Journal of the International Ombudsman Association Helmut Buss

Controlling Con!ict Costs: "e Case of Con!ict HELMUT BUSS

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION Badly managed (negative) con!ict in the workplace Some experts believe that unresolved con!ict results in substantial "nancial, human and credibility represents the largest reducible cost in many busi- costs to the , its employees and its clients. nesses, yet the "nancial, human and credibility costs However, few measure those costs. This of con!ict in the workplace are not measured in most article presents data from con!ict-cost research and organizations nor pro-actively managed. provides selected related con!ict-cost data from a This article discusses the link between con!ict man- case study conducted in an international organiza- agement and con!ict cost , presents an analy- tion. The article argues that e#ective con!ict manage- sis of costs of badly managed con!ict and proposes ment requires some form of cost measurement and tools to illustrate and measure such costs. A case proposes a cost visibility and measurability matrix as study conducted in the United Nations High Com- a tool to assist organizations in identifying relevant missioner for Refugees (UNHCR), provides additional con!ict costs, to start collecting such data and to empirical, quantitative and qualitative con!ict data to build organization-wide ownership to address con!ict illustrate such costs in an international organization. 1 management as a business case.

I. Positive and Negative Con!ict KEY WORDS This article discusses negative implications Ombudsman, Con!ict Management, Con!ict Cost of unmanaged or badly managed con!ict (“nega- Controlling tive con!ict”), that is those elements which impact negatively on human relations and the e$ciency of an organization.2 This distinction is important as con!ict is a reality of our daily lives and con!ict is thus inevitable in a human workplace. 3 Disagreement occurs even in the best working relationship and chal- lenging another’s ideas can strengthen an outcome. Though the claim that well-managed con!ict (“posi- tive con!ict”) automatically results in e$ciency gains is challenged by some4, it is generally accepted that the right kind of friction and constructive confronta- tion and arguments over ideas in an atmosphere of mutual respect can help any organization and has the potential to drive greater performance and creativity and help produce major innovations. 5 6 The question how well con!ict is managed and how con!ict is addressed can either add to or take away from an or- ganization’s bottom line. A KPMG Con!ict Cost Study

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published in 2009 distinguishes between functional It is striking to note that while signi"cant e#orts have and dysfunctional con!ict costs. Functional costs are been made over recent years to increase the level of “positive” con!ict costs which bene"t an organiza- accountability for personal behavior, and to increase tion and dysfunctional costs refer to detrimental and e$ciencies through various forms of cost reduction, avoidable “negative” con!ict costs. 7 the cost of con!ict in the workplace is in most orga- Well-managed con!ict 8 in an enabling environment nizations not considered a variable worth measuring allows for issues to be tabled and discussed with nor is it pro-actively managed. Many leaders brush o# objective language. Each party is empowered to state incidents of low morale and unhealthy con!ict as the 9 his or her position with con"dence that the other unavoidable result of “doing business”. The problem party is genuinely listening, wanting to understand. is compounded in not-for-pro"t organizations, which Possible solutions are explored with open minds. In build on their sta#’s motivation for “the good cause”. badly managed con!ict, personal attacks are com- The same applies to international bodies such as the mon. People can get visibly angry and feelings get United Nations. hurt. Words can become weapons that leave nasty Is it the discomfort, fear and negative associations scars. surrounding con!ict that keep organizations from addressing costs of con!ict at work? Or are the costs just not visible enough to gain the attention they II. No Management deserve? Some experts believe that unresolved con!ict repre- Without Measurement sents the largest reducible cost in many , E#ective con!ict management requires mea- yet it remains largely unrecognized. 10 Slaikeu and surement to determine its impact on an organization’s Hasson consider that con!ict management represents “well-being”, be it in terms of its "nancial situation, the the “greatest opportunity for cost control [for orga- well-being of its workforce or its reputation. With- nizations] in the next century”. 11 out measurement, con!ict management risks being The question arises of how to alert organizational limited to addressing individual cases of workplace leaders to these apparent untapped opportunities con!ict, without identifying the underlying causes or for achieving better e$ciency. This can be done by providing data which would allow for a systemic and addressing con!ict management as a business case. veri"able analysis of changes in the organization’s Addressing con!ict in the workplace through inte- con!ict-management culture. grated con!ict cost management systems should be As management guru said:”If you can’t viewed as a sine qua non in achieving organizational measure it, you can’t manage it”. e#ectiveness and enhancing productivity. Many employers have introduced policies and tools Recognizing the costs and underlying cost drivers will over the past years to hold employees more account- motivate change. If the underlying dynamics of badly able for their behavior at work. Such tools include managed con!ict are understood and their related zero-tolerance policies for wrongdoing in areas such high "nancial and human costs established in a mea- as workplace harassment or fraud, protection against surable way through qualitative and quantitative data retaliation for whistleblowers and codes of ethics with as opposed to anecdotes, organizations will be able to accompanying sensitization and learning programs. develop tools which will allow them to: Tools have been introduced to assist the workforce in t Clarify which data to collect and to measure. dealing with workplace con!ict management, such as the Ombudsman O$ce or Mediators. It remains un- t Measure the e$ciency of its con!ict-management clear, however, whether such policies and structures e#orts. have helped in e#ectively addressing some of the t Detect and address in a timely manner actual or underlying causes of con!ict let alone in strengthen- potential costs of badly managed con!ict. ing organizational con!ict management culture.

