Organizational conflict is caused by poor communication, power struggles, weak or dysfunctional leadership, change in leadership, lack of support, poor team building skills, and role or function conflict.
Unresolved conflict can result in gossip, stress, avoidance, verbal outbursts, indirect communication and wasted resources. It can also cause drops in productivity, slumps in creativity and innovation, and focus on problems rather than solutions.
Conflict leaders aim not only to resolve the existing issue but to prevent new ones by opening strong lines of communication and modeling behaviors that show others how to resolve future conflict situations.
There are many useful methodologies for resolving conflicts in organizations. According to researchers Thomas and Kilmann, there are five conflict management strategies: competing, avoiding, accommodating, compromising and collaborating. Among these, competing and avoiding are the weakest strategies, and collaborating is the strongest.
Conflict resolution training for leaders and managers is widely available in both face-to-face classrooms and seminars and online. There are many different formats, lengths and costs, and the trainings are offered by consultants, in-house trainers and private institutions.