This document discusses a conflict that arose between Shea Moisture and its customers after the company posted support for victims of the Brussels bombings without mentioning recent terrorist attacks in West Africa. It provides an overview of the situation, describes the five phases of organizational conflict using this event as an example application, poses questions about how the company addressed the conflict, and concludes that Shea Moisture handled the situation well.

1. Conflict Management
Sundial Brands

2.  Overview Article
 Define phases of conflict
 Apply phases of conflict situation
 Questions
 Conclusion
Objectives

3.  In the wake of the Brussel Bombing Shea Moisture shared a photo
on their Facebook and Instagram pages in support
 This created tension with the consumers because they didn’t show
support to the West African countries who suffered from terrorist
attacks just days before
Article Overview

4.  The issue stems form Shea Moisture founders being Liberia and in
the eyes of the consumer they weren’t showing concern for
people who were closure to home
 Many people were upset and expressed that they would boycott
the company for not showing solidarity to these African countries
Overview Continued

5.  With all the constant comments CEO Rich Dennis made a statement
saying that no issue outweighs another
 Brussel is the major transit point for Liberia and some of the Liberians
were trapped in Brussel when the attack happened
 Dennis said if consumer don’t support him bringing awareness to
issues he supports their decision not to support the company anymore
Overview Continued

6.  Dennis ended his response urging those to continue to help fight
injustice by supporting the company
 “If you really care to fight injustice, now more than ever is the time to
support the one business that comes from and stands for community
and stands to fight these injustices not just with words and social
media posts but with millions of dollars, time, effort and love! “
Overview Continued

7. Facebook Post

8.  Organizational Conflict is a state frictions caused by perceived or
actual opposition of needs, values and interest between people
 There are 5 phases of organizational conflict
Organizational Conflict

9.  Latent Conflict
 Interaction of parties in a setting where conflict can occur
 Perceived Conflict
 One or more parties see that there is incompatibility and interdependence
 Felt Conflict
 Parties personalize conflict and management steps are put into place to
began to solve the conflict
Phases of Organizational Conflict

10.  Manifest Conflict
 Communication has begun and the conflict will escalate and
deescalate before a resolution is found
 Conflict aftermath
 Short term and long term effects felt after the conflict
Phases of conflict continued

11.  I will use the example of Brussel post to show how the phases of
organizational conflict happen
 This conflict does not occur between employee but it is still
perceived as organizational conflict
Application

12.  Latent Conflict
 Once the photo of the heart was posted this was the necessary
conditions for the conflict to start
Application

13.  Perceived Conflict
 Immediately after the picture was posted comments flooded the
comment box with questions
 Some of the comments were in solidary
 Most of the comments questioned their authenticity and why they
weren’t supporting the African countries
Application

14.  Felt Conflict
 The administer of the Instagram page immediately apologized for the
misunderstanding
 There was a period 5 hours before the CEO of Sundial Rich Dennis
made his statement
 I believe during this time he was brain storming how he would address
the conflict.
Application

15.  Manifest Conflict
 The administrator of Instagram directed the commenters to Facebook
to see the official response
 Although Dennis response was clearly articulate there was discourse
between the patrons of the FB page and the FB admin
 The admin replied to many comments trying to reconcile with the
consumers.
Application

16.  Aftermath
 In the aftermath Shea Moisture may have lost some customers but
they were able to enlighten the rest of the consumers on how
they stand on issues
 This instance shows just how much the care about their brand and
how much the value their customers opinions
Application

17.  What steps were used mange the situation?
 What change will Sundial make to their conflict management
process?
 What steps have been taking to prevent an issue like this from
happening in the future?
Questions

18.  These are questions I would ask current employees
 How are decisions made when there is a huge disagreement that
could have a large negative impact on the company>
 Who has the power to implement the necessary changes to resolve
conflict?
 How does “politics” play in making decisions regarding resolving
conflict?
Questions

19.  Conflict is essential to the growth of a company
 How a company handles conflict will revel strength and weaknesses in the
organization
 Shea Moisture dead a great job with managing the conflict
 Conflict is a natural occurrence and it is great that they have a system in
place to help them manage
Conclusion

20.  C. (2016, March 26). Customers Blast SheaMoisture for Supporting
Brussels But Ignoring Terrorist Attacks in West Africa. Retrieved
March 31, 2016, from
http://blackgirllonghair.com/2016/03/customers-go-in-on-
sheamoisture-for-ignoring-black-lives/
 Miller, K. (2012). Organizational communication: Approaches and
processes (6th ed.). Stamford, CT: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Retrieved March 31, 2016
Work Cited