About the conflict project
Workplace conflict is a fact of life. We all have to navigate it—either as someone in conflict, or someone supporting others through it. And even when it’s healthy, it’s almost never comfortable.
UVic Human Resources has teamed up with colleagues across campus to better understand conflict at UVic and develop the tools you need to manage and resolve conflict as it arises.
Conflict process
The conflict process is a series of steps to help you navigate conflict, including pause, consider, discuss, take action, resolve and repair.
The why
We must be capable of respectful and productive dialogue across differences. After all, we need a diversity of perspectives in order to achieve UVic’s strategic goals in the domains of:
- equity, diversity and inclusion
- decolonization
- climate impact
- innovation
- recruitment and retention
The goal
When faced with a workplace conflict, all UVic employees will have a similar understanding of:
- helpful next steps
- accountability and responsibilities of those involved
Conflict report
Sept 2021 - Sept 2022
- conducted interviews to explore how conflict manifests on campus
- reviewed literature to discover effective means of successfully resolving conflict
- summarized findings that identified the costs of and contributing factors to UVic’s current conflict culture
- laid out recommendations
Jan 2022 - Sept 2023
- continued consultation and convened an advisory circle of representatives from Human Resources, Faculty Relations, Equity and Human Rights, Office of Student Life, the VP Indigenous office, First People’s House and the Office of General Counsel to develop a set of conflict principles and a process map to guide a conflict framework
- developed a web-based conflict toolkit and a conflict learning series for employees
Fall 2023 and beyond
- launch and socialize the resources
- develop further programming and resources
- embed the conflict principles into ongoing UVic projects and practices