Discussion topics and concepts for week two

Triangulation in Decision-Making and the Workplace

Triangulation in the workplace often occurs when a member of the office enacts behavior that allows them to be not only the source of an emerging internal problem within the working environment while simultaneously being able to view its unfolding as an apparently uninvolved observer (Lyons, 2011, p.1). In a situation involving triangulation, the chain of communication is often as follows: colleague A talks to manager B, manager B. talks to client C, client C. also talks to colleague A, but the three never speak together in the same room or in the context of the same conversation. In this manner, a "triangle" of communication is enacted, but rather than solving the problem that is often the source of the triangulation, the problem often continues to escalate, involving individuals unrelated to the issue at hand, and such a force within a working environment can be catastrophic. As triangulation involves the manipulating of individuals rather than clear communication, managers must understand the complexities of triangulation in the workplace and enact decisions to counter-attack its presence.

Triangulation within the workplace offers individuals who encounter it to make the decision to take part in the process or end it right there. For example, a manager, having listened to information that is being triangulated to them has the ability to become the third corner of the triangle in agreeing to solve the issue at hand, thereby taking responsibility and acting in a manner that should have been completed by the first individual initiating the triangulation to begin with. Alternatively, the same manager can, in their decision-making regarding the handling of the situation, assert the responsibility back to the initial individual triangulating the information. For instance, employee A finds an accounting error that they are aware was created by Employee B. Employee A, rather than discussing the error with Employee B, decides to pose a question to Manager C, who has no authority to fix the issue but can bring the issue to another overseeing party. "Have you seen the problem in the accounting documents that Employee B. posted?" Employee A asks Manager C. Manager C. then has the power in the form of decision-making. Either that manager will accept responsibility for Employee A's conflict and make the decision to look further into the issue, or that manager will place the responsibility back upon Employee A in a manner that makes he or she handle the issue themselves. Researchers have long noted that triangulation doesn't resolve an issue, but rather it often prolongs and amplifies disagreements and misunderstandings which leave managers and administrators who find themselves engaged in such tactics looking for constructive alternatives (Hiebert and Klatt, 2001, p. 370).