Promoting Conflict Management Competencies within Informal Structures and Informal Networks

Conflict typically is associated with negative and destructive connotations within organizations. However, a shift is taking place in workplaces to view conflict through a positive frame and to consider conflict as an opportunity to establish an environment that is more creative and innovative while identifying ineffective policies, behaviors or actions. This study was developed to examine how organizations can enhance conflict management competencies to empower leaders and employees to manage conflict by employing problem-solving tactics and collaborative approaches. Furthermore, this study was designed to understand what strategies and practices leaders and specialists in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution utilize to promote conflict management skills. Additionally, the research sought to identify the challenges these individuals encountered when implementing conflict management interventions in organizations, understand how success was measured, and determine recommendations to develop conflict management competencies. Fifteen Alternative Dispute Resolution leaders and specialists participated in this phenomenological study by voluntarily responding to 12 semi-structured interview questions. Based on the participants’ responses 46 themes emerged across the four research questions. Strategic conflict management planning, engaging stakeholders in the process, consensus building, and convening and inquiry were the top strategies and practices mentioned by the participants in the study. When facing challenges during an implementation of conflict management interventions the theme commonly mentioned was lack of stakeholder engagement and how participants managed obstacles was through being agile and emphasizing positive communication. Measurements of success used by the participants that ranked highest were receiving feedback on process and outcomes, metrics on conflict/issue, and organizational performance metrics. The top theme that surfaced among all participants was how they developed conflict management competencies through a combination of experience and various formal training. The participants indicated the desire to have further conflict management training and education earlier in the career. Based on the research the following three frameworks were developed to enhance conflict management competencies in organizations (a) problem-solving culture framework, (b) conflict management intervention model, and (c) conflict manager competency paradigm