Organizational Conflict Management

Can organizational conflict be managed?

Because conflict can occur anywhere two or more parties disagree, all organizations experience conflict to some degree. Conflict isn’t inherently bad, but it can escalate quickly when it is not managed.

Organizational conflict management is described as the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts in organizations (Gosline et al., 2001). How leaders and employees handle conflict is dependent on the kinds of systems organizations put into place. Setting employee expectations, implementing conflict-related policies and procedures, providing conflict resolution training, and other factors influence how and whether conflicts can be resolved in a satisfactory way.

While addressing conflict in the workplace isn’t always easy, it can be an opportunity for learning, growth and innovation and is essential for long-term organizational health.

OCDR guides

• Conflict management systems overview
• Creating a healthy team culture
• Conflict continuum and conflict resolution principles
• Group agreements for collaborative processes
• Developing a problem-solving mindset
• Questions to resolve conflict
• Listening to resolve conflict
• Reframing to resolve conflict
• Coaching to resolve conflict
• Managing emotions and de-escalation: staying grounded in stressful situations
• Boundary-setting phrases in the public sector context
• 15 things to do and to avoid in conflict
• Collaborative problem-solving glossary
• Conflict resolution FAQ

Recommended resources

• Dispute system design
  • What is Dispute System Design?: This Harvard Program on Negotiation blog post provides an overview of conflict management design.
  • Designing Systems and Processes for Managing Disputes: This textbook describes how third parties intervened effectively to interrupt gang violence, resolve disputes in corporations, and put an end to Apartheid policies in South Africa.
  • Organizational Conflict Management - What’s a System?: In this article, John Ford describes features and benefits of designing conflict management systems.
  • Questions to Consider for Developing Conflict Resolution Systems: Ken Cloke provides questions to consider when beginning to design an organizational conflict management system.
• Human Resources
  • The HR Guide to Conflict Resolution: Building a Harmonious Workplace: This 2024 article provides a clear and succinct overview of workplace conflict and key considerations when addressing it.
  • The HR Mediation Academy: A Workplace Mediation Training: This affordable training provides six hours of instruction and two hours of demonstration for HR professionals who want to learn mediation skills.
• Collaboration
  • Ten Principles for Collaborative Problem-Solving: This is a user-friendly description of the key steps needed to resolve conflicts collaboratively.
  • A Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making: This book provides useful facilitation tools and advice for collaborative and consensus building efforts in the workplace and in community.
• Conflict coaching
  • Leader as Conflict Management Coach: This training from Cinergy is for leaders who need more support to empower themselves and employees to turn conflicts around.
  • Conflict Management Coaching: The CINERGY Model: Geared to coaches, this book walks readers through practical coaching strategies, which leaders may find useful.
  • 1,001 Solutions-Focused Questions: This book provides hundreds of questions that help interrupt negative behavior patterns and includes a section on conflict management.
  • What is conflict coaching? Definition, importance and four steps: This webpage from Peaceful Leaders Academy gives an overview of conflict coaching and links to helpful conflict resources and trainings.
• Workplace culture
  • JAMS Workplace Performance Trainings: These live, customizable trainings from JAMS, including trainings on conflict, can improve workplace skills and culture.
  • Being Coachable in a Passive-Aggressive Culture: This article describes how leaders can seek honest feedback, even in indirect workplace cultures.
  • Achieving Psychological Safety: This brief video highlights the importance of psychological safety for organizational culture and outcomes.