Most workplace systems still treat objectionable behaviour as something for leadership or HR to decide. That makes sense once a matter has become serious. But what about the moment before that? What about the small public put-down, the dismissive tone, the repeated interruption, the sarcastic remark, the patronising comment, or the unfair delivery during disagreement?
If You Were Sue, Would You Use SpatzChat?
Imagine you are Sue in a team meeting. You suggest an idea. Jim responds publicly: “Babe, that’ll NEVER work! What were you thinking?” Maybe Jim was careless. Maybe he did not realise how dismissive he sounded. Maybe he did. Either way, the real test is what happens next. Sue gives him a light verbal caution:
I’ll Spatz You Later
Imagine if we had a chat-app and platform that enabled teams, during meetings, to address minor objectionable issues on the fly, before they were allowed to fester, compound and escalate into more intractable conflict incidents down the track.
A Single Operating System for Team Fairness
Teams now carry more social, political, and cultural tension than ever before. DEI, woke, civil rights, identity, fairness, gender, race, religion, politics, and then, before we even get started, the normal work issues arrive as well: deadlines, pressure, mistakes, ego, authority, status, and disagreement. No wonder teams get caught up in minor workplace spats....
I have been thinking about a possibility that sits at the heart of workplace conflict research. What if disagreement and conflict are not the same thing? Reference: Understand Conflict Most conflict researchers seem to define conflict broadly enough to include disagreements....
Addressing Workplace Impingements
For years I've been interested in workplace conflict or micro-conflicts, but lately I've been thinking about something even smaller. Not conflict. Not even an infringement. An impingement or someone impinging on the other player's space. In soccer, a player can subtly tug an opponent's shirt. It may be almost invisible. The referee might miss it. The crowd certainly won't notice most of the time....
Ignoring is Ignorant Behavior
Ignoring is one of the quietest ways minor workplace tension becomes conflict. That is: Not answering. Not acknowledging. Letting a concern hang in the air. The difficulty is that “ignoring” is hard to prove. A person can always say they missed it, were busy, misunderstood, or did not think a response was needed.
SpatzAI: Building a Category Before the Category Exists
I recently saw a post about how Taiwan became the centre of the world’s semiconductor industry. The simple version is this: Taiwan did not begin with a semiconductor industry. It began with a plan, selected people, serious training, and time to learn. In 1974, Taiwan sent 19 hand-picked engineers to RCA in America to learn how to build chips. They had no mature industry, no deep experience, and no category to slot neatly into. What they had was a foundational bet.
Measuring Team Micro-Conflict Resolution Efficiency
Most organizations already measure productivity, delivery speed, incident rates, and customer satisfaction. Very few measure how efficiently their teams resolve the everyday micro-conflicts that quietly affect all of those outcomes....
What If Conflict Has Been Made Too Complex?
We see this pattern everywhere, from workplace teams to organisations, communities, politics, and even global disputes. Minor issues are often left unresolved until they become major problems. By then, the process needed to resolve them is far more complex, expensive, emotional, and entrenched....
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