CHAPTER 11
WHAT’S AN ORGANIZATION TO DO?
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
—Thomas Paine
Even if you don’t think so, you do have options to help you and your organization address serious workplace conflict and behavior issues. All is not lost! In this chapter, we’re going to explore some of what is available to managers and organizations to make it a little easier to handle difficult situations when they come up—and they will. We’re going to look at:
Management training options.
Policies that can help:
Conflict resolution.
Harassment.
Bullying.
Wellness programs.
Employee Assistance Programs.
Employee training options.
Flexible work schedules.
Alternative dispute resolution, including peer review panels.
You’re probably familiar with defining management as “getting things done through others.” This sounds easy enough, so why is it so incredibly difficult to successfully manage people today? Good managers understand that their real job is to inspire their employees to do their absolutely best work and to create a work environment where good work can be accomplished.
We’ve talked a lot in previous chapters about good communication skills and establishing trust in the workplace; these are two incredibly important skills and much needed to be a successful manager. They are critical when establishing a culture where conflict is encouraged and effectively managed in order to move the organization forward (see chapters 1 and 5).
Management Techniques
In order to create a culture where conflict is encouraged and effectively managed, managers have to be approachable. Remember the old “open-door” policy that we used to talk about? That was back in the day when managers had doors on their offices. Today, many organizations have gone to open-floor concepts where everyone works in cubicles or, if managers and people above them have offices, they may not have doors. So, the term “open door” should not be taken literally; just think of it as managers needing to be available to their people.
Consider this situation: A team has been meeting for three weeks on a project they’ve been told is of great importance to their organization. They’ve reached an impasse and need their manager to help them take the next step. At the end of the meeting, the team leader stops by the manager’s desk, but she’s not there. He emails the manager and asks for 10 minutes by the end of the day. Two hours later he gets a text that says she’s tied up in a budget meeting that will go into the evening and she’s off on a business trip the next day. Can they talk next week? The team leader goes back to the team to tell them they probably aren’t going to get with the manager today and maybe not for a while, so they try to move ahead. Because they don’t have what they need, conflicts come up and the project is stalled.
Of course, everyone is busy, but being accessible to your employees is a management imperative and, in today’s 24/7 world, we all stay connected all the time. Maybe this manager could have stepped out of the budget meeting for a quick 10 minutes with her team leader and then the group could have continued to make progress as opposed to being stuck until she was free. Think open door—even when there aren’t actual doors!
Another potential source of workplace conflict is unclear expectations. Managers must be clear with associates as to what is expected of them and in what time frame. Has this ever happened to you? Your manager quickly outlines something he/she wants you to do and sends you on your way. You get right to it and return with the finished project and hear, “That’s not what I wanted.” Or, you get a call from the manager at the end of the morning asking when you will be finished and you thought you had a week to get it done! Clear expectations are critical to good working relationships and for avoiding the kind of conflict that is disruptive and hostile. A good manager is clear when setting expectations and is also open to having employees ask questions like “When do you need this?” or “Can I come back to you if I have a question as I work on this?” And, think about how much better it is when employees know what is expected of them and have clear access to their manager when needed.
Chapter 6: You Want Me to Do What?
Management Training
I used to work with a high-level executive who said that you can’t teach people to manage others; it is a skill you are born with. Well, I totally disagree with that! I think you can certainly train people in the very skills they need to be an effective manager. Here are some of the most important training opportunities a well-managed organization should offer to anyone before they take on managerial responsibilities, and this list is certainly not all-inclusive:
Communication skills (listening, speaking, business writing, and presentation skills).
Conflict management skills.
Critical conversation skills.
Harassment prevention skills.
Diversity and inclusion skills.
Delegation skills.
Counseling skills.
Coaching skills.
Mentoring skills.
Interviewing skills.
Performance management skills (feedback, goal setting, and performance appraisal skills).
Conducting an effective meeting.
Team-building skills.
Change management skills.
Effective use of technology.
As Mitchell and Gamlem write in The Big Book of HR, there are many ways that training can be delivered, including in-house programs, public workshops/seminars, online training, programs at local universities, or corporate universities.1
Mentoring can also be a very cost-effective way to develop new managers. Use your existing great managers to mentor employees who are being promoted into a managerial role.
Policies
Having well-written policies can be very helpful in conflict management situations. For example, if your firm has a policy of how conflicts should be handled in your organization, and everyone who joins the organization is trained on the policy and how to use it, people have a place to start when trouble happens. I wish I could say that if you have a conflict resolution policy, conflict will go away, but that’s not going to happen. You still employ people and people have conflicts.
If your organization determines it is advisable to have a conflict resolution policy, it should include:
Purpose of the policy.
Eligibility to bring claims.
How to file a claim and with whom.
Time frame to file a claim from date of precipitating incident (if applicable).
Action to be taken if the situation isn’t resolved.
Process for appeal, if any.
Time frame for appeals, if any.
Who should be involved in the resolution (HR, outside mediator, labor attorney, etc.).
