Study series on conflict management in business
Studienserie
Research project in cooperation with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)
The practice of conflict management in German companies was the subject of a ten-year series of studies, which also attracted a great deal of international attention, carried out from 2004 to 2016 in cooperation with the auditing and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and with the participation of students on the Mediation and Conflict Management master's degree programme. The third study, published in 2011, presented the "Viadrina Component Model of a Conflict Management System", which continues to serve as a reference framework for the establishment and professionalisation of conflict management structures in numerous companies and organisations.
The first study, "Commercial Dispute Resolution - A Comparative Study of Resolution Procedures in Germany" (2005), found a clear discrepancy after empirically analysing the statements of 158 German companies on the use of court proceedings and various out-of-court procedures, ideas and preferences regarding these procedures: German companies do not follow their actual preferences with regard to the advantageousness of the respective procedures when choosing the most suitable conflict resolution procedure for disputes between companies (B2B): While court proceedings are assessed in the abstract as having few advantages, they are often used; the opposite is true for alternative procedures.
The second study, "Praxis des Konfliktmanagements deutscher Unternehmen. Ergebnisse einer qualitativen Folgestudie zu 'Commercial Dispute Resolution – Konfliktbearbeitungsverfahren im Vergleich'" (2007), investigates this incongruity by means of a qualitative follow-up survey and finds that the discrepancy is due in particular to the lack of a systematic approach: A conflict management system that makes it possible to classify each conflict and, on the basis of this categorisation, to deal with it appropriately, would be helpful for business.
The third study, "Conflict Management - From Elements to System" (2011), drafts the blueprint of such a conflict management system as a concept study by bundling existing elements of conflict management in German companies (works councils, procedural clauses, ombudsman offices, etc.) into functional components (conflict contact point, system for selecting measures and procedures, conflict handlers, etc.) and describes the conditions under which a genuine conflict management system can be said to exist from a scientific point of view. It bundles existing elements of conflict management in German companies (works councils, procedural clauses, ombuds offices, etc.) into functional components (conflict contact point, system for selecting measures and procedures, conflict handlers, etc.). The study furthermore describes the conditions under which a genuine conflict management system can be said to exist from a scientific point of view – and how it can be established.
The fourth study, "Konfliktmanagement als Instrument werteorientierter Unternehmensführung" (2013), is again designed as a concept study. It provides recommendations for the establishment of a conflict management system and analyses how conflict management can be anchored in the company's management and risk management system. In particular, companies that already have introduced the first components of a conflict management system and would like to make their system even more effective and sustainable will find many suggestions for improvements and quality management in the study.
The final fifth study, "Konfliktmanagement in der deutschen Wirtschaft – Entwicklungen eines Jahrzehnts" (2016), takes up the empirical approach of the first study from 2005 and analyses the developments that can be measured after a period of ten years. The results do not show a revolution in terms of the number of alternative dispute resolution procedures used, but rather a noticeable evolution that is more pronounced in the companies that are members of the Round Table Mediation and Conflict Management of the German Economy (RTMKM) than in the comparison group of companies that do not have a clear focus on the topic of conflict management. In addition, qualitative changes can be identified in the decision-making, leadership and conflict culture of companies that actively address the issue of good conflict management.
No matter how well established the conflict management measures are, the use of core graphics from the study series has proven valuable in numerous presentations and strategy meetings in organisations that are concerned with the introduction or optimisation of a conflict management programme or system. For this introductory purpose, here is a presentation with the following five graphics:
- Mapping the discrepancy between desire and action in conflict management (Study I)
- Viadrina component model of a KMS (Study III/IV)
- Starfish model of an overall KMS (Study IV)
- Conflict Spider: Conflict sensitivity and intervention profile of a company (Study IV)
- Conflict/Risk Map (Study IV)
For its commitment in the field of conflict management, PwC was awarded the honorary prize of the Fördergemeinschaft Mediation DACH e.V. In the laudatory speech at the 12th International Mediation Days in Hamburg in February 2013, the importance of the study series jointly published by PwC and IKM for the establishment of professional conflict management in business was emphasised and the central role of Prof Dr Ulla Gläßer and Prof Dr Lars Kirchhoff as scientific and conceptual directors of the study series was expressly acknowledged.