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Resolving Territorial Conflict:
Who Took My Parking Space?
The book Who Moved My Cheese is about adapting to transitions in the workplace. It is an entertaining and
insightful book about a couple of mice that run through a maze looking for their cheese after it is moved.
Through this story of mice looking for cheese, the book communicates to employees that they can live through
transition, and in some cases even thrive if they change and adapt successfully.
Transitions are one problem that organizations and employees face in today’s work environment; another is
dealing with employees who waste the organization’s time and energy with unnecessary territorial conflict.
Employees who engage in guarding their physical territory or job duties usually spend more time guarding
their area then actually working, plus they waste company resources and prevent the organization from
functioning efficiently when they are absent.
If I were to write a book about employees guarding their territory at work, I would title it Who Took My
Parking Space? In this book a couple of bulldog type employees would run around barking at their coworkers
each time a coworker enters their territory. For example, it is early Monday morning and one of the bulldog
employees, Mary, is running through the company barking for all to hear that someone has taken her parking
space. Mary barks that for the last four years she has parked in the same parking space, and today
someone had the audacity to park their car in her parking space. The bulldog employee, Mary, even runs
barking into the CEO’s office. She barks that she cannot complete her job duties if she is not able to park
in her parking space. Fortunately, the CEO does not give into Mary’s barking. The CEO tells her that the
company does not reserve parking spaces. Mary leaves the CEO’s office with a sense of despair that her
job duties will never return to normal.
Following a day of barking, Mary leaves work feeling wronged by the employee who took her parking space,
and feeling wronged by the CEO who did not tell the employee to move their car. When Mary gets home,
she barks at her spouse, who is the only one to sympathize with her plight. Mary’s spouse agrees by saying,
"How can an employee be expected to perform their job effectively if another employee takes their parking space?"
The next day on her way to work, Mary starts to think that today will be different. Mary thinks, "Today, I will
get my parking space back and my work life will return to normal." However, as Mary drives into work she
is shocked to see a different car parked in her space. How could this be? Everyday for the last four years I
have parked in that space! What am I to do? Who is doing this to me? How will I get my work done?
How will I receive rewards and praise? Where will my security come from?
Mary is experiencing a case of territorial crisis, which is an acute state of panic caused by coworkers
entering the bulldog employee's territory or when coworkers engage in their job duties. Managers can
help employees experiencing territorial crisis by recognizing the symptoms. Symptoms usually include the
bulldog employee barking at coworkers, appearing emotionally distressed, and voicing complaints.
Now the good news, you can help a bulldog employee live through and adjust to their territorial crisis by taking
the following steps.
1.) Reorient the bulldog employee to the organization’s vision and goals. Bulldog employees who are
protecting their territory probably do not fully understanding the goals and vision of the organization. For
example, a bulldog employee may not understand that the company’s goal is to become customer service
focused; consequently, other employees will need to enter his or her territorial domain from time to time
in order to improve customer service. The vision, therefore, of the company is to achieve growth through
maintaining top-notch customer service.
2.) Reorient the bulldog employee to the organization’s emphasis on teamwork, shared responsibility, or
cross training. No employee should be an island! Today’s organizations place emphasis on teamwork,
shared responsibility, and/or cross training. For example, if an employee is out ill or needs to leave early
for a dental appointment, the organization can still function, meet customer needs, and turn a profit because
other employees can take over some of their duties and responsibilities. Therefore, employees should
understand each other's jobs well enough to complete simple tasks when another employee is absent.
3.) Reorient the bulldog employee to how employees in the organization build job security. Bulldog
employees build their job security by controlling critical functions within the organization. Bulldog employees
believe that if they are essential to the organization, they will not be replaced. On the other hand, employees
in today’s organizations build job security by demonstrating versatility, adaptability, and in the ability to
function in diverse environments.
4.) Reorient the bulldog employee to their positive traits. Bulldog employees are generally very loyal
employees who also maintain high performance standards. Encourage the bulldog employee to maintain
their positive traits, as they learn how to share their parking space.
Happy Working,
Gary Vikesland, MA LP CEAP
Employer-Employee.com
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