Jerry Feldman, director of a human services coordination team, is facilitating a meeting between Arthur Harris, the new director of the northeast regional office, and Frances Carpenter, a caseworker who has been in conflict with Arthur. There is confusion around changing priorities and strategies at the organization. Frances resists Arthur's leadership due to differences in their perspectives, experiences, and cultures. Jerry must resolve the conflict by clarifying expectations and utilizing a collaborative problem-solving approach to improve understanding between Arthur and Frances.

1. SOWK 718 Case Analysis Example
1
Conflict on the Human Services Coordination Team
Compiled by Melissa Reitmeier and Carl Maas
Summary
This case takes place in a meeting between employees of the
Human Services
Coordination Team (HSCT). Jerry Feldman, Director of Field
Services, manages the regional
offices. Arthur Harris, is director of the northeast regional
office, a position he was recently
promoted to. Frances Carpenter, a caseworker at the northeast
regional office, has been with the
unit for 1 ½ years, coming on board the same time as Author.
She recently missed two staff
meetings, and “blew up” at Arthur when he confronted her
about her absences. Arthur has
documented that Frances resists direction and fails to carry out
assignments. At Author’s request,
Jerry is facilitating this meeting to address concerns about
Frances.
Problem Statement

2. The management and direct practice workers view the same
issues and the best way to
provide services differently. Francis and Arthur view the issues
from separate cultural
perspectives. There are issues regarding staff training,
discrimination (e.g. racial and gender),
and an unclear mission.
Contextual Analysis
Internal issues connected to the case include matters relative to
both Arthur and Frances.
To begin with, Arthur is seven years younger than Frances, yet
he was promoted to a supervisory
level. The promotion raises issues regarding the “glass ceiling”
effect in management (Gibelman,
2003).
Another internal issue is education and experience. Arthur has a
BA and one year of
graduate work in sociology; however, he has no previous
supervisory experience. It is unknown
whether or not he has taken any management classes. His
inexperience has contributed to the
difficulties with Frances. Rather than individually confronting
her he attempted to use peer
pressure to address her performance. Direct one-to-one verbal
reprimands are associated with
more effective communication regarding job expectations and
performance (Weinbach, 2003).
Frances does appear to have interpersonal difficulties with
everyone in the office. She

3. frequently gets into arguments and does not follow Arthur’s
supervision. Social construction
theory suggests that differences in perception of events by
Arthur and Frances may be a root
cause of the current tension (Hutchison, 1999). Arthur and
Frances have different definitions of
their jobs, as well as experiences regarding community, racism,
and sexism.
External issues relevant to the case are organizational, cultural,
ethical, and legal. The
organization operates under bureaucratic management
(Weinbach, 2003), with an emphasis on
vertical hierarchy, resulting in a strict division of labor. Frances
and Arthur have conflicting
ideas about Frances’ job description which creates tension.
Frances appears to see her job as
assisting individuals to access needed and existing services.
Arthur sees her job as developing
and coordinating programs that proactively reach greater
numbers of people. While Frances is
SOWK 718 Case Analysis Example
2
ensuring immediate access to services, she may be
disempowering young mothers by not
providing them with important information and preventative
services. In addition, Arthur
perceives that the unit’s performance is a reflection of him.

4. Hence, he attempts to micro-manage
his staff, which Frances resents. Frances may also not fully
understand Arthur’s job description.
Regardless, Frances is skirting insubordination by skipping
weekly staff meetings, verbally
lashing out at Arthur, and failing to report to work.
Cultural issues also play a role in this case. Frances is tied
closely to the African
American community. It affects this case because of her
unwillingness to work outside of her
comfort zone with members of other ethnicities. She also
believes she knows the community
better than Arthur. Arthur’s culture also plays a key role. Arthur
is a white male in a white male
dominated society who doesn’t have to contend with racism.
Whites are often oblivious to their
social and economic privileges that result from their racial
position (McIntosh, 1988). Research
indicates that differences among people and their unique
qualities can improve work
environments and organization effectiveness (Weinbach, 2003).
One ethical issue in the case is Jerry’s duty to provide his staff
with appropriate
supervision, continuing education, and staff development.
(NASW Code of Ethics, 1996). Jerry
has not provided Arthur with sufficient training or supervision.
While Arthur is not a social
worker, it is Jerry’s responsibility to ensure that Arthur is
competent in his area of practice,
especially since they work in a human services setting.

