essay conflict in the workplace

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How to Navigate Conflict with a Coworker

Seven strategies to help you make progress with even the most difficult people

Interpersonal conflicts are common in the workplace, and it’s easy to get caught up in them. But that can lead to reduced creativity, slower and worse decision-making, and even fatal mistakes. So how can we return to our best selves? Having studied conflict management and resolution over the past several years, the author outlines seven principles to help you work more effectively with difficult colleagues: (1) Understand that your perspective is not the only one possible. (2) Be aware of and question any unconscious biases you may be harboring. (3) View the conflict not as me-versus-them but as a problem to be jointly solved. (4) Understand what outcome you’re aiming for. (5) Be very judicious in discussing the issue with others. (6) Experiment with behavior change to find out what will improve the situation. (7) Make sure to stay curious about the other person and how you can more effectively work together.

Early in my career I took a job reporting to someone who had a reputation for being difficult. I’ll call her Elise. Plenty of people warned me that she would be hard to work with, but I thought I could handle it. I prided myself on being able to get along with anyone. I didn’t let people get under my skin. I could see the best in everyone.

• Amy Gallo is a contributing editor at Harvard Business Review, cohost of the Women at Work podcast , and the author of two books: Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People) and the HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict . She writes and speaks about workplace dynamics. Watch her TEDx talk on conflict and follow her on LinkedIn . amyegallo

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5 Strategies for Conflict Resolution in the Workplace

• 07 Sep 2023

Any scenario in which you live, work, and collaborate with others is susceptible to conflict. Because workplaces are made up of employees with different backgrounds, personalities, opinions, and daily lives, discord is bound to occur. To navigate it, it’s crucial to understand why it arises and your options for resolving it.

Common reasons for workplace conflict include:

• Misunderstandings or poor communication skills
• Differing opinions, viewpoints, or personalities
• Biases or stereotypes
• Variations in learning or processing styles
• Perceptions of unfairness

Although conflict is common, many don’t feel comfortable handling it—especially with colleagues. As a business leader, you’ll likely clash with other managers and need to help your team work through disputes.

Here’s why conflict resolution is important and five strategies for approaching it.

Access your free e-book today.

Why Is Addressing Workplace Conflict Important?

Pretending conflict doesn’t exist doesn’t make it go away. Ignoring issues can lead to missed deadlines, festering resentment, and unsuccessful initiatives.

Yet, according to coaching and training firm Bravely , 53 percent of employees handle “toxic” situations by avoiding them. Worse still, averting a difficult conversation can cost an organization $7,500 and more than seven workdays.

That adds up quickly: American businesses lose $359 billion yearly due to the impact of unresolved conflict.

As a leader, you have a responsibility to foster healthy conflict resolution and create a safe, productive work environment for employees.

“Some rights, such as the right to safe working conditions or the right against sexual harassment, are fundamental to the employment relationship,” says Harvard Business School Professor Nien-hê Hsieh in the course Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability . “These rights are things that employees should be entitled to no matter what. They’re often written into the law, but even when they aren’t, they’re central to the ethical treatment of others, which involves respecting the inherent dignity and intrinsic worth of each individual.”

Effectively resolving disputes as they arise benefits your employees’ well-being and your company’s financial health. The first step is learning about five conflict resolution strategies at your disposal.

Related: How to Navigate Difficult Conversations with Employees

While there are several approaches to conflict, some can be more effective than others. The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Model —developed by Dr. Kenneth W. Thomas and Dr. Ralph H. Kilmann—outlines five strategies for conflict resolution:

• Accommodating
• Compromising
• Collaborating

These fall on a graph, with assertiveness on the y-axis and cooperativeness on the x-axis. In the Thomas-Kilmann model, “assertiveness” refers to the extent to which you try to reach your own goal, and “cooperativeness” is the extent to which you try to satisfy the other party’s goal.

Alternatively, you can think of these axis labels as the “importance of my goal” and the “importance of this relationship.” If your assertiveness is high, you aim to achieve your own goal. If your cooperativeness is high, you strive to help the other person reach theirs to maintain the relationship.

Here’s a breakdown of the five strategies and when to use each.

1. Avoiding

Avoiding is a strategy best suited for situations in which the relationship’s importance and goal are both low.

While you’re unlikely to encounter these scenarios at work, they may occur in daily life. For instance, imagine you’re on a public bus and the passenger next to you is loudly playing music. You’ll likely never bump into that person again, and your goal of a pleasant bus ride isn’t extremely pressing. Avoiding conflict by ignoring the music is a valid option.

In workplace conflicts—where your goals are typically important and you care about maintaining a lasting relationship with colleagues—avoidance can be detrimental.

Remember: Some situations require avoiding conflict, but you’re unlikely to encounter them in the workplace.

2. Competing

Competing is another strategy that, while not often suited for workplace conflict, can be useful in some situations.

This conflict style is for scenarios in which you place high importance on your goal and low importance on your relationships with others. It’s high in assertiveness and low in cooperation.

You may choose a competing style in a crisis. For instance, if someone is unconscious and people are arguing about what to do, asserting yourself and taking charge can help the person get medical attention quicker.

You can also use it when standing up for yourself and in instances where you feel unsafe. In those cases, asserting yourself and reaching safety is more critical than your relationships with others.

When using a competing style in situations where your relationships do matter (for instance, with a colleague), you risk impeding trust—along with collaboration, creativity, and productivity.

3. Accommodating

The third conflict resolution strategy is accommodation, in which you acquiesce to the other party’s needs. Use accommodating in instances where the relationship matters more than your goal.

For example, if you pitch an idea for a future project in a meeting, and one of your colleagues says they believe it will have a negative impact, you could resolve the conflict by rescinding your original thought.

This is useful if the other person is angry or hostile or you don’t have a strong opinion on the matter. It immediately deescalates conflict by removing your goal from the equation.

While accommodation has its place within organizational settings, question whether you use it to avoid conflict. If someone disagrees with you, simply acquiescing can snuff out opportunities for innovation and creative problem-solving .

As a leader, notice whether your employees frequently fall back on accommodation. If the setting is safe, encouraging healthy debate can lead to greater collaboration.

Related: How to Create a Culture of Ethics and Accountability in the Workplace

4. Compromising

Compromising is a conflict resolution strategy in which you and the other party willingly forfeit some of your needs to reach an agreement. It’s known as a “lose-lose” strategy, since neither of you achieve your full goal.

This strategy works well when your care for your goal and the relationship are both moderate. You value the relationship, but not so much that you abandon your goal, like in accommodation.

For example, maybe you and a peer express interest in leading an upcoming project. You could compromise by co-leading it or deciding one of you leads this one and the other the next one.

Compromising requires big-picture thinking and swallowing your pride, knowing you won’t get all your needs fulfilled. The benefits are that you and the other party value your relationship and make sacrifices to reach a mutually beneficial resolution.

5. Collaborating

Where compromise is a lose-lose strategy, collaboration is a win-win. In instances of collaboration, your goal and the relationship are equally important, motivating both you and the other party to work together to find an outcome that meets all needs.

An example of a situation where collaboration is necessary is if one of your employees isn’t performing well in their role—to the point that they’re negatively impacting the business. While maintaining a strong, positive relationship is important, so is finding a solution to their poor performance. Framing the conflict as a collaboration can open doors to help each other discover its cause and what you can do to improve performance and the business’s health.

Collaboration is ideal for most workplace conflicts. Goals are important, but so is maintaining positive relationships with co-workers. Promote collaboration whenever possible to find creative solutions to problems . If you can’t generate a win-win idea, you can always fall back on compromise.

Considering Your Responsibilities as a Leader

As a leader, not only must you address your own conflicts but help your employees work through theirs. When doing so, remember your responsibilities to your employees—whether ethical, legal, or economic.

Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability groups your ethical responsibilities to employees into five categories:

• Well-being: What’s ultimately good for the person
• Rights: Entitlement to receive certain treatment
• Duties: A moral obligation to behave in a specific way
• Best practices: Aspirational standards not required by law or cultural norms
• Fairness: Impartial and just treatment

In the course, Hsieh outlines three types of fairness you can use when helping employees solve conflicts:

• Legitimate expectations: Employees reasonably expect certain practices or behaviors to continue based on experiences with the organization and explicit promises.
• Procedural fairness: Managers must resolve issues impartially and consistently.
• Distributive fairness: Your company equitably allocates opportunities, benefits, and burdens.

Particularly with procedural fairness, ensure you don’t take sides when mediating conflict. Treat both parties equally, allowing them time to speak and share their perspectives. Guide your team toward collaboration or compromise, and work toward a solution that achieves the goal while maintaining—and even strengthening—relationships.

Are you interested in learning how to navigate difficult decisions as a leader? Explore Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability —one of our online leadership and management courses —and download our free guide to becoming a more effective leader.

