Making Conflict Work: Navigating Disagreement Up and Down Your Organization

A practical guide to navigating workplace conflicts by better understanding the power dynamics at play in every interaction

Conflicts at work are as inevitable as they are frustrating. In Making Conflict Work, Peter Coleman and Robert Ferguson’s leading experts in the field of conflict resolution address the key role of power in workplace tension. Whether you’re butting heads with your boss or addressing a direct report’s complaint, your relative position of power affects how you approach conflict.

Coleman and Ferguson explain how power dynamics function, with step-by-step guidance to determining your standing in a conflict and identifying and applying the strategies that will lead to the best resolution. Drawing on the authors’ years of research and consulting experience, the book gives readers effective strategies for negotiating disputes at all levels of an organization.

Making Conflict Work includes self-assessment exercises and action plans to guide managers, mediators, consultants, and attorneys through any conflict. This powerful approach can turn workplace tensions into catalysts for creativity, innovation, and meaningful change.

"An excellent workbook-like guide based on the authors’ seven strategies (that is, ways to deal with conflict): “pragmatic benevolence,” “cultivated support,” “constructive dominance,” “strategic appeasement,” “selective autonomy,” “effective adaptivity,” and “principled rebellion.” Each strategy features a business case, six reasons to use this particular strategy, 10 explicit tactics that support that strategy, building blocks or competencies you’ll need, and a skill-development checklist. For example, strategic appeasement is best exemplified by former Chicago Bulls and L.A. Lakers head coach Phil Jackson, who says such things as “Over my lifetime, I’ve rarely or never disagreed with a boss” and “I’ve always been known as an accommodator where I work.” People will employ the appeasement strategy when they’re getting hazed or are gaming the system; tactics for than range from cozying up to the bully, to “forget” to ask permission, and remembering to apologize. Their concluding remarks underscore the book’s purpose: 'Know yourself better in conflict.'"
—Booklist, STARRED review

"Coleman and Ferguson have done something remarkable: they’ve written an evidence-based book on the complex topic of conflict and made it easy to read, easy to understand and, best of all, easy to use. A genuine winner."
—Robert B. Cialdini, author, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

"Navigating conflict effectively is an essential component of leadership. Making Conflict Work illustrates when to compromise and when to continue driving forward."
—Honorable David N. Dinkins, 106th Mayor of the City of New York

"This book is a necessity. As someone who has navigated the traps of power and conflict across the globe, it is refreshing to find a book that calls it what it is, and offers useful advice on turning traps into prospects for change. Read it."
—Leymah Gbowee, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Liberian peace activist

"Making Conflict Work gives us a way to think about how we deal with conflict in hierarchical organizations. Especially helpful are the chapters that link conflict intelligence—how we routinely deal with conflict—to actionable strategies."
—Deborah M. Kolb, professor emerita, Simmons College Graduate School of Management

"Through a superb balance of interviews, case studies, and evidence-based insights, the authors provide valuable lessons on how leaders can manage conflict."
—Steve Cohen, executive director, The Earth Institute, Columbia University

"An innovative and practical look at how to navigate everyday disagreements to reach your goals, serving up examples of best practice drawn from the authors’ decades of experience helping others cope with conflict, power and change."
—Larry Susskind, cofounder, Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School

"Managers who try to suppress conflict not only make things worse, but also stifle opportunities for creative problem-solving. Making Conflict Work should be essential reading for all managers."
—Michael Wheeler, retired professor, Harvard Business School; author, The Art of Negotiation