Managing conflicts

The key is mutual learning, understanding, and teaching.

Your organization can become more decisive—and can implement strategy more quickly—if you know where the bottlenecks are and who’s empowered to break through them.

If you are a manager responsible for the fate of a superstar performer whom no one on your team can stand, look at what the Boston Red Sox did and smile. The Red Sox just traded Manny Ramirez — arguably the best player on their team, one of the best of his era – because […]

Recognize your culpability.

At this large GM plant the union and management jointly seek to change the meaning of work itself

A black man employed by a Minnesota trucking company had racial slurs directed at him and was the target of graffiti written by fellow workers. A U.S. district court held that the trucking company violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and ordered it to take affirmative action and disciplinary measures against […]

“You can’t be serious!” Mike Trail, the president and fourth-generation owner of Trail Manufacturing, stared at five older men standing uncomfortably in his small office. “I’m afraid we are, Mike.” Sandy Mulder, the most senior of the five, was polite but firm. “We won’t switch over to the new equipment. We want to continue to […]

Four strategies for building bridges instead of walls.

Five ways to shift the conversation from adversarial to cooperative.

Years ago a colleague left my firm and went to work for the enemy, so to speak, during a time of great personal challenge and difficulty for me. I was hurt and felt betrayed and unable to trust him. Years later we began working together again. But for me, every subsequent interaction with him occurred […]

Not judgment.

How to resolve conflict with open, direct, and respectful conversations.

Do you avoid conflict? If you do, you’re not alone. Conflict avoidance is one of the most common characteristics of corporate cultures. At the same time it is one of the most pernicious and dangerous sources of unintentional complexity in organizational life. The tendency to avoid conflict — albeit inconvenient — is very human. Most […]

In this fictitious case study, HBR editor Regina F. Maruca explores the challenges of managing employees in the alternative workplace. Allison Scher is...

How should a CEO address friction between his CFO and the sales chief?

How to strike the right balance between trusting yourself and considering what others think.

It won't be as bad if you're prepared for conflict.

I was so angry my whole body was shaking. I stared at Günther* with hate, my left hand in a fist and my right hand gripping a tennis racket as a weapon....

A primer for men who want to be allies

Don't shame yourself (or your colleagues).