About the Author

7 Workplace Conflict Examples (Plus How to Handle Each One)

Nine out of 10 companies plan to implement “return to work” by the end of 2024, according to CNBC . With so many people coming back to the office , does this mean workplace conflict is destined to come along for the ride?

“Conflict in the workplace is inevitable. Any time you’re bringing people together, you’re going to get different perspectives,” shares Scott Monty , CEO and Principal of Scott Monty Strategies and Leadership Coach and Communications Strategist for Chameleon Collective.

This inevitability can actually work in your favor: If you know disagreements are bound to happen, you can prepare yourself. You can be on the lookout for common catalysts and try to mitigate them. And when an issue does arise, you can navigate it adeptly to keep the team unified and the work product strong.

Monty continues: “The key with any kind of conflict, whether personal or professional, is how you resolve it.” Now, keep in mind, we can’t divorce the individuality of everyone involved from our solutions and best practices for resolving workplace conflicts.

"Everyone has different communication needs: the pace of conversation, the length of time devoted to the conversation, the tone and level of detail shared within the conversation are all factors that differ between us and need to be considered for effective communication and conflict management," explains Lindsay Friedman, Leadership Development Coach and Founder of Lead With Lindsay .

Armed with this awareness that best practices and solutions must account for individual differences and workplace culture, here are 7 workplace conflict examples–and suggestions to navigate each one.

Examples of workplace conflict: Scenarios and solutions

1. inflexible thinking.

Inflexibility in the workplace, also known as black-and-white thinking or “my way or the highway”, usually doesn’t allow for multiple perspectives or solutions. In certain work environments, leaders, or colleagues might dismiss alternative approaches simply because they aren’t intuitive to them. As a result, team members may disengage, convinced no one wants to hear their original thoughts anyway.

The conflict arises when someone breaks the pattern. They offer innovation, feedback, pushback, or alternatives. These moments can be particularly sticky because they call for navigating two disagreements. There’s the difference of opinion over the best approach in the near-term, and whether repetition or expansive thinking is the way to go long-term.

How to handle it:

First, you’ll want to pick your battles. If someone’s drawn a line in the sand over something that won’t actually affect the team, the culture, or the results (i.e., it’s just rigid and different), let this pitch pass you by. Ask yourself: “If I wasn’t on this team, and the situation was handled as planned, do I think it would still succeed?”

If the answer is no, or if it’s a repeated scenario, then it’s important to address both the pathway forward in this specific instance, and the way ideas are presented. Of course, these should be two separate conversations.

Start with the immediate: “I notice we seem to have settled on a course of action before [consulting an expert]/ [conferring as a team]/ [considering xyz], could we discuss before finalizing?” Then once the dust has settled, look for ways to discuss culture (HR may be able to help).

2. Poor leadership

When it comes to conflict resolution in the workplace, leadership can be compared to money: not a primary concern when abundant, but when it’s absent, it can occupy most of your thoughts.

The worst kind of leadership vacuum doesn’t come from the absence of a leader, but from the absence of recognized leadership by a person in charge. A poor leader can make team members feel: unsupported, micro-managed, like they have nothing to do, like they have everything to do, and the list goes on.

So, how do you address the resultant workplace conflict as the employee or leader? The first thing to remember is that, in fact, you both have the power to do something about it.

If your manager lacks strong management skills , research “managing up.” You have the power to report on your work, and create space for feedback. Start by asking for a 1-on-1 meeting, and then, ask if you can schedule it regularly. Tell your manager specifically: “Here is where support/feedback would be particularly helpful.”

And if you’re a leader who hasn’t been given the tools to support your new team, ask for leadership training. This is too often an afterthought for people promoted because of job skills, not management skills.

Start by researching if there’s an online or in-person intensive, email the appropriate powers that be (HR? Your Boss?) and ask to attend. Frame your ask in terms of the company. It sounds like this: “I see there’s a training on managing Gen Z: This will allow me to communicate even more effectively…”

3. Balancing in-office presence

Post-pandemic, differing opinions on return to office have become a hot topic and are currently one of the most common examples of workplace conflict. Monty walks through how you could address this issue in your office, step by step:

“Determine where there is room to meet in the middle. If the two sides are hopelessly divided, then it’s important to recognize that as well. But understanding the reason behind the staked positions is key to working out a solution.

For example, if management wants an employee to spend more time physically in the office versus working remotely and the employee wants more days at home, determine why it’s important to each one. Maybe the employee has elder care issues that require them to be at home; maybe the employer wants to see work output.

In both cases, there are ways to accommodate the needs of the other: letting the employee work from home on days when healthcare visits are required; creating a regular cadence of updates on work completed for the employer.”

Monty makes a great point: If the company provides the flexibility for the individuals involved to find a solution, they can. As the employee, you should be candid about the specific flexibility you need–and the results you can be trusted to deliver. As the supervisor, do the same, in-office time should be critical, and scheduled reasonably in advance.

With that said, as Monty mentions as well, there isn’t always “room to meet in the middle.” Did your CEO just publicly declare return-to-work was mandatory, zero exceptions? Start sending your resume around, because sometimes the resolution is realizing it’s not the company culture for you.

4. Compensation disparities

Many years ago, I wrote a personal essay for The Muse entitled “ What You Should Learn From My $10,000 Career Mistake ”. It was the true story of how my failure to negotiate landed me in a parallel role but on a different payscale trajectory from my colleagues. And yes, it caused conflict.

First, I felt resentful of my colleague. We were of a similar age and experience, and she wasn’t working longer or harder, but she was making more money. Second, I felt resentful of my boss. She knew there was more budget available for my salary. She offered me the low end because she expected us to dance, I didn’t, and the money that was allocated for my role just didn’t go to me.

Third, I felt resentful of the institution. I knew rationally that my colleague and boss had nothing to do with my failure to negotiate. When the decision was made to tell me the salary for the role, why wasn’t it the actual amount allotted? Finally, I had conflict within myself that I was a living, breathing example of “If you don’t, you don’t get.”

The best way to address this conflict is to avoid it all together. Companies: Pay people what they’re worth to avoid the cost of repeated searches. Keep this in mind: When the underpaid hire finds out (and they will), tell-all tweets, LinkedIn statuses, and TikToks are becoming more prevalent–and then your organization will have to pay for another search (and perhaps a crisis team).

Job searchers: Negotiate. And while I’ve come a long way from leaving $10,000 from not asking; I’m still not the best person to advise you on this. But The Muse has a great resource on this topic right here .

5. Time management

Time is a non-renewable resource. So conflicts over time feel personal. Why is it taking your colleague or boss so long to get you that thing you need? Why is your boss or colleague rushing your process?

Time management touches so many other dicey areas, including: delegation, multitasking and productivity, and quality of deliverables. Some people enjoy the stress of working up to the last minute and others like being done two days early.

The best approach here is to be honest with your colleagues from the outset about what you need. For example, if the person you’re working with is notoriously tardy but does great work, saying clearly: “I need this by XYZ deadline in order for the project to be a success.” Or, “This client likes deliverables for review before the meeting.”

If the project requires concurrent work and you have different schedules, pose your concerns as questions: “How can I better support you in your part of the project?” Or, “Would it be helpful if I took [aspect] off your plate?” Or, “Could you give me visibility into your timelines for this project?”

6. Lack of recognition in the workplace

I know a business owner who used to ask his employees what their love language was when he hired them. While this may not be appropriate in your work environment, the sentiment holds. It’s helpful to know what appreciation means to your team. Is it: Words of affirmation? Gifts? Acts of service? In other words, do they want the pizza party or the monetary bonus?

The reason why it’s so helpful to get to know what feels like recognition, is that a lack of recognition can be both unintentional, and a cause for conflict.

There are several ways to avoid and address conflict in this area. First, be generous and avoid worst practices. Failure to credit colleagues for ideas or thank people for their efforts is never a good idea.

If you’re the one giving credit, remember: The ideal is to be sincere and share out loud and with documentation. Meaning, take the time to tell a teammate they did a great job–and write it in the performance review. The former is validating, and the latter is often key for advancement.

And if you’re dealing with a credit stealer? Ask questions (ideally, 1:1).. “Andrew, I’m thrilled the idea was well-received, but I was surprised that you didn’t mention we worked on it together?” You can follow up by asking directly: “How do you envision we share credit/responsibility as the project rolls out, now that it’s green lit?”

If this is recurrent, ask your boss how they’d recommend someone address someone else stealing their ideas.

7. Out-of-office personal conflict

Remember the good ol’ days when you were advised to avoid friending colleagues on Facebook in case someone tagged you in a college-era keg stand photo? Now, it’s because you might vote for different presidential candidates and that could lead to an all out feud.

To put it plain: These conflicts don’t belong in the workplace. Unless a colleague brings their perspectives into the office and engages you specifically: asking you to discuss your views, deriding you for your views, refusing to work with you because of your views—what they think and who they vote for is outside your purview.

