Conflict Management for American Payroll Association – KC Chapter July 8, 2010 Bill Tidd, M.A., CASAC, CEAP Employee Assistance Program Director

Definitions Fight or battle Disagreement Difference of opinion or ideas Misunderstanding

Conflict is also… Unavoidable Normal: –T–Teams form, storm, norm and perform Often not personal Something many leaders need to become more comfortable in navigating To confront simply means to put an issue on the table

Conflict becomes habitual… The frog Question - How many thoughts does the average person have per day? –60,000 How many of those are negative? –77%

Statistics The July 2008 CPP Global Human Capital Report: Workplace Conflict and How Businesses Can Harness it to Thrive, reported: –85% of employees report they deal with conflict an average of 2.1 hours per week –36% stated they deal with conflict all the time or frequently The American Management Association found that managers report spending 18-26% of their time dealing with conflicts

5 myths about conflict Conflict, if left alone, will take care of itself Confronting an issue or a person is always unpleasant The presence of conflict in an organization is a sign of a poor manager Conflict is a sign of low concern for the organization Anger is always negative and destructive

Multi-level conflict Organizational Departmental Individual Different views & approaches Change & uncertainty

Kenneth W. Thomas and Ralph Kilmann Researched conflict and discovered five ways or styles that people use to manage conflict in the 1970’s Constructed the Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI) Take the TKI: –Answer the 15 questions –Complete the table on the reverse side –Identify your dominate and back-up styles

The 5 styles of managing conflict: a different perspective Cooperativeness Assertiveness Low High Low AvoidAccommodate Compete Compromise Collaborate

Conflict resolution We established a Conflict Resolution Team in late 2008 to research conflict and assist our client organizations We have had 20 – 25 engagements since the Team was formed A few engagements were one time events, but most have been longer and up to six months

We have discovered: Conflict is caused by hundreds of factors There is no “silver bullet” But, 50% of conflict can often be resolved by just bring issues to peoples’ attention –C–Change is always proceeded by awareness –I–If nothing changes, things remain the same –T–The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome!

Moving our engagements forward required a blend of: –Critical Incident Stress Debriefing sessions to help" clear the air” –Training –Establishing goals and mutual accountabilities –Leadership coaching –Progressive discipline and/or referral to the EAP for individual counseling

Results of one engagement Requested by HR: Very negative group Frequent complains about their services Managers complained about their employees Employees complained about managers They couldn’t agree on anything

Results of one engagement Team of 14 employees with the goal of improving their customer relations 1 = Poor 3 = Satisfactory 5 = Very good Never feeling wrong as the customer Being treated in a positive, cheerful manner Getting the same, or consistent answer from any representative Working with people who know what they are doing

Results of one engagement Team of 14 employees with the goal of improving their customer relations 1 = Poor 3 = Satisfactory 5 = Very good 10/6/09 Never feeling wrong as the customer 2.75 Being treated in a positive, cheerful manner 2.0 Getting the same, or consistent answer from any representative 2.6 Working with people who know what they are doing 3.4

Results of one engagement Team of 14 employees with the goal of improving their customer relations 1 = Poor 3 = Satisfactory 5 = Very good 10/6/09 Goal by 3/31/10 Never feeling wrong as the customer or 4+ Being treated in a positive, cheerful manner 2.04 or 4+ Getting the same, or consistent answer from any representative 2.64 or 4+ Working with people who know what they are doing 3.44 or 4+

Results of one engagement Team of 14 employees with the goal of improving their customer relations 1 = Poor 3 = Satisfactory 5 = Very good 10/6/091/14/10 Goal by 3/31/10 Never feeling wrong as the customer or 4+ Being treated in a positive, cheerful manner or 4+ Getting the same, or consistent answer from any representative or 4+ Working with people who know what they are doing or 4+

Results of one engagement Team of 14 employees with the goal of improving their customer relations 1 = Poor 3 = Satisfactory 5 = Very good 10/6/091/14/104/1/10 Goal by 3/31/10 Never feeling wrong as the customer or 4+ Being treated in a positive, cheerful manner or 4+ Getting the same, or consistent answer from any representative or 4+ Working with people who know what they are doing or 4+ 30% 53% 30% 14%

Conflict Management for American Payroll Association – KC Chapter July 8, 2010 Bill Tidd, M.A., CASAC, CEAP Employee Assistance Program Director