Why training managers in conflict resolution is so important

Conflict is an inevitable part of the employment scene, now more than ever. Employees come to the workplace these days with widely divergent views on such things as geopolitics, social and cultural trends, and moral/ethical issues. Not to mention that the explosion of social media has given everybody a platform to express themselves firmly, if not loudly and aggressively.

Put all this together with people’s ingrained differences in personality and you have a recipe for frequent, disruptive conflict.

So it’s critically important that managers know how to head conflict off at the pass, at best, and resolve conflict when it breaks out, at worst. To help managers navigate the complex conflict landscape, they can keep this framework in mind.

5 dimensions

One approach to conflict resolution that’s worth a look is the one proposed by Nien-hê Hsieh, a business ethics expert and professor at Harvard Business School. Hsieh says that when handling conflict, managers need to consider their response along five dimensions:

1. Well-being: What’s ultimately good for each person involved in the conflict
2. Rights: Each person’s entitlement to receive certain treatment
3. Duties: The moral obligation on each person — and the manager — to behave in a specific way
4. Best practices: Aspirational standards for the manager and the parties to the conflict that are desirable, although not required by law or cultural norms
5. Fairness: Impartial and just treatment of employees by the manager and by each other

What’s fair?

Most of the above are somewhat self-explanatory, but Hsieh breaks fairness down into three components that managers should keep in mind in case of conflict:

• Legitimate expectations: Employees reasonably expect certain practices or behaviors to continue based on experiences with the organization and explicit promises. Conflict may be due to a perception that these promises are being broken.
• Distributive fairness: The organization equitably allocates opportunities, benefits, and burdens. Conflict may arise if people believe this commitment isn’t being observed.
• Procedural fairness: Managers must resolve issues impartially and consistently, and not take sides. They must treat all parties equally, allowing them time to speak and share their perspectives.

Conflict in the workplace is never easy. But leaders who understand how to analyze disputes in a thoughtful, dispassionate way are far more likely to reach favorable outcomes for all parties involved.

This blog entry is based on a Business Insights post dated Sept. 7, 2023, at Harvard Business School Online.