Workplace Conflict Management Course

Lesson 1 • Stakeholder Landscape in Labour Disputes

Identifies all parties with interests in a labour conflict and their roles. Prepares consultants to map influence and resistance before engaging.

Lesson 2 • Conflict Escalation Models

Presents stage-based models showing how disputes intensify over time. Equips consultants to recognise escalation signals and intervene early.

Lesson 3 • Ethical Foundations for Consultants

Establishes the ethical obligations of a neutral labour conflict consultant. Ensures practitioners maintain impartiality and professional integrity throughout engagements.

Lesson 4 • Sources and Triggers of Conflict

Maps structural, relational, and economic drivers that generate labour disputes. Enables consultants to trace surface symptoms to underlying causes.

Lesson 1 • Institutional Dispute Resolution Bodies

Surveys labour tribunals, conciliation agencies, and arbitration boards as formal resolution channels. Prepares consultants to advise clients on institutional pathways.

Lesson 2 • Regulatory Compliance in Conflict Situations

Addresses how regulatory obligations interact with active conflict management. Ensures consultants keep clients compliant whilst pursuing resolution.

Lesson 3 • Strike and Industrial Action Regulation

Examines legal parameters governing strikes, lockouts, and work stoppages. Enables consultants to assess action legality and advise on risk mitigation.

Lesson 4 • Collective Bargaining Frameworks

Explains how collective agreements are structured, negotiated, and enforced. Connects bargaining mechanics to conflict prevention and resolution strategies.

Lesson 1 • Producing a Conflict Diagnosis Report

Synthesises assessment findings into a structured diagnostic document. Equips consultants to communicate findings clearly and recommend intervention pathways.

Lesson 2 • Power and Relationship Analysis

Analyses power differentials and relational history between conflict parties. Informs strategy selection and risk assessment for the consultant.

Lesson 3 • Data Collection Techniques

Covers interviews, surveys, document review, and observation as diagnostic tools. Builds the evidence base needed for credible conflict analysis.

Lesson 4 • Identifying Positions, Interests, and Needs

Distinguishes stated positions from underlying interests and unmet needs. This distinction is the cornerstone of interest-based resolution approaches.

Lesson 1 • Interest-Based Negotiation

Applies principled negotiation methods to labour dispute contexts. Shifts parties from positional bargaining toward mutually beneficial outcomes.

Lesson 2 • Negotiation Strategy and Tactics

Examines strategic choices and tactical moves available to negotiating parties. Prepares consultants to recognise and counter manipulative tactics.

Lesson 3 • Communication Skills in Negotiation

Builds active listening, questioning, and framing skills essential to effective negotiation. Directly supports the consultant's facilitation and advisory roles.

Lesson 4 • Negotiation Fundamentals

Covers core negotiation concepts including BATNA, ZOPA, and value creation. Establishes the theoretical base for all applied negotiation work.

Lesson 1 • Managing Difficult Dynamics in Mediation

Addresses high-emotion, power-imbalanced, and bad-faith scenarios in mediation. Builds resilience and tactical flexibility in the consultant-mediator.

Lesson 2 • Labour-Specific Mediation Challenges

Examines mediation challenges unique to labour contexts, including union dynamics and collective grievances. Adapts general mediation skills to the labour relations environment.

Lesson 3 • Mediation Ethics and Quality Standards

Applies professional ethics standards to mediation practice and self-evaluation. Ensures consultants maintain credibility and continuous quality improvement.

Lesson 4 • Mediation Models and Principles

Compares facilitative, evaluative, and transformative mediation models. Enables consultants to select the appropriate model for each dispute context.

Lesson 1 • Arbitral Award Analysis

Examines how arbitral awards are structured, reasoned, and enforced. Enables consultants to interpret awards and advise on compliance and appeal options.

Lesson 2 • Interest vs. Rights Arbitration

Distinguishes interest arbitration for new agreements from rights arbitration for existing ones. Aligns arbitration strategy with the nature of the underlying dispute.

Lesson 3 • Arbitration Procedure and Evidence

Covers hearing procedures, evidence standards, and submission requirements in labour arbitration. Prepares consultants to guide clients through procedural requirements.

Lesson 4 • Arbitration Fundamentals

Distinguishes arbitration from mediation and litigation in terms of process and outcome. Establishes the conceptual foundation for all arbitration-related advisory work.

Lesson 1 • Anatomy of Collective Disputes

Analyses the structure, dynamics, and lifecycle of collective labour disputes. Provides the contextual understanding needed before designing resolution strategies.

Lesson 2 • Multi-Party Negotiation Design

Structures negotiation processes for disputes involving multiple unions, employers, or sectors. Addresses the added complexity of coalition management and competing mandates.

Lesson 3 • Strike Management and Resolution

Covers strategies for managing active strikes and facilitating return-to-work agreements. Equips consultants to operate effectively in high-pressure industrial action scenarios.

Lesson 4 • Conciliation in Collective Disputes

Applies conciliation techniques to collective bargaining breakdowns and industrial action threats. Positions conciliation as a pre-arbitration intervention tool.

Lesson 1 • Organisational Change and Conflict Risk

Examines how restructuring, layoffs, and mergers generate conflict risk. Prepares consultants to advise on change management with a labour relations lens.

Lesson 2 • Early Warning and Monitoring Systems

Builds diagnostic tools for detecting conflict risk before disputes emerge. Shifts the consultant's value proposition from reactive to preventive.

Lesson 3 • Building a Positive Labour Relations Climate

Identifies organisational practices that foster co-operative labour-management relationships. Addresses culture, communication, and recognition as conflict prevention levers.

Lesson 4 • Grievance Handling System Design

Designs effective internal grievance procedures that resolve issues before escalation. Reduces formal dispute frequency and builds employee trust in the organisation.