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III. Three Con!ict Cost 2. ABSENTEEISM AND PRESENTEEISM “Absenteeism” in the context of this analysis is a cost, Categories which stands for the number of unscheduled per- As stated above, unresolved con!ict can create sonal days taken o# work by individuals a#ected by serious and quite varied consequences involving high badly managed con!ict. Research has shown that a 12 "nancial and human costs. All con!ict costs can be high correlation exists between absenteeism, stress allocated to one or more of the following three cat- and needing a break from "ghting with co-workers. 19 egories: organization, employees, and clients. Studies have shown that health care expenditures are nearly 50 percent higher for workers who report A. Costs to the Organization high levels of stress. While di#erences in individual By way of example a study conducted by the UK characteristics such as personality or coping style based Centre for E!ective Dispute Resolution need to be taken into account, there are working (CEDR) 13 reveals that 80 percent of disputes have a conditions that are stressful to most people, a work signi"cant impact on the smooth running of busi- environment characterized by unresolved con!ict 20 ness.14 being one of those conditions. It appears, however, that few organizations engage in pro-active health- productivity management to allow for early detection 1. PRODUCTIVITY of workplace-related health problems. 21 Among the Productivity su#ers when unhealthy con!ict persists. 15 reasons for such lack of attention are a silo mentality Research "ndings show that as much as 30 to 70 in managing health care of sta#, the lack of insight percent of a manager’s time is spent simply dealing into the link between workplace con!ict and health with employees in con!ict. 16 Those percentages are problems, or the absence of integrated data on sta# possibly in!ated when compared to a survey con- health problems.22 ducted with 5,000 employees in various countries While absenteeism is the failure to report to work, in Europe and the Americas by OPP, an international “presenteeism” consists of showing up at work while business psychology consultancy, jointly with the UK- ill or otherwise not completely "t for work and the based Chartered Institute of Personnel and Develop- productivity decline that can result from this condi- ment (CIPD). The survey found that employees spend, tion. The term also refers to employees who “retire on depending on the country in which the survey was the job” or people who have simply given up. They do conducted, between 0.9 hours and 3.3 hours a week not do the work expected from them and as a result dealing with badly managed con!ict, amounting to cause additional workload for others in their area. It is respectively 2.3 percent and 8.3 percent of the weekly only recently that research in occupational medicine working hours. 17 The survey conducted by the author has begun to suggest that work lost due to absentee- in UNHCR found that employees spend 2.7 hours ism is only the visible tip of an iceberg and that the a week in badly managed con!ict. For UNHCR that hidden cost of presenteeism may be much greater. 23 means potential annual e$ciency losses of some 30 million US dollars. These "ndings are not restricted to UNHCR. A similar survey conducted by the World 3. TURNOVER Food Programme (WFP) resulted in comparable "nd- Researchers studying exit interview data on voluntary ings. Time spent in dealing with badly managed con- departures state that chronic unresolved con!ict is a !ict, is time not valued and which does not contribute decisive factor in at least 50 percent of all such depar- to achieving operational targets. tures. 24 A work-life con!ict study conducted in Canada Productivity also su#ers when a company redesigns found that it costs about 150 percent of one trained 25 work!ow only to avoid people having to interact with employee’s salary to replace him or her. Con!ict ac- one another.18 The resulting changed procedures or counts for up to 90 percent of involuntary departures, structures are rarely more e$cient. with the possible exception of sta# reductions due to downsizing and restructuring. 26 In the United Na- tions, however, unresolved con!ict seems to have less relevance in voluntary departure decisions. 27

