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Conflict Resolution
F E AT U R E
W
hy should IS auditors be involved in conflict
resolution?
Because conflict is inevitable in any endeavor that requires
the interaction of two or more disciplines or, for that matter,
minds. As the complexity of security increases, the likelihood
of differences in opinion and approach increases as a function
of the number of variables involved and the amount of time
required by the employees in their involvement during or after
implementation of projects. Normally, these conflicts arise dur-
ing implementation because of peoples natural resistance to
change, scheduling pressures or an initial perceived difficulty
of the system to support existing reporting criteria or function-
ality.
What should the IS auditors look for in conflict resolution
strategies? The following answers this important question.
Characteristics of Formal
Conflict Resolution Plans
Planning for the inevitable means that managers/leaders
will not spend valuable time and energy dealing with emotions
but
will keep their focus on finding optimum solutions for the
roadblocks. This is so because conflicts in an implementation
can be opportunities to hold back, regroup, rethink, reevaluate
and take positive steps, including:
Reexamining current business practices (often latent
problems with established practices manifest themselves in
conflicts)
Interfacing in new ways not previously acknowledged
because of logistical difficulties and/or gaining an under-
standing of underlying problems in which the symptoms
manifested in conflicts
Brainstorming and exploring several perspectives for conflict
resolution
Allowing those inflicted with real or perceived injuries a
forum to express regard for their contribution and for their
feedback
These are important components in ensuring loyal, produc-
tive employees during the project and beyond.
Conflict Awareness
How conflicts are resolved will bear on the relationships
among employees and also impact the success of the imple-
mentation. Therefore, effective steps need to be taken to
manage confrontations and ensure that only positive results
are obtained as a result of them. Steps for effective resolution
involve establishing approaches specifically geared toward
the acknowledgment of differences between project team
members and striving for these differences to complement
each other by enabling or facilitating the team members to
work together.
The foundation for building a strong conflict awareness
strategy is acknowledgment by the project-managing principals
(team leader, coordinator, executive sponsor) that conflicts will
arise, but they must be utilized as positive building blocks
rather than negative energy that will debilitate the spirit and
the success of the project.
The second premise is an understanding of the reasons that
precipitate conflicts. These can range from the following:
Political reasonsPerceived or threatened loss of power or
control
Reorganizational reasonsAnticipated coalescence of dif-
ferent units as a function of an integrated system, which dis-
turbs the status quo and creates anxiety about roles within
the affected staff
Changes in mandated policyThese cause the staff to leave
the comfort zone of change tolerance.
Fear of the unknownThe most difficult and volatile of
conflicts in which reason does not prevail and does not
resolve the issues because the adjustment phase was left out
Paradigm shiftSetting the right attitude for addressing con-
flicts in an equitable and humane manner to ensure that the
benefits received are the benefits required. Recognition and
acceptance of the opportunities inherent in conflict resolu-
tion will set the tone for the approach to be undertaken and
allow for the free exchange of opinions and ideas that are
necessary to ensure success.
A critical step in building conflict resolution strategies is a
formal declaration to the team members of the probability of
conflict, managements attitude toward it, and the mechanisms
being established to cope effectively with the issues as they
arise. This step amounts to flushing out a potential difficulty
before it precipitates, and eliminates the possibility of hidden
agendas or token acceptance of the team activities or decisions.
By declaring that conflict is inevitable and that expectations
are set for positive and harmonious resolution, the employees
involved in the projects will be less tempted to allow a ques-
tion or concern to remain buried, which often allows difficul-
ties to ferment and blow out of proportion.
The last and single most important step in building conflict
resolution strategies is supplying the why in the desire for
effective, timely and complete issue resolution. This personal
why may be supplied to the team members through:
A discussion of the quality-oriented benefits of conflict
resolution
An acknowledgment of the contributions the team, as a
whole, can make
Conflict Resolution
By Yusuf Musaji, CISA, CGA, CISSP An assurance that each member can make an individual con-
tribution through issue resolution
An assurance that an organized procedure is designed and
will be implemented to allow all team members to achieve
their personal and cumulative goals
Format for Positive Resolution
The first step is to establish the attitude and approach that
the team leaders and members are required to take. Then, the
structured plan for enactment of conflict resolution and the
communication guidelines to be followed during all conflict
resolutions should be presented to the entire team.
To validate the importance of the resolution tasks, the plan
should be presented at the beginning of the project as a formal,
written structure. People normally operate comfortably when
the ground rules are clearly defined and understood by all
players at the outset. By providing written guidelines, the mis-
conception of different standards for different people is elimi-
nated, putting all team members on comfortable communica-
tion ground with each other. This is a difficult task and is
dependent on the quality and integrity of leadership at play
because past experience has always indicated that lip service is
usually the case. When people speak up, there can be repercus-
sions, which is the main reason conflict resolution may appear
ideal in theory but improbable in practice and why it fails to
secure the desired results.
In the verbal component of the conflict plan, the team
leader should pay special attention to the use of I statements
as a positive tool for clarification of the concept of organized,
structured conflict resolution. Conflict is always integrated
with emotionality, even if it is couched in totally professional,
business-directed terms. By saying, I believe, I feel or I
am confident that our approach to resolutions will be positive,
the leader is recognizing and affirming a personal emotional
connection.
In a large team formation (e.g., 12 or more participants), it
is more beneficial to use an issue coordinator than to have the
project team leader assume the duties of logging, monitoring
and documenting each issue that arises. Although the team
leader is the appropriate individual to present the issue resolu-
tion structure, the issue coordinator should then explain the
mechanics and steps being used to ensure complete resolution.
The ideal issue coordinator should be a team member with
high company visibility and credibility with the other team
members.
Using an issue log that adequately defines and categorizes
each particular concern is absolutely necessary for organization
of conflict resolution. These logs should be provided for all
team members so they have a tool at hand to address their con-
cerns as they arise. The log, stating the description of the prob-
lem with the date and name, should be submitted to the issue
coordinator who is responsible for the monitoring and follow-
up of each particular issue.
The issue coordinator will want to create a summary log
that becomes the tote sheet for all issues addressed during
the implementation. This will become the final tool for the
summary and tracking of all concerns that have been satisfied
successfully throughout the project period.
When the coordinator has received an issue from a team
member, the determination must be made relative to the own-
ership of the particular concern (e.g., if the concern is of a
policy nature, the resolution would be referred to decision-
making