Non-retaliation policy.
Appendix: Sample Conflict Resolution Policy
Policies also serve the purpose of helping organizations to set expectations. Organizations often develop policies that address performance and workplace conduct. A performance management policy should:
Provide a process for managers to communicate job expectations and to formally evaluate performance against those expectations.
Describe clear expectations that must be related to job performance such as skills, behaviors, and tasks important for job success, and should be:
Specific, measurable, and observable.
Within the employee’s control.
Achievable with time and resources.
Encourage informal evaluation and communication on a continual basis.
Develop a culture of continued improvement.
Require communication of performance expectations.
Provide a process for performance improvement to correct performance below expectations.
Provide a process for continued performance success for “star” performers.2
A workplace conduct policy should:
Establish and define professional standards of conduct that are not acceptable, while stressing that the list is not all inclusive and that there can be other infractions.
Provide assistance to employees to change inappropriate behavior.
Provide management a means to address issues.
Provide management responses if behavior does not change.
Provide a flexible approach (progressive or corrective discipline) process to address conduct.
Provide communication mechanisms for employees and managers.
A corrective discipline process can include these steps:
Open dialogue/verbal counseling.
Written counseling/letter of caution.
Final written notice.
Suspension.
Termination.
A fair and defensible corrective discipline process allows management flexibility in determining whether all steps should be used in dealing with a specific problem and in deciding when immediate or severe action must be taken. Don’t be too specific in your process and tie management’s hands. Disciplinary action can and should start at any stage depending on the severity of the behavior. Don’t factor judgment out of the process.3
Organizations should also have a harassment policy that is communicated to all employees and in writing. The policy should cover all forms of harassment, not just sexual harassment, and provide:
A definition of harassment with clear explanations of prohibited conduct.
A definition of the responsibilities of all employees, the responsibilities of management employees, and the responsibilities of human resources.
Assurance against retaliation.
A clear complaint process.
Assurance of confidentiality to the extent possible.
A clear investigation process.
Assurance of corrective action when harassment has occurred.4
Finally, the organization should have a policy that prohibits discrimination that applies to employees and applicants and that ensures that all employee practices are administered without unlawful discrimination on any protected basis.5
Workplace Bullying
It has become more common for bullying to happen in the workplace. Bullying can take a variety of forms, but it is commonly defined as repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one or more persons (the targets) by one or more perpetrators. It is abusive conduct that is threatening, humiliating, or intimidating; or is work interference (sabotage), which prevents work from getting done or, is verbal abuse.
Bullying can cause emotional stress and has a ripple effect within organizations because bullies breed other bullies if left unchecked.
Bullies can be managers or employees or coworkers, and organizations have to be vigilant in order to stop bullying behavior as quickly as possible. Consider that employees can bully managers as easily as the other way around.
Organizations should develop, implement, and communicate a bullying policy. This policy should be included in your employee handbook and discussed with all new hires during the on-boarding process. It is also a good idea to discuss this policy (and others) from time to time in all-staff meetings or in employee newsletters to keep the concepts fresh in the minds of your staff. Included in the policy should be:
Objective (purpose of the policy).
Who it covers (all employees, management, executives, etc.).
Definition of workplace bullying.
Examples of behaviors that will not be tolerated.
How to report workplace bullying.
Investigation process when workplace bullying is reported.
Consequences of workplace behavior (action that will be taken).
Chapter 10: Are You Playing Nice in the Sandbox?
Wellness Programs
Many organizations now have wellness programs that can be helpful in creating a culture where conflict is rare, and when it arises, it moves the organization forward as opposed to stopping it cold. These programs yield healthier and more productive employees and can help reduce the stress related to working in today’s increasingly complex environments. Many wellness programs also include family members of employees and may include nutrition programs, weight loss, smoking cessation, stress-reduction techniques (including yoga), mindfulness, and fitness programs.6
As Scott Eblin says in Overworked and Overwhelmed, “Does it feel like it’s gotten worse over the past several years? Most of the people I talk to and work with feel like it feels crazier lately.”7 He goes on to talk about all the technology advances we’ve made in the past few years including the smart phone. Has the smartphone helped or hurt us? Yes, we all now carry a powerful computer in our pocket that takes great pictures and allows us to play games when we’re standing in line, but what else has it done? Eblin says, “A survey of executives, managers, and professionals conducted by the Center for Creative Leadership in 2013 shows that the typical smartphone carrying executive, manager, and professional is interacting with work an average of 72 hours a week.” He continues that at that pace of work—after you subtract time for eating, sleeping, and personal hygiene—we end up with only about 40 hours a week for everything else we want or need to do. Is it any wonder people feel stressed?
One way of dealing with the issues of today’s complex world is a stress-reduction technique called mindfulness. Jon Kabat-Zinn created the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in 1979 and now more than 200 hospitals around the world have adopted similar programs. Eblin quotes Kabat-Zinn’s definition of mindfulness as “the awareness that arises by paying attention on purpose in the present moment and nonjudgmentally.”8 Your Employee Assistance Program may offer mindfulness training, which can be a valuable resource as you work to help your employees deal with stress and manage workplace conflicts.
Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)
One of the best tools available to organizations and to managers is your Employee Assistance Program. EAPs can help employees identify and resolve concerns related to health, marital situations, family, finances, substance abuse, legal matters, emotional problems, stress, workplace violence, bullying, or other personal issues that can impact job performance. They can be in-house programs or offered through an outside contractor.9 EAP professionals can be extremely helpful when workplace conflicts are related to stress. Many EAPs also offer mediation services to their clients.
Examples of Referrals to an EAP
Access to EAP services are typically through a referral. Common types of referrals include:
Self-referrals, where an employee voluntarily seeks assistance for an issue affecting his/her life, either at work or away from work.
Management referrals, which are voluntary referrals based on tangible, observed, and documented indicators of deteriorating job performance or behavior. If an employee fails to take advantage of the EAP, no direct management action should be taken, but the organization should continue to hold the employee accountable for performance and conduct, and take appropriate action if there is further deterioration.
Mandatory referrals generally occur as the result of a positive drug test or when violent or potentially violent behavior is exhibited. Unlike management referrals, employees can be subject to management action, including termination for failure to contact the EAP. Employees are often placed on leave until they contact the EAP, comply with a course of treatment, and receive an appropriate fitness-for-duty report.
We suggest that managers be trained on how to use the EAP. EAPs are a tremendous resource when used appropriately and can help with conflict management situations when needed.
Employee Training
Today’s workers are hungry for development and training. Savvy organizations offer training in a variety of topics to all employees, not just management or leadership level staff. Consider offering to all levels of the organization a subset of the training that is provided to your managers; just tailor the content to their jobs and eliminate the parts of the programs that focus on managerial skill development.
Consider how effective it might be for your employees to take conflict management training so that they learn techniques to avoid some of the negative impacts of unresolved conflict.
Workplace Flexibility
Increasingly, employees are looking for ways to make their lives simpler, and one of the most valued benefits today is being able to have some flexibility in scheduling work. As Mitchell and Gamlem say in The Big Book of HR, “A workplace environment that allows employees to change when and how they work, based on their needs and job responsibilities, relieves work/life conflict and reduces turnover, according to a study by the University of Minnesota.”10
Workplace flexibility takes many forms, including:
Part-time or reduced-hours schedules.
Telecommuting from a satellite location, or working from home on specific days or full-time.
Flex-time with core hours where employees choose their start-and end-times, but must be present during specific times of the day.
A compressed work week where full-time employees work longer days for part of the week or pay period in exchange for shorter days or an additional day off each week or pay period.
There are many other options for organizations that want to relieve employee stress and, perhaps, reduce workplace conflict situations, but it is important to have policies in place that meet the needs of your workforce. It is also critical that programs be fair and equitable, and that managers are trained in how to manage remote employees, if applicable. Also, be sure your programs comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), and any other applicable laws.
Alternative Dispute Resolution Methods
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is a problem-solving technique that generally uses a trained, third-party neutral panel.
In Chapter 9, we talked about a manager or HR professional assuming the role of mediator to help solve conflicts. In addition, organizations can use external mediators. Mediation is a method of dispute resolution that uses a neutral third party to facilitate communication between individuals to promote a resolution based on the individuals’ interests. Traditionally, trained mediators who do not work for the organization have been used. However, employees can be trained to serve as mediators and some organizations are implementing formal peer mediation programs. A mediator does not have decision-making authority but acts as a facilitator and helps the individuals involved in the dispute to come to a mutually acceptable agreement.
Peer review panels can be an effective way for organizations to resolve workplace conflicts. The peer review process uses a group of managers and employees who are trained in the organization’s policies and are empowered to make final decisions on a specific range of work-related issues. Unlike a mediator, the peer review panel has the authority to render a decision that is binding on the people involved. Time and costs are involved for training panel members as well as the time and labor costs spent participating on the panel. Employees serving on peer review panels have the opportunity to interact with managers to reach a fair decision, and they become messengers for management’s genuine concern about doing the right thing and creating a positive work environment.
The American Arbitration Association (AAA) is a public-service, not-for-profit organization that offers a broad range of dispute resolution services to organizations around the country. Hearings may be held at locations convenient for the organizations involved and are not limited to cities with AAA offices. In addition, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service provides mediation services.
Workplace conflict is a fact of life, but you have many resources available to you to help you manage those conflicts effectively. We hope this book will provide you with what you need to successfully navigate the world of workplace conflict and we’ve also provided you with a bibliography for additional help if needed!
Essential Tips
No matter how good a manager you are, there will be conflicts in your organization.
Train your managers to handle conflict.
Have well-written and well-communicated policies including on conflict resolution and bullying.
Consider adding a wellness program.
Make good use of your Employee Assistance Program.
Train your employees to handle conflict.
Allow as much flexibility as your work permits.
Use alternative dispute resolution methods if needed, including peer review panels.