Now, if it’s important to you to work in an environment where your colleagues will hold similar political ideologies; if you’re looking for a company with a strong public stance on ethical, moral, or political issues–that’s different. And you can find that.

If personal political transparency and alignment isn’t part of the company culture, it’s not something a team member should be enforcing. This is the sort of conflict best directed to HR, immediately.

Be as direct as possible in your email: “Could you please provide me with recommendations for a co-worker repeatedly questioning my political beliefs?” HR is literally there to help.

Conflict in the workplace may be inevitable, but the outcome is not. There are two takeaways you must keep in mind. First, while conflict can occur at any time, so can conflict resolution. Handled correctly, it can build even stronger relationships moving forward. Second, you don’t have to go it alone. While these suggestions are strong first steps, when behavior is concerning, elevate it to HR–that’s literally what they’re there for.

Workplace conflict examples and how to handle them

Navigating Workplace Conflict : Examples, Solutions, and Strategies

From petty squabbles to heated confrontations, workplaces experience conflicts. Resolving problems is in everyone’s best interest, as a tension-filled environment can hurt productivity, morale, and teamwork.

While details from individual situations vary, workplace conflicts tend to fall under one of four categories: task conflicts, leadership conflicts, interpersonal conflicts, or value conflicts. Gaining insight into these umbrella terms assists with conflict prevention, identification of root causes, and resolution.

Here, we look at examples of true-to-life incidents and what can be learned from them:

Task conflict

Businesses hire people to perform services. That does not mean, however, that everyone always sees eye to eye on what duties a role entails or how different people’s work affects the productivity of others. Work environments often experience task conflicts such as these two scenarios.

That’s not my job

Ashley is none too happy when the supervisor at the non-profit where she works asks her to help Erin and Austin solicit donations during an annual drive. Ashley does not view making phone calls as part of her job and resents the need to put the marketing project she was working on hold.

Things go well enough when the three meet to formulate a template for their calls, and Ashley even offers to run the lists of who each person will phone after lunch. Later in the day, Erin and Austin commented to each other how rough of a time they had getting donations. When Ashley passes by, they bring up the subject to her. She casually boasts that she has already exceeded the weekly goal and probably won’t be needed much longer. It later dawns on Erin and Austin to compare lists. They fume upon discovering Ashley’s contains last year’s top 50 donors. Now, the boss has three irate employees.

Analysis: Claims of “that’s not my job” are common in workplaces. Managers hearing this too often may need to reconsider listed responsibilities to more accurately reflect task expectations. While most job descriptions contain a clause stating the role includes “other tasks assigned by the manager as necessary,” providing reasons for them may prove helpful.

For instance, knowing that the original third member of the solicitation team needed to travel out-of-state for two weeks to get his mother settled in hospice following surgery may have improved Ashley’s attitude.

Task interdependencies

Before entering, Nico knows why the manager at the luxury resort where he works is calling him in. Nico oversees a team that puts the finishing touches on guest rooms. Several rooms today did not receive fresh-cut flowers on the nightstands and mints on the pillows. The cleaning crew once again ran over its allotted time, and Nico’s staff members could not get into the rooms to add amenities before new guests arrived. He has tried talking to the head of the cleaning department, but she insists her team is doing its best. He has suggested that management change check-in and check-out times to allow more room preparation between guests, but nobody seems interested in that solution.

Analysis: One person’s work often depends on another’s efforts. They must coordinate to enable each to complete their part. When this fails to happen, deadlines don’t get made, and quality suffers. Ill-will results.

Building a company culture that recognizes interdependency and promotes individual accountability can help. Employers also should make a point of seriously hearing out employee suggestions. Those with first-hand experience with situations often present worthy ideas, and listening promotes morale.

Leadership conflict

Leaders often step in to resolve employee conflict . Sometimes, however, managers themselves are the source of tension because of their leadership style. Consider these two rather common workplace conflicts.

Let’s make a decision already

Carl glances at the caller ID info on his phone and lets it go to voicemail. He’s embarrassed to talk to the rep from XYZ Tech. They met two weeks ago to go over the cost of upgrading the company’s computer system. XYZ gave what Carl judged as a good price and excellent terms of service. But, Carl’s boss Mike still has not given the official go-ahead to sign the contract. Every time Carl approaches the issue, Mike says he’s still weighing things and might want to get more estimates. This frustrates Carl to no end — he has talked to three different companies already! Though he bites his tongue, Carl desperately wants to yell at Mike to make up his mind.

Analysis: Managers vary in how fast they make decisions. Some feel comfortable coming to conclusions pretty quickly. Others, like Mike, take more time or like to explore all possibilities. Depending on their own personality and the situation at hand, either style could prove irritating to employees. What one worker labels “hasty,” another could see as “confident.” What a certain employee calls “thorough,” another may deem “neurotic.”

Too many decision-makers

Amy works at a comic book shop owned by two brothers. Tommy is an innovative dreamer with little patience for the day-to-day details of running a small business. Tony is highly practical and spends much of his time overseeing operations and handling monetary matters. While Amy agrees with customers who are always saying how much the two brothers complement one another, she refrains from adding that they also rarely see eye to eye – and she’s in the crossfire.

The latest battle is over an eight-foot-tall Thor statue that Tommy had her order to put in the store window. Tony blows a gasket when it arrives and tells her to return the pricey item immediately. Tommy comes in that afternoon eager for Thor at the entrance and goes nuts upon seeing Amy packaging him up. Angry at both men for all the hassle, Amy leaves for a long lunch.

Analysis: Just like the people they manage, leaders possess their own career goals and work styles. These differences can cause friction within the executive team. Employees taking direction from more than one manager may receive conflicting work orders or confusing expectations. To avoid putting this type of pressure on workers, managers need to communicate well with one another so that they can guide mutual team members more cohesively.

Interpersonal conflict

Relationships are tricky things, and ones in the workplace are no exception. These two examples of interpersonal conflict demonstrate how everything from misunderstandings to inherent personality differences can result in tensions.

Misunderstands are all-too-common

Julie walks by Sondra’s cubicle and notices her colleague furiously assembling packets for that afternoon’s marketing conference. She asks if she needs help. Sondra knows Julie already has a good deal on her own plate and politely declines the offer. A few minutes later, Sondra’s boss summons her to the conference room to get her input on a PowerPoint presentation. Before you know it, 20 minutes pass. Sondra says she needs to scramble back to finish those packets. Her boss tells Ben, who also was in on their meeting, to help her.

Engrossed in finishing, they do not even see Julie pass. During the conference, though, Sondra notices that Julie keeps glaring at her and smirks when Sondra stumbles for a second during her speech. Sondra later learns from the office admin that Julie is telling people that Sondra is “uppity.” Now, both women harbor grudges and avoid one another.

Analysis: This scenario showcases two of the most common causes of interpersonal conflict: miscommunication and assuming intentions. Julie sees the situation as Sondra rejecting her help but accepting Ben’s. Feeling insulted, she retaliates. Sondra, without a clue about the root of the problem, reads Julie as a mean gossip.

To resolve conflict, the two need to clear the air, perhaps with the help of a third party. Such a meeting allows each person to express her side and learn how the other interpreted events. Laying out facts and true intentions can help fix damage from poor communication.

Different personalities types don’t always mix well

Linda possesses what some might call an outgoing personality. If you ask Jennifer, though, she labels it just plain annoying. Linda finds her way into any conversation going on and quickly takes it over. She constantly wants to team up with others for problem-solving, while Jennifer greatly prefers independent work.

What Jennifer finds most troublesome, though, is Linda’s disregard for personal space. She stands too close when talking and frequently touches other people’s shoulders or wrists. When Linda went in for a big hug on Jennifer’s birthday, it took all the restraint Jennifer could muster not to yell “hands off!”

Analysis: Personality clashes abound in the workplace. The individual traits of staff members can make for an interesting, innovative team. But, they also can grate on nerves. Smart companies push employees to develop emotional intelligence. People high in this skill are good at reading body language and other social cues. They alter their behavior accordingly to avoid conflict. Self-awareness enables them to understand their own feelings and actions, and empathy helps them view situations from the other person’s side.

Value conflict

Workers hold various beliefs and moral codes. Workplace conflicts that arise from political, religious, or cultural differences can be quite passionate. Consider these two examples of value conflict – the first between two team members and the second between an employee and the employer:

Some conversations are best avoided

Rosalina puts on her headphones the minute she sees Kyle in his MAGA cap walk past her cubicle in the morning. She knows his first stop will be the water cooler, and she does not want to hear his conversation. Their differing opinions on everything from COVID vaccinations to abortion rights have made working together challenging over the past year or so. While she used to argue her point of view, human resources put out a memo to all staff members asking them to refrain from discussing politics in the work environment. Kyle still holds court when the boss isn’t around, but Rosalina does not want to risk getting in trouble.

