Workplace Conflict and Dispute Resolution Course
1Summary
Conflict inside an organisation rarely announces itself as a crisis - it usually starts small, in a disagreement over how something should be done, and only escalates because nobody dealt with it early. Senior managers are the ones expected to build an environment where that doesn't happen, whether the tension is between departments, individuals, or something closer to a family dispute inside a family-run business.
This course from the Arab British Fellowship Training Academy is designed for senior managers who carry that responsibility. It works through where conflict actually comes from, how grievance and disciplinary policy fits into resolving it, how mediation works as a practical tool, and how to manage disputes - internal or external - in a way that improves relationships, teamwork and productivity instead of just shutting the argument down.
2Objectives and target group
Who Should Attend?
- Managers responsible for building a positive, productive work environment and handling the conflict that comes with it.
- Any manager who wants to understand where conflict comes from and build the skills to manage and settle it effectively.
By the End of the Course, Participants Will Be Able To:
- Understand why conflict arises inside organisations and between people, and map out the range of resolution options, from informal and joint approaches to formal, adversarial ones.
- Manage emotions and their influence on others during conflict, and recognise their own personal conflict-resolution style.
- Build communication tools such as agreement frames and open questions.
- Understand the role grievance and disciplinary policy plays in resolving institutional conflict, and the features and skills that make mediation work as a resolution tool.
- Apply the conflict management skills needed to actually settle disputes, and use different bases of power appropriately depending on the situation.
3Course Content
Module 1: Understanding Conflict Before You Manage It
- Defining conflict, how it's managed and settled, including institutional conflict and conflict between people who are closely connected.
- What causes conflict: organisational culture and the management programmes that drive change.
- Recognising the direct and indirect costs of conflict, and acknowledging that conflict can have a positive side too.
Module 2: Reading Your Own Conflict Style
- Identifying personal conflict-resolution patterns that lead to positive outcomes.
- Managing emotions and their effect on others during a dispute.
- The range of resolution options, from informal and joint approaches through to formal and adversarial ones.
Module 3: Policy, Law and the Executive's Role
- The role grievance and disciplinary policy plays in resolving institutional conflict, within the relevant legal framework, including labour courts.
- Conflict that stems from poor performance or attendance, and conflict that arises from employee complaints.
- The executive manager's role in resolving disputes.
Module 4: Mediation as a Practical Tool
- A model for dispute resolution through mediation: its definition, stages, characteristics and required skills.
- Practising mediation skills directly.
- Knowing the right - and wrong - time to use mediation, and recognising its real benefits.
Module 5: Communication Skills for De-escalation
- Identifying the causes of conflict between colleagues and groups.
- Building communication and interpersonal skills to avoid, manage and settle conflict, including tools like agreement frames and open questions.
- Managing conflict as it comes up in meetings and in day-to-day dialogue.
- Using different bases of power, and adjusting them to the situation.
Module 6: Turning Policy into an Action Plan
- Building an organisational communication strategy for dispute resolution.
- Aligning organisational culture and people-management policy with conflict resolution.
- Establishing mediation as a standing practice inside the organisation, and continuing to build these skills over time.