Leadership In The Shadow Of The City

Conflict Management

In the Shadow of the City

Problem?
Jember Teferra and Alec Reed disagree on the amount of funding and length of timing authorized for the Addis development project.Dimensions of Conflict

1) Unity = Rational Agreement and Emotional Agreement
In the beginning both Jember and Alec were focused on the project goals. Theses were to raise $1M and implement thedevelopment project, which aimed to improve the living conditions of slum dwellers in Addis.

2) Discrepancy = Rational Disagreement and Emotional Agreement
Once the funding was obtained theproject commenced a few issues arose. The first issue was the receipt of timely and accurate reports on the financial status of the project. Jember was supposed to prepare these reports weekly for Alecand the other donors. When this did not happen Alec stopped funding the project after the first $10K. A compromise was reached in that Jember would prepare financial reports on a monthly basis asshe claimed this was a project and not a business.

3) Confrontation = Rational Disagreement and Emotional Disagreement
One year after the start of the project, Alec and the other donors cameto Addis to see first hand the progress made. During a meeting with Jember and her staff the issue regarding the funding amount and length of the project surfaced. Jember informed Alec that theproject was $5M over 5 years which came as a shock to Alec whom thought the project was only $1M over 2 years. Alec felt deceived and did not believe that Jember and her team were capable of handling sucha large project. The meeting became so tense that they eventually had to break without any agreement or compromise being reached.

4) Conformity = Rational Agreement and EmotionalDisagreement
A second meeting took place 2 days later where Jember accused Alec of racism towards Ethiopians and lacking confidence for saying they were incapable of handling such a large project. Alec, of...