guess I have no choice. I’ll make my team leaders show upon Monday.

If I have to send someone to the meeting, I’ll find a way to get them there, somehow.

Let’s plan on Monday. If that’s not going to work for my team leaders, I’ll let you know.

Well, we’ve agreed that your division will have input into the development process, correct?

No, I think we’ve discussed everything we need to. I’ll try to get my team leaders to that meeting.

Let’s go over each of our responsibilities. We’ve agreed to have a representative from your division attend the development meetings, correct?

We also talked about the early features outlines.

You’ve got to have the features reports for your team, right?

We also discussed your desire to have early features outlines submitted to your division.

I’ll talk to my division about getting those outlines together.

Don’t worry; we’ll have your reports ready.

If you can make sure a representative from your division attends our development meetings, we’ll have early features reports ready for you to look at.

Yes, I think that is the best thing to do at this point in time.

Of course I’m counting on the team leaders to give us some ideas so we can avoid having to approach him with a deadline adjustment request.

Let’s see if the team leaders can give us any good ideas about enhancing productivity without adjusting the deadlines.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

Fine. I’ll be happy to go talk to him with you, so we can both present our viewpoints.

That’s true. We really won’t have any other options available.

Let’s just wait and see what happens.

If we can carry out the ideas we came up with today, I think we have a good chance of avoiding similar quality problems in the future.

Hopefully everything will work out for the best.