Workplace conflict management: preventing tensions and restoring dialogue
A workplace is a place of cooperation, but also of disagreement. Tensions can arise between colleagues, within a team, between a manager and their team, or between management and employee representatives.
Once they take hold, these tensions can undermine working relationships, damage the working atmosphere and affect how the team works.
Workplace conflict management means understanding what is fuelling the situation, creating the conditions for dialogue again and tackling the interpersonal, management or organisational factors that keep the difficulties going.
Alixio Group helps companies prevent and manage conflict, bringing in, as needed: assessment, team facilitation, mediation, support for managers and teams, psychosocial risk prevention and employee relations expertise.
When should you step in to deal with workplace tensions?
It is best to step in before positions harden and the conflict spreads to the whole team. Tensions can stem, in particular, from:
- persistent disagreements within a team;
- difficult relationships between colleagues;
- a conflict between a manager and their team;
- poorly defined roles or responsibilities;
- a way of organising work that causes misunderstandings;
- a transformation or reorganisation;
- a gradual deterioration in the working atmosphere;
- tensions with employee representatives;
- alleged harassment or violence.
The first step is to understand the nature of the problem: interpersonal, collective, managerial, organisational or a matter of employee relations.
What role do employee representatives play in managing tensions?
In times of tension or crisis, employee representatives, particularly members of the works council, are an important link between employees and management.
Their knowledge of what happens on the ground means they can flag early warning signs, recurring difficulties, a deteriorating working atmosphere or situations likely to affect health and working conditions.
In some cases, the works council also has a formal right to raise an alert, particularly when it identifies a breach of people’s rights or a threat to their physical or mental health.
Involving employee representatives enriches the analysis of the situation, helps identify its effects on the team and allows prevention or remedial measures to be shared. However, their involvement must take place within a clear framework, suited to the nature of the conflict and respectful of each stakeholder’s role.
How does Alixio Group support conflict management?
Get an objective picture of the situation
We start by scoping the request with the stakeholders concerned.
This first step helps us understand the context, the events that led to the situation, the people involved and any steps already taken.
Depending on needs, our work can then include individual or group interviews to gather the facts, people’s perceptions and the difficulties they face.
The aim is to get a full picture of the situation before deciding what action to take.
Ease tensions within the team
Some situations call for work with an entire team.
Team facilitation aims to reopen discussion of the difficulties that are getting in the way of how the team works: working relationships, cooperation, allocation of roles, ways of working or management practices.
Set up mediation
When dialogue between several people has broken down, mediation can create a structured space for discussion.
Each person shares their view of the situation, clarifies the points of disagreement and identifies the conditions for restoring a more constructive working relationship.
Mediation is not used systematically: it is used when the nature of the situation lends itself to it.
Support managers
Managers are often the first to notice working relationships deteriorating.
We help them to:
- analyse tense situations;
- prepare conversations with their team;
- adjust their approach;
- maintain a clear working framework;
- recognise situations that require a third party to step in.
When the manager is directly involved in the conflict, a specific arrangement can be put in place.
Tackle organisational factors
Some conflicts go beyond the relationships between people.
They can reveal difficulties linked to the organisation of work, workload, the distribution of responsibilities, ways of cooperating or a transformation.
In this case, resolving the conflict also means acting on the causes feeding it, so as to prevent the tensions from reappearing.
How can tensions be resolved for the long term?
Our approach is organised around three main stages, adapted to each situation.
Scope the situation
Together with the company, we define:
- the context and the events behind the tensions;
- the people or teams concerned;
- what is expected from our work;
- the stakeholders to involve;
- how the approach will be communicated.
This stage sets a clear framework before the work begins.
Analyse the tensions
Individual or group interviews can be used to gather the views of the various parties.
The analysis focuses, in particular, on:
- interpersonal relationships;
- management practices;
- how the team works;
- how work is organised;
- any psychosocial risk factors.
This analysis avoids reducing a conflict too quickly to a clash of personalities.
Build and carry out an action plan
Actions are defined according to the causes identified.
They can combine, in particular:
- mediation;
- team facilitation;
- management support;
- work on team ground rules;
- changes to the organisation;
- a psychosocial risk prevention approach;
- psychological support;
- work on employee relations.
Where useful, employees can be involved in building the solutions, to encourage buy-in.
Team facilitation or mediation: which approach should you choose?
Team facilitation and mediation are not suited to exactly the same situations.
- Mediation is mainly suited to situations where the conflict involves a small number of people and the working relationship needs to be restored.
- Team facilitation allows a wider intervention with a team when the difficulties also concern how it works, how it is organised or how its members cooperate.
In some situations, several approaches can be combined. The initial analysis helps choose the most suitable one.
