Managing staff conflict topic of newly organized document

The conflict management document supplements another new policy in the Operations Manual effective March 1 governing ethics and responsibilities of staff members. The new ethics and responsibilities statement for staff parallels a similar ethics policy for faculty. It is a major step forward in defining standards of ethical conduct for University staff members as well as for how staff members are to be treated by others on campus.

Most of the resources detailed in the conflict management document are not new, says Sue Buckley, interim director for Human Resources, but they’ve now been organized to more clearly communicate the options for staff and administrators in dealing with workplace conflict. The options and resources listed include informal approaches through offices such as the University ombudsperson and mediation services, as well as more formal procedures such as newly revised staff grievance procedures and the process for classification appeal.

One newly defined element of this system is Administrative Review, which is intended to provide an avenue to question those issues not subject to formal grievance procedures. The Administrative Review is also the mechanism for staff to report violations of the ethics and responsibility statement they observe. Human Resource representatives around campus have participated in training on the use of these procedures through UI Human Resources.

“In the fall of 2000, Staff Council expressed concerns that the P&S Grievance Policy did not reference or coordinate with any informal dispute resolution mechanisms,” Buckley says. “Only the formal grievance process was defined, and that was difficult to understand. At about the same time, the Office of the Ombudsperson issued a report on the problems of incivility on campus. We believe the new policies are important steps toward addressing these concerns.”

The policies referenced above can be found in the Operations Manual at Ethics and Responsibility for staff, www.uiowa.edu/~our/opmanual/iii/16.htm and Conflict Management Resources for Staff at www.uiowa.edu/~our/opmanual/iii/28.htm.

Article by Charles S. Drum