Monitor conflict resolution process

1. Monitoring tools

Monitoring entails the provision of feedback about how a project is progressing to the beneficiaries/ donors of the project. Monitoring entails purposeful and systematic observation of all project aspects to identify how resources are being utilized and how effective the project is in achieving the donor goals. Monitoring conflict entails understanding the context of the conflict, how the conflicting parties are interacting and how the intervention is working out in solving the conflict over time. It introduces the cause of conflict, the conflict actors and how the intervention is working out.

When to conduct monitoring:
Monitoring is continuous process that should be conducted throughout the conflict life cycle. It should be planned from the onset of the project so that all resources required are allocated early. Each stage should be completed with monitoring plans at the end of the conflict for a general overview of the conflict.

What should be monitored?
 Activities: To ensure that all the activities that were planned in the beginning of the project are fulfilled and which ones are incomplete.
 Outputs: The deliverables of the project from the activities tangible services and products.
 Outcomes: The changes that have occurred from the output of the project and how they contribute to the desired impact of the project.
 Impact: The degree to which the result of the project contributes to the long-term goals as well as the unexpected negative and positive effects of the project.

Types of monitoring:
 Process monitoring: Looks at how the project activities are being implemented in the field.
 Progress tracking: Entails checking whether the set targets of a project are met for every quarter the progress versus targets is determine by the trackers.
 Progress validation: Entails reporting the progress of the man project activities by a field staff to the monitoring staff who validate the progress reported by collecting data in the field and measuring outcome with the set benchmarks.
 Performance monitoring: This is where the outcome/benefits of the project are assessed depending on the baseline data which depicts the performance indicators.

Developing monitoring tools
There are different tools used to conduct conflict resolution monitoring.
A standard procedure should be used to develop these monitoring tools.
Step 1: Identify the conflict. This includes identifying the conflict actor‟s reasons for the conflict.
Step 2: Define indicators or objectives of the conflict resolution process. Indicators are important in tracking progress of the conflict resolution process.
Step 3: Define the methods of collecting information. Surveys or interviews could be conducted on the involved parties to collect information required for the process.
Step 4: Define the monitoring tool. A monitoring tool could be Gantt chart which will be divided into schedules within which a conflict will be managed and monitored.
Step 5: Conduct evaluation. Evaluate the success of the monitoring tool by assessing the success vis-à-vis the indicators stated.

What it should be monitored?
While monitoring the progress of conflict the following should be monitored to identify how the resolution is progressing.
 Watch out for signs of tension among employees who were in conflict
 Monitor quality of output by the employees especially the conflicting one.
 Assess body language and verbal indicators that the conflict was resolved or not.
Characteristics of a monitoring tool

A monitoring tool should capture the information below:
 The purpose of conducting monitoring
 The activity covered by the tool
 Methodology adoptive
 Important finding from the field
 Feedback from the field staff
 The points of debriefing that were agreed upon
 Responsibilities and deadline.

Steps of conflict resolution
i. Identify the cause: One should collect information the issue that led to the problem
ii. Focus beyond the conflict: The conflicting parties should ensure that their focus is not personal but they should focus on
iii. Deliver solutions
iv. Make a compromise on the solution
v. Agreements

2. Monitoring tools

Organizational policies determine how monitoring tools are implemented.
Implementing monitoring tools

The process of developing monitoring tools should take the steps below.
i. Identify the objectives and goals of the project: The goals of initiating the project should be clearly stated so that staffs are aware of what is expected of them and clear benchmarks are developed for assessing progress.
ii. Defining indicators: After defining the objective/goals of the project, indicators are then defined, these indicators are defined for the purpose of tracking progress against the set goals
iii. Defining methods of data collection and timeline: This step entails developing the method of data collection from the field and the frequency at which this data should be collected. Timelines could be quarterly, annually depending on agreement.
iv. Identifying the responsibilities and roles of monitoring personnel: It is vital to decide during the planning stage of the project. What are the functions of the monitoring staff including who is in charge of collecting information for every indicator?
v. Create reporting and analysis plan: After all the information has been collected, there is need to analyse and compile this information as well as fill it in the table of results for both external and internal reporting. This process is conducted by the monitoring manager of the project within the context of the conflict.
vi. Plan for donor reporting and dissemination: This step describes how information will be distributed and to whom internal dissemination among the conflicting parties.

