Ellen Moore in Korea

1. Conflicts Analysis

The troubled situation of JVC can be attributed to the major conflict between Ellen and Jack, causing another aggravating conflict occurred consequently.

a. The major conflict was between Ellen Moore and Jack Kim, with the following symptoms:

- They had controversial issues “during the first few weeks because they were clearly stepping upon each other’s territory”. Ellen understood that she was the co-project manager with Jack, but Jack believed that he was the sole project manager for SI. In fact, the Korean team members always followed Jack’s instructions which are different from Ellen’s. Even, Jack got angry when, upon coming back from business trip, he saw that the team members just followed Ellen’s instructions. Here, they were in conflict over who was giving instructions to the team members (perceived mutually exclusive goals).

- Jack wanted to carry out a market research study, which, in Ellen’s opinion, was out of the project’s scope and could delay the progress of SI. Here, they were in conflict over what was the scope of the project (perceived mutually exclusive events).

- The conflict between Ellen and Jack is a dysfunctional conflict as it was harming the company business (a month behind the schedule).

- The conflict increased to the level that Ellen had no way but made Jack lose face by interrupting and disagreeing with him in public. After that, Jack behaved very unprofessionally in the dinner by creating a hostile environment towards Ellen.

- The conflict between Ellen and Jack was caused by the following sources:

• Perceived adverse changes: Jack was told on daily basis that he was the sole project manager, while Ellen came with the idea of co-project manager. When they met each other, they realized their conditions of work changed negatively for each side. Therefore, they blamed each other for causing the change in working conditions.

• Personality clash: Jack and Ellen have different clashing cultural values. Jack’s Confucian values refused to accept Ellen, a woman, as an equal manager. Ellen, a Western professional, though understood that it was vital for a Korean to save face in public, decided to interrupt and showed disagreement with Jack in the meeting.

b. The aggravating conflict was between American top-management (represented by Andrew) and Korean top-management (represented by Mr. Song) in solving the situation. Both believed that what it wants is incompatible with what the other want (mutually exclusive). The American side blamed Korean consultants’ lack of experience for the problem of behind the deadline, while the Korean side blamed Ellen’s capabilities. This conflict was also a dysfunctional conflict as it harmed the company’s harmony and business. If the management could not find a solution to solve conflict, the company would fail to meet the deadline, which might totally kill the company’s reputation.

* Here, the company did not have an appropriate conflict control and solving system. When conflicts happened, instead of making prompt and suitable conflicts solving actions, the top management came into another conflict. Even they were facing the probability that an inter-group warfare will occur between the American side and the Korean side.

2. Suggestion to Solve the Conflict between Ellen and Jack

To solve the conflict between Ellen and Jack, Andrew and Mr. Park (or even Mr. Song) should play the role of mediators. As the mediators, they could do the following:

- Firstly, the mediators should listen to each person’s side of story. The purpose is to understand correctly the cause of conflict, not to judge. Andrew should talk to Ellen while Mr. Park should talk to Jack.

- Then held a meeting with the subject is to solve the serious problem of falling behind the deadline. Every members in SI team together with Andrew, Mr. Park (or Mr. Song) must be present. During the meeting, the mediators should not point out who was right or wrong in the conflict (as neutral as possible). Instead, they should pointed out that the team was seriously falling the deadline. And in order to solve this problem, the mediators should assign clearly responsibilities to Ellen and Jack, respectively. Jack’s responsible area should not require much experience in consulting. By doing so, the conflict’s cause of stepping on each other’s territory could be solved completely.