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4. REPUTATION detrimental not only to the working relationship, but also to those with whom they work, as energy is used Badly managed con!ict can seriously tarnish the in fuelling the con!ict rather than in furthering the reputation of organizations and companies. Lower performance of the individuals or the team. Aggravat- motivation, productivity and service levels impact ing con!ict leads parties to avoid contact, relations on competitiveness. Frustrated and poorly treated are limited to the minimum, communication is not employees generally tell people inside and outside open, information withheld or wrong information the organization and spread the word, often inten- provided. tionally. Research has shown that nearly 80 percent of an organization’s employees who are impacted by “Presenteeism” is impacting negatively on employees negative con!ict tell other people inside and outside in that it might worsen existing medical conditions, the organization. Today, social networks increase the damage the quality of working life, and give impres- risk of employees venting their anger. 28 Reputation af- sions of ine#ectiveness at work. fects an organization’s ability to retain top talent and In the UNHCR survey two thirds of the respondents to secure stakeholder support, including from clients agree with the statement that badly managed con!ict and shareholders or, in the case of many not-for-pro"t a#ects their e$ciency at work and their personal organizations, donor support. well-being. A staggering eight in ten respondents feel stressed. Almost seven in ten respondents state that 5. OTHER COSTS they su#er from burn-out as a result of con!ict. Over half of the respondents feel that con!ict changes their The amount of theft and damage in a company has a mood, makes them less friendly and balanced. The direct correlation to the level of employee con!ict. 29 survey data con"rms the "ndings from other research An internal analysis of costs of unresolved cases of ha- identifying a close relation between workplace con- rassment in the United Nations identi"ed the follow- !ict, emotional exhaustion and stress and potential ing three quanti"able counts: (a) full pay for victims for resulting absenteeism and employee turnover. while absent on sick leave, (b) salary of employees assigned as replacement, (c) salary of colleagues providing support or (d) counsel to victims during working time. 30 C. Costs to the Client Clients are rarely referred to in the literature describ- ing cost implications of workplace con!ict. This is B. Costs to the Employee surprising as the implications of workplace con!ict on the quality of products or services seems to be As we have seen above, unmanaged or badly man- evident. Particularly in highly competitive industries, aged con!ict is stressful, reduces con"dence levels, the negative implications on client satisfaction and a and produces anxieties and frustration. It leads to company’s reputation can be substantial and become lowered job motivation, humiliation, and stress- a question of survival. Most of these costs are hidden induced psychological and physical illness 31 with of- and di$cult to qualify. However, there can be very ten dramatic consequences for the employee, family visible consequences in cases of reduced motivation and friends and long term career hopes. of sta# leading to lower quality products or services, People involved in con!ict experience a break in their or mistakes that can even threaten clients’ lives, be it interpersonal connections, and often feel alienated due to faulty products or lower quality service in life from each other and self-focused. They may avoid or and death situations. By way of example, refugees risk attack each other in a number of di#erent ways: with- su#ering or even dying if humanitarian workers can- drawing from each other, interrupting, not listening, not function properly and are unable to provide the or "nding unnecessary fault with each other. This is required assistance in a timely manner due to unre- solved workplace con!ict.

