8 weeks ago; People Resolutions launched its first Workplace Conflict Survey for 2010. We wanted to explore the extent to which organisations currently experience conflict, the impact it has on workplace performance, and how organisations attempt to control the issue through HR and managerial techniques. During the survey period, 122 in-depth opinions were taken from 122 HR professionals across the UK. The findings were then analysed in order to not only identify the key issues affecting conflict for 2011, but the ways in which they can be addressed. The findings have now been published in this insightful and interested report - a must-read for all HR professionals.

1. Specialists in Managing Workplace Conflict
Workplace Conflict
Survey (UK) 2010
By Helen Ross
Lead Researcher
People Resolutions Limited
Copyright © 2010 People Resolutions Limited

2. Conflictcanoccurinmany
workplacesituationsand
ismanifestedthrougha
varietyofbehaviours.
Foreword
People Resolutions, in conjunction with Human
Potential Accounting, has conducted a UK survey
investigating the current effect and management of
workplaceconflict.
WithpoorlymanagedworkplaceconflictcostingUK
businesses£24billioneveryyear(OPPandCIPD),we
wantedtoexploretheextenttowhichorganisations
currently experience conflict, the impact it has on
workplace performance, and how organisations
attempt to control the issue through HR and
managerialtechniques.
Conflict can occur in many workplace situations
and is manifested through a variety of behaviours.
However, by investigating and understanding these
behaviours, we can begin to address the overall
problemofworkplaceconflictintheUK.
It is also important to note that not all conflict is bad
conflict. Thoughconflictisgenerallybelievedtobea
negativeanddestructivebehavioursomedifferences
of approach or opinion can form the necessary
stimulusfororganisationalchangeandbetterproject
management.
However the fact still remains that ‘Unmanaged
conflict is the largest reducible cost in organisations
today,andtheleastrecognised’(DanDana).
In addition, the courts now have the power to
increase or decrease awards by up to 25 per cent –
to employers, employees or both – if they have not
reasonablyconsideredconstructiveresolutionofone
formoranother.
With the need for effective conflict management
becoming paramount, everyone in the workplace
now needs to play a part in planning for and
preventing conflict or resolving it promptly and
reasonably.
Helen Ross, BSc, MSc
Lead Researcher
People Resolutions Limited

3. www.peopleresolutions.com
Executive Summary
Key Findings
Thesurveyanalysiswasbasedon122responses
from HR personnel.
Lost Time
• 25.8% of HR personnel spend over 10% of
their time per week dealing with conflict.
• This translates to somewhere between 3.5
and 4 hours lost per HR employee per week,
meaning a loss of 23.5 days a year.
Grievances and Tribunals
• The average number of grievances reported
per year is 11, with 2 going to tribunal.
• Public sector organisations report the
most grievances compared with private and
charity/not-for-profit organisations.
• IT/Telecoms and Construction sectors report
the lowest number of grievances. Local and
central government report the highest.
• 40% of all grievances are said to be related
to relationship issues.
Conflict and Performance
• Just over a quarter (28%) of HR personnel
believe that the time and energy taken in
managing conflict negatively affects their
own productivity.
• 64% consider that conflict negatively
impacted upon workforce performance.
Conflict and Culture
• Over half (53%) of the sample report
that their organisation is reactive rather than
proactive in relation to conflict management.
• Organisations that rated themselves as
reactive are more likely to experience
reduced employee engagement and
have managers who do not see conflict
management as their responsibility.
• Organisations that did recognise conflict as a
serious issue have employees who are aware
of the grievance policy and procedures, and
managers who have the skills to effectively
deal with conflict.
Managerial Accountability
• 55.7% of the sample report that managers
do not see conflict as their responsibility and
quickly pass it on to HR.
• Over a third (38.5%) say that managers do
not have the necessary skills to deal with
conflict.
• Where survey respondents reported that
their managers do have the necessary skills,
they are also more likely to report a lower
number of tribunals.
HR Capability
• A higher proportion of HR personnel from
the public sector feel that they do not have
the necessary skills to deal with conflict in
comparison to those from other sectors.
• 29.5% of the sample regularly use EDR
(Early Dispute Resolution) techniques.
• Those who do are more likely to have
managers who are quick to confront and
resolve conflict.
• Only 11.7% of organisations offer conflict
resolution skills training to managers.

