Discover the Other

This is the last of a four-part series on conflict analysis looking at the four causes of conflict in the workplace. Part 1, different information, looked at the conflict when two or more parties have different information. Part 2, different interests, looked at the conflicts arising when each party wants something different or wants a different outcome. Part 3, different personalities, looked at the clash of different personalities and personal styles.

The fourth root of conflict is past pain. In many ways this is the most difficult one to deal with.  Probably all of us can recall a situation where a conflict simply appeared, as if from nowhere. Afterwards we scratch our heads and ask ‘what was that all about?’ (more…)

Listening ears (photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/niclindh/1389750548/)

Have you ever had an experience of trying to communicate when someone is not listening to you. How did it make you feel? Hurt? Rejected? Frustrated? Angry?

What about when you have been listened to – the kind of listening when someone has given your full attention without interrupting, judging, telling you what you did wrong and what you should do?

Unfortunately, that kind of experience of listening is not too common for most of us. But when we get it, just the act of being listened to make us feel better – less angry, more in control and capable of sorting our own problems out. (more…)

Some people have different communication styles (Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/netzkobold/2574312734/)

This is the third of a four-part series on conflict analysis looking at the four causes of conflict in the workplace. Part 1, different information, looked at the conflict when two or more parties have different information. Part 2, different interests, looked at the conflicts arising when each party wants something different or wants a different outcome.

The third root of conflict is the clash of different personalities and personal styles. (more…)

(Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/janet/280285118/sizes/o/in/photostream/)

This is the second part of a four-part series on conflict analysis looking at the four root causes of conflict in the workplace. Part 1, different information, looked at the conflict when two or more parties have different information.

The second root of conflict, different interests, is when two parties want different outcomes. This is just part of life and can’t be avoided. We are all individuals with different preferences, tastes, desires and different sets of values. It gets particularly painful when the stakes are high as in when someone’s job in on the line or large sums of money are involved. (more…)

When you are in the middle of a conflict, it can be hard to see a way out. Conflict analysis is a useful tool to understand the different causes of conflict in the workplace and navigate your way towards a resolution.

Conflicts can be caused by various things, and often the thing that sparks the conflict is not the real cause.

The American psychologist M Scott Peck came to realise that most psychological illness is overdetermined – by which he means that there is more than one cause. He found that addressing the apparent cause of the psychological distress that one of his patients was suffering rarely resulted in a “cure”. (more…)

Diversity in the workplace matters. It matters a lot. A short while ago, the population of the world reached 7 billion. Yet the world isn’t getting any bigger…. If anything, it seems to be getting smaller. Oil, gas and coal resources are diminishing, along with many other natural resources. Even food is becoming an issue, because the amount of land available for agriculture is being reduced (due to desertification) by an area three times the size of Switzerland each year

In an overcrowded and nuclear armed world, we have to find a way to get along with each other. (more…)