Agree Dispute Resolution, Mediators go to work solving office conflicts

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by Andrew Vowles
Special to The Hamilton Spectator

Vishwanath Baba was getting anxious.

As head of the business department at Concordia University, he had left it up to a course coordinator to mediate a dispute between two professors over which of their textbooks to use in a particular course. Far from being quickly resolved, the conflict escalated. It turned out that escalation was precisely what the coordinator wanted.

Besides solving the textbook spat, he was using the argument to get at the far deeper and long-standing enmity between the professors.

They effectively borrowed a page from Business 101 to resolve the textbook problem: let the market decide.

After making both books available for a fixed "test marke" period, they used students' feedback to choose one text for both campuses where the course was offered.

Resolving that problem broke the logjam between the professors. "Their relationship became much more cordial," says Baba.

Besides showing him the positive side of conflict, Baba, now dean of the Michael G. De Groote School of Business at McMaster University, says the experience provided a good lesson in managing workplace conflict.

That's a lesson more organizations are learning as they grapple with conflict in the ranks. Apart from the obvious example of union-management tussles, conflict in the organization might include forms of harassment, personality clashes, rivalry over jobs, real or perceived favouritism, and interdepartmental competition.

Costs of workplace conflict may include anything from legal bills, lost opportunities and productivity decreases to sick and absenteeism pay, loss of product quality and overall reputation, and reduced motivation.

Determining the bottom-line impact of such disputes is difficult.

But experts agree that putting out fires can consume inordinate amounts of time and energy.

"Anecdotally, it's not uncommon to have managers tell me they spend 40 per cent of their time dealing with conflict in the workplace," says Paul Polito, director of clinical and corporate operations for Hamilton-based Hurst Place, The Employee Assistance Program.

Dundas-based private mediator Martha Fox, currently under contract as the dispute resolution and human rights coordinator at Mohawk College, says today's flatter organizational structure means fewer managers with less time to address workplace conflict.

More benign disputes might involve a spat over someone playing a radio too loudly. In serious cases, the result might be a rampage by a disgruntled employee, leading to injury or death.

Conflict can actually help an organization improve by unearthing new ideas or by clearing the air. How to manage conflict in the workplace?

It's important to nail down the true source of the problem. If an employee is causing problems because a marriage is falling apart, Polito urges employers to stay out of the person's home life.

Stick to documenting their workplace performance and impact, he says. Armed with that information, the company might then sit down with the employee to discuss the issue. It's at that point that the employer might encourage or even require the worker to seek help.

Strategies for alleviating workplace conflict might involve speaking to company human resources staff, asking a manager or supervisor to mediate the dispute, following the company's grievance procedures or turning to a neutral external investigator.

Heather Bullock, an associate with Agree Dispute Resolution Inc. in Dundas, says it is important to remind people of the basic rules of civility, such as "give respect, in order to get respect".

"The development of a respectful workplace culture will de-escalate conflict", she says. "Conflict shouldn't end relationships, it should build them".