4. TheResearch
Theanalysiswascarriedouton122surveyresponses
from HR personnel.The survey was composed of 23
questions covering conflict prevalence, the impact
on performance and organisational, managerial and
HR conflict management. As indicated, 64.4% of the
sampleisfromtheprivatesector(Figure1).
Figure 1: Proportion of respondents by sector
A large proportion of our sample are either HR
managers or directors (Figure 2). This is notable
because these individuals are best placed to
give accurate responses to surveys such as this.
Figure 2: Proportion of respondents by job title
There is a reasonably even split between
the industries sampled, however the largest
proportion is in professional services (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Proportion of respondents by industry
type
The Cost of Conflict
Lost Time
Potentially the most damaging and destructive
consequences of workplace conflict are
the levels of resource and time needed to
address the issue. Just under half (47%) of HR
respondents report that they spent between
1% and 10% of their working hours per week
dealing with conflict, while a further 25.8%
stated they spent 11-20%. Trends in the data
suggest that HR respondents from public sector
organisations are likely to spend longer dealing
with conflict than those from other sectors.
Time redirected away from productivity to deal
with conflict leads to obvious questions about
cost and organisational performance.
As indicated by the OPP study ‘Fight, Flight or
Face it’(2008), on average employees spend 2.1
hoursperweekengagedinconflict.Ourfindings
are that over a quarter of HR personnel spend
more than 10% of their working week dealing
with the problem. This translates to somewhere
between 3.5 - 4 hours lost per HR employee per
week. Over a year this equates to 23.5 days lost.
Grievances and Tribunals
The average number of grievances per year
is 11 with an average of 2 going to tribunal.
However, there is a significant difference found
in the number of grievances reported by sector.
Public sector organisations report an average

5. www.peopleresolutions.com
of 43 grievances per year while private and
charity/not-for-profit organisations report a
significantly lower average of 5 grievances per
year (Figure 4). This offers a clear explanation
as to why individuals in the public sector tend
to report spending more time dealing with
conflict.
Figure 4: Mean number of grievances over 12
months
In terms of industry differences, IT/Telecoms
and Construction are found to have the lowest
number of grievances per year and local and
central government report the highest number,
with a comparatively high average of 83
grievances per year.
40% of all grievances are said to be related
to relationship issues with a further 25% due
to ‘management of performance’ issues. This
pattern is consistent across all sectors. The fact
that relationship issues are stated as the most
common causes of grievance highlights the
difficulties of moderating human behaviour
in the workplace. Other potential causes of
conflict such as pay, benefits and working
conditions are predominantly under the control
of the employer and can be directly addressed.
It would seem that managing the intangible
nature of working relationships is something
with which organisations continue to struggle.
The analysis finds that private sector
organisations report an average of one tribunal
per year. Public and charity/not-for-profit
sector organisations report an average of 5
tribunals a year. Interestingly this is the same
as the number of grievances these sectors
reported, suggesting that a high proportion
of these continue to tribunal. With an average
compensation payout of £19,355 (according to
Ministry of Justice Employment Tribunal 2010
statistics), these organisations could potentially
be losing up to £96,779 per year.
Conflict and Performance
The survey respondents were asked several
questions about conflict and organisational
performance. 38.8% of the sample do not
think that the level of conflict they dealt with
negatively affected their productivity. However,
28% believe that conflict management does
haveanegativeeffectontheirownproductivity.
This pattern is consistent across all sectors and
industries. As expected, it was found that those
who consider their performance as negatively
affected by conflict are more likely to spend
more time dealing with the issue.
64% of HR respondents report that conflict
in their organisation negatively impacted
upon employee performance. This finding is
consistent across all sectors.Where respondents
reported that conflict affects employee
productivity, they also say that managers do
not have the necessary skills to deal with the
problem and that managers do not see it as
their responsibility.
Employee engagement is now commonly
regarded as a driver of performance and
organisational success. 31.5% of respondents
report that conflict in their organisation
has lessened employee engagement. While
the majority of those in the private sector
considered that this was the case, the majority
of respondents from the public sector disagree.

