Conflict is caused by many factors, including competition for scarce resources,
personality clashes, poor communications, misunderstanding of roles and responsibilities,
attitudes and assumptions and more ...
Conflict is to be expected and even welcomed as evidence of the wide variety
of experience, skills and knowledge that exist in a co-operative. But it can
have damaging consequences if not managed thoughtfully, so co-operatives need
to take steps to minimise the causes of conflict and to embed techniques of
principled negotiation.
Our workshops aim to identify causes of conflict, help participants recognise their habitual responses, explore a range of conflict resolution styles and present model agreements for reducing tension in the workplace. They also introduce the four stages of a negotiation process based on principle rather than power. Email if you would like to be contacted about workshops.
5 conflict resolution styles 211kb
Dealing with workplace tensions 40kb
Techniques of principled negotiation 33kb
Getting to Yes by Fisher and Ury (widely available from bookshops and online retailers). A summary of the book here.
We’ve prepared a brief questionnaire to help you
assess whether your co-operative needs to pay more attention to how it manages
conflict.
Check out your conflict resolution and negotiation skills.