Corporate Management

Conflicts in the company, how to turn tensions into resources through negotiation and HR

Conflict is inherent in organisations and requires a conscious approach to enhance diversity and improve collective performance

by Luca Brambilla* and Valentina Figna**

5 March 2026

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Research conducted by MyPerfectResume during the pandemic (2021) found that 80 per cent of workers had experienced workplace conflicts, and 39 per cent reported that they had thought about leaving or had actually left the company as a result of such conflicts.

The data say it: conflict is an inherent element of relational dynamics. It occurs whenever there is a divergence of interests, and therefore, potentially, at every moment of life. Conflict in itself is not bad, it all depends on how it is managed. Some conflicts are immediately absorbed, others degenerate into dysfunctional dynamics, and still others explode into open confrontations. The negotiation was born precisely with this aim in mind: to dissolve conflicts by enhancing interests.

Conflict: the great remove of organisations

The dark aura that permeates the term conflict - and consequently negotiation - derives in part from its direct association with phenomena such as quarrelling, confrontation and, ultimately, war. Instead, the paradigm must be reversed: the one who negotiates does not make war but, on the contrary, attempts to build peace. He who deals with conflict does not seek the quarrel, but prevents it before it deflagrates. As the Latins used to say 'Si vis pacem, para bellum' ('If you want peace, prepare for war'). Just as it would be naive to govern a country without contemplating the existence of war, it is not reasonable to run a business without considering conflict.

Yet, research has shown that only 26% of the professionals surveyed felt adequately trained to manage conflicts between colleagues (Kfouri & Lee, 2019). But before conflict is taught, it must be identified: it still represents a taboo within organisations, an 'unspoken' that needs to be brought to light. It is constantly discussed in the corporate corridors but rarely finds its way into journals, books and publications dealing with leadership and management. The debate continues to bring to the fore positive concepts ranging from team building to valuing people, from inclusion to collaboration. An optimistic vision that risks becoming utopian by losing touch with reality.

In short, conflict is intrinsic to work dynamics. Companies promote performance measurement systems that, although they do not make the conflict explicit, stimulate it through the language and tools adopted. Comparison with the Gaussian curve, familiar to statisticians, makes it clear that it is impossible for everyone to be placed in the same bracket of excellence, inevitably generating tensions. This ambivalence is one of the points on which to start thinking in order to have a strategy that integrates conflict in its positive sense.

Negotiating who you want to be in the company

Precisely because conflict is inherent to our nature, it is interesting to read it from an organisational perspective. Indeed, the company is not just a place where we work, but one of the forms through which we express our being. Each of us is not a 'role', but a 'way of being' within a system characterised by anthropological dynamics.

The company is where we have the extraordinary opportunity to realise a part of our being. But this comes at a high price because it involves the investment of the most precious resource we have: time. Those who work make much of their day available and, in most cases, this does not happen spontaneously but compulsorily. Here, an initial superficial reflection on the subject of worklife balance veers towards an ontological reflection. In other words, the first conflict arises within: the employee must first of all engage in a deep dialogue with himself in order to reflect on what he wants and who he wants to be within the company system.

Horizontal and vertical conflicts

There are essentially two types of conflict in the company. The first concerns horizontal relations, i.e. between peers. Moving up the hierarchy, the dynamic remains similar: regardless of level, one will have colleagues with whom one can dialogue in order to achieve one's goals. Conflict management, however, becomes more complex as one moves upwards, until it becomes indispensable when one reaches the top of the organisation. A lack of strategic alignment at the top level can have cascading repercussions on all areas below. During leadership team meetings, it is natural (and right) for there to be disharmonies and confrontations, but it is equally essential that, once decisions have been made, we demonstrate cohesion to the outside world.

On the other hand, the dynamic changes when the dialectic occurs between manager and co-worker. If, in fact, in the initial hierarchical levels there is almost always a command-execution oriented relationship (with some fine exceptions), moving upwards the relationship becomes less directive. Here, managers are called upon to take a systemic view and delegate the more technical and operational management to function experts.

Balance between people and organisation

The HR function has the delicate task of bringing balance between two key priorities: people and organisation. Inevitably, these two systems have partly different objectives but also many commonalities. HR's job is to identify and maximise them. If the company succeeds in creating the conditions for everyone to fulfil their potential, both parties benefit.

It is in this balance that the maturity of an organisation is measured: in the ability to transform conflict and diversity into shared value. The HR function, in this perspective, is not a neutral facilitator but a strategic partner of the business, called upon to create the conditions for conflict to become generative energy.

*Director Strategic Communication Academy

**HR Director Southern Europe of Cooper Consumer Health