Conflict Mediation

Objectives for this article: To provide a process that managers can follow in order to help resolve conflicts in their teams. To support managers in regaining team effectiveness that has been affected by a conflict within the team/or a team member who is involved in a conflict with someone else outside the team. The aim is to maintain team performance through the normalizing of professional relationships within the team. To create an understanding and sense of responsibility in the manager that it is up to them to bring about conflict resolution.

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Conflict may be relatively rare in most teams, but it does occur. The ability to mediate conflict is an important managerial skill, and the reason it falls under the mandate of the manager is because it relates to team performance. Not all disagreements will escalate into conflict, and not all conflicts will be easily identifiable to a new manager. It’s far too common for conflicts to be worked around, by creating new situations in which employees are able to get away with poor behavior with the knowledge that their manager will not want to deal with it.

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Conflict Mediation.PDF