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IV. Cost Visibility & employees fairly to attract top talent, the drain of the company’s intellectual capital as a result of turnover, Measurability missed opportunities, and the loss of key business33 Linking con!ict cost visibility and measurability with damaging and long-term adverse impact on the can help organizations to start gathering easily visible company’s productivity. Many of these costs are typi- and measurable costs of con!ict. cally overlooked because they are not immediately associated with con!ict and are accounted for as part of the normal cost of doing business.34 A. Cost Visibility Visibility is de"ned in this analysis as how easily nega- B. Cost Measurability tive consequences can be spotted or recognized as a result of con!ict in the workplace. The most visible While there exist well developed analytical tools to negative consequences of con!ict include easily no- monitor and analyze organizations’ income, expen- ticeable costs such as legal fees and increased health diture and other "nancial data, most organizations costs. lack systems monitoring cost of con!ict. Most con!ict theory literature only states that unresolved con!ict As explained above, for many people the experience leads to very high costs, without providing methods of badly managed con!ict is alienating and disem- to measure those costs. powering. They feel themselves to be “not ok”, and experience a downward spiral into negative thinking At the same time, there is an increasing amount of and feeling. Physically people become ill, su#ering research based on empirical data from surveys among from a range of stress-related illnesses. Resulting di#erent groups of employees in di#erent industries visible consequences include absenteeism, reduced which attempt to quantify cost of con!ict. 35 motivation, increase of wasted time in dealing with What is really needed is a tool which assists organiza- unmanaged or badly managed con!ict, and the de- tions to start measuring easily visible costs of con!ict. parture of employees. 32 There are other less-visible consequences which tend C. Matrix to be the cumulative result of unmanaged con!ict in the workplace, such as sabotage, damage to the The con!ict visibility and measurability matrix below company’s brand, the diminished ability of a com- provides an easy overview of some of the more im- pany with a questionable reputation for treating its portant negative consequences of con!ict developed

Figure 1. Con!ict Visibility and Measurability Matrix

t Accidents t Missed Opportunities t Sabotage/Stealing t Image t Branding t Loss of Commitment t Loss of Trust

t Absenteeism t Aggressive Behaviour t Di$cult to Attract Talent t Departure of Sta# t Harassment Cases t Avoidance Culture t Sickness Costs t Loss of Sleep t Miscommunication

VISIBILITY t Compensation Claims t Productivity Loss t Presenteeism "Con!ictImpact) t Legal Fees t Stress t Loss of Motivation t Underperformance t Unpleasant Work Environment EASY DIFFICULT EASY t Waste of Time DIFFICULT EASY EASY DIFFICULT MEASURABILITY "Cost# volume 4, number 1, 2011 58 Journal of the International Ombudsman Association Helmut Buss

