Guide to Conflict Resolution in the Workplace

Dealing with conflict in the workplace can be a slippery slope. When people work together, situations can arise where there are misunderstandings, clashes of personalities, biases, stereotypes, and differences in opinions. However, there are regulations and guidelines in place to help deal with conflict accordingly.  Conflict management is an essential skill to have when you’re leading a team. Beyond that, you must have documented processes on how to address conflict when it arises in the workplace. In this guide, we’ll discuss all that you need to know when dealing with conflict amongst your employees.

There are plenty of South African disputes that end up in a formal process. In July 2025, the Minister of Employment and Labour told Parliament that about 30 500 cases were waiting to be heard at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). These cases are a result of unsettled disagreements that started inside the business. For a small company, a dispute can cost you time and money. When a case reaches the CCMA, it means lost working days, legal stress, and a long wait for an outcome. It’s also worth noting the hidden cost. Conflict that goes unaddressed drains focus among your workforce. A person who is upset at a coworker can spend part of their day distracted and demotivated. This mental load hardly shows up on a timesheet but can slow down every task. Disagreements can turn into passive comments in meetings and delays in tasks, especially in cases where two parties often work together. Not all conflict is bad, though. Different personalities in a team can lead to disagreement over ideas. The goal is to handle these matters before it turns personal.

Before you design any process, you must consult the regulations set by South African labour law to know the rules you operate under. These are essential elements of the law to look into:

1. The Constitution and the Labour Relations Act:

Section 23 of the Constitution gives everyone the right to fair labour practices. The Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (LRA) turns that right into rules. It covers unfair dismissal and also unfair labour practices, which include unfair disciplinary action short of dismissal and unfair suspension. The LRA also created the CCMA, the body that handles most workplace disputes.

2. Time Limits:

An employee who feels unfairly dismissed has 30 days to open a case at the CCMA. For a discrimination case, the window is six months.

3. The 2025 Code of Good Practice on Dismissal:

The 2025 Code of Good Practice on Dismissal, which replaced Schedule 8 on 4 September 2025, introduces two key changes for handling workplace disputes:

• Simpler Procedures: It gives small businesses greater flexibility to use streamlined, less formal procedures.
• Emphasis on Mediation: It expects employers to actively attempt alternative solutions, such as counselling or mediation, before resorting to dismissal.

In practice, this means that having a clear, documented record of your attempts to resolve a conflict carries significant weight if the dispute eventually reaches the CCMA.

4. The 2022 Code on Harassment:

The Employment Equity Act requires employers to take steps to prevent harassment, and the Code of Good Practice on the Prevention and Elimination of Harassment in the Workplace sets out how. The Code of Good Practice covers all forms of harassment, including bullying.  It’s crucial to check whether your industry falls under a bargaining council. If it does, disputes may need to go to that council instead of the CCMA, and the council often has its own procedures. A quick call to your employer organisation can save you from filing in the wrong place.

Knowing how to compartmentalise conflict can help you address the issue at hand. Most workplace disputes fall into a few groups. These are as follows: 1. Task conflict: This is a disagreement about the work itself. Examples include how to run a project, who owns a deliverable, or which tool the team should use. This type is often healthy when people stay respectful. 2. Relationship conflict: This type of conflict is personal. It comes from irritation, dislike, or a clash of personalities. Research on team performance has linked this type to lower trust and weaker results. 3. Process conflict: Process conflict is where there are disagreements about how work gets done. Who approves what? Who gets looped into emails? Unclear roles cause most of these arguments. 4. Values conflict: This appears when people hold different beliefs about fairness, ethics, or how hard someone should work. A team member who logs off at 5 pm sharp may clash with one who sends messages at midnight. In South African teams, differences in language, culture, and background can add another layer, so assume that people may read the same message very differently. 5. Power and status conflict: This shows up when someone feels overlooked. A promotion, a seat in a meeting, or credit for an idea can trigger it. Under the LRA, a promotion dispute can become an unfair labour practice claim, so take it seriously. Here is a point worth knowing. Many disputes start as one type and turn into another. A task disagreement that is ignored for weeks often becomes a relationship problem. By the time you hear about the personal insults, the original issue has been buried. When you investigate, always ask what the first disagreement was.

