Conflict: The Question is Not If but When?

By Lynne S. Bassis, Esq.

Attorney, Mediator, Conflict Management Design Consultant

There is abundant evidence that major corporations, public sector agencies, and nonprofits are disrupted by conflict from within. In the current climate of limited resources for organizations and increased demands on workers, the ground is fertile for the emergence of conflict. Unlike yesteryear, when the response to conflict was reactive or passive or even avoidant, and given the multi-ethnic and global work environment of today, the question is not if a conflict will arise, but when.

The decision by organizations to adopt a proactive, preventative approach to conflict is on the rise (1). Once thought only applicable to large organizations, conflict prevention and active responsiveness are seen as the preferred model by organizations of varying size.

To survive today, it is incumbent on an organization, as well as its individuals, to become savvy about its “conflict management quotient” and to implement a Conflict Management System of the correct size and proportion, tailored to and consistent with the goals, mission, and culture of the organization.

Ultimately, however, even in today’s ever-increasing technological advancement, organizations are dependent on people. And people are complex, and work relationships take work. What will be required for a successful Conflict Management System to survive is for the people within an organization to begin increasing their own individual conflict management quotients, as the organization — in design and implementation of a Conflict Management System — is increasing its own. Understanding exactly what a conflict is about is the beginning.

PRACTICE TIP: “CRIP” ANALYSIS (2)

CRIP stands for Content, Relationship, Identity, and Process. CRIP provides a framework for understanding a dispute and identifying solutions. If say, someone is looking for a job, offering him a banana will not be met with much responsiveness. On the other hand, offering someone who is hungry a banana will be met with a positive response. Silly, you say? Simplistic? Perhaps, but many times the cause of conflict within an organization is just as simple; i.e., making wrong assumptions about what the conflict is about and, based on those erroneous assumptions, applying solutions that are mismatched.

Unfortunately, this dynamic occurs with much regularity within organizations and leads to much conflict. Using a CRIP analysis, one can focus on the nature of a dispute and find the appropriate, matched solutions. Asking the following questions will assist in defining the conflict accurately:

• Content Issue: Is the crux of the problem something tangible or divisible, such as money, property, or time?
• Relationship Issue: Does the problem stem from who we are in this relationship; e.g., is an employee asking why his co-worker of the same classification received a promotion when he did not?
• Identity Goal: Does the issue involve who I am in this relationship, such that I feel undermined, disrespected, ignored, or unimportant?
• Process Goal: Is the problem about the type of dispute process used to settle the dispute; that is, whether the resolution method will be competitive, adversarial, problem-solving, or collaborative in nature?

The most overlooked violations are identity violations. Irrespective of whether an individual will prevail under current legal standards, the affront to a party’s identity is always strong and should be assuaged by an appropriate response in a timely manner.

Understanding a conflict — whether it is based on content, relationship, identity, or process — is the first step in increasing the conflict management quotient of both an individual and an organization. From there, appropriate responses can be identified and implemented.

Copyright © 2011 Lynne S. Bassis, Esq., Bassis Mediation Group. All Rights Reserved.

Lynne Bassis mediates high stakes, emotionally driven cases in litigation or pre-litigation. She provides conflict resolution services to businesses to alleviate conflict on the front end, so as to improve the bottom line on the back end.

1) American Arbitration Association 2007, Dispute-Wise® Business Management: Improving Economic and Non-Economic Outcomes in Managing Business Conflicts, online at http://www.adr.org/sp.asp?id=29431.

2) Wilmot, William W., and Joyce L. Hocker, Interpersonal Conflict, Fifth Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1998.