above while relating them also to the measurability Promotion of the need for con!ict cost controlling of cost implications, building on the research data in organizations requires the close association of presented. and Budget Departments to build ownership The matrix shows: 1. That easy visibility of negative and to eventually include related e$ciency gains or consequences of con!ict cannot automatically be losses on the organizations’ balance sheets. In most equated to easy measurability of the resulting costs organizations the debate on con!ict management ap- (e.g. loss of motivation) and 2. That some of the more pears to be too limited to HR Departments or con!ict “hidden” negative consequences of con!ict are easily managers such as Ombudsmen. measurable (e.g. accidents at work). Building on the above described nature of the costs The matrix provides a !exible tool which should allow and their potential relevance for con!ict prevention any organization to develop its organization-speci"c or identi"cation of e$ciency gains, data which should con!ict visibility and measurability scenario, which be systematically collected and analyzed include (a) might include another set of consequences of nega- cost of employment-related legal proceedings and tive con!ict and thus look di#erent from the set of judgments against the organization, (b) sick leave re- consequences presented in Figure 1. cords including analysis to which extent unmanaged con!ict has contributed to the sickness or absence from work and related trends in speci"c sectors of an organization, (c) cost of bringing in temporary sta# V. Tools for Measuring Costs to cover for absentee sta#, (d) systematic interviews A number of online sites o#er tools to assist in with employees applying for relocation in the orga- measuring costs. Dana has developed a formula for nization or leaving the organization to establish to organizations to calculate the soft "nancial costs of which extent the action could have been the result con!ict. 36 Dana’s formula builds on data such as the of unmanaged con!ict, (e) cost of recruitment and number of individuals involved in a particular con!ict, training of sta# replacing colleagues who have left average number of hours per week each individual the organization as a result of badly managed con!ict, spends involved in unproductive participation in con- (f) monitoring of theft, sabotage, fraud cases includ- !ict, including time distracted from productive work ing the monetary value involved and possible linkage by thinking about or worrying about con!ict, average with unmanaged con!ict and (g) monitoring of annual salary of the employee involved in the con!ict, productivity in con!ict prone work environments, e.g. and duration of the con!ict in weeks per year. operations subjected to change such as relocation and/or sta# reduction (h) periodic surveys on con!ict Without assessing the use and precision of such culture, sources of con!ict and assessment of impact assessment tools, they require information which of unmanaged con!ict on decision-making. is rarely readily available as companies are seldom tracking this kind of data. Furthermore, they require While some of the data collection can consist of using the existence of systems which are archival work measures such as counting the number mostly unavailable outside the corporate sector. By of reported complaints of workplace harassment or way of example, most not-for-pro"t organizations do days of absence from work due to con!ict situations, not use time sheets. other data can be collected by surveys such as peri- odic global sta# surveys using self-reporting includ- However, what is important is to start collecting and ing the impact of con!ict on work productivity. analyzing a selected set of easily visible and measur- able data on consequences of unmanaged con!ict. For those who still believe that costs of con!ict, or Those steps will assist the organization to obtain more at least some of them, cannot be measured, Albert precise data on con!ict-related costs and allow taking Einstein can provide some form of conciliation with targeted action to reduce those costs. It also carries his concept that “Not everything that counts can be the potential of initiating a domino e#ect that will counted, and not everything that can be counted draw organization-wide attention to the relevance of counts”. con!ict cost controlling for the organization’s e$cien- cy and productivity.

