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Lab Problems
| Short Descriptive Title: |
Lab Problems |
| Primary Parties Are: |
Staff and Staff
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| Conflict Topic: |
Workplace Issues |
| College/University Type: |
Medium-size Public Research I University
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Description of the Issues in the Case:
Two Post-Grads are working in the same research lab and one of them (Lab Tech A) is accusing the other (Lab Tech B) of stealing ideas from them. The accused student believes that nothing has been taken (ie no publications have resulted, ideas were developed together in shared space). When the accused Tech B approached the Professor in charge of the Lab to get their help on talking about the issue, Tech B says the Prof listened just long enough to hear what the case was about and then essentially hung up, unable/unwilling to comment. Both Techs are frustrated and alienated.
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Status of Intake/Intervention Efforts:
Accused Tech B approached the mediator for advice and possible help.
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Special Issues or Challenges:
Both Techs and most of the rest of the Lab group are international students, and their pay seems very low. My guess is that they feel pretty stuck in the situation, and don't want to rock the boat too much, but morale in the lab is low and the prof in charge appears to be distracted by other issues to the neglect of the lab.
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Questions for Reviewers to Address:
Looking for ideas on how to enter the situation and get anxious international students to feel safe participating if we do decide to try a mediation or group facilitation.
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 Comments submitted by Tim Griffin on 9/16/02.
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You might try contacting the lab supervisor, offering to attempt to achieve a resolution through mediation among the lab employees. Point out that it is low cost and low risk and if successful he/she won't have to deal with it. It might be helpful for the lab supervisor to allow work time to be taken for the effort as a motivation for the employees to participate.
I'd also contact someone in our Office of International Students to assure the students/employees that to participate would be both wise and safe.
Comments submitted by Bill Warters on 9/13/02.
- This situation sounds like one that occurs on many campuses
that emphasize research. While it might not help the mediator
in this case given the time element involved, you might be interested
to see the mediation training video "Trouble in the Lab"
produced by the folks at Georgia State's Consortium on Negotiation
and Conflict Resolution. It shows a mediation involving issues
similar to this one, i.e. two lab partners (in the video they
are still students) disagreeing over who should get credit for
work and new ideas. See the mediator Training
Resources page on this site for more info on getting a copy
of the video.
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