Good morning. The workplace is often the theatre of conflicts of different kinds and intensities, and this is not surprising when we consider that it's the domain where most of us still spend two-thirds of our active lives. To illustrate that diversity and to introduce the overall focus of this module, let's consider the following types of disputes. In the first dispute, a group of managers and engineers or specialists in their own functional areas are working on the development of a new medical device, but they cannot agree about the priority of tasks and deadlines. For the marketing people, the customer needs, as they see them, have absolute priority, and so the maximum number of features demanded by customers in marketing surveys should be embedded in the product design and the final production. For the manufacturing and production people however, what matters is bettering existing products on the market for a small number of functionalities. That is what is feasible to them. Meetings are tough. There's little consensus and sometimes shouting and insulting. For conflict number two, a manager and her subordinate disagree over the performance assessment and management decisions being made. Jill, the manager, has given a poor rating to Jane, her subordinate, and this will have very negative effects on both promotion possibilities and pay. They disagree on the data about performance and also on the conclusions to be drawn from them. Jane feels a victim of Jill's managerial bias, treated unfairly, when compared with other coworkers. Jill on her side feels that her professional judgment and also her legitimate authority is being questioned by Jane. A problem employee to her in an unacceptable way. In dispute number three, the pilots of a national airline are preparing to go on strike, and have formally notified their management. They feel, and not for the first time, both ignored and misunderstood by top management. Despite their desire to contribute to the strategic plan of the airline for which they have published a detailed report contesting the existing strategy being pursued, they feel they are being ignored. In addition, the plans of the company involve no improvements in pilots pay and conditions over the next three years which is quite unacceptable to the pilots, and their majority union. Negotiations have been fruitless. So, it looks like a strike is now inevitable. The union is preparing for mobilization. These disputes involve different actors, relationships, roles and regulations. And the combinations of those factors condition how a conflict will run its course and how it will be resolved. Processes which are more or less formal, more or less structured define a framework for the actors in dispute. Whereas in case one, there may be only informal processes available to resolve differences through interpersonal listening and dialogue. In the other two cases, there are very likely to be formal regulations and procedures to be followed; an appeals procedure for employees disagreeing with performance assessments in case two and union management agreements concerning strike action in case three. In both those cases, national laws and sector or company agreements may be important references for how the conflict must be approached and managed. In addition, the stakes of the conflicts are themselves very different in the three cases. Impacts are individual, group and company wide. Professional pride and respect are at stake, but also our time and money. But let's note the important point that conflict may not always be negative. Referring to case one, research actually shows that conflict between colleagues over methods of work is actually positively correlated with the likelihood of reaching innovative solutions when developing new products. Conflicts can actually feed innovation if their nature, scope and impact are carefully watched by project managers. In the next videos, we will be developing a number of the points just mentioned as we explore the different dimensions and scope of organizational conflict management. And of course, we will be bringing in the specific role of mediation as a promising but often under-used third party intervention.