Analysis: Sometimes conflict resolution involves co-workers agreeing to disagree — and maintaining distance. HR’s proactive efforts to handle conflict before it escalated made a difference. All business owners and managers, though, should keep an open ear to what might be going on behind their back and talk to individuals accordingly.

Differing priorities can lead to dissatisfaction

Jacob does not feel like going to work today, but he has already depleted his PTO. He used to enjoy his sales position at a consumer electronics retailer, but nowadays the job stresses him out. The company culture is about profits, not people. Leaders encourage workers to push pricey or unnecessary items rather than what is actually in the customer’s best interest.

Jacob has witnessed co-workers deliberately fudging estimated delivery dates simply to make a sale. And after Jacob spent time the other day helping an elderly customer navigate her new mobile phone, his manager suggested that before his next performance review Jacob learn to evaluate the “worth” of people coming through the door and focus on those most “deserving” of his time. Always close to his own grandmother and raised by a single mother, Jacob felt sick at the thought of following that advice.

Analysis: Burnout and absenteeism both rise at places where company ethics and employee values do not match well. Quitting becomes an attractive option for conflicted workers. Factors such as lack of other opportunities or difficulty walking away from a good salary, however, come into play. Thus, resolving conflicts of this nature often requires intense consideration of personal standards vs. career concerns. More Resources: Foolproof strategies to resolve conflict in the workplace Types of workplace conflict and how to handle them Conflict management styles and when to use them

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Conflicts and Disputes at Workplace, and Their Resolution Essay

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What are possible alternative dispute resolution systems (ADRs)?

Conflicts are an inherent and unavoidable aspect of any workplace interactions, which is why avoiding them is likely to result in a failure to help the parties reconcile, as well as the eventual outburst of emotions that will be very difficult to regulate. However, litigation as a formal means of resolving an organizational conflict is also undesirable given the possible repercussions, as well as the impressive expenses that both sides will take. Thus, other options must be considered.

Selecting an appropriate strategy for handling a workplace conflict, one might want to consider mediation. Another option for managing conflicts in the workplace, negotiation is also quite known and well-established as a conflict management tool. Typically, negotiation implies that a conflict can be resolved by applying one of four core strategies, namely, collaboration, compromise, accommodation, and avoidance. To ensure that all parties are aware of the consequences and accept the proposed solution, it will be necessary to have them signed the contract.

What is the difference between a conflict and a dispute?

A conflict and a dispute might appear to be fully synonymous at first, yet the further analysis of the two notions will show that they are quite different. Unlike a dispute, which is typically short-term and driven by clear factors, a conflict is a long-term phenomenon with multiple underlying issues. To discover the reasons for the conflicts and disputes to occur in the described setting, one should talk individually to the participants involved in the confrontation. Thus, one will have several perspectives, analyzing which will lead to the likely root of the problem. Although a dispute resolution clause would be very appropriate, it will not provide the solution to every scenario, which means that conflicts will still have to be solved on a case-by-case basis. Likewise, consulting agreements with clients will need to have a legal basis to rely on when managing them, which is why a specific policy must be provided. However, each conflict will have to be handled individually. In turn, the general dispute resolution system would include a framework based on mediation and negotiation in order to keep the relationships between the parties as neutral and devoid of emotional tension as possible.

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Effective Ways to Handle Conflict in the Workplace, Essay Example

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Introduction

Conflicts are an essential component of any organization’s performance. Conflicts may stem from employees’ dissatisfaction with the conditions of work, from cultural and ethnic disagreements with co-workers and managers, from unequal pay and unfair performance appraisal and even from increasing workloads and emotional difficulties/ stress. However, that organizations perceive conflicts as a source of productive change does not mean that workplace conflicts do not need effective resolution. Organizations, employees, and HR professionals should possess skills and knowledge, to resolve their conflicts effectively. Alternative conflict resolution approaches, conflict resolution policies, and conflict resolution systems are among the most reliable approaches to handling workplace conflicts; but they are gradually giving place to other, more innovative and productive conflict resolution techniques similar to Integrative Management solutions.

Workplace conflicts: types and features of workplace conflicts

A conflict (and workplace conflict, in particular) is a disagreement between parties, which threatens their needs, concerns, and interests (Blackard 57). In other words, a workplace conflict is a form of disagreement that occurs in the workplace and threatens interests, needs, and concerns of the parties involved. Workplace conflicts can occur at any level of the organization and organizational structure, and employees are the ones most frequently involved in interpersonal conflicts in the workplace (Liberman, Levy & Segal 64). Literature describes five different of workplace conflicts. These include factual, interpersonal, legal, professional conflicts, and conflicting opinions on workplace policy issues (Liberman, Levy & Segal 64). The major causes of workplace conflicts cover organizational culture, the amount of workplace autonomy, the extent of employee specialization, organization’s policies and rules, management style, communication, workloads, and the level of workplace stress (Liberman, Levy & Segal 64). Disagreement about the methods of cooperation is the most frequent cause of interpersonal conflicts between employees (Liberman, Levy & Segal 64).

Because cooperation is necessarily linked to the quality of every employee’s performance and the results of every employee’s work, it is natural that such conflicts result in strong feelings, hot opposition, and acute stress, and can even be potentially destructive to all parties (Liberman, Levy & Segal 64). The intensity of workplace conflicts directly relates to the organizational significance of the parties involved. That means that conflicts between an employee and a supervisor are more serious and more complex compared with conflicts between employees because of the degree of risks and uncertainties that accompany such conflicts. According to Liberman, Levy and Segal, “conflict with supervisors can generate concern about job security, cause a loss of interest in the job, and damage the employee’s sense of self-worth and ability to socialize” (64). Taking into account the level of stress and anxiety which such conflicts may cause in employees, it is obvious that unresolved conflicts are likely to pay high price for organizations and their workers. Unresolved workplace conflicts usually reflect in higher turnover, poorer performance, ineffective decision-making, absenteeism, declining motivation, and higher costs (Liberman, Levy & Segal 65). That is why effective resolution of workplace conflicts is vital for the continuous organizational success and can even serve the source of sustained competitive advantage.

Resolving workplace conflicts: weighing available options

Managers and HR professionals in organizations can always choose to witness silently the development of a conflict between the disputants. They can also grant the third party the right to monitor and control the process of resolving the conflict. These approaches to workplace conflict resolution give employees some degree of autonomy, and can help them to learn the best ways or resolving conflicts with their colleagues. Yet, giving employees freedom to control the process of conflict resolution is not always the best choice, for the parties involved in a workplace conflict have conflicting interests and do not possess information needed to resolve their conflict in a productive way (Blackard 58). Conflicts that involve a third party or are resolved by force cannot be effective because they do not address interests of either party and do not help to resolve the underlying problems (Blackard 58). That is why alternative dispute resolution, dispute resolution policies, and conflict resolution systems are among the most popular and most effective means to handle workplace conflicts.

Alternative dispute resolution is fairly regarded as a minimal approach to resolving workplace conflicts, because managers can use this method to encourage employees to surface conflict (e.g., through an open-door policy) or to provide employees with training, which will help them to resolve their conflict effectively (Blackard 58). Alternative dispute resolution techniques in organizations utilize hidden employee potentials and capabilities, and training/ communication add to the skills and abilities, which employees can use to avoid or to quickly resolve emerging workplace controversies. Alternative dispute resolution is an effective method of resolving workplace conflicts before they grow into litigation. This form of handling workplace conflicts is less risky and more effective compared to those, which are used at later stages of conflict. Nevertheless, ADR is not effective in itself because it cannot obligate employees to choose one particular method of dispute resolution. Thus, the results of ADR application in the workplace depend on a whole complex of conditions and factors.

Organizations often apply to dispute resolution policies, which communicate the basic principles of conflict resolution, are implemented at all levels of the organizational structure and before the conflict occurs, and provide management with better opportunities to control the process of resolving workplace conflicts (Blackard 59). For example, such policies can require that employees involved in a workplace conflict ask HR professionals for assistance or request voluntary mediation in resolving their conflicts (Blackard 59). Open-door policies, the chain of command, and professional assistance are some of the most frequent elements which companies usually include into their dispute resolution policies; the latter are designed to offer a straightforward procedure of conflict resolution, which any employee will be able to use in case of a workplace conflict (Blackard 59). Such policies do not make workplace conflicts less rare; nor do they reduce the severity of workplace conflicts, but they make the process of handling any workplace conflict easier, less expensive, and more productive. “Since such policies usually rely on employees to take the initiative and contemplate only a reactive role from management, the effort and cost associated with their ongoing administration is minimal” (Blackard 59). These policies, however, represent an intermediate stage between simpler alternative dispute techniques and more complex systems of conflict resolution in organizations.

