Conflict wisdom in a turbulent environment

Abstract

This chapter explores the concept of conflict wisdom as an aspect of self-leadership and a critical competency for organisational agility. Agility (or adaptiveness) is required for organisations to succeed in an uncertain and volatile social, economic and political environment. Developing employees’ conflict wisdom will not only benefit organisations and their employees directly, but can also contribute to the promotion of peaceful resolution of conflicts more generally. However, handling conflict effectively and sustainably needs more than just skills training. More than anything else, it requires the development of a different conflict frame or mindset because, as the saying goes, if we change the way we look at things, the things we look at also change. Some suggestions are proposed for how individuals can develop such a new frame and the role of business in this regard.