Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

AcasLatest NewsEmployee relationsDispute resolutionMediation

Sir Brendan Barber: Why we need conflict

by Brendan Barber 8 Oct 2019
by Brendan Barber 8 Oct 2019 Sir Brendan Barber, chair of Acas. Photo: Acas
Sir Brendan Barber, chair of Acas. Photo: Acas

Could fairness at work be the Trojan horse that brings individual conflict management back into the board room? Acas chair Sir Brendan Barber explains.

Conflict has had an image problem for a while. It goes against the grain of the way most organisations aim to line themselves up, with a focus on common interests and goals. These common interests are epitomised by employee engagement and wellbeing. These are real forces for good but, in contrast, conflict is seen as negative, disruptive and unwanted.

But times change and I believe that conflict at work needs to be taken more seriously. It should not only be associated with procedural failure, miscommunication or employee misbehaviour, as research often suggests. Rather, it should be seen as a dynamic force that can play the role of critical friend for organisational change and champion for improved working lives.

Conflict resolution

Fairness, justice and capability – repositioning conflict management

Managing workplace conflict: The changing role of HR

Are HR professionals lacking employee relations skills?

How a new conflict resolution process improved openness at Aviva

Dealing with conflict in the matrix

Good practice guide: Mediation

It is an opportune time to rediscover the value of good conflict. The ongoing moral crisis in organisational values – driven by sexual harassment disclosures, gender inequality and the redefining of what constitutes fairness amid emerging business models and working patterns – is challenging prevailing workplace cultures and management accountability.

Promoting good behaviour and enlightened values at work doesn’t mean ignoring disagreements, it means recognising them, listening and responding promptly. The recent publication of new Acas research, Managing workplace conflict: The changing role of HR, on the role HR plays in managing conflict, provides us with a good opportunity to reflect on where we are and what needs to be done.

 

Conflict is… part of how we develop and sustain positive relationships

If we talk about promoting positive behaviours at work – challenging bullying, driving up equality – then people get it. But the bit that people are less comfortable with is acknowledging real or perceived clashes of interests.

But what if, as Richard Saundry suggests in his recent Acas policy paper, Fairness, justice and capability – repositioning conflict management, we were able to reframe conflict management as the “capacity of organisations to develop and sustain positive relationships”?

What if conflict was not just about tribunal claims, grievances and disciplinary hearings, but about training and nurturing “good managers” who are able to “constantly negotiate and renegotiate their relationship with staff and other colleagues”?

This would involve greater investment in the informal, “latent” stage of conflict, where line managers can be so effective with the right training.

 

Conflict is… one of the ways we determine what’s right and wrong

The strong body of Acas research on the management of individual conflict tells us a great deal about the role everyone should play in preventing and resolving conflict and the challenges they face. We know that there are real issues around:

  • The eroding levels of employee representation at work is worrying, as these people are often the glue between managers and staff, particularly in conflictual situations, offering early interventions that can help take the sting out of potential disputes;
  • Confidence on the part of front line managers. Whether this stems from a genuine fear to tackle difficult conversations, or lack of support and training, many opt for a formal rather than an informal route to conflict resolution;
  • A growing interest in mediation and other more creative techniques for preventing and resolving disputes. But initiatives seem localised and still need a more strategic approach.

The epidemic of very poor conduct at work tells us that there should be no bystanders in the fight for equality and fairness. But people need to feel safe when whistleblowing, and this means building trust in leaders and organisational values.


Conflict is… a critical friend to organisational change and cultural atrophy

Our research finds that for many HR professionals, conflict management – and indeed employee relations more generally – is seen as “counter-aspirational”, something you leave behind if you want to progress and be taken seriously.

In practice this often means that HR advice to the critical front line managers is focused on ensuring legal and procedural compliance. It encourages a culture of avoidance and it is a real shame as it means that issues that could be nipped in the bud are left to fester and become entrenched. In these scenarios, as the report says, responses to conflict are inevitably “reactive, late and focused on the management of risk”.

The Acas report suggests that “fairness needs to be a core consideration of HR practitioners” and that HR has the “opportunity to go beyond being the keeper of procedures”. This is true, but fairness should be a core consideration for all of us: HR, employers, line managers, unions and employee representatives.

Let’s not be afraid to disagree, to challenge and to question.

Avatar
Brendan Barber

Sir Brendan Barber is chair of Acas. He was general secretary of the TUC from 2003 until 2012.

previous post
Thousands of jobs at stake as Pizza Express enters creditor talks
next post
Christian doctor in transgender pronoun row loses at employment tribunal

1 comment

Avatar
Paula Porter 13 Oct 2019 - 2:11 pm

I would like to thank you for this article.

I’m not a HR professional, although with 30 plus years of office experience, I have a keen interest in how companies and their management handle these type of issues. I feel good conflict management and an empathetic approach when dealing with such matters is absolutely vital in ensuring a fair and happy environment for employees in the workplace. More companies need to hear this message and put into practice good procedure and training for it’s managers.

Reply

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

Employers face three days of disruption as train...

31 May 2023

Royal Mail dispute: postal union pauses vote on...

25 May 2023

Strikes bill passes House of Lords after amendments

10 May 2023

Government could use legal action to stop nursing...

24 Apr 2023

Royal Mail deal includes 10% pay rise and...

21 Apr 2023

Junior doctors’ strike: senior medical body calls for...

20 Apr 2023

Royal Mail and CWU reach agreement on pay

17 Apr 2023

New nursing strikes confirmed by RCN union

14 Apr 2023

Unison accepts NHS pay deal in England

14 Apr 2023

Junior doctors’ union asks for Acas involvement in...

12 Apr 2023

  • The HR Bundle: Your one-stop guide to building a successful global HR Department PROMOTED | Get your hands on Deel’s free HR bundle...Read more
  • The Benefits of an Employee Assistance Programme PROMOTED | EAPs support employees in a range of ways...Read more
  • Intergenerational working and how to manage up and down the generations PROMOTED | The benefits and challenges of intergenerational workplaces...Read more
  • Bereavement in the workplace: How training can help HR get it right PROMOTED | HR professionals play an essential role...Read more
  • UK workforce mental wellbeing needs PROMOTED | The mental wellbeing support employers are providing misses the mark...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2023

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2023 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+