CASE STUDY 3: NEVER ON SATURDAY

The situation involves a woman, Maria Cruz, who has been highly successful in the agency in which she works. A problem arises between her and her coworker/superior, Susan Smith, who is seemingly jealous of Maria’s quick success. Susan ends up making a change to Maria’s job description that conflicts with her religious practices.

In the conflict of Never on Saturday, there are three Key players. One of them is Susan Smith and the other is Maria Cruz. Gina David is also involved in the conflict, however to a lesser extent than the other two. Maria contributed to the situation in a very peaceful manner which was by going on with her normal day activities, while still making her position known and felt. This is until Susan, who seems to have a bitterness towards Maria for the success that she has had in her job, insists that she works weekends. Everything was under control until it came to Maria’s job description which was collaborated upon by Susan and Maria. It was essentially finalized and agreed upon by both of them. Without Maria’s knowledge, Susan decided to add “Must be available to work evenings and weekends when needed”.  The problem with this is that during Susan and Maria’s dialogues on Maria’s job description, they had discussed that she was not available to work on Saturdays due to religious reasons. Saturday is her Sabbath day. Maria then wrote a memo to Susan informing her that she could not work Saturdays and would instead be eager to work Sundays if needed. Maria then left for vacation thinking that this would resolve the conflict. Unfortunately it did not, and it only lead to a memo being written back to Maria from Susan and Gina, Maria’s superior. The memo was very strongly worded and was written in all capitals, which was seemingly intended to illustrate condescension. It was meant to inform Maria that she is expected to work on Saturdays, and that Maria needs to be a team player.

Guide Questions for your Arguments:

1.  What elements of conflicts are present in this situation?

2.  What can you say about the goals of each of the participant in this situation?

3.  What can you say about how each participant perceives the situation and why?

4.  What are the types of power does each participant use in this situation?

5. Is there an abuse of power? By whom?