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Facing Conflict, Not Fearing It

Linda Laurance runs courses in dealing with conflict at work

Consultants are frequently faced with client organisations’ internal conflicts, and may need to encourage the client to deal with a dispute in order that work can proceed and recommendations be implemented. Conflicts can also arise between the client and the consultant. Understanding the origins of conflict and learning how to put conflict to positive effect should be part of a consultant’s toolbox and of a manager’s training.

What is Conflict?

Any group of people with a common purpose will face situations of conflict from time to time. This can be a source of innovation and inventiveness and a wellspring of constructive debate, but if values and perceptions seriously differ, or trust is undermined, then conflict can turn into a serious dispute. In the voluntary sector there is the added dimension of emotional commitment to a cause, which can cloud judgment and distort objectivity.

Not all conflict is based on people holding opposing goals:

q In organisations much of the conflict occurs between people who share common goals but different views as to how those goals can be achieved

But

q Disputes need not be destructive or unproductive.

q Conflict does not essentially mean that we have to win our position at another’s expense: there are many different ways to handle given situations: we do have choice.

q Many disputes have a positive outcome, with long-term benefits not only for those directly involved.

Conflict can arise from a wide range of sources and rarely as a result of a single issue. Although there may be objective factors on which a conflict is based, ultimately it is the reality of the situation as seen by each party that constitutes the root of disputes but also that provides the way forwards for a solution.

Working Relationships and Conflict

Conflict is often blamed on the personalities and aggressiveness of individuals, but it is less well appreciated that conflict is built into organisations and an inevitable part of working life.

Employees face pressures which make conflict more prevalent and more difficult to handle:

q The competitive marketplace results in continual change and uncertainty

q Teams are created and disbanded

q Employees are expected to work with colleagues who they barely know from different departments and even countries

q Electronic communication means that individuals may have to deal with conflicts with people they cannot even see

q Managers may be responsible for people in other centres, other countries or working from home

q Mergers require people to work with others who have different values and ways of working from those that they are used to

Cultural Diversity

Every organisation has its own culture to which people subscribe in order to achieve a sense of belonging. In addition, individuals bring into the organisation a wide range of cultures themselves which, if not valued and understood, can lead to fragmentation and ultimately conflict.

Nurturing diversity is a shared responsibility for everyone in an organisation, but ensuring that the working environment encourages this approach may involve specific training. Dealing with conflict in this area will require specialist skills. The person responsible for human resources in the organisation needs to provide appropriate guidelines and know where to access the specialist skills to deal with conflict if they are not available in-house.

Methods for dealing with disputes

Using internal “peacemakers” can be effective where neutrality and confidentiality can be assured, but it is unlikely that there would be an appropriate person to play an entirely neutral role in either organisation in a dispute between a consultant and a client.

Employing an external facilitator can be helpful where an organisation is in the process of change, wanting to debate future direction but finding it difficult to reach a consensus, for instance, between members of a team on an action plan.

In arbitration a neutral third party meets with the parties in dispute, hears what they have to say and makes an award or decision, which the parties agree to abide by.

Conciliation is a word sometimes used in connection with the mediation process, but it can imply submission by one of the parties in dispute, i.e. win-lose, rather than the win-win agreement, which is mediation’s aim.

In mediation the parties themselves, with the help of a neutral third party, work out a mutually acceptable solution in a confidential environment. Whether the dispute is internal, or between a consultant and a client, the mediation process will result in better solutions reached by the parties themselves and enable parties to reconsider entrenched positions. Mediation can form part of an ongoing legal process, and lawyers can be in attendance.

Positive aspects of conflict (with acknowledgment to Dean Tjosvold):

q Through discussing different views and opinions openly people can uncover hidden problems which need to be addressed

q Debating opposing ideas provides an opportunity for people to think them through, explain their thoughts in more detail and learn from others’ responses

q Sharing opinions and differences enables people to feel their views are being taken into account, and if the final decision is not what they had hoped for they will understand how it was reached and be more committed to it

q Tensions can be released, confidence in managing differences developed, and relationships strengthened

q Structures and procedures can be challenged and organisational growth assured

AND FINALLY......

q Learn to listen, and listen to learn

q Face conflict and build on it

q Question perceptions

q Be aware of prejudices

q Separate the people from the problem

With acknowledgment to CEDR and to Marc Adams for permission to use extracts from his paper Conflict at Work.

Further reading:

Dealing with Disputes in Voluntary Organisations - An Introduction

by Linda Laurance and Anne Radford, published by NCVO.

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NCVO Factfile Dealing with conflict in the boardroom

Visit National Council for Voluntary Organisations web site

Getting to Yes: Negotiating an Agreement without Giving In

Roger Fisher and William Ury - published by Arrow Business Books

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Interpersonal Conflicts at Work

Robert Edelmann - published by BPS Books

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Mediation in Action - Resolving Court Disputes Without Trial

Hazel Genn -published by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

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For further information contact:

Linda Laurance, MICFM, CEDR registered mediator

tel/fax: 01628 531329

email: linda@laurance.demon.co.uk

The legal bit:

Views and opinions of articles posted on this website are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of ACT.

While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy in the information provided on this web site, ACT will not be held responsible for any action which may be taken as a result.

Email ACT at act-assn@dircon.co.uk

Updated 24^th November 1999