Tamarack Case Study

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What are the signs and symptoms of conflict in this case?

In this case there were 4 signs and symptoms of conflict beginning with worker rivalry that turned into resentment. A lot of the experienced workers didn’t like that they had to break up to form a third line with the students as they were “arrogant and slow”. The experienced workers tried to sabotage the students because they had made their production runs shorter to compensate for the student hirees. Then the student hirees created a conflict within the experienced workers. Their inability and unwillingness to work together was the ultimate sign of conflict within Tamarack Industries.

Use the conflict model to identify the structural cause of conflict and discuss the escalation of conflict described in the case.

The three causes of conflict, as pertaining to the conflict model, were differentiation, ambiguous rules, and poor communication. Differentiation was a cause because the two groups obviously had different views, needs, and ways of dealing with situations. Due to their social identities, students and older workers, they were unable to work together and find a happy medium.

In terms of ambiguous rules, there weren’t any norms within the company to not just follow but dictate how things are run between the two social identities. For example the sabotaging couldn’t be reprimanded or even stopped because there were no rules in the first place.

 Due to their ignorance and lack of communication there was stereotyping between the two groups. This not only led to disagreements but just a preconceived notion that the two groups would never be able to work with each other or that one was inferior to the other.

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