When Key Employees Clash

After reading the case “When Key Employees Clash”, it was apparent that there were some major underlying issues in the relationship between Ellen and Ronnie. This hostility was clearly affecting the work environment and was causing friction not only between the two employees involved, but also the other employees within the company. It is definitely necessary for Matthew, the manager of Kid Spectrum, Inc., to step in and make some sort of change, or there could be serious detrimental effects to the company’s otherwise great standing in the industry.

It was obvious right away that there was a personality clash that was causing the conflict between Ellen and Ronnie. Specifically, their individual mindsets of what was necessary for the company to run in a successful manner didn’t align, which caused friction in how they prioritized what they saw as important within their job description. These mindsets stem from what they personally valued out of their job and the company. For Ronnie, it was customer relations and providing spectacular service to the families that they helped. That service ethic came from his own personal background with his son who was going through similar situations as the families Kid Spectrum helped. Ellen’s values came from the technicality that is necessary in running a successful business –adapting to new policies and procedures, timeliness, efficiency. Ellen’s values also stem from her long personal background in administrative work, which she had been working with for almost 20 years.

While both of their personal goals and ambitions within their roles at Kid Spectrum made them successful individually, Ellen and Ronnie were having problems allowing themselves to mix their personal traits into a cohesive effort that would benefit the overarching goal of providing a great service to the families in need. To fix this, Matt will need to get them to recognize the overarching goal of the company, while also getting each individual to understand...