Question

Hans was a sales representative at Enco, Inc.
One morning he approached Norma, the production manager. “Hey, Norma,” he said. “I just got an order for 150 units. I had to promise speedy delivery to get the order.”
Norma asked, “Well, how speedy did you promise them?” Hans said he promised two-day delivery. Norma replied, “Hans, you know we have to have at least two shifts to even get the production finished, without figuring in shipping time.”
“What are you saying?” Hans exploded. “That
you won’t even try? Well, Mr. Carlson will override your stubbornness. I’ll just go see him.”
Later that day, a rather sheepish Hans again approached Norma with a different tone. “Hi,
Norma. So, what did you tell Mr. Carlson? He’s
never said ‘no’ to one of my rush orders before.”
“I didn’t say anything to him. Mr. Carlson
could see that our present orders are at least as
important as your ‘urgent’ one.”
“Look, Norma, I guess I was scared about losing an order. Can you see where I was coming
from?”
Norma said, “I understand your position.
But you are the one who got yourself in this predicament. Using impossible delivery schedules
as a major selling point is not wise.”
“You’re right,” Hans agreed. “About an hour
ago, I called the customer, and you know what?
They’ll go for three days if we ship two-day mail
service.”
Norma stayed firm. “Tell you what, Hans.
You talk to Mr. Carlson about budgeting the extra money for overnight delivery. If he goes
for that, I’ll see to it the order gets out in three
days.”
“When Carlson finds out we’ll lose a big client unless we ship overnight, I know he’ll go for it. I
really owe you one.”
“No, you don’t ‘owe me one.’ Just please lay off the rush orders. You’re good enough at sales to
not let this happen.”

1. What are the sources of conflict in this case?
2. Is the solution a win-win? Explain.
3. If Hans should come up with another situation like this one, what would you do if you were Norma? If you were Mr. Carlson?

Answer 1

1)- The major sources of conflicts in the above situation is a lack of interpersonal relationships and interdependence where Hans have to rely on the production manager Norma, so as to commit orders to the customers. According to my opinion, if there would have been understanding between both of them, the conflict couldn't have arisen. The goal of one is dependent and effected by another which leads to conflicts between the people. Resource scarcity is yet another aspect which leads to the possibility of conflicts since the budgets were slim and have to been fastened by the director of the company in order to speed up the production. Unrealistic needs and expectations set up by Hans have to lead to the conflict with Norma where he feels that two-day delivery is not a possible task in any which case.

2)- When the solution anticipated is mutually beneficial for both the parties, it leads to a win-win situation and in the above situation, the same decision has been taken. Hans even convinced the customer for the three-day delivery, whereafter he came to speak to Norma to fulfil the same. They reached a solution where Norma agreed to ensure timely delivery for Hans if he is able to convince Mr Carlson for extra money in order to carry overnight delivery. This is a win-win strategy for both the parties where Hans will be able to keep his promotion to the customer by ensuring timely delivery after he gets optimal budgets and for Norma who has undergone realistic expectations for his production and don't have to compromise with the shifts. The trusting and cooperative tome has been set between both parties.

3)- If I were Norma and Hans would again come up with this sort of situation, I would have a word with the director or Mr Carlson so as to avoid harmful conflicts which can hamper the operations of the organisation. I will complete the orders which are more important for the business rather than the rush one orders so that the goals of the organisation are achieved and not the personal ones by building a product roadmap. I will step forward to build interpersonal relationships and trust between us by clearly justifying the "no" reasoning. Calmness and strength can better our communication by prioritising goals and customers. Regular check-ins can be scheduled in order to reveal any potential questions. Regular interactions with the prospective and existing customers can help me understand their problems and have customer insights. I will invest time in understanding the feedbacks of the customers so as to get valuable information impacting sales team.

If I were Mr Carlson:

The roles and goals should be clearly defined for both the teams so that the production team gets the necessary time for operations and the sales team can effectively commit to their customers. Since both the departments couldn't work as a stand-alone entity, I will make sure that both the teams work in complete collaboration and alignment so as to enhance productivity and effectiveness. Further, communication between the teams has to be strengthened by making sure that their contact information is readily available and via using communication tools such as Slack etc, the teams can chat in real-time, take care of the tasks, resources and much more. A centralised knowledgeable base could be developed for organising, collecting and distributing resources available for the business. The conflict resolution process has to be implemented prior to the situation of tensions. A cross-departmental problem-solving strategy could be encouraged so that they can resolve their disputes in harmony