Conflict resolution systems represent a complex solution to workplace conflicts, which organizations can develop and implement to reduce the risks of counterproductive conflicts and to create conditions necessary to timely surface and resolve conflicts that do occur (Blackard 59). To design these systems, organizations can use various components, including policies, HR strategies, point persons and departments, ombuds, voluntary mediation, panels, neutral fact-finding processes, and even independent counsels (Blackard 59). Unfortunately, such systems have their price and only large organizations can afford developing and implementing this form of conflict resolution techniques. Managers in any organization should always think of how to reduce the cost of counterproductive conflict and to improve the quality of organization’s performance.

In the context of workplace conflict resolution, interactive management came to exemplify a novel approach to resolving conflicts that occur in workplace environments. In complex terms, “the Interactive Management system is designed to fully utilize multiple voices in helping the group identify the relevant dimensions of the problem situation” (Broome et al 259). Interactive Management makes it possible for the parties involved in a workplace conflict to evaluate the situation from multiple perspectives. Interactive Management recognizes that using a variety of perspectives is crucial to those, who seek to resolve a workplace conflict effectively (Broome et al 259). Interactive Management usually involves several stages: (1) developing an understanding of the conflict situation; (2) establishing a collective basis of thinking about the problem and its potential resolution; (3) creating a framework for effective resolution (Blackard 243). As the parties involved in a workplace conflict move through these stages, they acquire a better sense of understanding the situation, learn better communication and knowledge sharing skills, and can use them to productively manage and resolve any workplace conflict. It should be noted, that these are just the few out of numerous methods to handle workplace conflict. Organizations are encouraged to develop policies and procedures that will help them timely identify and prevent conflicts between employees and between them and management. Simultaneously, there is still a long road ahead employees possess skills and knowledge necessary for them to avoid the conflict at all levels of their organizational performance.

Conflict is considered as an essential component of any organization’s performance: that conflicts often lead to effective solutions of organizational problems is a well-known fact. Yet, unresolved conflicts result in poorer organizational performance. HR professionals possess a wide choice of techniques and solutions, which they can use to handle workplace conflicts effectively. Alternative dispute resolution techniques, conflict resolution policies and systems have already become inseparable from the major organizational policies and procedures. Today, however, conventional conflict resolution techniques gradually give place to more innovative approaches to handling workplace conflicts, and here, Interactive management is likely to become the determining trend in handling workplace conflicts.

Works Cited

Blackard, K. “Assessing Workplace Conflict Resolution Options.” Dispute Resolution Journal, 56.1 (2001): 57-62. Print.

Broome, B.J., DeTurk, S., Kristjandsottir, E.S., Kanata, T. & Ganesan, P. “Giving Voice to Diversity: An Interactive Approach to Conflict Management and Decision-Making in Culturally Diverse Work Environments”. Journal of Business and Management, 8.3 (2002): 239-264. Print.

Liberman, E., Levy, Y.F. & Segal, P. “Designing an Internal Organizational System for Conflict Management Based on Needs Assessment.” Dispute Resolution Journal, 12.642 (2009): 62-74. Print

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10 Common Causes of Conflict at Workplace

Conflict is a natural and unavoidable part of our lives. It can happen in any situation, whether we are at home with our families, out with friends, or at work.

Although it’s difficult to avoid conflict at workplace. But it’s possible to recognise the common causes of conflict at workplace and resolve it.

When conflicts are resolved amicably, these can lead to better ideas, better relationship and performance of employees.  

In this blog post, we’ll take a look at some of the most common sources of conflict at workplace, and we’ll provide tips on how to manage them effectively.

What is Conflict at Workplace?

Conflict at workplace is defined as “a disagreement between two or more people working together on a common goal”. It happens due to difference of opinions, motivation, and goals. 

Everyone has a different mindset, background and perspectives and has a different values and worldview. Every employee has a unique way to express the conflict.

Conflicts are expressed in different ways. People stop cooperating with others, some use verbal insults to express conflict, anger and physical brawl are also common expression of conflict. 

Types/Causes of conflict at workplace

1. Leadership style 

Every leadership has own style some are highly skilled and strictly follow the rules while others are bold, welcomed and inviting. Some leaders take good care of their employees while others totally thing about organisation.

When there is a disagreement about the direction the company should be going, it can lead to conflict among employees. For example, if the CEO wants to implement a new strategy that will involve layoffs, this could lead to conflict with employees who are worried about their jobs.

2. Resistance to change 

It’s always difficult to accept change. Employees resist change out of fear of unknown and uncertainty. They fear loss of their jobs and feel uncomfortable about adopting new ways of working. 

Whenever an organization implement change, employees and other stakeholders start resisting it. Sometimes this resistance is so powerful that it can derail entire change initiative. 

This resistance is a source of conflict at workplace. It’s a conflict between who wants to implement change and who wants status-quo. 

3. Difference in personalities 

Humans are not exactly alike. They have different nature, characteristics, perspectives and backgrounds. It’s good to have different type of personalities at workplace because it makes a workplace diverse. Diversity has its own merits.

But difference in personalities often causes conflict at workplace. For example, introverts may find extroverts to be too loud and outgoing while extrovert may find introverts to be too shy and reserved.

People often lack their ability to understand and adjust with difference of personality and this causes conflict at workplace. 

4. Working style 

People have different working style. Some people work quickly without guidance while others cannot complete task without proper instructions. When they do not complete the task that create a conflict.

Someone may like creative work but others are methodical and follow process. This difference is also a source of conflict. 

If one employee feels like they are being overloaded with work, this can lead to conflict with their manager or co-workers. This can also happen if one employee feels like they are not being given enough work to do.

5. Limited resources 

Some organizations have limited resources like equipments, machines, tools. There is conflict at workplace when these resources are not equally available for all team members. 

For example, if there are only a few laptops or systems available in the office, this can lead to conflict between employees who need to use them. The intensity of this type of conflict gets worse when there is no policy available on usage of resources and entitlements. 

6. Competition 

Everyone wants to get higher position in office or job but it is not possible. If there is a lot of competition among employees for promotions or raises, this can lead to conflict. Some employees feel they are not fairly treated. 

 This can also happen if employees feel like they are not being given the same opportunities as their colleagues. Sometime a person works on an idea of other and got the higher position, this also create a conflict among team members.

7. Politics at workplace 

Politics or favoritism can create a conflict among people in the workplace. Sometime boss or higher authority give special favor too few employees this can create a fuss and conflict in the workplace.

Office politics can often lead to conflict in the workplace. For example, if one employee is trying to get another employee fired, he/she will make a group and involve few persons in it, this can lead to conflict between the two employees. 

8. Work related stress

Work related stress is very common cause of conflict at workplace. When employees are under stress, they feel physical symptoms like increased heart rate, sweating, and difficulty thinking clearly. It generates negative emotional like anger, anxiety, and fear which leads to conflict among team members. 

 If left unchecked, stress can have a serious impact on our health, both mental and physical. Employees who get caught in conflict mays find themselves feeling anxious, stressed, and even physically ill. They may also have difficulty concentrating, and their performance may suffer. 

9. Bullying 

If behaviour or action of a coworker is threatening to health or safety of other coworker then it is also defined as workplace bullying.   It might come in verbal, physical, or emotional abuse, and it can happen to anyone in workplace.

There are various negative consequences of workplace bullying such as low morale of victim, mental health issues, reduced productivity and conflict. 

If management and leadership doesn’t pay attention to address bullying then the victim may resort to conflict out of his/her frustration.

10. Bad Work Habits 

There are certain bad work habits which cause conflict at workplace. If someone is showing up late or procrastinating or missing deadlines then this habit may affect work of other coworkers. This ultimately causes conflict. 

Workplace gossip is also one of common bad habits. When people talk about someone’s else personal life or professional life in his/her absence. This habit produces negativity, reduces productivity and spark conflict.

These bad work habits can be addressed if leadership and senior managers are not involved in it. They can rectify it by taking correction actions. But if they are involved in these habits then these bad habits will become organizational culture and then it’s hard to change that culture. 

Conclusion 

Conflicts happen at every workplace. The first step to resolve conflict at workplace is to understand what causes that conflict. There are ten most common causes of conflicts and if these are analyzed by leadership then there are high chances that conflicts will be resolved amicably and professionally.

About The Author

Tahir Abbas

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Home — Essay Samples — Sociology — Conflict Resolution — Conflicts and Conflict Resolution in the Workplace

Conflicts and Conflict Resolution in The Workplace

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Published: Dec 11, 2018

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Introduction, works cited.

