Conflict Management: The CFO's Secret Weapon
The Financial Manager

Edward Kopf and Erwin Krasnow

The heads of companies normally don’t think of workplace conflict as a “cost center.” But when CFOs or business managers recognize the costs of conflict, they have a powerful tool for improving financial performance and enhancing the lives of their fellow employees.  The first step in reducing the cost of conflict is changing managers’ mindsets. Too often, conflicts are viewed as little more than nuisances that will go away with time.  Financial and human resource executives can sensitize managers at all levels to two realities: conflict is costly, and it is preventable or curable.  When these truths are recognized, companies are well on the way to creating a healthier, collaborative culture.

Preventing Conflict
Executive Excellence

David Gage

Senior executives must work closely together if they hope to avoid conflict and maximize the advantages that their different skill, talents; personalities, and styles give them. And they must work preventively. By uncovering and openly discussing expectations, personal values and the tricky issue of fairness, executives can achieve much better understanding of on another and achieve far more individually and collectively. By engaging in scenario planning exercises, they can understand how various team members would react in a crisis. Going through the exercises together and having that kind of information really helps to build trust and confidence in one another.

Managing Interpersonal Conflicts by Paying Attention to Interests: Yours and Theirs
Management Productivity Review

Mike Stadter

People in the work world are constantly confronting situations where people seem to have irreconcilable differences. What's the right way to handle such situations? Many people in positions of power like to resort to two simple rules: (1) “If we're having a disagreement, remember that the boss is always right.“ (2) “If you perceive that the boss is wrong refer to rule 1.“

In this article, Mike Stadter, a BMC Associate and clinical psychologist, makes the point that if you get stuck in a “your position, my position, who's going to win?“ trap, you have no chance of working it out. The trick is to look closely at underlying interests. With a realistic business example and sound advice, Stadter highlights how interests can be discovered and solutions found.