5. There are two important legal issues the case. First, Jerry has to
ensure that the team
provides equal employment opportunities (P.L. 88-352, the
Civil Rights Act of 1964). It is illegal
to discriminate in the workplace on the basis of race, ethnicity,
religion, or sex, and failure to
comply can result in legal action. The agency must also comply
with Public Law 102-166, Title
II of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, also known as the “Glass
Ceiling Act”. This act addresses
discrimination in promoting women and minorities in public
agencies (Gibelman, 2003).
Three Alternative Strategies
One: Jerry could train his staff, specifically supervisory training
for Arthur and cultural
diversity/sensitivity training for all employees. By providing
the staff with needed information
and skills they could better accomplish the agency’s mission.
Disadvantages are the training
costs, including a trainer and lost staff time.
Two: Jerry could transfer either Arthur or Frances to another
region. A transfer would
immediately stop the conflict between the two co-workers. The
disadvantages are that the
transfer doesn’t address the job descriptions and mission, and is
unfair to the transferred staff.

6. Third: Jerry could meet with Arthur and Frances to review and
explain their job
descriptions and his expectations of them. In subsequent
meetings, the team would continue
resolve conflicts by clarifying the unit’s mission. The strategy’s
advantage is that it aids in
resolving the immediate conflict and also allows Jerry to work
at clarifying their job expectations
and the unit’s mission. A disadvantage of this is that it is a long
term solution requiring more
time and energy than a transfer or training.
SOWK 718 Case Analysis Example
3
Recommendation and Evaluation Plan
Jerry should employ problem solving and a strengths
perspective approach to diffuse staff
conflict and improve staff/unit performance (McMillen, Morris,
Sherraden, 2004). Jerry must
work with Arthur and Frances to define their job descriptions
(Gambrill, 1997). They have
constructed different perspectives of the work and how it should
be evaluated. Once their jobs
are defined, Jerry must work with the unit team to clarify the
mission. As senior management,

7. Jerry should lead this action. He is should set expectations of
the unit and its staff (Allison &
Kaye, 2005).
Using the strengths perspective, Jerry should train Arthur on
using staff’s strengths, as
well as Author’s own strengths to become a better supervisor.
Using a combination of problem
solving and strengths based approaches, Jerry can resolve the
current conflict and build the unit’s
and staff’s capacity.
By addressing the conflict using the problem-solving and
strengths based perspective,
Jerry can teach the staff conflict resolution skills and increase
their work capacity. The approach
addresses confusion about the unit’s mission and goals. In the
longer term, further training may
be necessary for Arthur to enhance supervisory skills and for
the entire staff to embrace and
respect cultural diversity.
References
Allison, M., & Kaye, J. (2005). Strategic planning for nonprofit
organizations: A practical guide
and workbook (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley Press.
Gambrill, E. (1997). A problem-focused model based on critical
inquiry. In Social work

8. practice: A critical thinker’s guide (pp. 96-124). New York:
Oxford University Press.
Gibelman, M. (2003). Navigating human service organizations:
Essential information for
thriving and surviving in agencies. Chicago: Lyceum Books,
Inc.
Hutchison, E. D. (1999). Dimensions of human behavior: Person
and environment. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
McIntosh, P. (1995). White privilege and male privilege: A
personal account of coming to see
correspondences through work in women studies. In M.
Anderson & P. H. Collins (Eds.),
Race, class and gender: An anthology (2nd ed.) (pp. 76-87).
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
McMillen, J. C., Morris, L., & Sherraden, M. (2004). Ending
social work’s grudge match:
Problems versus strengths. Families in Society: The Journal of
Contemporary Social
Services, 85, 317-325.
National Association of Social Workers. (1996). Code of ethics.
Washington, DC: Author.
Weinbach, R. W. (2003). The social worker as manager: A
practical guide to success. Boston:
Allyn and Bacon.

9. Sample Case Analysis for SOWK 718
1
CONFLICT ON THE HUMAN SERVICES COORDINATION
TEAM
Terry A. Wolfer
Introduction
As Director of Field Services for the Human Services
Coordination Team (HSCT) of the
State Services Department (SSD), Jerry Feldman supervises
Arthur Harris, who he recently
promoted to Northeast Regional Director. In turn, Harris
supervises Frances Carpenter, a former
peer and a specialist with the African American community.
Feldman, the protagonist, is
meeting with Carpenter and Harris to discuss their conflict on
the job.
Problem Statement
Shifting organizational priorities have resulted in some
confusion, uncertainty, and
disagreement among HSCT staff. Feldman apparently selected
Harris as a new regional director
to implement the new priorities, and this internal promotion and
interpersonal differences
between staff members contributed to tensions resulting from