Tools of project management:
Various tools can be used to monitor conflict; they include:
 Gantt chart: This tool is used to track the progress of the conflict across time as well as depict the interrelations between activities/ tasks. They show the milestone, resources, phases and tasks of the conflict.
 Logic network: This tool denotes the activities and how they follow one another over time in a logical manner, the milestones of every conflict resolution stage are identified, the timescales as well as workflow.
 PERT chart: The program evaluation and review technique is used to analyses tasks that are entailed in a conflict including time required for each milestone and for the overall resolution of the conflict.
 Work breakdown structure (WBS): A hierarchical composition of deliverable required to finish a project key deliverables are broken down into smaller work which can be costed, assigned people and schedule.
 Product break down structure (PBS): A hierarchical and exhaustive form of a tree structure that is made up of components of project deliverables. It entails the breakdown of work into manageable components.
Importance of conducting monitoring:
 It helps in the process of evaluating the situation that prevails in the community as well as the project
 It helps determine if the project input are maximally utilized.
 It helps in identification of problems that face the community or the project being monitored and help find solutions.
 To ensure that all functions/ activities of the project are properly carried out and by the right personnel within the desired time.
 Monitoring helps determine whether or not the project planning method/ procedure used was the best way.

3. Review of conflict resolution measures

Every organization charged with the responsibility of having a conflict resolution mechanism which is highlighted in the policy. Conflicts are bad for the organization progress and must be therefore handled appropriately to ensure corporation and teamwork among conflicting parties.

Conflict resolution measures are review for their effectiveness through;
i. Observing the body language of conflicting persons.
ii. Listening to the verbal communication to get feedback about how the conflicting persons are adjusting.
iii. Quality and quantity of production should be assessed.
iv. Assess absenteeism rate of conflicting persons.
v. Assess the cooperation and team work of conflicting persons.
Sources of conflict

Conflicts arise from a myriad of sources including interpersonal change related, external factors, and organizational factors. Interpersonal conflict occurs in the organization from various sources including:
 Office politics, rumours, and other social alienation practices
 Racial and ethno cultural segregation
 Differences in ideas and conflicting perceptions
 Conflict over resources
 Harassment and bullying
 Too much stress and harassment at work place
 Preventing conflict

Strategies of conflict Resolution
 Avoiding: When disputing parties refuse to confront one another.
 Competing: When the disputing parties directly and indirectly confront one another with the purpose of winning a confrontation.
 Accommodating: One disputing person decides to accept the demands of the other to encourage harmony but could lead to unresolved issues.
 Collaborating: The disputing parties become both cooperative and assertive to find a shared and agreeable solution to the conflict.
 Compromising: Here, the participants are partially cooperative and assertive and everyone is willing and able to give up a bit of their views and suggestions and accommodates those of the other party and vice versa.
The following measures are essential in the prevention of conflict in the organization
 Developing strategies to manage conflict at all levels of the organization.
 Establishing sound policies of conflict resolution in the work place
 Preparing employees for changes instead of bombarding them with changes instruction that are disruptive
 Consulting employees before making any decisions at the work place
 Providing fair rewards to every employee
 Ensuring all managers and supervisors are well trained to be able to deal with management responsibilities that involve interpersonal interactions and communications.
 Keep the channels of communicating open at all-time
 Providing feedback to employees regularly
 Understanding and appreciating the different personalities of employees

Signs of conflict at workplace
 Reduced motivation
 Unpleasant behaviour
 Falling productivity
 High attrition rate
 Increase staff absenteeism
 Increase in the number of grievance

4. Conflict resolution measures

The following are measures that can be used to resolve conflict.
 Removing the cause and conditions leading to the conflict.
 Early action: Conflict should be resolved at an early stage of development to reduce chances of it escalating.
 Positive attitude: conflicting parties must present themselves before the resolution team to find solution.
 Effective persuasion: The conflicting parties must be persuaded to change their view point, attitudes and beliefs in an attempt to resolve conflict.
 Flexibility: Conflicting parties must not be rigid but show exercise flexibility in attitude to enable conflict resolution.
 Divert focus: The greater good of conflicted parties should be advised to focus their energies to jointly fighting an eternal enemy instead of focusing on internal wrangles.
 Fleeing from conflicting situation is also advised.
 Tolerate the situation by ignoring it and allowing time to solve the issue
 Accepting when one is wrong and moving on is key.
 Re-establishing mutual trust and repair broken relationships.
 Effective communication to bring understanding and minimize suspicion.
 Arbitration entails appointing a person or committee to listen to both parties give verdict and give room for compromise forward conflict resolution.
Consequences of conflict resolution mechanism
 Win- win
 Win- loose
 Loose- loose
 Loose- win

Steps of conflict resolution
i. Identify the cause of conflict
ii. Focuses beyond the conflict
iii. Deliberate solutions
iv. Make a compromise on the solution
v. Agreement

Stages of conflict resolution
i. Accommodation
ii. Avoiding
iii. Competing
iv. Compromise
v. Collaboration