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?Running head: CONFLICT NEGOTIATION SCENARIO Conflict Negotiation Scenario University of Phoenix HCS587 Conflict Negotiation Scenario TradeStation Securities is an online brokerage company where I was employed as the Client Service Director in charge of the Florida and Chicago Client Service Associates which, totaled 90 employees. Due to the strict rules and regulations of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) any employee handling brokerage accounts for customers must have their securities license known as the Series 7.
When I was hired in January 2008, my contract included that within the first year of employment I needed to study and obtain this license. I also was in charge of ensuring that each employee within the Client Service Department obtained their licenses as well. My department was extremely unorganized and there were no procedures in place for the employees. My first task was to create a flow chart of the Client Service procedures and how they were linked to providing excellent customer service. I linked the procedures and showed how the procedures were linked to other departments of the company.
I presented my chart at the first weekly management meeting and received approval from all department managers that were involved. Everything was going as planned until a scandal between the sales department and a client changed everything. The President of my department was also the President of the Sales Department as well and due to the issue with the sales department he was asked to resign. The Vice President of the company took over both departments until a replacement was found. I met with the Vice President and discussed with him the plan I created and how the implementation was progressing.
He was concerned that I was hired without my licenses and expressed to me the importance of obtaining them. I discussed with him my contract and explained to him that I was about two weeks away from being prepared to take the exam. My motivation to succeed was noticeable and at that time I felt he knew that I was dedicated to making my department successful which would be shown by the customer service provided to our clients. I started to notice that I was not being included in important management meetings. I made an appointment to speak with the Vice President to discuss my concerns and the reasons for not being included.
At that time, he explained that he was placing another director within the company as director of my department. He explained that I should not have been hired since I didn’t not have my securities license and stated that this individual was going to assist me with running the department until I passed the exam. I was taken back because he never discussed this with me previously and I felt that he was attempting to push me out of the department and the company. His behavior demonstrated towards me was unprofessional and came across as cold. My employees noticed that something was transpiring and continued to ask me if something was going.
I met with each employee and communicated that change would always occur but the changes were going to be effective and they needed to continue to excel in their position. I started to notice that my employees started to slip with their performance because of the negative communication that was occurring throughout the department. I decided to escalate the issue to the President of the Company. The President was well aware of my employment with his company as well as the action plan I created for my department. He was empathetic of the situation and decided to have a meeting with the Vice President and myself.
I knew at this point the Vice President was going to be extremely upset because I went above his head on the situation. After a two hour meeting, the situation was under control and I felt at ease knowing that I had the President of the company agreeing with my employment and the positive changes I have made and continued to make daily with the department. I knew the Vice President was upset so I decided to give him a week to digest the situation and I made an appointment to speak with him. I expressed my loyalty to him and the company and went over my plans again ith him and asked him for his thoughts on the changes I wanted to make. I took the “team” approach when speaking with him to try and get him to see that I wanted to improve the department which would improve the overall customer satisfaction and the success of the company. He expressed his determination to continue to make the changes that he first discussed with me that didn’t include me in the picture. I told him I was unfortunate to hear that he was not going to be a team player and that I expressed that I was going to continue the work that I was hired for.
At that time, he also expressed that he would continue to work towards his plan. Over the next couple of weeks, I continued to make the improvements with the policies and procedures in the department even though a new director had been placed in my department. I felt like I was in a battle and saw that the employees were being affected as well as my clients due to the confusion. I asked for another meeting but this time not only with the President and Vice President. I also included the board members, the HR department manager and the legal counsel for the company.
During the meeting I started from the beginning walking all of them through the timeline and the flow chart and the disruptions that had been preventing the success. All the board members, the President, the legal counsel and the HR Manager agreed that I was on the right path. The final decision was for me to continue handling my department and my department would be overseen by the President instead of the Vice President of the company. A month later, the Vice President resigned from the company because his future for the company was not aligned with the President and Board Members path.