New CIPD guide to help managers prevent conflict at work
The CIPD has launched a new conflict management guide for line managers to help organisations avoid the 350 days a year of management time typically spent dealing with formal disciplinary and grievance cases and employment tribunal applications.
The Managing Conflict Guide for Line Managers is designed to help equip line managers with the skills and confidence to intervene at an early stage to prevent disputes from escalating to the point where the formal disciplinary or grievance procedures have to be used or an employment tribunal application has been lodged.
Ben Willmott, CIPD Employee Relations Adviser, said that too often managers shy away from tackling conflict in case they do or say something that might be held against should the matter progress to formal proceedings. “This approach is counterproductive. By the time a dispute has escalated to the point where the disciplinary or grievance procedure is used opinions are often hardened, confrontational and very hard to change.”
The guide is based on new joint research by the CIPD and the HSE, Managing Conflict At Work, involving interviews with 369 managers and employees in the healthcare, finance, education, local and central government sectors. It highlights the management behaviours that were identified by the research as being most important to help line managers to prevent and manage conflict in the workplace.
The Managing conflict guide for line managers is available to download from www.cipd.co.uk/guides.The research report, Managing Conflict At Work, is available to download from http://www.cipd.co.uk/research
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