Chapter 4: Working Toward Collaboration
ANSWERS TO TRUE/FALSE QUESTIONS FROM THE TEXT
ANSWERS TO MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS FROM THE TEXT
1. d
SUGGESTED ANSWERS TO DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FROM THE TEXT
1. A manager might compete when he or she is certain that there is no great cost to his or her
relationship with the other party and when he or she is equally certain that achieving a
particular outcome is necessary. Some examples include:
Negotiating with a vendor with whom the manager does not wish to continue doing
business or with whom the manager is prepared to discontinue business if his or her terms
are not met.
2. One significant detrimental effect is the cost to long-term relationships where confronting
and resolving conflict is necessary to preserve and improve such relationships. Another is
SUGGESTIONS FOR THE CASE FROM THE TEXT
Case: Choosing your approach to resolving conflict
Starting tips: Have tent cards prepared in advance that state avoid, accommodate, compete,
compromise, and collaborate. Be sure to recreate a comfortable learning setting where students
Desired outcomes: Students will disagree about the appropriate approach to take for each
scenario, and a number of different approaches are possible to address each conflict situation.
Here are suggested outcomes for each of the scenarios:
1. Joe may need to adopt a compete approach to insist that the belt sander is not defective
Joe suggests reasonable alternatives, he may be adopting an accommodate approach.
2. Joe would probably adopt an accommodate approach. The customer is asking for $3
3. Joe would probably adopt a compete approach to empathically indicate that More Power
4. Joe should explore whether a compromise is possible with Vic Vendor so that Vendor’s
5. Joe should explore a collaborate approach to do what he can to encourage Kim to work
Suggested summary: Students should understand that there are a number of approaches that
may work to resolve conflict situations. They should also understand that some approaches
TEST QUESTIONS
True or False questions (each worth 1 or 2 points)
__F__ 1. Someone who is avoiding conflict is demonstrating a high degree of cooperativeness
and a low degree of assertiveness.
Multiple Choice (worth 2 or 3 points each)
a. A high degree of assertiveness and low importance to outcome
help. Oliver does not have the time to teach Ned and does not really like Ned. Ned is
a little lazy. As far as Oliver is concerned, their supervisor can go ahead and fire Ned.
To respond to Ned, which conflict mode will Oliver adopt?
a. Accommodate
the way you fill out a particular monthly report. She insists that the report is vital.
Further, she is responsible for collecting the reports from all the team members and
putting them in a binder so the supervisor can review them. She says she may have to
inform the supervisor of your inattentiveness to completing the report. You feel the
co-worker is a busybody and that the reports are an administrative detail that nobody
cares about, particularly your supervisor. What conflict mode will you adopt with
respect to the co-worker’s demands?
a. Accommodate
Short Answer essay questions (each worth up to 10 points)
1. Mandy really wants to be assigned an important project, but worries that her boss will not
give it to her. Her boss has expressed concern lately about Mandy’s ability to complete some
less-significant tasks. Mandy feels these tasks are beneath her and should have been
assigned to someone else. She is upset about this but feels there is nothing she can do about
it.
a. What is the best conflict mode/strategy that Mandy should adopt in this instance to
persuade her boss to assign the important project to her? Is there more than one
mode/strategy she should consider? Explain your answer.
Answer:
Mandy should probably first focus on the tasks that she considers menial but that her boss
Once Mandy has demonstrated her ability to perform these tasks, Mandy should seek to
b. With respect to each of the conflict modes/strategies you did not select, why would
Mandy be less effective in persuading her boss to assign the project to her?
Answer:
Compete: Though Mandy may be tempted to assert her interests and insist that she be
Accommodate: Though Mandy may initially accommodate, she should not stay in this
Avoid: Similar to accommodate, avoiding would result in settling to endure the situation
Compromise: Compromising may be the end result of Mandy’s negotiation with her
2. Describe three situations when it might be appropriate for a manager to use an avoidance
strategy.
Answer:
Managers might appropriately use the avoiding strategy in several situations, such as:
They want to sidestep dealing with employees, coequal managers in other departments, or
a boss over matters that do not require immediate attention or affect day-to-day
operations.
between employees when they know the employees will eventually work things out.
3. Describe three situations when it might be appropriate for a manager to use a competing
strategy.
Answer:
They will use this mode when making an unpopular decision, such as decisions to:
Invoke the next level of progressive discipline