10. the changes.
Contextual Analysis
The rather amorphous mission of HSCT is to promote citizen
involvement with and
coordinate services provided by a variety of private and public
agencies, including SSD itself.
The mission requires that staff use creativity and initiative in
solving problems.
In the past, HSCT worked toward this mission by providing case
management services
for individuals, intervening to improve coordination between
agencies, and helping agencies
develop their own capacity for coordinating services. Based on
Harris’ comments, it appears that
Feldman wants the team to focus more on organizational-level
coordination and capacity
development. Nevertheless, their mission will no doubt continue
to require a diverse set of
strategies, selected on a case-by-case basis. The case does not
identify what efforts Feldman
made to educate and prepare the staff for the shift in strategy,
and his response to Harris on this
point is vague. Indeed, it is not clear whether HSCT has job
descriptions spelling out the new
staff roles, responsibilities, and intervention methods, and
providing a written basis for
evaluation.
The expressed disagreement between Harris and Carpenter
suggests that they are not
clear about the shifting priorities and associated strategies. To

11. some extent, the changes seem a
better fit for Harris’ preference for organization-level
interventions than Carpenter’s preference
for case-level interventions. But both have demonstrated
previous skill in resolving problems
across systems levels. And it is not clear the Feldman is
insisting on a complete change of
strategy; there will likely be continued opportunity and need for
multiple approaches.
However, the underlying confusion and disagreement between
staff members has been
worsened by differences in their cultural backgrounds. As
suggested by a diversity perspective,
differences in how one manages stress, interpersonal
interactions and methods of communication
in the workplace can create workplace conflict (Thomas & Eli,
2001). Harris is a youthful white
man with military experience and graduate education. In
contrast, Carpenter is an African
American woman with children, college education, more work
experience than Harris, and seven
Sample Case Analysis for SOWK 718
2
years older than Harris. Furthermore, under the stress of
organizational change, these cultural
differences probably undermined their trust for each other.
Because they started at HSCT as peers only 1.5 years ago, the
internal promotion likely

12. caused additional tension in their relationship. Not only was
Harris a new and inexperienced
supervisor, he was younger and less experienced and asking
Carpenter to adopt strategies with
which she was less comfortable and familiar. Her negative
reactions provided severe challenge to
his nascent authority and shook his confidence.
In the midst of this transition, it will be important for Feldman
to affirm Harris’
supervisory leadership but without encouraging rigidity and
control on his part. If he does not,
this will undermine Harris’ ability to guide the northeast region
team, in general, and Carpenter,
in particular. How Feldman handles the conflict between the
two staff members will likely
influence their ability to accept and implement the
organization’s new strategic priorities and
their future working relationship. He may unintentionally
undermine a new supervisor’s
authority or alienate a competent, specialist employee.
Alternative Strategies
Upon returning to the meeting, Feldman has several immediate
options for resolving the
underlying confusion and conflict.
1. Feldman could meet with Harris alone to review the preferred
goals and strategies for
HSCT and to provide guidance for dealing constructively with
Carpenter. Then, Feldman
could allow Harris to meet with Carpenter for supervision and
then provide further

13. guidance as needed. This coaching approach could encourage
Harris to assert appropriate
supervisory authority and, more importantly, help Harris to
increase his supervisory
skills. However, it may delay resolution of the conflict and risks
further alienating
Carpenter, especially because she is at the present meeting.
2. With both Harris and Carpenter, Feldman could explain the
shifting organizational
priorities and strategies in an effort to clarify his changing
expectations for their work.
This educational strategy could spell out what Feldman thinks
needs to be done and how.
On the assumption this has not been sufficiently explicit before,
doing so may produce
new understanding of their work (especially for Carpenter) and
defuse the interpersonal
conflict. However, this joint approach may undermine Harris’
supervisory authority.
3. Feldman could invite Harris and Carpenter to articulate their
individual understandings of
the agency’s mission and preferred strategies, and lead them in
a mutual effort to resolve
their misunderstandings of the new approach and of each other.
This more collaborative
problem solving approach would both model what Feldman
wants them to do with other
agencies and may elicit both substantive contributions and buy-
in from the two staff
members. As a result, they may reach a new and different
agreement about the agency’s
goals and strategies for working with multiple constituencies.
But this approach may take
longer (i.e., multiple sessions) and may end up in a different

14. place than Feldman
intended.
Recommendation and Evaluation
I recommend the third alternative because it represents the most
powerful effort to coach
both Harris and Carpenter in collaborative problem-solving and
reflects a genuine openness to
Sample Case Analysis for SOWK 718
3
both their contributions. Specifically, it maintains openness to
the possibility that Feldman’s
proposed approach for HSCT may not work well with the
African American community and it
allows Carpenter to educate Harris and Feldman about that.
Further, it affirms Harris’ leadership
without actually taking a side in the conflict.
This strategy would be considered successful if it restored
working relationships within
the HSCT itself, helped Harris and Carpenter to grow
professionally, and helped them to see past
their personal differences.
Rationale

15. My recommendation is based on experience with organizational
change processes and the
conflict that often results.
Reference
Thomas, D. A., & Eli, R. J. (2001). Cultural diversity at work:
The effects of diversity
perspectives on work group processes and outcomes.
Administrative Science Quarterly.
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