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Executive Interviews: Interview with Jonathan Hughes on Collaboration
March 2008
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By Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary
What are effective strategies for
managing disagreements at the point
of conflict?
One very powerful approach is to invest
in training so that employees
across the enterprise are equipped
with a common vocabulary, mindset,
and set of techniques for managing
conflict. People have a much easier
time resolving conflictswhen they expect
it and view conflict as a natural
part of conducting business, and
when they have structured tools and
techniques for diagnosing the causes
of their conflict, and for creatively and
cooperatively developing solutions.Another strategy involves leaders
providing their employees with more
nuanced guidance.
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Rather than tell
people to achieve a specific, narrowly
defined outcome (say, to negotiate a
contract with a supplier and pay no
more than X, and commit to an order
size of no more than Y, and a contract
term of no more than 2 years, and the
like), leaders can better enable their
people to manage conflicts if they acknowledge
the existence of different
objectives thatmay be in tension with
one another, and articulate explicit
guidelines for making trade offs.
Don't lock your people into conflicts
over fixed positions; give them the
means to work through conflicts by
making wise trade-offs and finding
creative solutions. What can companies learn from
Intel, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
Florida, Johnson & Johnson, and
KLA-Tencor about managing conflict?
First, that it is very difficult, but nonetheless
possible, to improve the way a
company, and its employees deal
with conflict, both internally, and
with external partners. Second, that
the ability to effectively dealwith conflict,
internally and externally, yields
tremendous benefits: faster decisionmaking
and an enhanced ability to
quickly exploit marketplace opportunities;
reduced supply chain costs
through improved collaboration with
suppliers; the ability to develop innovative
solutions through alliances
with companies in other industries
and even with competitors. Third,
that embedding specific tools and
procedures for conflict management
within existing business processes is
essential. Your research has quoted IBM as
an example for how managers can
reduce the repeated escalation of
conflict up the management chain by
helping employees learn how to resolve
disputes themselves. Can you
share how this system works at
IBM?
IBM has invested significant resources
in training its employees in a
common set of skills and techniques
for constructively engaging conflict.
They have also formalized an escalation
process whereby employees are
expected to undertake a serious effort
to resolve disagreements themselves,
and only then, if they are unable to do
so, to escalate the issue up the management
chain. As part of this process,
managers do not accept an escalated
issue without testing that serious
efforts have already beenmade to
resolve the issue. That is, management
does not accept escalated issues
lightly they hold employees accountable
for engaging in effective
problem-solving when they have disagreements.
Finally, managers at IBM
use escalations as an opportunity to
coach their employees on how they
might better resolve issues on their
own in the future.
1.
From Competition to Collaboration Case Study
2. ICMR
Case Collection
3.
Case Study Volumes
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