Conflict: Government and Policy Team

Case Study3 The Poisoned Chalice By Matthew Mcdonald, University of New S asideh Wales Joseph had been a police squad attraction for both years and felt he was ready to satiate the next step in his public service biography. He had begun his career as a graduate trainee in the Department of Agriculture subsequently completing a double degree in commerce and environmental science. after his traineeship he was offered permanency as a policy constituentr, finally rising to the post of police squad leader. As a police squad leader Joseph felt he had gained the trust and respect of his four staff division and had learnt the basic skills of being a manager.Joseph applied for various management positions in spite of appearance his own department with off success. Undeterred, he applied for a position in an another(prenominal) g overnment department responsible for environment and heritage and was successful. The enjoyment involved taking over the position of manager of a Taskf orce that had been desexualise up five months previously. The taskforce was do up of 10 team up members responsible for developing and implementing a set of government policies and programs designed to assist primitive producers to manage better the environmental holy terrors to their land.Joseph couldnt have been happier with his new promotion and he looked forward to applying what he had learned as a team leader to the challenges of his new post. The taskforce itself was divided into two teams. The commencement exercise team- the policy team was responsible for developing policies in consultation with the ministers office that would underpin the programs to be eventually rolled put all over the country. This team was made up of highly experienced member. The second team- the instruction execution team was responsible for implementing the policies developed by the policy team.The job of the slaying team was to deal with the logistic of implementing the programs and working with the numerous stakeholders involved. For Joseph, everything started put hale in his new position. He gradually got to know each of the team members, who seemed skilled and competent in each of their roles. He also began to empathise better the job that the taskforce was required to do. However, as the days turned into weeks some(prenominal) major problems in the taskforce began to appear.The first major problem was that other sections indoors the department were unhelpful and difficult to deal with when he made requests of them or sought to initiate collaborations. When he asked his staff why this was the case, the most car park response was that the department had had it in for the taskforce as posing a threat to their own positions. The bad blood between the taskforce and the domiciliate of the department made Josephs position vary difficult because he and his staff were hard reliant on other areas of the department for their expertise, advice and assistance in pronoun ce to manage the project successfully.The second major problem was the taskforce itself, Joseph began to realize that the two teams were highly antagonistic towards each other. This was evident in taskforce meetings, where there was an frank hostility between them. Joseph also discovered that very little had been achieved since the taskforce was setup, and tack that it was now well behind the governments schedule. However, the full implications of Josephs predicament became apparent only after a revealing intercourse with Alison, a junior member of the implementation team, while working stern late one evening.Alison told Joseph that the previous manager of the taskforce, John, had left the position because of the problems associated with it, everything had started out well however, then the policy team had begun to treat the implementation team as inferior because the implementation team members were younger in age, were little experienced and had made a major blunder in the fi rst few weeks by mystifyting a national farmers union offside. later this blunder the policy team had begun to refer to the implementation team as the idiots.The policy team had also taken a superior stead towards members of other sections within the department because of their close relationship with the ministers office. This problem came to a head after a chain of emails had been leaked to the rest of the department by a member of the implementation team, who had inadvertently received them, in the emails, members of the policy team had made disparaging remarks about hoi polloi from other section with whom they had been working, this had created a furors in the department.As a result, a act of formal complaints about members of the policy team had been made. Instead of dealing with this and the other problem associated with the taskforce, the previous manager, John, had closeted himself away in his office, hoping they would go away. Realizing that events were starting to ge t out of control, Johns manager. Max, had stepped in to try and sort out the situation. He had done this by speaking with all of the taskforce members both independently and as a group.This had made a difference for a petty time however, the antagonism between the two teams in the taskforce had eventually returned, and it had seemed the postal code could be done to repair the damage inflicted by the leaking of the emails. It was at this saddle that John had resigned. Due to the taint that hung over the taskforce, no one in the department had been willing to apply for the now vacant position of taskforce manager. After speaking with Alison, Joseph realized he had been handed a poisoned chalice that zippo else wanted.He became very worried that the taskforce would not meet the departments and the governments objectives and timelines, and the he would be blamed for its failure, adversely affecting his long-term career and future promotion prospects. Discussion Questions 1. Using th e model of appointment processes, identify the sources of conflict between the policy team and the implementation team. 2. Were Maxs actions give up in this situation? If so, why? If not, what should he have done sooner? 3. What actions should Joseph take to ensure that the taskforce meets the governments objectives and timelines?