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Resolving Conflicts in Workplace

Systems often reward inaction, which helps maintain the status quo. Keeping conflict hidden might be the easiest path, but it leaves the organization to identify and respond to the potential losses that accompany change, not to mention the new learning that can be produced by orchestrating well the conflicting perspectives.

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49 views8 pages

Resolving Conflicts in Workplace

Systems often reward inaction, which helps maintain the status quo. Keeping conflict hidden might be the easiest path, but it leaves the organization to identify and respond to the potential losses that accompany change, not to mention the new learning that can be produced by orchestrating well the conflicting perspectives.

Uploaded by

Girgis
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Common Reactions to Conflict

1. INACTION AS ACTION
Systems often reward inaction, which helps maintain the status quo. Keeping conflict
hidden might be the easiest path, but it leaves the organization to identify and respond
to the potential losses that accompany change, not to mention the new learning that can
be produced by orchestrating well the conflicting perspectives.

2. APPEAL TO AUTHORITY
Amidst conflict, we look to those with formal authority to resolve order, but such actions
to reestablish calm can hinder the organization's ability to adapt.

3. FIGHT OR FLIGHT
Like the acute stress response of the human body, parties within a system can respond
to conflict by going on the offensive (such as blaming others) or by going out of their
way to avoid it.

A Process for Mobilizing Learning

We use the word orchestrating to highlight the creative capacity of people


in tension generated by drawing attention to different perspectives at work
within a system. Like a composer who uses dissonance (a component and
tool in the craft of creating harmony) to add complexity and forward
momentum to a piece of music, those who exercise leadership must
orchestrate conflict within an organizational system to generate dynamism
and innovative ideas by surfacing these key differences.

By failing to work with conflict, and the potential losses represented, we fail to
engage all parties and perspectives and lose creative tension.
The following strategies outline a process for orchestrating conflict. Although
they are presented as a linear process, the adoption of any of the steps can
help you begin the process of using conflict as a resource.

Recognizing Common Patterns - Adaptive Work

Based on our understanding of adaptive challenges and how they differ from


technical problems, we would expect the disequilibrium patterns generated to
be different, and they are.

With both technical and adaptive problems, disequilibrium is triggered by the


onset of the problematic situation. If the situation is severe, the spike of
disequilibrium may be very high. Now, if the problem is technical, then the
immediate problem-solving response of people in the organization will be
sufficient to solve the problem and restore equilibrium, sometimes quite
rapidly, as is shown in the following example. 
Credit: Adapted from Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty
Linsky, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing
Your Organization and the World (Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review
Press, 2009), p. 30.

For more context, consider the example of a medical injury, such as a broken
arm. Disequilibrium spikes when the accident happens, but, after seeking
medical care, it decreases rapidly as diagnosis and care are received.
It's worth noting that technical work can 1) generate lots of disequilibrium and
2) be slow to decrease, depending on the complexity or severity of the
problem.

However, the key point to consider is that disequilibrium operates very


differently in adaptive contexts, where the problem and / or the solution is
unclear (and individuals must develop new capacity and confront losses in
order to meet the demands of the situation).

This is where conflict becomes an essential resource: a way to mobilize


multi-party learning by getting people with different viewpoints to engage
with one another.

Increasing the Heat

Leading adaptive work -- mobilizing people to face into a tough problem and


learn from their differences to find new solutions -- is like cooking with a
pressure cooker. If you keep the heat too low, then nothing will cook.
Conversely, if you turn the heat up too high, then people will be unable to
tolerate the levels.

To lead, one has to regulate the level of disequilibrium to keep the parties


within the productive range of stress, which is bounded by the threshold of
learning at the bottom (the minimal level needed to mobilize new learning)
and the limit of tolerance at the top (the maximum level parties can endure
before retreating from the problem and each other).
Credit: Adapted from Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty
Linsky, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing
Your Organization and the World (Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review
Press, 2009), p. 30.

But how do you regulate disequilibrium effectively? Let's look first at strategies


for increasing the heat.
Strategies for Increasing the Heat

DIRECT THE FOCUS OF ATTENTION TO THE TOUGH ISSUES


Imagine being in a meeting where the most important decision or topic keeps
getting delayed or ignored. This habit of ignoring the difficult conversations is
all too common.

SURFACE CONFLICTS
Resist the temptation to conceal or minimize disagreement. Surfacing different
perspectives is an essential part of understanding the distribution of work
around the different stakeholders -- the different adjustments and new ways of
thinking or behaving that each party may need to do.

ALLOW PROVOCATIVE STATEMENTS


Language can be a powerful tool for managing the heat. Don't be afraid of
statements that will stimulate strong responses.

KNOW AND USE THE ROOM'S DYNAMICS


Rather than ignoring or operating in fear of the potential stresses that may
emerge in the room, use it to your advantage. This starts with listening and
observing. If certain parties appear especially at odds, use that to highlight the
core issues.

EXCEED COMFORT LEVELS


Turning up the heat means challenging individual comfort levels. This is
especially true for allocating responsibility. Encourage others to not play it
safe when it comes to owning their part of the work to be done.
Decreasing the Heat

Decreasing the heat is required when your group exceeds the limit of


tolerance. 

Recognizing when that limit has been exceeded can be


challenging, especially since individuals have different comfort levels
with conflict and the potential losses of change for them and their constituents.

If you think your group has exceeded the limit of tolerance, you might employ
one or more of the following strategies.

Strategies for Decreasing the Heat

REDIRECT FOCUS TO TECHNICAL WORK


Most challenging situations are a mix of technical problems and adaptive
challenges, so you can reduce the heat by returning the focus of attention to
the technical components of the problem situation.

ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE TOUGH ISSUES


If you have an authority position, you can assume responsibility for solving the
situation and buy time for people to acclimate to the tough issues (and time for
you to find a new approach to engage them in their role in meeting the
challenge).

DIVIDE, DISTRIBUTE, AND PACE THE WORK


People need time to do adaptive work -- time to emotionally accept the losses
they may need to sustain, and time to experiment through trial and error to
find a successful and innovative adaptation. So breaking the work into smaller
parts, distributing it differently according to the capacity of each party, and
pacing the rate of change are all ways to reduce the level of stress.

PAUSE AND TAKE BREAKS


Adaptive work is taxing because emotional and innovative work is stressful.
As a consequence, people need pauses and rest. There is a reason why
many religious traditions have a means to pause and reflect through daily
practices or a weekly sabbath. As it is said in surgery, you move faster by
moving slower and more carefully.

CREATE MORE STRUCTURES AND PROCESSES FOR WORKING ON


THE CHALLENGE
People generally feel less stressed when they feel oriented in a stressful
situation to their role or job, so creating more structures and processes for
problem-solving will calm people down.

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