Priya,

Conflicts are born when solutions to expectations are not met. Employees are no exceptions.

During my previous services, I have ensured patience hearing of the grievances of the employees and solved them within the frame work of the company rules. I ensured that worker problem is solved rather than solving through the unions.

My employees approached me for their problems than going to unions. You have to be very clear and motivative to explain to employees, what can be done and what can't be done under rules.

Things are mashed up when reach to unions.

Try this formula for handling conflict with the employees and see the results.
chandrabhan

Priya

Interesting topic and an interesting reponse by a few (especially the doc of a US based orgn.).

Resolving employee conflict is a key element in any organisation and the policies around the resolution of such should be watertight. Managers should always try to resolve them informally (when an employee is rising concerns they should try to deal with them but consulting the parties involved) but in case it doesn't work out then the formal procedures should be applied which should be robust, otherwise the management is taken for a ride by troublesome employees.

For example one interesting thought from the attached document is that the Peer Review Panel appears to be an informal method of resolving the conflicts. It doesn't seem to have timelimits within what period of time does the employee has to submit his/her claim to the Facilitator after the verdict of the previous hearing. (Please note that my comment is based on my understanding of the attached document and I am not asking for any clarification)

In the UK?Europe the guidelines are very strict and when a case ends up in a tribunal it is madatory that the employee demonstrated that they have exhausted the internal procedures (not informal but all the formal ones).

1.Try to reslve the conflict informally if unsuccessful
2.Submit a written complaint to the manager & HR
3.HR to advise the Directors and heads of the departments to appoint a hearing officer who adheres to the relevant policy during their investigation.
4.Once the investigation is complete the employee will have the right to appeal against the verdict within 10days of receipt of the outcome.
5.An Appeal panel will hear (which is similar to the Peer panel) the case and issue their outcome.
6. If the employee is still not satisfied they will go ahaed with lodging their claim with the Employment Tribunal (Lawsuit in the USA).

The above procedure is the same for Grievance, Discrimination, bullying & Disciplinary but each of these policies differ in their terms ex: what constitutes misconduct/gross misconduct? definition of discrimination, how can an employee apply this policy to their situation, what constitutes grievance etc etc

Most of the conflicts (serious in nature discrimination,dismissals & Redundancies (Attrition as known here in India)) are bound to end up in a tribunal and failure to follow the agreed company procedures could be costly to the organisation as the Tribunal can increase the compensation by a certain percentage depending on the nature of the claim.

So if we apply the above procedures in principle I think it's important for any organisation to have robust policies and agreed procedures in place and ensure that every conflict is dealt with diligently and meticulously without any negligence.

I am happy to provide with loads of case studies that I have dealt with and their outcomes if you need further help with this concept.

Look forward to your comments.

Shalini