Research purporting
to confirm categorically that global warming is happening and is caused by
humans has been released and fiercely debated in the UK on this warm Autumn
weekend in 2013. To my inexpert eye the evidence is extremely persuasive and I
would like my country to recognise that if we caused climate change then we
have a responsibility to do something about it. I, like thousands of others,
take a number of practical, ‘green’ measures – recycling, energy conservation,
family carbon footprint reduction. I do not believe that this alone will have a
global impact unless governments and commerce become more proactively and collaboratively
focused on a solution. On a national and international scale the lack of
political consensus around this debate has led to a rather reactive rather than
pro-active approach.
This is
mirrored to some degree when we look at workplace conflict climate. There is
some evidence of ‘warming’ as the ER landscape has shifted away from collective
to more individually based workplace disputes. Latent conflict (which simmers
and causes stress, sickness and ultimately poor performance) also seems to have
risen. The use of mediation on such situations has gone up by 14 per cent since 2008[1].
Successful mediation
projects basically increase mediation capacity, then encourage individuals
to make better resolution choices e.g.
mediation before grievance where possible / appropriate. The indications
are that this increases resolution rates and saves money, time and stress.
Admirable, but just as with global warming individual acts will not achieve
lasting change without some leadership and investment – is this enough. Many
mediation services are fragile, underused and still battling against a
reactive conflict avoidance or ‘battle it out’ culture. They only really wheel
into action when a ‘case’ appears.
I am confident that there is more to come from mediation in
many organisations. There are benefits in aspiring to a conflict climate change
relevant to your organisation and people. I am currently exploring this area in
Part 4 of the ABC Guide to Workplace Conflict
Resolution – Resolution Climate[2].
I am taking an overview of:
- What some of the features and benefits
are of a conflict resolution climate
- How to identify and benchmark factors
which enable existing or new mediation projects to achieve more lasting
proactive changes towards a conflict resolution culture
- How different types of organisations may
need more tailored / customised approaches in order to achieve conflict
climate change.
I welcome
and examples / case studies from anyone out there who has a project they
believe contributes to conflict climate change in their organisation. Contact
me at john.crawley@peopleresolutions.com.
John Crawley
