CIPD launch major report into conflict management

The CIPD report on conflict management provides evidence of a continuing rise in mediation and an increasing awareness of the real cost of conflict to UK businesses.

by Mike Emmott/CIPD | 10th Mar 2011

The Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) undertook a survey of employers’ experiences of managing workplace conflict in November/December 2010, with two main aims in mind.

One was to find out what changes have taken place in employers’ use of different forms of conflict management since the CIPD's survey report, Managing Conflict at Work, was published in 2007.

The second was to feed into the CIPD's response to the consultation paper on Resolving Workplace Disputes published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Tribunal Service in January 2011.

More UK organisations than ever now use mediation to settle workplace disputes

The survey findings confirm that the scale of workplace conflict is significant and has increased in the recession. The high proportion of respondents saying that their organisation makes more use of mediation is encouraging yet the number of days of management and HR time spent on managing both disciplinary and grievance cases has gone up since 1997, from 13 to 18 days (disciplinary) and from 9 to 14.4 days (grievance).

TCM gets a mention

David Liddle, Founder of TCM, took part in a semi-structured interview as part of the CIPD survey and gave permission for his interview to be included in full. You can read the full interview on page 4 of the report. In addition, one of TCM's clients - Arcadia group (Topshop/Topman) feature as a case study on page 13. The case study explores the role of mediation and how it has contributed to cultural change in this well known high street retailer.

How to find out more

Click here to download the report. To read about the work of CIPD, to become a member and to access other useful resources, visit www.cipd.co.uk.

Click here to read a recent article in People Management magazine featuring Arcadia Group along with another of TCM's clients - BT

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Members Comments

Congratulations to CIPD for producing such a timely and important study into this important issue for HR. TCM has pioneered the use of mediation in workplace and employment disputes and we were proud that Arcadia Group (Topshop/Topman) - one of our clients was also chosen as a case study. To receive such a ringing endorsement from the CIPD speaks volumes about TCM and the work we are doing to cut the cost of conflict for our customers.

member : David Liddle, 16th Mar 2011

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