There is a range of conflict resolution resources to pull from. One of these was adapted in 1974 by Kenneth Thomas and Ralph Kilmann. They introduced the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, a model that still shapes how trainers teach conflict management styles. It describes five approaches:

1. Competing: You push for your own way.
2. Collaborating: You work with the other person to find a solution that meets both needs.
3. Compromising: Each side gives up something.
4. Avoiding: You sidestep the issue.
5. Accommodating: You give in to keep the peace.

No single style is best, as different situations of conflict may require different conflict management styles. Each one fits certain moments.

If you run a small business, you probably don’t have an HR department to hand this to. Use the steps below. They work for a dispute between two people or within a small team, and they match the fair process the Labour Relations Act expects. Aim to finish all seven steps within two to three weeks. Deadlines for referring disputes to the CCMA keep running while you wait, so a slow process can cost you. Before you start: Check what the conflict is about. If it involves harassment, discrimination, violence, or fraud, stop here. Follow your harassment procedure or get legal advice instead.

Step 1: Meet Each Person Alone Within Two Working Days

Book a private meeting with each person. Do this before any joint meeting, and never in the open office.

• Start with: “I want to hear your side before I speak to anyone else.”
• Let them talk without interruption. Ask: “What happened? When did it start? What have you tried so far?”
• Take written notes with dates, names, and what was said.
• Do not offer opinions or promises. Your only job is to understand.

Step 2: Separate Facts From Feelings 

After both meetings, draw a line down a page. On the left, list the facts. On the right, list the feelings and interpretations.

• Fact: “Sipho sent the proposal at 4 pm and Lerato asked for it at noon.”
• Interpretation: “Sipho doesn’t respect my time.” Both columns matter, but they need different fixes. Facts need evidence and clear answers. Feelings need acknowledgement. If you find two versions of the same fact, check emails, messages, or project records before the joint meeting.

Step 3: Find the Interest Behind Each Position

This idea comes from Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher and William Ury, published in 1981. A position is what someone says they want. An interest is why they want it. Two employees may both demand the same office. One wants quiet to focus. The other wants status in front of clients. Once you know the interests, the fix is often something neither person had considered, such as a quiet booth for one and a client-facing desk for the other.

• Ask each person: “Why does that matter to you?” Then ask it once more.
• Write one line per person: “What they want” and “Why they want it.”

Step 4: Bring Them Together for a Meeting

Choose a neutral room, such as a boardroom or a quiet spot off-site, not either person’s desk. Sit them at the same side of a table or at an angle, not face-to-face.

• Open with the ground rules: one person speaks at a time, no personal attacks, and no old issues unrelated to this topic.
• Ask each person: “What do you want to be different from here on?” This keeps the focus on the future, not on blame.
• Share only the agreed facts from Step 2. Do not reveal what either person told you in private.
• Close with this question: “What did the other person say that you agree with?” It pushes people to find common ground.

Step 5: Agree on Specific Actions

Vague promises like “we’ll communicate better” fail. A good action names who does what, by when, and how you will know it happened.

• Weak: “Design and copy will work together more.”
• Strong: “Design shares drafts by Wednesday at 12:00. Copy sends written feedback within 24 hours. Delays go to the manager the same day.”
• Limit it to three or four actions to make it attainable.

Step 6: Document the Outcome

Write a summary of the events and outcome. Keep it factual and neutral. Include:

• The names of the people involved and the date of each meeting.
• A brief description of the issue, using the facts from Step 2.
• The agreed actions, owners, and deadlines.

Build a Conflict Resolution Policy That People Will Use

Having a written conflict resolution policy is one of the simplest ways to protect your business. But a policy that sits in a shared folder does nothing. It has to be short, clear, and easy to find. A strong policy includes:

• A plain statement of what the company considers acceptable behaviour.
• Clear steps for raising a concern, starting with an informal chat.
• A formal grievance procedure with timelines, such as acknowledging a complaint within three working days.
• Details on who handles complaints if the manager is the subject.
• A separate route for harassment and bullying complaints, in line with the 2022 code.
• A promise of protection against retaliation.
• A note on confidentiality and its limits.

Make sure the policy matches your contracts and any bargaining council rules that apply to your sector. Since the 2025 dismissal code now rewards early, documented attempts to fix problems, your policy should also state that counselling or mediation comes before any disciplinary route where appropriate.

Most conflicts reach a manager before they reach HR. That makes conflict resolution training for managers one of the best investments you can make. Good training goes beyond theory. It includes role-play, where managers practise difficult conversations. It teaches active listening, which means repeating back what you heard before you respond. It also covers how to stay calm when someone is upset and when a matter must move from a chat to a formal process.