Conflict is one of the greatest sources of tolerated business expenses and loss. This is despite the fact that this expense and loss can, in most cases, be easily turned around to revenue and gain. In the nonprofit world one of the greatest inhibitors of mission success is not that there isn’t enough funding, or the challenging nature of the cause. It is the simple fact that teams struggle to work well together. What if conflict was the starting point for developing trust? What if it catalyzed a deeper, more meaningful understanding between team members? What if it was crucial for building stronger and more powerful organizations? Last of all, what if there were simple steps you could take to automatically help your teams communicate and work together more easily? This book shows you how.
Capitalizing on significant developments in social science over the past twenty years, this book explores both the positive and negative aspects of power, identifying opportunities and threats. It shows how managers and employees can manage power in order to make it a constructive force in organizations.
Conflict in the workplace is a perennial problem for organizations. Whether it's a disagreement between colleagues, a dispute with management or large-scale industrial action, conflict negatively affects both people and profits as employee morale and productivity fall. Endorsed by the CIPD, Managing Conflict is an essential guide for HR professionals needing to tackle these problems by not only resolving current issues, but also preventing future instances of conflict. Going beyond interpersonal conflict, the book also looks at resolving board room disputes, disputes with shareholders, in the supply chain, commercial disputes and customer complaints. The first part of Managing Conflict covers the causes and costs of conflict, the impact of the psychological contract and the legal framework for managing workplace disputes both in the UK and internationally. The second part of the book provides a blueprint for redefining resolution and building a culture of constructive conflict management, from designing a conflict management strategy and developing a formal resolution process to embedding mediation, engaging stakeholders and training managers in resolution and mediation skills. This book also includes conflict resolution toolkits for managers, HR teams, employees and unions to help tackle conflict and bullying at work. Packed with best practice case studies from major UK and global organizations, this is an indispensable guide for all HR professionals looking to resolve conflict in the workplace. Online supporting resources include a conflict health check tool, conflict cost calculator, and checklist for developing an internal mediation scheme.
Make workplace conflict resolution a game that EVERYBODY wins! Recent studies show that typical managers devote more than a quarter of their time to resolving coworker disputes. The Big Book of Conflict-Resolution Games offers a wealth of activities and exercises for groups of any size that let you manage your business (instead of managing personalities). Part of the acclaimed, bestselling Big Books series, this guide offers step-by-step directions and customizable tools that empower you to heal rifts arising from ineffective communication, cultural/personality clashes, and other specific problem areas—before they affect your organization's bottom line. Let The Big Book of Conflict-Resolution Games help you to: Build trust Foster morale Improve processes Overcome diversity issues And more Dozens of physical and verbal activities help create a safe environment for teams to explore several common forms of conflict—and their resolution. Inexpensive, easy-to-implement, and proved effective at Fortune 500 corporations and mom-and-pop businesses alike, the exercises in The Big Book of Conflict-Resolution Games delivers everything you need to make your workplace more efficient, effective, and engaged.
Describes a method of negotiation that isolates problems, focuses on interests, creates new options, and uses objective criteria to help two parties reach an agreement.
Manage your team from anywhere. Leading any team involves managing people, technical oversight, and project administration, but leaders of virtual teams perform these functions from afar. Leading Virtual Teams walks you through the basics of: Connecting your people to each other—and to the team’s mission Surmounting language, distance, and technology barriers Identifying and using the right communication channels Don't have much time? Get up to speed fast on the most essential business skills with HBR's 20-Minute Manager series. Whether you need a crash course or a brief refresher, each book in the series is a concise, practical primer that will help you brush up on a key management topic. Advice you can quickly read and apply, for ambitious professionals and aspiring executives—from the most trusted source in business.
Unresolved conflict is workplace kryptonite. Learn how to develop the mindset and skills to defuse disagreements, overcome division, and turn conflict into an opportunity for growth. Unresolved workplace conflict wastes time, increases stress, and negatively affects business outcomes. But conflict isn't the problem, mismanagement is. Leaders unintentionally mismanage conflict when they fall into patterns of what Marlene Chism calls “the Three As:” aggression, avoidance, and appeasing. “These coping mechanisms are ways human beings avoid the emotions that come with conflict, but in the end it's all avoidance,” says Chism. In this book she shows how to fearlessly deal with conflict head-on by expanding your conflict capacity. Conflict capacity is a combination of three elements. The foundation is the Inner Game—the leader's self-awareness, values, discernment, and emotional integrity. The Outer Game is the skills, tools, and communication techniques built on that foundation. Finally, there's Culture—the visible and invisible structures around you that can encourage or discourage conflict. Chism offers exercises, examples, and expert guidance on developing all three elements. Leaders will discover techniques to increase leadership clarity, identify obstacles, and reduce resistance. They'll develop powerful skills for dealing with high-conflict people and for initiating, engaging in, and staying with difficult conversations. Readers will learn that when they see conflict as a teacher, courageously face it, and continually work on transforming themselves, they can get the resolution they are seeking. They can change minds.
“Raines masterfully blends the latest empirical research on workplace conflict with practical knowledge, skills, and tools to effectively manage and prevent a wide range of conflict episodes. This is a highly applicable ‘top shelf book’ that will assist anyone from the aspiring manager to top level management and leadership in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. It will also be a fast favorite of professors, trainers, and students of business and conflict management.” - Brian Polkinghorn, Distinguished Professor, Center for Conflict Resolution, Salisbury University. “With her broad dispute resolution, teaching, and editing experience, Susan Raines is uniquely qualified to organize what is known about conflict management in the workplace. She has succeeded in providing private, public, and nonprofit managers with accessible concepts and tools to deal effectively with the internal and external conflicts they must confront every day. Essential reading for all managers!” - Alan E. Gross, senior director, training coordinator, New York Peace Institute “After reading an advance copy of Raine’s impressive book, I can’t wait to begin to use it as a seminal text in my classes in organizational conflict. I am amazed at her ability to cover so well such disparate subjects as systems design, public policy disputes, small and large group processes, customer conflicts, conflicts in a unionized environment, and conflicts within regulatory contexts. Her user-friendly writing style is enhanced by her salient examples of exemplary and mistake-laden practices within public and private sector organizations. A ‘must-read’ for scholars, students, and practitioners interested in organizational conflict.” - Neil H. Katz, professor, Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Nova-Southeastern University “Conflict management skills are essential to a manager’s success. Raines, a leading scholar and practitioner, provides a comprehensive and strategic new guide to these critical skills and how to use them in any organization.” - Lisa Blomgren Bingham, Keller-Runden Professor of Public Service, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University
Positive psychology focuses on finding the best one has to offer and repairing the worst to such a degree that one becomes a more responsible, nurturing, and altruistic citizen. However, since businesses are composed of groups and networks, using positive psychology in the workplace requires applications at both the individual and the group levels. There is a need for current studies that examine the practices and efficacy of positive psychology in creating organizational harmony by increasing an individual’s wellbeing. The Handbook of Research on Positive Organizational Behavior for Improved Workplace Performance is a collection of innovative research that combines the theory and practice of positive psychology as a means of ensuring happier employees and higher productivity within an organization. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as team building, spirituality, and ethical leadership, this publication is ideally designed for human resources professionals, psychologists, entrepreneurs, executives, managers, organizational leaders, researchers, academicians, and students seeking current research on methods of nurturing talent and empowering individuals to lead more fulfilled, constructive lives within the workplace.
