Two Approaches to Conflict Processes

The most successful professionals "accept talent in any package," says Joe Ryan of Marriott. They are tolerant of the personality differences among people and they require others to be so as well. When diverse personalities clash, good managers will step right in to fix the problem. They tend to use one of two processes for conflict resolution. A substantial minority of executives, including Janet Reno, deal with fighting employees by meeting with the employees individually or with their supervisors. A slight majority, however, including Hendrik Verfaillie, ex-CEO of Monsanto, Juanita Hinshaw of Graybar, and Doug Bain of Boeing, meet with the two feuding parties together.

The advantage of individual meetings is that you can be more severe in your comments about the conduct of the individual with whom you are speaking. "But meeting individually with people who are fighting at work can lead to paranoia and fear of favoritism," an Anheuser-Busch manager noted. Most, therefore, call both combatants into the office. The executive who is mediating the dispute will normally give the fighting parties a chance to air their concerns. A majority of senior executives will limit the time for airing concerns to five or ten minutes. Then, the senior executive will tell the fighters that their jobs depend upon the successful resolution of the problem and ask how they propose to resolve it. As ideas come forward, the senior executive pushes on each person to give a little bit on his or her position until they have arrived at a compromise. You may even consider having the combatants write down the compromise and sign it.