Human Resources Management: Dealing with Challenge and Conflict

Challenge and conflict are common in cultural organizations, given multiple demands for severely limited resources, underpaid and overworked employees, disagreements over administrative and artistic priorities and the potential strains of board/management relations. We rarely stop to examine exactly how we handle conflict. The reason it is important to look closely at how you manage conflict in your work is that these conflicts present opportunities to innovate and create extremely productive environments. Challenge and conflict can enrich relationships and open up creativity or, if badly handled, can destroy both personal and working relationships.