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Zusammenhaenge, Bad Harzburg, www.beer-manage- CONCLUSION ment.de )www.beer-management.de/docs/was_ist_ein_ Though it is impossible to calculate the exact kon!ikt.pdf cost of con!ict, some of the related costs are mea- [30 January 2011]: Beer does not question that under surable or can at least be estimated. The exercise of certain conditions con!icts can have positive results. calculating an organization’s relevant cost of con!ict He challenges, however, the position that con!icts are drivers is not only an instructive way to think about required and an essential condition for human develop- the costs of putting up with badly managed con!ict, ment. but also a basis to measure e#ectiveness of con!ict 5 When asked to comment on positive outcomes of con- management and to visualize the added value of con- !ict, nine in 10 HR managers in Canada have seen con!ict !ict management tools including the Ombudsman lead to something positive including: better understand- O$ce. Another reason for trying to “cost the con!ict” ing of others (77 percent), better solutions to problems in a seemingly rational and number-driven business and challenges (57 percent), improved working rela- tionships (54 percent), higher performance in the team world is that no matter how compelling a case on cost (40 percent), increased motivation (31 percent), major of con!ict might be, people from , "nance innovation/ idea was born (21 percent), see: Psychomet- and other quantitative backgrounds prefer to make rics Canada Ltd. (2009). Warring Egos, Toxic Individuals, decisions on the basis of "nancial estimates before Feeble , A study of con!ict in the Canadian accepting con!ict cost management as a business workplace, page 13, http://www.psychometrics.com/ case.37 38 docs/con!ictstudy_09.pdf [ 25 January 2011]; Sutton R. I. (2007), The No Asshole Rule. New York, Boston: Warner Business Books, 17. 6 Although the lesson itself is quite valid, the notion that the Chinese written character for con!ict is composed of ENDNOTES symbols for both danger and opportunity seems to be an American invention, cf. http://www.pinyin.info/chinese/ 1 UNHCR was established on 14 December 1950 by the crisis.html [25 January 2011]. http://chineseculture. United Nations General Assembly. It is a subsidiary about.com/library/symbol/np/nc_con!ict.htm [25 organ of the United Nations and mandated to lead and January 2011]. co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and 7 resolve refugee problems worldwide. In more than "ve KPMG-Studie (2009): Kon!ikte in Unternehmen verur- decades, UNHCR has helped an estimated 50 million sachen hohe Kosten, see http://www.kpmg.de/Pres- people restart their lives. Today, a workforce of around se/14276.htm [10 February 2011] 6,300 in more than 110 countries continues to help some 8 Bobinski D. (2006), The Hidden Costs of Con!ict, http:// 33 million persons. The research data is based on a survey www.hodu.com/con!ict-cost.shtml [25 January 2011]. sent to 500 UNHCR employees (response rate 42%), 9 The soft or indirect "nancial costs of con!ict to organiza- exploring the perceived frequency and causes of con!ict tions are typically overlooked because they are not imme- in the workplace, reactions to con!ict and its impact on diately associated with con!ict and are accounted for as work and personal well-being as well as mediation as a part of the normal cost of doing business, cf. http://www. con!ict management tool. For the complete research conniebarnaba.com/costofcon!ict.htm l [25 January data see: Buss H.(2009), Measuring and Reducing The 2011]; Cost of Con!ict in UNHCR, Sion, cf. www.vdbio.ch/downloads/kon!iktmanagement/The- 10 Cram J. A. and MacWilliams R. K., The Cost of Con!ict in the sis_FINAL_180209.pdf Workplace , http://www.crambyriver.com/coc.html [25 January 2011]. 2 Other authors refer to healthy/ unhealthy con!ict; nega- tive/ positive con!ict; unproductive/ productive con!ict 11 Slaikeu K. A. and Hasson R. H. (1998), Controlling the or destructive/ constructive con!ict: Capobianco S., Davis Costs of Con!ict: How to Design a System for Your Organi- M. and Kraus L., Good con!ict, bad con!ict: How to have zation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, xii. one without the other, Mt Eliza Business Review; Summer 12 Pearson C. & Porath C. (2009), The Cost of Bad Behaviour. 2004 – Autumn 2005; 7,2; ABI/INFORM Global, 31. New York: Portfolio/ The Penguin Group, 51-109. A non- 3 Townend A. (2007), Assertiveness and Diversity. New York: exhaustive list with reference bibliography can be found Palgrave Macmillan, 58. at: http://www.con!ictatwork.com/con!ict/cost_e.cfm [25 January 2011] 4 Beer Klaus P. (2007), Was ist ein Kon!ikt? (Extract from Klaus P.Beer, Kon!iktmanagement. Grundlagen und 13 www.cedr.co.uk [25 January 2011].

