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Case 10d :

Who's on First?

Juan and Gustavo rarely stop competing against the other. While they come from different nations, they speak the same native language and, in the beginning, were best friends. Now, since Juan was awarded a PhD fellowship and Gustavo was denied, their competition has turned to aggression. This morning their relationship became tenser. Juan growled across the bench at Gustavo,

"My idea, my design, my write up; my paper".

Gustavo retorted angrily,

"My data, my analysis, my charts, my tables, my graphs; my paper".

The two stood on opposite sides of the bench and glared at each other. Amelia, a fellow student who worked hard to keep the mood in the lab light, said firmly,

"This is ridiculous, both of you. You are acting like children. You both wrote the paper together. Why does it matter so much to either of you who goes first? What is wrong with publishing alphabetically?"

Juan yelled, slamming his hand on the table,

"If we publish alphabetically, he goes first and this paper was my idea!".

Gustavo shouted back,

"It doesn't matter than my last name starts with "B". I still should go first. You have all sorts of crazy ideas, Juan. If you did not have me, your ideas would still be just that—ideas. The paper only exists because I worked on it".

Juan retorted,

"Yes, Gustavo, and if I did not have the ideas, you would just be a data monkey. I go first".

Gustavo rose from his seat and yelled menacingly,

"Call me a monkey again, Juan and I will go ape on you!".

Just then, the project manager walked into the room, demanding that Juan and Gustavo "break it up". Since the project manager and Amelia share the same native language, the project manager often relies on Amelia to explain what is wrong between Juan and Gustavo. This morning is no different. He asked, standing between Juan and Gustavo like a brick wall,

"Amelia, what is going on here? How do I manage these two and get them to stop fighting about whatever the matter is this morning?"

• What is the problem here? Is this a personal problem between the two work mates? Or is this a genuine authorship dispute?
• What resources could Amelia use as a way to diffuse this situation?
• What resources could the Project Manager use as a way to diffuse this situation?
   

Imagine you are Juan:

• Make a case for why you should go first.

 

Imagine you are Gustavo:

• Make a case for why you should go first.