Academic Leadership

Academic Leadership: Fundamental Building Blocks

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7.5 Managing Conflict

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Conflicts arise regularly in any work situation. They can be conflicts between individuals

or between groups. Managing conflict productively is an important part of the Developer

role but it is also one of the most challenging skills for leaders. Conflict can enable us to

understand where organisational processes and systems are failing. However,

unresolved conflict is often unproductive and can even be destructive and have a

negative effect on program quality. It is thus important to manage conflict strategically,

ensuring that the underlying issues causing the friction are addressed in the short and

the long term.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this activity is to develop your skills in

productively managing conflict between individuals and

groups you work with as an Academic Coordinator.

Quite often, we attribute conflict in the workplace to personality clashes or a lack of

understanding of ‘the real’ situation by others involved. In reality, it is rarely personality

or ignorance but usually some other issue we have not yet identified or have chosen to

ignore. There is some inherent blaming in the belief that personality or the ignorance of

others is the cause of conflict as one usually assumes that the other party is 'bad' or ill-

informed and we are the 'good', informed person. In fact, it is usually some other system

or work issue that creates the conflict.

Example:

• communication systems may be poor, leading to misunderstanding;


• roles may be incompatible between people or departments;


• goals may differ between parties; or


• change and fiscal pressures are creating stress and tension.
  A mapping strategy is an excellent strategy to build your understanding of the nature of
  the conflict and the underlying issues.
  There are three main steps in a conflict mapping strategy. These are illustrated
  below with reference to a typical problem faced by academic leaders.

Step 1: What's the Problem?

It is important to define the problem and explore any issues that underlie it, before

attempting to resolve it.

In this example case the conflict involves a student, a sessional lecturer, the course

coordinator and you as an academic leader. The student feels that the grade s/he has

received for the course is unfair and that the staff member is out to get them. The

sessional staff member feels the mark is fair and also states the student has not attended

classes regularly and deserves the mark. The course coordinator has supported the

sessional staff member. You, as Academic Coordinator, are mediating the conflict