How do you manage a conflict within a team?
A team conflict needs to be analysed beyond interpersonal relationships alone.
The difficulties may, for example, be linked to:
- an unclear allocation of responsibilities;
- conflicting objectives;
- poorly understood management practices;
- disputed workloads or ways of organising work;
- changes that were not properly supported;
- ways of cooperating that no longer work.
Our work then consists of bringing the difficulties out into the open, understanding what is keeping the tensions going and rebuilding ground rules that allow the team to work together.
How do you manage a conflict between a manager and their team?
When a manager is involved in the conflict, it is important to get an objective picture of the situation before acting.
In particular, you need to distinguish what relates to:
- the relationship between the people involved;
- management practices;
- each person’s expectations or responsibilities;
- how work is organised;
- wider difficulties within the team.
Depending on the situation, support can combine interviews, work with the manager, team facilitation or mediation.
Conflict, harassment and psychosocial risks: how are they linked?
Not every conflict amounts to harassment.
However, long-running tensions, severely damaged relationships or certain behaviours can affect employees’ health and working conditions.
When a situation raises a suspicion of harassment or violence at work, it calls for a specific analysis and an appropriate framework for intervention.
When should you launch an investigation into suspected harassment?
When a complaint or reported facts raise a suspicion of psychological or sexual harassment, an internal investigation may be needed to establish the facts objectively.
Conducted within a clearly defined framework, possibly with the support of an external third party, it gathers the facts from the people concerned and from witnesses, analyses the interpersonal, managerial and organisational context, and then advises the company on the measures to take.
Alixio Group can support the scoping of the investigation, the conduct of interviews, the analysis of the evidence gathered and the reporting of findings, as well as the definition of suitable prevention or remedial actions.
Conflict management is therefore part of a wider approach to psychosocial risk prevention and occupational health.
Depending on the context, Alixio Group can, in particular, mobilise:
- psychosocial risk diagnosis;
- workplace climate analysis;
- mediation;
- easing of tensions;
- psychological support;
- support for managers;
- organisational consulting.
How do you prevent conflict at work?
The aim is not to eliminate all disagreement.
A team can have differences of opinion without them becoming a problem. The challenge is to stop them turning into long-running tensions.
Several levers can help prevent conflict:
- clarifying roles and responsibilities;
- maintaining regular forums for discussion;
- training managers to spot tensions;
- monitoring the working atmosphere over time;
- identifying organisational sources of tension;
- having well-known points of contact when difficulties arise;
- addressing disagreements early.
A preventive approach makes it possible to act before relationships deteriorate.
What role do managers play in preventing conflict?
Managers play an essential role in the quality of working relationships.
They need to be able to spot early warning signs, create the conditions for dialogue and step in when difficulties start to take hold.
But they cannot always resolve a conflict on their own. A third party may be needed when:
- positions have become entrenched;
- the manager is personally involved;
- the conflict affects several people;
- the situation poses risks to employees’ health;
- the causes go beyond the team’s remit.
Alixio Group supports and trains managers to help them spot, understand and manage these sensitive situations more effectively.
Why choose Alixio Group?
Restore working relationships for the long term
An unresolved conflict can gradually affect the team, working conditions and the working atmosphere.
Stepping in makes it possible to reopen discussion of the difficulties, understand their causes and build solutions suited to the situation.
Alixio Group helps you ease tensions, restore dialogue and prevent them from returning.
Q&A – Workplace conflict management
How do you manage a conflict between two employees?
You need to start by gathering the facts and understanding each person's perception. When dialogue is blocked and the people have to carry on working together, mediation can help recreate a space for discussion.
When should you use workplace mediation?
Mediation is particularly suited to situations where the conflict involves a few identified people, direct communication has become difficult and a working relationship needs to be maintained.
How do you manage tensions within a team?
You need to look not only at relationships between people, but also at roles, how the team works, management practices and how work is organised. A team facilitation process can then be set up with the team.
What is the difference between a collective dispute and an interpersonal conflict?
An interpersonal conflict mainly concerns the relationships between individuals. A collective dispute concerns collective issues and can involve management, employees and their representatives.
What is the difference between mediation and team facilitation?
Mediation generally concerns a conflict between a small number of people. Team facilitation makes it possible to work more broadly with a team on the causes and consequences of the tensions.
Can a workplace conflict become a psychosocial risk?
A long-running conflict can affect relationships, people’s health and working conditions. It then needs to be analysed in context to identify any psychosocial risk factors.
How do you prevent conflict within a team?
Clear responsibilities, forums for discussion, well-prepared managers and attention to the working atmosphere make it possible to spot difficulties earlier and step in before positions become entrenched.
