The Cost of Workplace Conflict in Australia

Workplace conflict in Australia is estimated to cost between $6-12 billion annually.
Some 30 percent of a typical manager’s time is spent dealing with disputes and conflicts.
On the surface you wouldn’t know it, but this problem is endemic and runs deep within organizations.
We have created a fourfold solution that allows employees to address conflict and misbehavior in the workplace by radically:

1. Self-managing and modifying misbehavior – Using the Spatz agreed team charter
2. Moderating and preventing misbehavior – Using the Spatz 3-step app
3. Mitigating and deterring misbehavior – Using the Spatz peer-review network
4. Monitoring and predicting misbehavior – Using the Spatz AI & ML data

SELF-MANAGE

First of all, we have dumbed down the procedure to just three intuitive words to address misbehavior so that all team members will understand and remember. We would have agreed to the team charter and to use the Spatz toolkit and procedure whenever one felt uncomfortable or offended by a team member or manager’s behavior.

MODERATE

Using the Spatz three-step app after initially using the verbal caution, we all get to acknowledge any infringement before it escalates. Based around objecting in 3 phases, ie. 1. Caution, 2. Object, 3. Stop, and using the corresponding accountable measures required for each phase. We believe that most minor spats can be self-managed and resolved in real-time, and little drama.

MITIGATE

If after the third attempt (3. Stop), our now conflict gets posted automatically, via the app, onto the Spatz peer-review network to get a transparent and measured appraisal from our peers. The network can still take a vote if unresolved and a recommendation is made.

MONITOR

Finally, the parsed, real-world data from the Spatz app can be used by the Spatz AI, using deep learning to compare the data from their behavior with the team’s overall performance and predict the likelihood of a team’s future successes.

OUR PROPOSED SOLUTION

Our startup will offer a Software-as-a-Service toolkit this year for teams to address their micro-conflict before they escalate into ongoing serious conflict or malicious gossip. Our proposed solution is SpatzAI, a behavior management toolkit for micro-conflicts (spats) in teams. 

• Susannah B. F. Paletz, Center for Advanced Study of Language, Joel Chan, Human-Computer Interaction Institute
  The dynamics of micro-conflicts and uncertainty in successful and unsuccessful design teams
• Australian Human Resources Institute. (2019). Managing Workplace Conflict: An Issue of Economic Significance. Retrieved from https://www.ahri.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/43344/Managing-Workplace-Conflict-An-issue-of-economic-significance.pdf
• Human Synergistics. (2018). The Cost of Conflict in the Workplace. Retrieved from https://www.human-synergistics.com.au/blog/the-cost-of-conflict-in-the-workplace
• Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2013). Personal Safety Survey. Retrieved from https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/crime-and-justice/personal-safety-australia/latest-release