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14 “Con!ict costs business £33 billion every year” (25 May senteeism/index-eng.php [25 January 2011]; Con!ict 2006), cf. http://www.cedr.com/?location=/library/ar- stress was positively related to emotional exhaustion, ticles/20080916_262.htm [25 January 2011]. absenteeism, and turnover intentions, see Giebels, E. 15 A loss of productivity of 25 percent reduces an average and Janssen, O. (2005), Con!ict stress and reduced well- working week to fewer than 20 hours, see Cram, J. A. and being at work: The bu#ering e#ect of third-party help, McWilliams, R.K, The Cost of Con!ict in the Workplace, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology , http://www.crambyriver.com/coc.html , [25 January Volume 14, Number 2, June 2005 , pp. 137-155(19), cf., 2011]. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/psych/ pewo/2005/00000014/00000002/art00003 , [25 Janu- 16 There are a number of studies that estimate that 30 to 70 ary 2011];

percent of a manger’s daily activities are devoted to deal- 20 ing with some form of con!ict: up to 30 percent: Thomas, Hart R., McDonald J., Rock S. (2004),The Mind-Body Con- K. and Schmid, W (June, 1976). A survey of managerial nection: Workplace Con!ict, Stress & the Risk of Injury, interests with respect to con!ict, Academy of Manage- EHSToday, The Magazine for Environment, Health and ment Journal, June, 1976; 42 percent: Watson,C & Ho#- Safety Leaders , 29 July 2004, cf., http://ehstoday.com/ man, R. Managers as Negotiators, Leadership Quarterly 7 mag/ehs_imp_37127/ [25 January 2011]. (1), 1996; Some CEOs spend 70 percent of their time on 21 Multinational companies a#ected by reduced produc- con!ict, see Taylor, R., Workplace ti#s boosting demand tivity and increased costs caused by chronic disease for mediators. National Post Mar. 17/03, see http://www. amongst the workforce have started to promote a culture con!ictatwork.com/con!ict/cost_e.cfm [25 January of health making wellbeing of sta# inseparable from 2011]. business objectives and long-term mission. A conserva- 17 The project questioned 5000 full-time employees in tive estimate of the bene"ts from improving sta# general nine countries around Europe and the Americas. The wellbeing indicates a likely annual return of three to results of the survey are published in the report ‘Fight, one or more, cf. World Economic Forum (2007), Working Flight or Face it’ (July 2008); the average number of hours Towards Wellness, Accelerating the prevention of chronic per week spent on dealing with workplace con!ict, by disease, cf. http://www.pwc.com/extweb/pwcpublica- country, ranges from 0.9 hours in The Netherlands to tions.nsf/docid/4d1fb58eaeb85b71852572c600707c 3.3 hours in Ireland and Germany, cf. http://www.opp. 0c [25 January 2011]. eu.com/con!ict.aspx [25 January 2011]; See also: Survey 22 Kessler R.C. and Stang P. E.(2006), Health & Work Produc- report October 2008, Leadership and the management tivity, Managing the Business Case for Quality Health of con!ict at work, OPP, Chartered Institute of Personnel Care. Chicago, London: The University of Chicago Press, and Development (cipd), http://www.cipd.co.uk/NR/ 16: The book o#ers a detailed summary of health and rdonlyres/E426E492-7AED-46A6-B8F5-92B9CF9725C productivity research as well as an agenda for employers 5/0/4545Leadershipcon!ict.pd f. [25 January 2011]; the seeking to make health care investment a part of their survey provides analysis from 660 organizations in the overall business strategy. UK. The majority of those questioned were HR profes- 23 DeVol R. & Bedroussian A. (2007), An Unhealthy America: sionals and practitioners. The average number of hours The Economic Burden of Chronic Disease, 9, cf., http:// per week for con!ict management in that group ranges www.milkeninstitute.org/publications/publications. between 3.4 and 3.8 hours; S. Schlager proposes the taf?function=detail&ID=38801018&cat=resrep model of the”5:4 – E#ekt” stating that badly managed con!ict amounts to a loss of 20 percent of working hours, 24 Duxbury&Higgins, Work-Life Con!ict in Canada in the resulting in loss of 20 percent of annual salary costs, see New Millennium: A status report, 2003, cf. http://www. Schlechtes Arbeitsklima ruiniert Unternehmen, presse- phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/work-travail/report2/index- text, Wien, 17 September 2008, cf. http://www.presse- eng.php#exec [25 January 2011]. text.ch/pte.mc?pte=080917003 [25 January 2011]; Me- 25 Ibid, The sample consisted of 31,571 Canadian employ- diator P. Der!er found that employees waste 25 percent ees. The turnover cost for an employee is anywhere in dealing with con!ict, cf. So gelingt der erste Schritt, between 75 percent and 150 percent of the annual salary, Berliner Morgenpost , 21 December 2008, cf., http://www. see Philips, D.T. (1990), The Price Tag of Turnover. Person- morgenpost.de/printarchiv/karriere/article1003041/ nel Journal 2162 (12), 58 - 61. Another more conservative So_gelingt_der_erste_Schritt.html [25 January 2011]. estimate suggests that the cost of replacing an employee 18 Dana assesses the cost to amount to 10 per cent of sta# ranges from 29 percent to 46 percent of the persons an- costs, cf. Dana D. (2001), The Dana Measure of Financial nual salary, see ILO, The of Health, Safety and Cost of Organizational Con!ict, cf. http://www.media- Well-being, Barefoot Economics, p 15. tionworks.com/dmi/toolbox.htm [25 January 2011]. 26 Dana D., The Dana Measure of Financial Cost of Organi- 19 Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute http:// zational Con!ict, 2001, cf. http://www.mediationworks. www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/pubs/occup-travail/ab- com/dmi/toolbox.htm [25 January 2011].

