Confidential Information for Alex:

You are Alex. You have been working at the accounting office for 18 years now. The position for Deputy Head of Accounting opened so you applied after much encouragement from your peers. They said you were a shoo-in for the job because of your expertise, experience and leadership skills.

You, along with your peers, were shocked when the position went to June, another specialist from the Audit department. Your peers took you out for coffee where they shared rumors that June got the position because s/he went to the same school as one of the bosses. They also said that s/he has only been working in your company for 3 years. Before that, s/he was unemployed for 2 years after being fired by a rival company. You also heard from June’s officemates that s/he can be difficult to deal with. S/he never joins the company activities, not even when they invite him/her for coffee in the lobby.

Two weeks into the new job, June emailed a project concept for the new accounting system upgrade where she cc’d the entire Accounting team. You said to yourself “How dare he/she! This was my project! I had been doing research on this for weeks!” But then you read through the project plan and decided that it was thoroughly researched and well-written. “Maybe, s/he does deserve to be Deputy”, you concluded so you wrote in your email:

Dear June,

Acknowledging receipt of the project plan for the accounting system. I am surprised to see the level of work you have put into this.

Alex

The next day, the Head Accountant called you to her office. You were confused when your boss said that June complained that you been undermining her capability as Deputy Head by sending a disrespectful email, ignoring her presence in the office, and spreading rumors about her that were unfounded. The Head Accountant encouraged the two of you to talk to a PEER Mediator. “June is making this all up! I did not do any of those things.”