• Booher, D. (2013). Communicate with Confidence!: How to Say It Right the First Time and Every Time. McGraw-Hill Education.
• Khan, A., Iqbal, S., & Hussainy, S. (2016). Ownership Structure and Firm Performance: Evidence from the Corporate Governance Reform in Pakistan. International Journal of Financial Studies, 4(3), 15.
• Sharma, V., & Mehta, N. (2017). A Study on Agency Cost Theory and Its Determinants: Evidence from India. Global Business Review, 18(2), 381-399.
• Terason, E. R. (2018). Conflict, Agency Costs, and Optimal Ownership Structure. The Journal of Finance, 73(1), 429-462.
• [Anonymous]. (n.d.). Conflict Management in the Workplace. Retrieved from https://www.wisconsin.edu/uw-policies/uw-system-administrative-policies/conflict-management-in-the-workplace/
• De Dreu, C. K. W., & Gelfand, M. J. (2008). The Psychology of Conflict and Conflict Management in Organizations. Psychology Press.
• Elnaga, A., & Imran, A. (2013). The Effect of Conflict Management on Organizational Performance: Evidence from Jordan. International Journal of Business and Management, 8(6), 57-67.
• Folger, J. P., Poole, M. S., & Stutman, R. K. (2013). Working Through Conflict: Strategies for Relationships, Groups, and Organizations. Routledge.
• Rahim, M. A. (2002). Toward a Theory of Managing Organizational Conflict. The International Journal of Conflict Management, 13(3), 206-235.
• Robbins, S. P., Coulter, M., & DeCenzo, D. A. (2020). Fundamentals of Management. Pearson.

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The Cultural Dynamics of Workplace Conflict in China

Causes of Workplace Conflict

Strategies for managing workplace conflict, 1. stimulating conflict, 2. controlling conflict, 3. resolving and eliminating conflict, application of conflict management strategies, 2) empathize, 3) apologize, 4) know your options, the impact of conflict on business, 1. erosion of camaraderie and trust, 2. impaired teamwork, 3. uncomfortable workplace, proactive conflict management: a strategic imperative, 1. establishing a conflict-positive culture, 2. training in conflict resolution skills, 3. implementing a mediation program.

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How to Identify and Address Conflict in the Workplace

​Conflict is inevitable in the workplace, so it's important to confront conflict when it first arises, before there's a chance for the situation to worsen, said Christy L. Foley during a presentation at the SHRM Talent Conference & Expo in Denver on April 13.

Foley is the founder of Orlando, Fla.-based E-Mediation Services. She also is chairwoman of Florida's Mediator Ethics Committee, an officer in the Florida Bar's Alternative Dispute Resolution Section and a visiting lecturer at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

"A lot of times when conflict does pop up, people kind of let it simmer. It simmers in their brains, it simmers in their hearts and eventually you start to have a lot of negative morale—and negative morale is contagious," she said.

"If you don't confront conflict when you first see it, the problem is going to get really big. When it's big, it's harder to deal with. More people are usually involved, and it usually has more long-lasting effects that are hard to get rid of," such as poor morale and decreased productivity.

"It's important that if you really want to be a good leader within your workplace, you identify the early signs of conflict, when they're easier to resolve and less likely to negatively impact the people involved," she said.

Forms of Conflict

Conflict can have many causes, Foley noted, including:

• Understaffing . This is a particular problem during the Great Resignation. Managers are frustrated at having reduced staffing, customers are unhappy about the resulting service they are receiving and workers are burned out from assuming the work of co-workers who have left.
• Remote work preferences . The desire to work remotely may not mesh with certain jobs or the organization's vision for how certain jobs are performed.
• Generational gaps . This is happening more frequently, Foley said. "Those generational gaps really are a big deal. People of different generations have different ways of thinking about things, from their work ethic or how something should get done."
• Miscommunication and not understanding another person's perspective . It may be different styles of communicating, people not listening attentively to each other or simply a matter of crossed signals, but miscommunication can be "a huge source of conflict in the long run," Foley said.
• Varying work ethics . Your team may include people who won't work one minute past the end of their shifts and others who regularly take on extra tasks and work additional hours. The latter group may resent co-workers—or their boss—for allowing this situation to develop.
• Different ideas about how the company, department or team is operating . "When different leaders with the company have different visions of where the company should go, even at a department level … they're going to start to butt heads," she said, leading to a negative environment.
• Competing alpha personalities . "Managers are usually alpha personalities," Foley pointed out. "But when they hire other people who are alpha personalities like them, all of a sudden you have a bunch of people who want to be leaders when only a handful of people in the department can actually be leaders. So, it's important to watch out for work environments like that."

Signs of Conflict

Disagreements and conflict in the workplace are signaled in a variety of ways, including:

• Confusion . "If there's confusion, then that's a sign there's some sort of conflict. There's some sort of resistance to whatever is being done," Foley said.  Quickly address the confusion by being transparent and answering questions, such as sharing with employees the factors that went into making a decision. "They may still choose to disagree with the decision, but at least they won't be confused by it. They'll understand the factors at play."

Burnout . This might be signaled by workers who constantly call in sick or often talk about how overwhelmed they are with work demands. Talk to them—and really listen.

She suggested, "When you ask about what they did over the weekend and they say, 'Oh I worked all weekend,' make sure you talk to those people about why they're working so much. Is this something you knew about?" If so, show appreciation for their work or apologize for the situation that is creating extra demands on them, such as an understaffing issue. If not, delve deeper to learn why they are putting in long hours, and see if you can help them better prioritize or delegate their workload to avoid the excess stress.

• Complaints . This is a clear sign of conflict. Foley urged leaders to figure out the root of the complaints so as to address it with employees.

Resolving Conflicts

Foley recommended taking the following actions:

• Create a private setting for a conversation with the person or parties involved . She highly recommended talking one-on-one with each person to get his or her perspective, then bringing the parties together for a conversation.

Encourage people to speak openly . Give them your full attention. Step away from your computer. Perhaps move your chair away from behind your desk to facilitate active listening.

Consider opening the conversation by saying something such as, "I'm trying to figure out what's going on here. I've noticed you don't quite seem like yourself. I feel like something must be up and wanted to give you an opportunity to talk to me to see if there's anything I can do to help you," Foley said.

• Let the people you are talking with know you are open to constructive feedback . Tell them, "I'd love it if we could just talk openly, whatever's on your mind … because I feel like something's upsetting you right now. If it's me, tell me. By all means, I'm open to your feedback because I value your insight into how this company is run," she said.

Be transparent and avoid being defensive and competitive . "You want to give people all the details you have and all the factors that went into any decision-making" that prompted the conflict, Foley said. If it's about the lack of a promotion or raise, for example, it can help workers learn what they need to improve on to become better employees and achieve their goals in the future.

Refrain from being defensive or competitive if the conflict involves you as a leader, Foley said.

"You may have no idea the person was mad at you. Sometimes it's the people who intend no harm who wind up [getting] the most defensive in these kinds of situations because their intent was so pure," she said. If this happens, ask the other person if you may take a five-minute break so you can process the information and compose yourself. Then return to the conversation.

Competitiveness can be its own source of conflict—whether over an assignment or recognition the other person desired. If conflict is the result of employees accusing you of being competitive to their—or the team's—detriment, be transparent so they better understand the decision that was made.

• Reframe what the person said. When the employee has finished talking, restate what you heard and ask them to let you know if you heard them correctly. This is to make sure there isn't any miscommunication and to demonstrate that you want to understand them.
• Show empathy . Acknowledge that you understand they are going through something difficult; you are not trying to fix the problem or putting a positive spin on something troubling them, but being present and understanding.
• Create opportunities for cooperation . Brainstorm creative solutions together so it's not you as a leader issuing a solution. 

Have a follow-up plan . This includes checking in with employees later to see how they are faring post-discussion. If the solution to solve the conflict requires others to be involved, notify them.

Be attentive to future signs of conflict going forward, Foley advised. "Once we get to know people, once we build those relationships with them, we can be more attentive … and notice those signs of conflict early on."

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The President Can Now Assassinate You, Officially

Under this new standard, a president can go on a four-to-eight-year crime spree and then retire from public life, never to be held accountable.

United States Supreme Court justices pose for their official portrait on October 7, 2022, in Washington, DC.

Welp, Donald Trump won. The Supreme Court today ruled that presidents are entitled to “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution for official acts, then contended that pressuring the vice president and the Department of Justice to overthrow the government was an “official act,” then said that talking to advisers or making public statements are “official acts” as well, and then determined that evidence of what presidents say and do cannot be used against them to establish that their acts are “unofficial.”

The ruling from the Supreme Court was 6-3, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, on a straight party-line vote, with all the Republican-appointed justices joining to give the president the power of a king. While some parts of the federal indictment against Trump will be remanded back down to the district-court trial judge to determine whether any of Trump’s actions were “unofficial” (“unofficial” acts, the court says, are not entitled to immunity), Trump’s victory in front of the Supreme Court is total. Essentially, all he has to do is claim that everything he did to plot a coup was part of his “official” duties, and the Supreme Court provided no clear method or evidentiary standard that can be used to challenge that presumption.

