One of the most common – and least effective – responses to workplace conflict is the ostrich approach. Instead of actively managing conflict, many supervisors and managers bury their heads in the sand and hope that time, or a cup of tea, or a walk outside to “cool down” will resolve the conflict for them.

“There’s a common assumption,” the University of Queensland’s Dr Remi Ayoko told us, “That conflict will go away after a while if you just ignore it. What I’ve found in my research is that it doesn’t go away. When you don’t resolve or manage conflict what happens is that it gets a little frozen – but you just need one critical incident and that conflict will erupt again.”

According to Dr Ayoko, “sweeping conflict under the carpet” is rarely helpful. Instead, managers and supervisors should use their position to facilitate open and direct communication between the parties in dispute.

“The best way in which you can go about managing the conflict or trying to resolve it is to talk about it. Bring it out into the open.”

Effective conflict management means that everyone involved has an opportunity to have their say, put forward their perspective, and explain why they behaved as they did or said what they said. When this occurs, issues that seemed like a big deal are often discovered to be not issues at all. You can, as Dr Ayoko pointed out, “move on”.

Managing conflict well involves:

• Being aware of the signs of conflict, and keeping an eye out for them in the workplace;
• Having a chat with the people involved, and getting them talking to each other;
• Encouraging the individuals involved to give each other an “account,” of their perspective, actions and statements about the conflict;
• Knowing how to manage the emotions of people in conflict, so that things don’t get out of hand;
• Not taking issues personally; and
• Promoting a workplace culture that allows people to talk about conflict.

Wherever possible, supervisors and managers involved with return to work should receive training in how to manage conflict. Not only will this prevent some of the negative consequences that may result from conflict, it will also allow your organisation to take advantage of the potential positives that may arise from conflict.