Managing Conflict

Many of us have observed first hand the pain, loss and irretrievable damage suffered by individuals, organisations and relationships as result of conflict.

Conflict in the workplace can lead to a breakdown in relationships. Repeated conflicts and misunderstandings can greatly damage morale. Conflict also has quantifiable costs relating to lost working hours. It has, for instance, been estimated that managers spend up to 20% of their time on managing conflict of some kind or another.

However, conflict, like fire, has two faces: the destructive and the constructive. Constructive conflict can lead to creative problem solving, a new level of openness and understanding between people, and ultimately to higher productivity.

Avoiding conflict is therefore not the answer. What is needed to shift from the destructive to the creative, is an understanding of the true meaning of conflict, an awareness of how we are consciously or subconsciously contributing to it and a set of skills and strategies that can be drawn on to manage a variety of conflict or potential conflict situations constructively.

Managing Conflict has been designed to help people deal with everyday conflict in the workplace by:

• Making them aware of the potential risk of conflict
• Fostering a responsible attitude towards the management of conflict
• Finding ways to avoid unnecessary, petty conflict
• Developing insight into their own behaviour in a conflict situation and understanding how it impacts the outcomes of the conflict
• Developing skills and strategies that they can apply in interpersonal conflict situations. Different versions of the programme are available for learners from different NQF levels.

Target group

Sales, admin, front line personnel, supervisors, managers

NQF Alignment

Aligned to unit standard 9533 (Use communication skills to handle and resolve conflict in the workplace) on NQF 3 and has 3 credits.

Duration

One day

Group size

A maximum of 20 learners per workshop to ensure individual attention and maximum opportunity for participation and experimenting with new skills.