Conflict ladder
Contents |
Abstract
One of the most important things in good management is good and clear communication, both when it comes to working in a team and if you are working as a consultant and your relationship with a client. Good communication is important within all types of management - project, program and portfolio. Basically, every time more than one person is working together in solving a problem, and no matter if you are a leader, manager or coworker.
A good way to start having good communication is to avoid bigger conflicts and misunderstandings. Conflicts can occur for many reasons, if not on behalf of unclear goals or misunderstandings, then it often comes from differentiations within perceptions, values and backgrounds [1]. To help control conflicts The Conflict Ladder is a good tool to use.
Conflict in itself is not a bad thing but escalating conflicts are bad. Actually, if all members of a team always agree, then the work can be unnuanced and going in a wrong direction – so conflicts are good when being controlled [1]. But what is a conflict exactly and what does it mean when a conflict is escalating, and how can it be avoided? This will be described in this article together with the principles of The Conflict Ladder. The Conflict Ladder describes the different stages that exist if a conflict is allowed to escalate fully with anger, blame and personal attack, and the aim is to keep the conflict at lowest possible stage. To keep the conflict at the same stage or to get it to lower stages, there are some tools to manage the conflict.
Not all persons react with anger to a conflict, some will try to avoid the conflict, and here The Conflict Avoidance Ladder will describe the different stages of the conflict. Here the tools to solve the conflict will be different [2].
Different examples of conflicts at different stages and managing tool to use in different relations will be illustrated, so it will be easier for you to incorporate The Conflict Ladder in not only your daily work life but also your personal life.
The big idea
When talking about managing, no matter if it is project, program or portfolio management, good communication is the key. In every type of managing information have to be gathered from different actors, agreements have to be made between parts, a solution have to be researched and analyzed by a various of team members. Every time two individuals have to communicate different parameters can cause a conflict - here the challenge lies in keeping it as a good conflict with a useful outcome for both sides. If the conflict escalates drastic it can have large consequences for the harmony in a team. To keep conflicts at a compatible level sometimes requires clever managing.
What is a conflict?
To know how to keep a good conflict it is essential to know exact what a conflict is. There are many formulations and definitions of what a conflict is. In the DS Handbook 185:2007[1] it is defined as: “An interactive process manifested in incompatibility, disagreement or dissonance within or between social entities.” When trying to straighten out a conflict it is crucial to know the context and what it is about. When it comes to working in a team there are five main types of conflict contexts: methods, resources, values, personal and system. These are described by The Sector of Working Environment (BFA) as following [3]:
Method conflicts: “Is about goals, means, structure and procedures. Professional questions about how the work is carried out and what methods are used to solve the task.”
Resource conflicts: “Emerging from competition for money, time, space, materials and staff.”
Value conflicts: “Is about culture and about personal values and attitudes. What is right and what is wrong? Moral and ethical disagreements, traditions, etc. Here, conflicts can arise between different professional groups, and in cultural clashes between, for example, new and experienced employees.”
Personal conflicts: “Is about identity, self-esteem, loyalty, trust and rejection.” “Here, deep and unconscious feelings are activated, which are about friendship, sympathy and care, which can be difficult to deal with in a workplace, but are crucial for how the individual employee or manager experiences his or her work situation.”
System conflicts: “Is about allocating rights, responsibilities and obligations. The system conflicts arise from the contradictions that arise between employees and managers when legislation, party agreements and professional practices are established in general.”
More than one of these types of conflicts can occur in one conflict, so it is important to detangle a conflict and find a solution to all parts of the conflict. To find a solution to a conflict it is important that the involved parts in the conflict are able to keep the good communication and keep the conflict from escalating. Here The Conflict Ladder is a great tool to understand the different stages in a conflict and to know how to avoid taking the conflict a step up.
The Conflict Ladder
The Conflict Ladder consists of seven main steps divided into three colors – the green area, the yellow and the red. When stepping up the ladder into another color means that it will be very hard to deescalate the conflict back down again. The green area is where both parts of the conflicts can win something from the conflict, and this will be a healthy conflict. When stepping up to the yellow steps means that the situation changes and only one part will win something – both parts will try to win whatever it takes. When reaching the red area, it will be a loose-loose and either part will not get anything positive out of the conflict – here the conflict will be more like a warfare[4]. Each step of the ladder represents a way of acting, thinking or reacting.
The steps
Step 1 - Disagreement
Step 2 - Blame
Step 3 - The problem grows
Step 4 - The dialogue disappears
Step 5 - Enemy images
Step 6 - Hostility
Step 7 - Polarization
Conflict management tools
The Conflict Avoidance Ladder
The steps
Step 1 - Disagreement
Step 2 - Mental images
Step 3 - Avoidance
Step 4 - Slander
Step 5 - Separation
Conflict management tools
Application
The good conflict within a team
Keep a good relationship to your client
Limitations
Not all conflicts can be solved
It takes time
Good communication is necessary
Annotated bibliography
The Conflict Ladder - How to prevent and manage conflicts, BFA Handel, 2020 [2]. This leaflet is produced by the industry community of working environment within trade, finance and offices to improve the customer contact in the industry. It is like a handbook where The Conflict Ladder and The Conflict Avoidance Ladder is discribed, and different tools to use.
Arts in Psychotherapy - Unlocking conflict through creative expression [6].
PMBOK Guide - A guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge [7].
Five types of conflicts [3].
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 J. Geraldi, C. Thuesen, J. Oehmen & V. Stingl. (2017). Doing Projects - Nordic flavour to managing projects. Danish Standards Foundation. 97.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 BFA Handel,\& Marianne Lassen (Stockfleth & Lassen). (2020). The Conflict Ladder - How to prevent and manage conflicts. http://bfahandel.dk/Files/Filer/BFAHandel/English/Trapned-pjece-eng-FINAL.pdf Visited: 08/02/2021.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Branche Fællesskab Arbejdsmiljø (BFA). Fem typer af konflikter. https://www.arbejdsmiljoweb.dk/trivsel/konflikter/fem_typer_konflikter Visited: 10/02/2021.
- ↑ Branche Fællesskab Arbejdsmiljø (BFA). Konflikttrappen - Konflikters udvikling. https://www.arbejdsmiljoweb.dk/trivsel/konflikter/saadan_udvikles_konflikter/konflikttrappen-konflikters-udvikling Visited: 10/02/2021.
- ↑ Krifa. Når konflikten topper. https://krifa.dk/inspiration/kolleger/naar-konflikten-topper Visited: 10/02/2021.
- ↑ R. Goldblatt, D. Elkis-Abuhoff, M. Gaydos, S. Rose & S. Casey. (2011). Arts in Psychotherapy - Unlocking conflict through creative expression.
- ↑ The Project Management Institute (PMI). 6th edition (2017). A guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide).