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27 An attitude survey covering 15.000 United Nations of- "cials showed that unresolved con!ict ranks low in the lists of reasons for departure (cf. International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), 2008 Global Sta# Survey on Recruit- ment and Retention, http://icsc.un.org / [25 January 2011]. However, as the survey is based on responses from serving sta# and not on exit interviews, unresolved con- !ict as a reason for departure may be higher. 28 Pearson C. & Porath C. (2009), The Cost of Bad Behaviour. New York: Portfolio/ The Penguin Group, 100-103. Pearson & Proath refer to their practice where they found that nearly 80 percent of a company’s employees who are treated poorly tell people inside and outside the organi- zation. 29 Dana assessed the cost to be 2 percent of sta# costs, cf. Dana D., The Dana Measure of Financial Cost of Organiza- tional Con!ict, 2001, cf. http://www.mediationworks. com/dmi/toolbox.htm [25 January 2011]. 30 (Source: UNHCR internal). 31 McClure, L. (2000). Anger and con!ict in the workplace: spot the sign, avoid the trauma. Manassas Park, VA: Im- pact Publications. 32 http://www.con!ictatwork.com/con!ict/cost_e.cfm [6 August 2008]. 33 Including, in the context of UNHCR and other internation- al not-for-pro"t organizations, donor relationships. 34 http://www.con!ictatwork.com/con!ict/cost_e.cfm [25 January 2011]. 35 For an extensive compilation of recent surveys on costs or workplace con!ict, violence and harassment conducted in European countries see: Di Martino V., Hoel H. and Cooper, Cary L., Preventing violence and harassment in the workplace , European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, 2003, cf. http://www. eurofound.europa.eu/publications/html%les/ef02109. htm [25 January 2011]. 36 The “Dana Measure of the Financial Cost of Organizational Con!ict”, Mediation Training Institute International, Prairie Village, Kansas, USA, http://www.mediationworks.com/ mti/cost.htm [25 January 2011]. 37 Sutton, R. I., The No Asshole Rule (2007), New York: Warner Business Books, 45. 38 Awareness of costs and a better ability to measure costs does, however, not provide an answer to the question how to reduce costs of con!ict. A review of options to reduce costs of con!icts will be provided in the second part of this article.

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