Mediation for Management: Dealing with Conflict in the Workplace

Abstract

Dealing with conflict is an important part of the process of management; however few managers have received formal training in conflict analysis and resolution methods. Mediation, the process of a neutral third party helping parties in a dispute come to a mutually acceptable solution to a dispute is a non-coercive process that can increase job satisfaction, lower employee turnover, and improve the quality of decision making in an organization. Therefore the present paper argues in favor of integrating mediation as part of the core functions of management and as part of a systemic strategy to deal with conflict in the workplace.