Legally, there are two critical things to understand about the totality of the court’s ruling here:

• The immunity is absolute
• There is no legislative way to get rid of what the court has given

On the first point, the immunity granted to Trump in this case far exceeds the immunity granted to, say, police officers or other government officials, when they act in their official capacities. Those officials are granted “qualified” immunity from civil penalties. Because the immunity is “qualified,” it can be taken away (“pierced” is the legal jargon for taking away an official’s qualified immunity). People can bring evidence against officials and argue that they shouldn’t be given immunity because of the gravity or depravity of their acts.

Not so with Trump. Presidents are now entitled to “absolute” immunity, which means that no matter what they do, the immunity cannot be lost. They are always and forever immune, no matter what evidence is brought to bear.

Moreover, unlike other officials, presidents are now entitled to absolute immunity from criminal charges. Even a cop can be charged with, say, murder , even if they argue that killing people is part of their jobs. But not presidents. Presidents can murder, rape, steal, and pretty much do whatever they want, so long as they argue that murdering, raping, or stealing is part of the official job of the president of the United States. There is no crime that pierces the veil of absolute immunity.

And there is essentially nothing we can do to change it. The courts created qualified immunity for public officials, but it can be undone by state or federal legislatures if they pass a law removing that protection. Not so with absolute presidential immunity. The court here says that absolute immunity is required by the separation of powers inherent in the Constitution, meaning that Congress cannot take it away. Congress, according to the Supreme Court, does not have the power to pass legislation saying “the president can be prosecuted for crimes.” Impeachment, and only impeachment, is the only way to punish presidents, and, somewhat obviously, impeachment does nothing to a president who is already no longer in office.

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Under this new standard, a president can go on a four-to-eight-year crime spree, steal all the money and murder all the people they can get their hands on, all under guise of presumptive “official” behavior, and then retire from public life, never to be held accountable for their crimes while in office. That, according to the court, is what the Constitution requires. 

There will be Republicans and legal academics and whatever the hell job Jonathan Turley has who will go into overdrive arguing that the decision isn’t as bad as all that. These bad-faith actors will be quoted or even published in The Washington Post and The New York Times . They will argue that presidents can still be prosecuted for “unofficial acts,” and so they will say that everything is fine.

But they will be wrong, because while the Supreme Court says “unofficial” acts are still prosecutable, the court has left nearly no sphere in which the president can be said to be acting “unofficially.” And more importantly, the court has left virtually no vector of evidence that can be deployed against a president to prove that their acts were “unofficial.” If trying to overthrow the government is “official,” then what isn’t? And if we can’t use the evidence of what the president says or does, because communications with their advisers, other government officials, and the public is “official,” then how can we ever show that an act was taken “unofficially”?

Take the now-classic example of a president ordering Seal Team Six to assassinate a political rival. According to the logic of the Republicans on the Supreme Court, that would likely be an official act. According to their logic, there is also no way to prove it’s “unofficial,” because any conversation the president has with their military advisers (where, for instance, the president tells them why they want a particular person assassinated) is official and cannot be used against them.

There will doubtless be people still wondering if Trump can somehow be prosecuted: The answer is “no.” Special counsel Jack Smith will surely argue that presenting fake electors in connection with his cadre of campaign sycophants was not an “official act.” Lower-court judges may well agree. But when that appeal gets back to the Supreme Court next year, the same justices who just ruled that Trump is entitled to absolute immunity will surely rule that submitting fake electors was also part of Trump’s “official” responsibilities.

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There is no way to change that outcome in the short term. In the long term, the only way to undo the authoritarianism the court has just ushered in is to expand the Supreme Court . Democrats would have to win the upcoming presidential election and the House and the Senate. Then Congress would have to pass a law expanding the number of justices on the Supreme Court; then the Senate would have to pass that law as well, which, at a minimum, would likely have to include getting rid of the filibuster. Then the president would have to sign such a bill, and appoint additional Supreme Court justices who do not think that presidents should be kings—and then those justices would have to be confirmed. And all of that would have to happen before the current Supreme Court hears whatever Trump appeal from his January 6 charges comes up next, because if court expansion happens after the current Supreme Court dismisses the charges against him, double jeopardy will attach and Trump can never be prosecuted again under a less-fascist court.

So, since that’s not going to happen, Trump won. He won completely. He tried to overthrow the government, and he got away with it. I cannot even imagine what he’ll try if he is actually given power again, knowing full well that he will never be held accountable for literal crimes.

If you ever wondered what you’d have done in ancient Rome, when the Roman Republic was shuttered and Augustus Caesar declared himself the “first” citizen of Rome, the answer is: whatever you’re doing right now. It’s what you would have done during the Restoration of King Charles II in England, and what you would have done when Napoleon declared himself emperor of France. This, right here, is how republics die.

And the answer that cries out from the abyss of history is that most people, in real time, don’t care. Republics fall because most citizens are willing to give it away. Most people think that it won’t be that bad to lose the rule of law, and the people who stand to benefit from the ending of republican self-government tell everybody that it will be OK. When the Imperium came to be, the Romans didn’t realize that they were seeing the last form of European self-government for 2,000 years, and the ones who did were largely happy about it.

For my part, I assume that like Mark Antony’s wife, Fulvia, defiling the decapitated head of Cicero, Martha-Ann Alito will be jabbing her golden hairpin into my tongue for criticizing the powerful soon enough. But I’m just a writer. I wonder what the rest of you will do as the last vestiges of democracy are taken away by the Imperial Supreme Court and the untouchable executive officer they’ve just created.

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Elie Mystal is  The Nation ’s justice correspondent and the host of its legal podcast, Contempt of Court . He is also an Alfred Knobler Fellow at the Type Media Center. His first book is the New York Times bestseller Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution, published by The New Press. Elie can be followed @ElieNYC .

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Albert Camus on How to Live Whole in a Broken World

By maria popova.

Born into a World War to live through another, Albert Camus (November 7, 1913–January 4, 1960) died in a car crash with an unused train ticket to the same destination in his pocket. Just three years earlier, he had become the second-youngest laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded him for writing that “with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience” — problems like art as resistance , happiness as our moral obligation , and the measure of strength through difficult times .

During WWII, Camus stood passionately on the side of justice ; during the Cold War, he sliced through the Iron Curtain with all the humanistic force of simple kindness . But as he watched the world burn its own future in the fiery pit of politics, he understood that time, which has no right side and no wrong side, is only ever won or lost on the smallest and most personal scale: absolute presence with one’s own life, rooted in the belief that “real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.”

Camus addresses this with poetic poignancy in an essay titled “The Wrong Side and the Right Side,” found in his altogether superb posthumous collection Lyrical and Critical Essays ( public library ).

In a prescient admonition against our modern cult of productivity, which plunders our capacity for presence , Camus writes:

Life is short, and it is sinful to waste one’s time. They say I’m active. But being active is still wasting one’s time, if in doing one loses oneself. Today is a resting time, and my heart goes off in search of itself. If an anguish still clutches me, it’s when I feel this impalpable moment slip through my fingers like quicksilver… At the moment, my whole kingdom is of this world. This sun and these shadows, this warmth and this cold rising from the depths of the air: why wonder if something is dying or if men suffer, since everything is written on this window where the sun sheds its plenty as a greeting to my pity?

Echoing the young Dostoyevsky’s exultant reckoning with the meaning of life shortly after his death sentence was repealed (“To be a human being among people and to remain one forever, no matter in what circumstances, not to grow despondent and not to lose heart,” Dostoyevsky wrote to his brother, “that’s what life is all about, that’s its task.”), Camus adds:

What counts is to be human and simple. No, what counts is to be true, and then everything fits in, humanity and simplicity. When am I truer than when I am the world?… What I wish for now is no longer happiness but simply awareness… I hold onto the world with every gesture, to men with all my gratitude and pity. I do not want to choose between the right and wrong sides of the world, and I do not like a choice… The great courage is still to gaze as squarely at the light as at death. Besides, how can I define the link that leads from this all-consuming love of life to this secret despair?… In spite of much searching, this is all I know.

These reflections led Camus to conclude that “there is no love of life without despair of life” ; out of them he drew his three antidotes to the absurdity of life and the crucial question at its center .

Couple with George Saunders — who may be the closest we have to Camus in our time — on how to love the world more , then revisit Wendell Berry’s poetic antidote to despair .

