In my first year at my current place of
employment I was involved in a conflict with another co-worker within my
department. We are a small group of about nine and we work very closely
together. We were a sharing a suite comfortably with a lot of privacy from all
of the other departments, however top management decided it would be best to
move us out onto the main floor with the other departments. This was not
something our department was in favor of as we were very content in our
personal suite, but the move was made. When we were in the process of being
arranged into our new spots our Director was open to any suggestions on where
we would like to be placed. I requested that I would be moved away from one of
my co-workers as I felt she was a distraction. He granted my request by placing
me exactly where I wanted to be which was next to a quieter co-worker.
The conflict happened when another
co-worker, who was sitting next to my distracting co-worker, realized she
wanted the space I requested. Switching her spots would defeat the whole
purpose of where I requested to be placed. My co-worker began to cause a disruption,
as we were all unpacking making comments about how unhappy she was. She thought
my space would be a better fit for her because the air conditioner would not
blow on her as much, but she never actually asked me to move. While I was at
lunch that day the same co-worker continued complaining about how unhappy she
was and then made a commotion that caused top management to come and see what
was going on. Once they saw her crying they were trying to calm her down and
asked what they could do for her. That is when she replied she wanted them to
move my space so that she could have it. Since I was not there to defend myself
another co-worker stepped in to say they needed to wait until I was back before
making the move as they needed to have my side of the story. My Director was
then notified of the disruption my co-worker was causing.
Once I returned from lunch my Director
let me know what had happened while I was out and asked me if I wanted to move.
I explained I was happy with my spot especially since I had requested it in the
first place because of the distractions I was having before when seated next to
certain people in our group. He respected my decision and then decided that I
would be allowed to stay in my spot and they would work on getting a deflector
for the air conditioning vent. This was a way for both of us to win. As time
went by the co-worker continued causing a commotion and soon she affected
others because the extra air was blowing harder on them so they too began to
want their Directors to order them deflectors. This continued on and finally I
realized that she was not going to be happy until she moved to my spot even
though the air was blowing the exactly same. I finally went to my Director and
requested to switch spots with her, but I also requested the distraction move
with her.
In the end my quieter co-worker and I
were moved and my distraction and problematic co-worker were also moved. My
Director was very grateful for my decision to switch as this had been going on
far too long. He negotiated with me and I felt there was a “win win” in this
outcome. I was able to make my co-worker happy by letting her have my spot and
he was able to make me happy by moving my distraction as well. I can see room
for improvement in this situation, but only because I feel my co-worker was causing
the commotion because she is the type to do this when she isn’t getting her way.
She tends to pitch fits and “stir the pot” at any chance she can. I believe
that my Director could have addressed this on going issue she has with this
situation by bringing her down and really getting the root of her problem, but
instead the issue at hand was resolved, which was moving her because she was
unhappy. I tried to make the best of this situation by using it as an
opportunity to show my Director that I can be a team player working to
establish a common goal of a successful department.
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