Response essay
The Hunter’s situation of dating the captain’s Ex-Fiance is seen as the primary cause of the atmosphere created and most likely that he might lose the respect his peers accorded him. The fact that his excellent work made him be promoted, the captain may not be in terms of Hunter due to his act of dating his girlfriend. The expectation is that the supervisor may take action against him. However, the supervisor has to understand that this is a conflict between two parties in which one of the parties must be found accountable for the mistakes done.
In every conflict, there must be the party who is the cause of the conflict aiming to benefit in the situation. If it is true that Hunter had an affair with the captain’s Ex-Fiance, I agree that withdrawing from the conflict or even postponing to be not the best option for Hunter to deal with the matter. Also, if Hunter works in another department, there is the likelihood of the supervisor to undermine him from the other end. It implies that the retaliation might not end. I also agree with the statement that accommodating the situation to please the captain would not be the best approach in settling the conflict between Hunter and his supervisor. I think the supervisor would still believe that the relationship is still progressing, and therefore, the retaliation would keep proceeding.
When the two parties involved in the conflict feel that they have won, in a real sense, I would say that the dispute has not been solved despite the fact that no party feels offended or that the resolution was unfair. The win-win conflict resolution does not give us the true picture in a conflict. I support the approach of letting a third party- a union to represent-to take over in solving this conflict to be the best. Even though the parties are not present, the union would then get all the evidence required to come up with a resolution that gives the winner. The conflict is all about affairs between Hunter and his supervisor in the police department, causing retaliation. Therefore, the revenge that the supervisor takes against Hunter is an act that is not in line with his duty. Thus, Hunter’s union would prove him to have breached his duty as a supervisor in the police department.
Reference
Aamodt, M. G. (2016). Industrial/organizational psychology: An applied approach (8th Edition).
Australia: Cengage Learning