— Published June 22, 2024 — https://www.themarginalian.org/2024/06/22/albert-camus-world/ —

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2024 Theses Doctoral

Religious Routes to Conflict Mitigation: Three Papers on Buddhism, Nationalism, and Violence

Dorjee, Tenzin

The notion that religion intensifies nationalism and escalates conflict is widely accepted. In spite of its frequent association with violence, however, religious doctrines and institutions sometimes appear to have the radical power to deescalate conflict and reroute the expression of political grievances away from bloodshed. How, and under what conditions, might religion lend itself to the mitigation of ethnic conflict? Focusing on Buddhist nationalisms in East Asia and Southeast Asia, the three papers in this dissertation study the influence of religious beliefs on political attitudes and conflict behavior at various levels of analysis. Using ethnographic approaches, case study methods, and original field data collected from nearly a hundred interviews among Tibetan subjects in India and Sinhalese monastics in Sri Lanka, these essays seek to deepen the nuances and complexity in our understanding of the relationship between Buddhism, nationalism, and violence.Paper #1 studies the relationship between Buddhism and suicide protest, focusing on the puzzle of self-immolation: Why do high-commitment protesters in some conflicts choose this method over conventional tactics of nonviolent resistance or suicide terrorism? Taking the wave of Tibetan self-immolations between 2009 and 2018 as a case study, this paper probes the causal importance of strategic considerations, structural constraints, and normative restraints that may have influenced the protesters’ choice of method. I develop a theoretical framework proposing that suicide protesters evaluate potential tactics based on three criteria: disruptive capability, operational feasibility, and ethical permissibility. Leveraging in-depth interviews and a close reading of the self-immolators’ last words, I conclude that the Buddhist clergy’s broad conception of violence, interacting with international norms, constrains the protesters’ tactical latitude by narrowing the parameters of what qualifies as nonviolent action, thereby eliminating many of the standard repertoires of contention from the movement’s arsenal while sanctioning self-immolation as a legitimate form of dissent. I argue that a fundamental paradox in the self-immolators’ theory of change, namely the tension between a tactic’s disruptive capability and ethical permissibility, ends up restricting their freedom of action. Paper #2 zooms out to examine the relationship between religion, nationalism, and violence. It starts with a broad question: How, and under what conditions, might religion lend itself to the mitigation –– or the escalation –– of ethnonational conflict? To what extent do religious ideas travel from scripture to political preferences and conflict behavior? I develop two hypotheses predicting the influence of scriptural ideas on nationalist commitment and suggestibility to violence –– devoting special attention to how a group’s conception of its own national interest might be affected when the religious identity of its members supersedes their political identity. The paper finds that the Buddhist belief in rebirth can undermine the strength of one’s nationalist commitment by injecting a dose of ambiguity into one’s conception of identity. This suggests that a religious belief such as rebirth can be mobilized to deescalate ethnonational conflict by highlighting the fluidity of ethnic identity and thus lowering the stakes of conflict. Moreover, it also finds that Mahayana Buddhism’s emphasis on altruism, while rooted in compassion toward others, can end up increasing an individual’s suggestibility to violence and therefore should not be assumed to be a pacifying force in conflict. Mahayana doctrines, though built on more inclusivist founding principles than the Theravada tradition and therefore more resistant to exclusivist ideologies like nationalism, are nevertheless susceptible to utilitarian reasoning and lend themselves readily to the justification of violence. In our interviews, Tibetan monastics, educated under a uniform Mahayana curriculum, turned out to be far more suggestible to violence than their Theravada counterparts in Sri Lanka, an observation that supports our counterintuitive hypothesis linking an altruism-oriented curriculum with suggestibility to violence. Paper #3 takes a historical case study approach to examine how Buddhist religious ideas may have, in interaction with liberal international norms, influenced the Tibetan leadership’s de-escalation politics in the Sino-Tibetan conflict. While paper #2 of this dissertation explored Buddhism’s relationship with nationalism and violence at the level of rank-and-file citizens, this paper shifts the focus from group-level preferences to elite-level decision-making. It relies on document analysis and process tracing methods to answer a particular historical question: How did the independence-seeking Tibetan nationalist leadership of the 1960s evolve into compromise-seeking pacifists in the 1980s and subsequent decades? I seek to illuminate the pathways by which religious beliefs and charismatic leadership structure, in interaction with the normative constraints of liberal internationalism, may have facilitated the Tibetan leadership’s de-escalation politics in the Sino-Tibetan conflict. To do so, I leverage counterfactual history (Belkin & Tetlock, 1996), biographical data of key leaders (Creswell, 1998), and document analysis of their speeches and writings –– including a close examination of the Dalai Lama’s annual March 10 speeches from 1960 to 2011. While the other two papers explore the multifaceted relationship between Buddhism, nationalism, and violence by studying the political attitudes and conflict behavior of ordinary people and rank-and-file monastics, this paper delves into the political and psychological evolution of two Tibetan leaders, the Dalai Lama and former Tibetan prime minister Samdhong Rinpoche, to examine the ways in which private religious beliefs can interact with global norms to guide and constrain the high-level foreign policy decision-making of political elites.

Geographic Areas

• China--Tibet Autonomous Region
• Political science
• International relations
• Self-immolation--Religious aspects--Buddhism
• Political violence--Religious aspects--Buddhism
• Nationalism
• Mahayana Buddhism
• Theravāda Buddhism
• Religion and politics
• Bstan-ʼdzin-rgya-mtsho, Dalai Lama XIV, 1935-

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2024 U.S. Banking Industry Outlook Survey

Future-proofing banking: The enterprise transformation imperative

"When in doubt, choose change"

U.S. banks face a difficult growth environment due to compounding macro- and microeconomic headwinds, geopolitical instability, intensifying regulatory scrutiny, and other near-term challenges putting pressures on earnings. At this critical juncture, the KPMG national banking practice sees significant opportunity for banks to choose change—embark on an accelerated journey of enterprise-wide transformation.

The U.S. Banking Industry Outlook Survey captures the challenges and opportunities faced by the banking sector amidst economic, regulatory, and technological disruptions, from 200 banking executives surveyed on their views on current industry trends and topics in March 2024.

Download the Paper

Explore the 2024 Banking Industry Survey results

Discover insights on the trends that are shaping the industry's present and future and key takeaways banking executives should consider.

Key Insights

are confident in their banks’ growth prospects

of respondents believe profitability will grow inorganically

are making significant strategic adjustments in response to geopolitical uncertainty

of CEOs respondents believe profitability will growth through cost transformation

say GenAI is an integral part of their institution’s long-term vision and strategy

think regulatory supervision and enforcement in the area of cyber risk will increase

The path to growth for banks is accelerating their enterprise transformation to be the bank of the future. Modern technology platforms are the foundation, allowing banks to leverage the latest technologies to enhance operational efficiency, customer retention and attraction, and resilience through the next wave of challenges.

Peter Torrente

US Sector Leader, Banking and Capital Markets, KPMG LLP

Growth expected despite compound volatility

The industry has been facing a confluence of pressure on earnings: high interest rates, low stock prices, credit uncertainty, a slow M&A market, geopolitical conflicts disrupting world markets, unprecedented regulatory scrutiny, and impending regulatory uncertainty following the U.S. presidential election.

Yet, there are signs of a brighter future ahead, especially among larger, growing banking institutions. Our survey finds bank executives, as a whole, relatively confident in the growth outlook of the banking sector.

How confident are you in the growth prospects of your organization over the coming year?

Economic and geopolitical risks persist

Which of the following risks poses the greatest threat to your bank's growth over the next 3 years? (select top 3)

Refining the multichannel customer experience

What digital channels are being prioritized for investment in 2024? (select all that apply)

Establishing security, privacy and trust

Unlocking the power of GenAI

The banking sector recognizes the extraordinary promise of GenAI in shaping their future strategies and remaining competitive. As a general trend, banks have stopped seeing GenAI a proof of concept and started seeing it as a capability.

Many banks are actively exploring and implementing GenAI for a diverse range of use cases, with some of the most common applications directly correlated to current top agenda items for industry—cybersecurity (67 percent), fraud (51 percent) and compliance and risk (41 percent). As budgets and resources to fight cybercrime, protect data and customers, and comply with intensifying regulatory requirements have skyrocketed, banks executives are looking to GenAI as a potential solution.

Which active use cases for Gen AI does your organization have in pilot or production phases?

Steps you can take to establish a standout ESG M&A due diligence program:

Modernizing the payments ecosystem

How does your organization generally view the ISO 20022 Compliance Mandate?

Regulatory intensity dominates resources and attention

How will regulatory supervision and enforcement activity change in the following areas over the next 12 months?

How KPMG can help

Only future-ready banks will thrive in 2024 and beyond. The KPMG national banking practice sees today’s environment of converging economic and industry challenges and disruptions as a catalyst for change—a not-to-be-missed chance to take advantage of the current and emerging opportunities that surround us.

KPMG can help banks navigate the evolving banking landscape, with deep industry expertise, fresh thinking, and leading-edge tools and methodologies.

Meet our team

Explore more

Shaking up the competitive landscape: Q1'24 M&A trends in financial services

Q1'24 FS M&A sees deal volume falling due to concerns about interest rates, inflation, and politics, Basel III, interest rates, and politics, steering firms towards strategic reassessment.

Ten Key Regulatory Challenges of 2024

Strengthen the cards you hold

Top of mind banking and capital markets issues

What’s top of mind for banks? Regulatory updates, the credit market environment, and digital transformation.

Ten Key Regulatory Challenges of 2024: Mid-year Look Forward

Putting the cards on the table

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