dealing with change in the workplace (conflict)

Conflict

Vic and Bob exercise

To demonstrate the complexities involved in dealing with conflict. These are varied and many, the overall answer seeming to be: 'It Depends'

Martin’s dream. Get them into a room and ask them to draw up a list of 10 things that are good about the other person. Recognise the positives and recognise the value in each other.

Recognise that the causes of conflict are many and varied.

Esprit d’escaliera

Slides – expected standards of performance

Accept that the standard you set originally is the one you should keep – Don’t raise the standard because a person constantly performs higher than the standard you have set. The same is also true regarding lowering standards.

• Identify the gap
• Explore the reasons for it
• Take corrective action
• Don’t assume an instant result
• Has the person got the correct resources to do their job
• Training and development – do they know what they are supposed to do
• Change the nature of the work they are doing – let them play to their strengths
• Closer supervision – spend some time with them, do some joint work with them
• Final resort one of the 3 Ds
• Discipline
• Demotion
• Dismissal
• Review progress

Exercise

Building lego house with a subversive in the group  This ranged from destruction to lack of input.

Too focused on the task (again) though I did try - successfully - to draw the group away from the task and deal with the person causing the conflict.

Be mindful that mistakes can be made in identifying the person creating the conflict.

We noticed a discrepancy within the interpretation of the task. Once we had identified the source of the conflict we tried several methods for dealing with it. None of these worked and it resulted in the dismissal of the perpetrator. Even after we had discovered the ‘set up’ it was very difficult to deal with the conflict.