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Organizations have been reinventing themselves for years as they become ever more learning-driven. Trainings are the order of the day. However, as systems become more complex and sophisticated, people are having to learn more than just information. They are having to break habituated patterns of thinking, communicating and acting.

Organizations are finding they can no longer just send their people to trainings and have them come back informed and immediately able to do what they learned. Learning the basic skills are just the first step. When it comes to breaking habits trainings must necessarily be followed up with not only structures that allow the practice of these new behaviors, but a culture that supports the change.

The learning continuum for conflict management looks something like this:
Training in a sustainable communication model - all levels of organization
Building practice into team meetings
Coaching to turn the most facile habit-breakers into peer-mediators
Having streamlined, highly accessible procedures for addressing conflict
Adding an in-house mediator to staff
Retaining external Mediators to ensure neutrality in crucial conversations

The following articles give a couple of different perspectives on what a Conflict Management System might look like:

Conflict Management Systems: A Methodology for Addressing the Cost of Conflict in the Workplace: by Rian Thomas http://www.mediate.com/articles/thomasR.cfm

First Component of an Integrated Conflict Management System: Dispute Resolution Models: by Jennifer Lynch http://www.mediate.com/pfriendly.cfm?id=1273

The following resources relate some of the costs of conflict:

Costs of Conflict page from the Common Ground Partnership website: http://www.cgpartnership.org/content2.cfm?pageid=41

The Many Costs of Conflict, an article by Stewart Levine: http://www.mediate.com/articles/levine1.cfm



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