This guide will help you proactively identify and manage conflict at work
Most of us spend a large portion of our waking hours at work, so the quality of our working environments and relationships has a significant impact on our well-being.
With so many different experiences and perspectives, we tend to see the world in different ways. This means we react in our own way to different situations at work, affecting the relationships we have with those around us. This diversity of experience and thought is a good thing, but it can sometimes lead to misunderstanding and conflict between people.
Some conflict can be positive, such as a healthy amount of competition between team members to reach goals. But negative conflict, like bullying or serious personality clashes, can harm individuals and undermine teamworking.
As a manager, you need to be at the forefront when conflict occurs between team members. If you don’t tackle this conflict head on at an early stage, it’s likely to escalate.
Our latest report, Managing conflict in the modern workplace, also reveals that managers themselves can often be the cause of conflict.
It’s therefore essential you reflect on your own management style and the impact your behaviour has on others. When your team is happy and engaged in their work, they’re more likely to meet their goals and help you to meet yours.
This guide will help you proactively identify and manage conflict at work. It covers the people management skills you need to become part of the solution to resolving workplace conflict – not the problem.
The guide focuses on how to handle conflict at an early, informal stage – before issues escalate into serious disputes that require the use of formal procedures.
Conflict between individuals at work can occur in many different ways.
A work issue, like poor attendance or timekeeping, can cause conflict. Conflict can also stem from a disagreement between people.
It can occur across a wide spectrum of behaviour, ranging from a personality clash to more serious types of unfair treatment – like bullying and harassment.
It can be obvious – like a heated argument – or less visible – like excluding someone from a work social event.
Obvious sources of conflict at work include:
Others less obvious sources include:
Often, it’s these more subtle behaviours that, over time, if not tackled, lead to workplace disputes.
Under the Equality Act 2010, harassment is unlawful, and defined as ‘unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual’.
The protected characteristics relevant to harassment are age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. There are two types of harassment related to sex, both of which involve ‘unwanted conduct’ that has ‘the purpose or effect of violating an individual’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual’.
Though there’s no legal definition of bullying, the Acas guide on bullying and harassment at work states that it can include ‘Offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour, an abuse or misuse of power through means that undermine, humiliate, denigrate or injure the recipient’.
Bullying or harassment may involve single or repeated incidents across a wide spectrum of behaviour. This can range from extreme forms of intimidation, like physical violence, to more subtle forms, like an inappropriate joke or ignoring someone.
Based on our research the most common types of bullying or harassment experienced by employees are:
Conflict is likely to fester and intensify if you ignore it. As a manager, you need the skills and confidence to intervene at an early stage to nip disagreements in the bud before they escalate. Handling conflict in a proactive and positive way will help you improve your team’s morale, retain valuable skills and talent, and reduce sickness absence.
Here, we outline the practical steps you can take to prevent serious conflict from occurring in the first place:
By getting to know the people in your team as individuals, you’ll be better placed to:
People deal with relationships and conflict in different ways.
Some show their annoyance swiftly and openly, while others who appear laidback and tolerant on the surface may find themselves becoming progressively annoyed with a colleague, manager or problem until they lose their temper, often over a minor issue proven to be the last straw.
It only takes one person to cause disharmony within a team as a result of their negative behaviour or poor performance.
Examples of behaviour and performance which can create stress at work:
As a manager, you’re an important role model. You’ll need to spell out what behaviour is not tolerated, and demonstrate the positive behaviours employees should follow (in terms of how they interact with each other, their customers, clients and the public).
Though a certain level of office gossip is inevitable and need not cause any problems, office politics can be a source of misunderstanding and tension. Maintain objectivity and resist the urge to join in; this will only add fuel to the fire.
Performance management should be a positive, supportive process, yet performance issues can sometimes be a cause of conflict themselves (for example, if someone feels they’ve been unfairly treated by being overlooked for promotion or received a negative performance rating).
Despite the preventative measures we’ve explored above, conflict can still develop. If it does, you’ll need to take action to resolve it early and informally.
This can appear daunting, but it’s a core part of your role as a manager.
If you ignore unacceptable behaviour, problems can escalate until formal disciplinary or grievance procedures have to be used. This can make it much harder to achieve a successful resolution and repair relationships.
Be proactive, and initiate informal discussions if you think a problem’s brewing. Conflict can lead to absences, so return-to-work interviews are also a good opportunity for you to ask questions about any issues which might be bothering employees.
Depending on the size of your organisation, your HR department should always be available in the event that you need informal advice to help you deal with conflict.
Make sure you engage in challenging conversations as soon as you begin to observe early signs of conflict (for example, a heated example or an inappropriate personal remark). This shows you’re treating the conflict seriously. It’s more difficult to be respected if you’ve appeared to give certain behaviours tacit approval by letting a situation drift on for weeks or months.
If there’s an open disagreement between colleagues or you suspect a conflict is developing, start by having an informal, one-to-one discussion with each of the individuals concerned.
This will help you identify the crux of the problem while giving you an opportunity to hear people’s concerns in a safe, confidential setting.
Once you’ve gained a clear understanding of the conflict (as well as everyone’s different perspectives on the problem), bring the parties together and act as an objective facilitator to find common ground.
In those instances where conflict has become particularly heated, it might simply be untenable (when one considers the needs of the rest of the team) to keep the disruptive colleague present. In these cases, it might be necessary to temporarily separate team members who are in a conflict situation to prevent the situation from escalating.
In those cases where a dispute affects the whole team (for example, as a result of tensions arising from having to meet particular deadlines, or changes to working practices), hold a discussion or brainstorming meeting to find possible solutions.
It’s tempting to hope that, once a conflict’s been resolved, the problem’s gone away for good. In many cases, however, one party or another will still feel aggrieved (to a greater or lesser extent).
By now, you should’ve made every effort to resolve the conflict. Sometimes, the situation can develop to the point where it’s appropriate to use formal procedures to address unresolved conflict (when, for example, an allegation of serious harassment occurs, or if a complainant has requested the situation be investigated).
Please note that formal methods should only be used if absolutely necessary, and in those cases where informal problem solving has been unsuccessful.
If a complaint is serious or the individual wants it investigated formally, they should have the right to pursue a grievance. Where serious incidents occur – such as alleged harassment or discrimination, persistent bullying or out-of-character outbursts of verbal abuse or physical intimidation – they must be dealt with and taken seriously.
Avoid shying away from using the formal disciplinary process in those cases where an individual’s misconduct or underperformance demands it. One of the most important judgements you’ll need to make as a manager is to recognise the point at which informal approaches dispute resolution have failed and formal disciplinary action needs to be taken. HR can provide useful advice at this point.
Read our latest research on conflict management Managing conflict in the modern workplace which examines the current state of working relationships in UK organisations
To build great working relationships and help your team succeed, ask your HR team to help you explore different types of management development, well-being and conflict management training.
No HR team? Take your development into your own hands with a free online course for new and aspiring people managers or check out the free resources on the CIPD’s People Skills Hub.
Read our latest research on conflict management in the modern workplace, covering the challenges people professionals face, insights to act upon, and links to further guidance for people managers
A joint publication by the CIPD and Acas aiming to help employers, trade unions and employees decide when and whether mediation may be suitable