6. Figure 6: Proportion of respondents by reactive/
proactive response
As highlighted above, organisations reported as
reactive are more likely to experience reduced
employee engagement. They are also more
likely to have managers who do not see conflict
management as their responsibility.
In contrast to these findings, 68.8% of the
sample say that their organisation considers
conflict as a serious issue. The results indicate
that organisations that recognise conflict as a
serious issue are more likely to have:
• managers who are quick to confront and
resolve conflict
• employees who are aware of the grievance
policy and procedures
• managers who have the skills to effectively
deal with conflict
This is possibly due to the fact that these
organisations report that they are more likely
to provide training to their managers in the use
of the grievance policy and procedures, conflict
resolution skills, EDR techniques and mediation
skills – all proactive developmental activities
that can lead to effective outcomes.
Organisations that consider conflict as a serious
issue are also more likely to actively report
on the annual cost of conflict; perhaps this
has helped to make the business case for the
awareness and training activities mentioned.
The findings reinforce the generally held view
that organisational culture as translated into
This is surprising since the public sector
experiences higher levels of conflict. Perhaps
the private sector organisations appreciate
the potentially damaging effect of workplace
conflict on engagement and are therefore
more willing to invest in this issue. The survey
also shows that organisations that describe
themselves as reactive rather than proactive
are also more likely to experience reduced
employee engagement as a result (Figure 5).
Figure 5: Correlation between reactivity and
reduced employee engagement
Where HR respondents believe conflict has
reduced engagement, they also believe it
has reduced employee productivity. It is hard
to establish whether conflict that reduces
engagement causes performance reduction or
vice versa; however, organisations might want
to consider the potential relationships between
these variables.
Conflict and Culture
Workplace conflict can often be referred to as an
issue originating from organisational culture. To
address this, HR respondents were asked about
their organisation’s attitude towards the issue.
53% of the sample feel that their organisation
is reactive rather than proactive in relation to
conflict management (Figure 6).

7. www.peopleresolutions.com
working practices is an important determinant
of workplace behaviour.
Conflict and Managerial
Accountability
Managers are essential for early conflict
resolution; they are in the best position to spot
theearlysignsandtackletheissuebeforeitgains
momentum. However, conflict management
can be something of an art, and for some
managers without the necessary skills it can be
a challenge.The challenge is sometimes greater
for technically-oriented rather than
relationally-oriented managers.
55.7% of the sample say that managers in
their organisation do not see conflict as their
responsibility and quickly pass it on to HR. A
further 38.5% say that managers do not have
the necessary skills to deal with conflict.
Respondents from private and charity/
not-for-profit organisations tend to rate
managers’ skill levels and ability to take
responsibility higher than those from public
sector organisations. This is in keeping with the
finding that public sector organisations tended
to experience more grievances.
Results from the survey indicate that managers
who do have the necessary skills to deal with
conflict are also reported as being quick to
confront and resolve conflict (Figure 7). In
addition, the employees of these managers
are more aware of the grievance policy and
procedures.
Perhaps this is because, as noted above, these
managers tend to work in organisations that
consider conflict as a serious issue. Within
this more proactive culture, managers appear
more likely to benefit from training in conflict
resolution skills and the grievance policy and
procedures.

