Here is a completely updated edition of the best-selling Resolving Conflicts at Work. This definitive and comprehensive work provides a handy guide for resolving conflicts, miscommunications, and misunderstandings at work and outlines the authors’ eight strategies that show how the inevitable disputes and divisions in the workplace actually provide an opportunity for greater creativity, productivity, enhanced morale, and personal growth. This new edition includes current case studies that put the focus on leadership, management, and how organizations can design systems to change a culture of avoidance into a culture of creative conflict. The result is a more practical book for today’s companies and the people who work in them.

While some of us enjoy a lively debate with colleagues and others prefer to suppress our feelings over disagreements, we all struggle with conflict at work. Every day we navigate an office full of competing interests, clashing personalities, limited time and resources, and fragile egos. Sure, we share the same overarching goals as our colleagues, but we don't always agree on how to achieve them. We work differently. We rub each other the wrong way. We jockey for position. How can you deal with conflict at work in a way that is both professional and productive—where it improves both your work and your relationships? You start by understanding whether you generally seek or avoid conflict, identifying the most frequent reasons for disagreement, and knowing what approaches work for what scenarios. Then, if you decide to address a particular conflict, you use that information to plan and conduct a productive conversation. The HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict will give you the advice you need to: Understand the most common sources of conflict Explore your options for addressing a disagreement Recognize whether you—and your counterpart—typically seek or avoid conflict Prepare for and engage in a difficult conversation Manage your and your counterpart's emotions Develop a resolution together Know when to walk away Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.

“Raines masterfully blends the latest empirical research on workplace conflict with practical knowledge, skills, and tools to effectively manage and prevent a wide range of conflict episodes. This is a highly applicable ‘top shelf book’ that will assist anyone from the aspiring manager to top level management and leadership in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. It will also be a fast favorite of professors, trainers, and students of business and conflict management.” - Brian Polkinghorn, Distinguished Professor, Center for Conflict Resolution, Salisbury University. “With her broad dispute resolution, teaching, and editing experience, Susan Raines is uniquely qualified to organize what is known about conflict management in the workplace. She has succeeded in providing private, public, and nonprofit managers with accessible concepts and tools to deal effectively with the internal and external conflicts they must confront every day. Essential reading for all managers!” - Alan E. Gross, senior director, training coordinator, New York Peace Institute “After reading an advance copy of Raine’s impressive book, I can’t wait to begin to use it as a seminal text in my classes in organizational conflict. I am amazed at her ability to cover so well such disparate subjects as systems design, public policy disputes, small and large group processes, customer conflicts, conflicts in a unionized environment, and conflicts within regulatory contexts. Her user-friendly writing style is enhanced by her salient examples of exemplary and mistake-laden practices within public and private sector organizations. A ‘must-read’ for scholars, students, and practitioners interested in organizational conflict.” - Neil H. Katz, professor, Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Nova-Southeastern University “Conflict management skills are essential to a manager’s success. Raines, a leading scholar and practitioner, provides a comprehensive and strategic new guide to these critical skills and how to use them in any organization.” - Lisa Blomgren Bingham, Keller-Runden Professor of Public Service, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University

Conflict in the workplace is a perennial problem for organizations. Whether it's a disagreement between colleagues, a dispute with management or large-scale industrial action, conflict negatively affects both people and profits as employee morale and productivity fall. Endorsed by the CIPD, Managing Conflict is an essential guide for HR professionals needing to tackle these problems by not only resolving current issues, but also preventing future instances of conflict. Going beyond interpersonal conflict, the book also looks at resolving board room disputes, disputes with shareholders, in the supply chain, commercial disputes and customer complaints. The first part of Managing Conflict covers the causes and costs of conflict, the impact of the psychological contract and the legal framework for managing workplace disputes both in the UK and internationally. The second part of the book provides a blueprint for redefining resolution and building a culture of constructive conflict management, from designing a conflict management strategy and developing a formal resolution process to embedding mediation, engaging stakeholders and training managers in resolution and mediation skills. This book also includes conflict resolution toolkits for managers, HR teams, employees and unions to help tackle conflict and bullying at work. Packed with best practice case studies from major UK and global organizations, this is an indispensable guide for all HR professionals looking to resolve conflict in the workplace. Online supporting resources include a conflict health check tool, conflict cost calculator, and checklist for developing an internal mediation scheme.

Most people are not good at a skill that is critical to their job! Even when they attend training, their skill does not improve. Why? Because conflict is an emotional experience and not a rational, logical event. If your goal is to get better outcomes when dealing with conflict and you are like most people, you probably need some help in learning to manage your emotions. This book is packed full of tools that you can use today to make a difference in your career. Like a buffet, you can pick and choose the tools that feel most comfortable for you or will fit best with your situation. When you put together a plan that feels right for you, you will get those better outcomes you need and want.

People thrive on conflict in most areas of their lives - football games, political debates, legal disputes - yet steer clear from workplace conflicts. But conflict is actually a healthy way to challenge the existing order and essential to change in the workplace. The real problem is not conflict per se, but managing conflict. This authoritative manual explains step by step how to design a complete conflict resolution system and develop the skills to implement it. Packed with exercises, case studies, and checklists, the book also supplies: * an overview of workplace conflict * diagnostic tools for measuring it * techniques for resolving conflict, such as negotiation, labor/management partnerships, third-party dispute resolution, mediation, arbitration, more." "

From mild disagreements to major personnel blowouts, conflict in the workplace is unavoidable. Drawing lightheartedly from stories of her own slipups and disagreements as well as examples from her twenty years of experience as a conflict resolution professional, author Susan Shearouse reveals how conflict is created, how to respond to it, and how to manage it more effectively so that your team can get back to doing what it does best: producing top results for your organization. Conflict 101 employs research, humor, and oh-so-relatable anecdotes to help readers more deeply understand what it takes to build trust, harness negative emotions, encourage apologies and forgiveness, use a solution-seeking approach, and say what needs to be said in the workplace to move past conflicts. Whether it’s a fight over resources, a disagreement about how to get things done, or an argument stemming from perceived differences in identities or values, the manager’s role is to navigate relationships, build compromises, and encourage better collaboration. In doing so, you’ll not only become a stronger manager--you’ll build a much stronger team.