Shifting Your Conflict Culture: From Formal Process to Early Resolution

When conflict arises at work, the response often depends less on the nature of the problem and more on the culture of the organisation.

In some workplaces, disagreement quickly becomes formal. Managers become cautious, employees feel they need to protect their position, emails replace conversations and HR is brought in primarily to administer a process.

In others, concerns are raised earlier. Managers are comfortable having difficult conversations. Employees know that disagreement does not automatically mean confrontation. HR has a range of options available and formal procedures are used when they are genuinely needed.

The difference is conflict culture.

As Acas consults on its new draft Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures, employers have an opportunity to think beyond simply updating their policies.

The draft Code introduces a clear expectation that employers and workers should aim to resolve concerns early and prevent unnecessary escalation. It also gives much greater prominence to informal resolution, mediation and facilitated conversations.

For employers, this raises an important question:

What happens in our organisation when somebody says, “I have a problem”?

 

What does your current conflict culture look like?

Conflict culture is not something most organisations deliberately design.

It develops through behaviours.

It can be seen in how managers respond when challenged, whether employees feel able to raise concerns, how quickly HR becomes involved and whether the organisation views disagreement as something to investigate, suppress or resolve.

Consider what typically happens when two colleagues fall out.

• Do they speak directly?

• Does their manager intervene?

• Does someone suggest a facilitated conversation?

• Or does the first meaningful intervention happen when one person submits a formal grievance?

If formal processes are routinely the entry point for resolving workplace disagreements, there may be opportunities to intervene considerably earlier.

 

Move from reactive HR to positive conflict management

A strong grievance procedure remains essential.

But grievance management and conflict management are not the same thing.

Grievance management primarily deals with what happens once an employee formally raises a concern.

Positive conflict management starts before that point.

It involves recognising tension, creating opportunities for conversations and helping people address difficulties while there is still room for relationships to recover.

This does not mean persuading employees not to raise grievances or avoiding difficult decisions.

Rather, it means ensuring that formal procedure is one part of the organisation’s toolkit rather than the only tool available.

Acas specifically highlights the risk of people becoming locked into escalating issues through formal processes and missing opportunities for alternative resolution.

 

Five ways to start shifting your conflict culture

1. Make early conversations normal

Employees should not have to wait until a problem becomes serious before they can raise it.

Managers can create opportunities for concerns to surface through regular one-to-ones, team conversations and an approachable management style.

The language used matters too.

Asking “What would help improve this?” can open a very different conversation from-

“Do you want to make a formal complaint?”

2. Give managers permission to manage conflict

Managers often refer disagreements directly to HR because they are worried about saying the wrong thing.

This can unintentionally formalise matters.

Managers need appropriate training and clear boundaries so they understand what they can address themselves, when they should seek advice and when a matter requires a formal response.

Acas’s draft Code specifically recognises the importance of training and supporting managers to handle workplace concerns effectively.

3. Introduce a range of resolution options

Conflict rarely fits neatly into one process.

Depending on the circumstances, the right intervention might be an informal conversation, management support, facilitated discussion, mediation, coaching, changes to working arrangements or a formal procedure.

The key is to ask:

What intervention gives us the best chance of resolving this particular problem?

4. Focus on what happens next

Workplace disputes often become dominated by what has already happened.

That history matters, particularly where serious allegations are involved. But where colleagues need to continue working together, there also needs to be a conversation about the future.

• What needs to change?

• What communication would help?

• What behaviours are causing difficulty?

• What does each person need from the other?

Mediation is particularly effective because it creates space for those forward-looking conversations.

5. Measure successful resolution differently

A closed grievance file does not necessarily mean the conflict has been resolved.

The real test may come several weeks later.

• Are the individuals communicating?

• Can the manager lead the team effectively?

• Has absence reduced?

• Are complaints recurring?

• Do employees feel the problem has genuinely moved forward?

Organisations that want to improve their conflict culture should look beyond procedural completion and consider the quality and sustainability of the outcome.

 

This is a cultural change, not an HR initiative

HR can provide the framework, training and expertise, but workplace culture is shaped by what managers and leaders do every day.

Senior leaders therefore have an important role.

If managers see senior colleagues approach disagreement defensively or immediately escalate problems, they are likely to do the same.

If leaders demonstrate that concerns can be discussed openly, different views are acceptable and resolution is valued over winning, those behaviours become easier to reproduce throughout the organisation.

 

Start before the new Code arrives

The updated Acas Code is expected to come into effect in 2027 following consultation and the required approval process.

But there is little reason for employers to wait.

Acas’s proposed direction reflects good employee relations practice that organisations can start embedding today.

Review where conflict enters your existing processes. Give managers greater confidence to have early conversations. Introduce mediation and facilitated discussion as credible options. Consider whether the language used in your policies encourages resolution or inadvertently creates adversarial positions.

Above all, change the question from:

“Which procedure do we need to follow?”

to:

“What is the most constructive way of resolving this?”

That relatively simple shift can begin to change how an organisation experiences workplace conflict.

At KS Consultancy, we support employers with practical HR advice, employee relations and workplace conflict management. If you are reviewing your grievance processes or want to develop a more constructive approach to managing conflict, we can help you identify practical steps towards making early resolution part of everyday management.