8. Figure 7: Correlation between conflict
management skills and quick reactions to
conflict
An encouraging negative correlation is found
between the extent to which managers have
the skills to resolve conflict and the number
of tribunals experienced in the previous 12
months. Where survey respondents report that
their managers do have the necessary skills,
they are also likely to report a lower number of
tribunals.
Conflict and HR Capability
HR is often seen as the conflict management
HQ. It is responsible for presenting effective
strategies, techniques and guidelines which can
beconsideredandusedatalllevelsandfunctions
of the organisation. We asked our respondents
a number of questions investigating the current
skill levels and the techniques promoted.
The findings indicate that 74.7% of the HR
respondents believe they have the skills to
effectively deal with conflict (Figure 8).
Figure 8: Proportion of respondents by conflict
skills response
24.9% of HR personnel from the public sector
said that they do not have the necessary skills to
deal with conflict. However, only 5.8% and 10%
of HR personnel from the private and charity/
not-for-profit sectors reported the same. When
HR respondents said they have the necessary
skills to deal with conflict, employees are
reported by HR respondents as more confident
at approaching HR and are more aware of the
grievance policy and procedures. In addition,
when training is provided to managers on the
use of the grievance procedures, employee
awareness of this process is said by HR to
increase.
Experts in the field agree that catching conflict
in the early stages is essential to reducing costs
and counterproductive work environments.
However, the research demonstrates that HR
respondents would like to be more proactive.
Only 29.5% of the sample regularly use EDR
techniques. Supporting the view that EDR is
effective, we found that those HR personnel
who utilise these techniques are more likely to
have managers who are quick to confront and
resolve conflict. Those HR personnel reporting
mediation skills training for all or selected
managers say they are more likely to have
managers with the necessary skills to deal with
conflict.

9. Equipping managers with the necessary skills
to spot and defuse tension before it progresses
is generally accepted as an effective tool in
managing conflict. The survey demonstrated
that HR respondents would like to be more
proactive, or are disappointed in the approach
taken within their organisations. Only 11.7% of
HR respondents offer conflict resolution skills
training to managers. Those HR personnel that
do offer conflict resolution skills training to
managers are more likely to report that their
managers are quick to confront and resolve
conflict.
What is consistent across organisational,
managerial and HR conflict management is
that groups which offer training in the use of
the grievance policy and procedures, conflict
resolution skills, EDR techniques and mediation
skills also actively report on the amount and
cost of conflict each year. By doing this, HR is
able to build a robust business case requesting
the necessary budget to implement the above
techniques. They will also be able to evaluate
the effectiveness of their conflict strategy year
on year by assessing the return on investment.
AboutUs
Foroveradecade,PeopleResolutionshashelped
organisations plan for, prevent and resolve
workplaceconflict.
Spotting the early warning signs through
audits and assessments. Ensuring policies and
procedures are in line with changing legislation.
Consultingonstrategyandnextsteps.Preventing
conflictthroughtrainingHRandlinemanagers.
Whenconflictarises,drawingfromournationwide
network of over 300 consultants to quickly and
effectively resolve issues through mediation and
investigations.
www.PeopleResolutions.com
OurResearchPartner
HumanPotentialAccounting
Founded by internationally renowned academic
and business leader Dr Michael Reddy, Human
Potential Accounting (HPA) is a Human Capital
consulting firm offering diagnostic assessment
tools, Human Capital Management (HCM)
businessintelligenceandconsulting.
HPA Assessments help the organisation choose
its best human capital management options, in
line with bottom line potential, and the known
financialrisksandcostsofemployingpeople.
HPA Researchers burrow into a bank of existing
relevant data and research, locating and
combining the best into concise and actionable
BusinessIntelligencereports.
HPA Consulting helps the FD, shareholders and
businessanalystspinpointwheretherealvalueof
people is being created and where the risks and
costsofemploymentareincurred,allowingthem
to see an accurate picture of the impact of their
investmentreflectedinfinancialreports.
www.hpa-group.com

10. 5
T | 01908 524 110
E | investigations@peopleresolutions.com W | www.peopleresolutions.com
1 Oakhill Close, Milton Keynes, Bucks MK5 6JP.
People Resolutions Limited
T | 0800 6125 110
E | information@peopleresolutions.com
www.PeopleResolutions.com