Almost everyone can name a colleague, manager or client whose behaviour makes a normal workday harder than it needs to be. That everyday reality, not abstract theory, is where this Arab British Fellowship Training Academy course on conflict management and difficult behaviour starts.

Disagreement in institutions is unavoidable, because the goals, values and needs of different people rarely line up perfectly, and constant agreement on everything would actually be unusual. Rather than reacting to conflict purely on an emotional level, participants learn to recognise its causes early, choose the right strategy to manage or resolve it, and stay in control of their own emotional triggers along the way.

Who Should Attend?

• Department and division managers.
• HR managers and team leaders.
• Public relations officers and anyone who regularly mediates between people.

Knowledge and Benefits:

After completion of the course, delegates will be able to:

• Identify the main types of conflict and what typically causes them.
• Apply practical steps for resolving conflict as it arises.
• Use communication skills that reduce and prevent conflict, including persuasive and positive communication.
• Read personalities accurately and interpret behaviour, including how people differ and adapt.
• Recognise difficult behaviours and handle them efficiently, including specific cases such as dealing with a manager or a client.
• Build stronger personal relationships and let go of frustration and anger more quickly.

Module 1: Recognising Difficult Behaviour Before It Escalates

• What actually defines a "difficult" personality at work.
• The recurring types of difficult characters you are likely to encounter.

Module 2: Strategies for Working With Difficult Personalities

• How different personality types tend to behave, and how to read them accurately.
• Practical ways of adapting your approach to different personalities.
• Methods for influencing difficult personalities and steering interactions productively.
• Coping day to day with difficult personalities without letting them derail your work.

Module 3: Understanding Conflict: Nature, Stages and Dimensions

• The concept of conflict and how it relates to a full-blown crisis.
• The nature and dimensions conflict can take inside an organization.
• What distinguishes ordinary friction from a genuine administrative crisis.
• How conflict typically develops and escalates through identifiable stages.
• The theoretical and scientific perspectives used to study conflict.

Module 4: Understanding and Resolving Organizational Conflict

• The different levels at which organizational conflict shows up.
• The sources and root causes behind most workplace conflict.
• The main types of conflict found across different work environments.
• Modern administrative strategies for managing and resolving conflict effectively.

Module 5: Managing Pressure and Stress at Work

• What workplace pressure actually is, and where it comes from.
• The different sources and types of pressure employees face.
• How psychological stress affects performance and behaviour at work.

Module 6: Emotional Intelligence in Conflict and Pressure Management

• Why emotional intelligence matters when facing workplace stress.
• Applying emotional intelligence to manage and de-escalate conflict.