Workplace Conflict Management Techniques

Louis PD

Police departments can be stressful places to work. There are many internal stressors, such as dealing with co-workers, the politics of the job, or workplace issues such as lack of support. Then there are external stressors -- the job by its nature puts officers in contact with violent people and dangerous situations. There are many areas of conflict that can arise. These might include interpersonal conflict that arises when there are differences between two people, power conflict when people seek to maximize their power at the expense of others, and values conflict, where the values of people differ in a way that creates opposition. There are many environmental conflicts as well -- external pressure from the city (who runs the department) or from the media, or members of the community. Consider the pressure put on members of nearby Ferguson Police Department -- the external environmental pressure can be intense and lead to significant conflict between different members of the force.

External conflict usually arises during specific incidents. Media and public pressure builds quickly, and creates a tense, hostile environment for those working in the department. People within the department might take differing views of a contentious incident, in such a way that the external pressure has led to internal conflict. Even something like budgetary pressures can create conflict internally because scarce resources usually create the perception of a zero sum game among department members.

Internal conflict arises naturally as the result of interpersonal conflict, competing interests, different philosophies and other differences. Internal conflicts are sometimes easier to resolve, because of the lack of an external third party actor. Managers who recognize the existence of conflict can intercede. One of the options is mediation, where the manager hears both sides of the dispute and renders a ruling. This technique leverages the formal authority of a senior officer, and can keep the conflict focused on the issues, not the people. Sometimes when a conflict lacks outside mediation, the issue becomes personal for those involved, which makes resolution much more difficult. The department may perhaps even benefit from specialized officers in conflict resolution, using techniques like re-focusing, mediation and others to ensure that disputes are settled on the basis of issues, that they do not become personal in nature, and that disputes are legitimately brought to a resolution. Having a skilled expert in charge of this negates the variability that can come from using senior officers in this role, as many did not arrive at that position by way of their conflict resolution expertise. It is better to use somebody skilled in the craft of conflict management to resolve disputes that do not appear to be possible to resolve any other way. This can be a form of conflict dispute resolution mechanism that does not have any negative consequences to the people involved -- they just have a means to resolve the issue and get on with their duties. The conflict resolution officer can also sometimes identify underlying causes of conflict, and deal with those. Whether it is external pressure, role ambiguity or competition for scarce resources, there is almost always an underlying source for the conflict that can be addressed.