Case III: Managing conflict--the case of the faculty stuck in the middle

The need for administrative faculty members to have superior leadership and management skills to handle their increasingly complex responsibilities is well established. As a part of the 2000-01 ADEA Leadership Institute curriculum, fellows were responsible for developing situational case studies for a faculty development workshop to develop participants' leadership and management skills. The case presented here involved managing conflicts in the dental academic setting. The foundation of conflict management centers on communication techniques including transparent communication, open discussion, open confrontation, and active listening. Management options such as avoidance, accommodation, competition, negotiation, and collaboration are potential strategies for the faculty leader. This case study involves a fictitious public dental school, New Horizons University, which has embarked on solutions to address limited resources, but unwittingly has created conflicts between individuals and groups of faculty members. The case discussion analyzes the cause of conflicts, presents the positive and negative potential of the conflicts, reviews techniques of conflict management, and discusses specific management concepts regarding resource allocation and equity theory.