Case Study for Book

 Task Conflict in Personal Space

COVID’s “personal” attack

What is task conflict?

Task conflict happens when a group of people who work/exist together is having trouble completing a work given to them. It can happen in the workplace, at home, or anywhere there is work involved. For example, in a workspace, if different cultured people work together on the same project, there is a possibility that there will be a difference of opinion because they belong to different cultures and may have different opinions. If this conflict is handled wisely, all the cultures together can come up with a unique task. 

In a personal space, task conflict can occur when there is a disagreement between partners, parent-child, or siblings, and resolving that conflict is crucial. 

Case/Conflict

Parties Involved 

• X (a girl studying in grade 12)

• X’s mother (Pre-Primary Incharge)

• X’s father (Associate Manager in MNC)

• X’s sister (Grade 8 student) 

This case study shows a task conflict in X's family during the Covid-19 pandemic. When the pandemic hit the entire world, task conflicts arose in families across the globe because everyone was at home and had to do everything on their own. X had a family of 4 people. X's mother worked as a HOD of Pre-Primary in a school who's pressure was doubled due to classes going online. X's father worked as an Assistant Manager in an MNC and required internet access all the time in order to stay connected to his work online. X is a student in grade 12 and most of her time goes into studying and speaking in all her classes. X also has a younger sister who is in grade 8. She is a proactive student and participates in all the extra-curricular activities for her holistic development. Everything was going smoothly until the following conflicts occurred :

1. Internet connection conflict - Due to the pandemic of 2020, everything has gone online, from schools to offices. The business of Internet Service Providers stormed up the roof. According to Forbes, internet usage had jumped over 70% in the initial months of the pandemic, and this was because the whole world opted for online streaming services. In X's family, everyone used the internet, and action was required. Unfortunately, there was a conflict because all of them used platforms like Cisco Webex, Zoom, and Google Meet, which required high internet usage. Even after increasing the data supply, the classes or meetings always lagged, making it a huge conflict, as reflected in the family members' behaviors. This task conflict of being unable to perform tasks affected the peace of the personal space. 

2. Task Conflict - All four members had their own responsibilities, and because of this pressure, they had trouble having family time. Their tasks were conflicted because the other members worked. For example, X's mom engaged with Pre-Primary kids who needed much attention, so she had to be very loud with her tone of voice. In contrast, X's father needed peace at home because he continuously conducted employee meetings. Any disturbance in the house would make him mad because his office meetings were being disturbed. 

X and X's sister used to attend their classes in the same room causing total chaos even with the headphones on. When one person was speaking, the other could not. This had been an enormous task conflict. 

The task mentioned above conflicts were the cause of frequent arguments in the personal life of X. The family tried many ways to solve the conflicts, but little benefited them. This continued till online classes had come partially come to an end when X had passed her 12th grade and was educationally idle. The family tried to solve these issues by increasing the internet speed, installing noise-canceling walls, and making each other understand that everyone is in this together. There were external factors like negativity due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the news and environment which also affected their mood. Another solution was to divide time slots to each person for speaking or teaching, which eventually did not work out because all the schedules crashed. 

The consequences of this task conflict in the personal life of X were evident. There was friction between the family members as they were constantly frustrated because their work was not being done. The internet conflict also affected the work ethics of the family members. For example, X and her X's sister needed more time to submit assignments as they were constantly distracted during classes. X's father faced reputation issues in his office space, as every time he was in a meeting with his colleagues, there was much chaos in the background. 

Questions

1. What tasks were conflicted in the above case study?

2. What conflict resolution skills would you use in order to resolve this permanent conflict caused in X's family 

3. How would you make the family members understand the conflict?

4. How does X solve this personal conflict more effectively because they have to stay with the same family, and this problem is re-occurring?

5. How would you resolve the internet connection conflict? What skills, apart from conflict resolution, would you use? 

6. In situations like these, should there be pre-made rules and policies? Remember that the temperament of all the family members suggests rules you would make.

7. List out the consequences and challenges of this conflict.