Completely separate goals. Electrical engineers and janitors seldom conflict because their tasks are largely separate. The potential for conflict is much higher between engineers and production managers or between sale people and credit managers. This is because such units tend to rely on common resources, their tasks are interdependent, and they frequently pursue incompatible goals (e.g., increasing sales versus reducing credit losses). The key, says Douglas Reid of Xerox, is identifying and building “the linkages between groups that don’t normally work together”