Lack of conflict

How Does a Lack of Communication Cause Conflict in the Workplace? | Small Business

By Lisa McQuerrey Updated March 06, 2019

Any time one party misunderstands or misconstrues the words or actions of another, it has the potential to create conflict. Poor communication is frustrating in the workplace and can lead to poor performance, lack of teamwork, low morale and reduced profits. Fortunately, there are ways to improve communication and reduce conflict.

Tip

Without communication in the workplace, there's a risk that no one knows what they are supposed to be doing. Collaboration falls apart, as everyone is going off on a frolic of their own.

Where Conflict Arises

A breakdown in communication can quickly lead to conflict, when in fact, the only issue may be a misunderstanding of another party’s expectations. For example:

Collaborative efforts: If you’re working on a team project, and the team leader has not defined the roles, missed deadlines, finger pointing and blame are the result. The solution? Train all team leaders to use the same set of metrics for assigning elements of a project, establishing clear timelines, and following up to ensure deadlines are met.

Unchecked gossip: If rumors are circulating through your office, people may start to worry about their jobs, doubt the future of the company, or have concerns they’re being talked about or portrayed in an unflattering light. If you hear untrue gossip, put a stop to it with a companywide announcement. If the rumors are true, address them head-on and clarify the real story even if it’s not a pretty one.

Closed loops: When one department fails to coordinate with another department on a major project, the result can be a degree of miscommunication that not only derails progress but also leads to infighting. Anytime you have cross-departmental work going on, assign point people from each division to be the lead communicators, ensuring all sides are aware of timelines, action items and deadlines.

Setting Clear Communication Policies

One way to combat miscommunication that leads to conflict is to establish clear communication policies for your business. For example:

Meeting minutes: Create a format for how meeting minutes should be recorded, reviewed and distributed. The format you use should include the names of attendees, discussion items, action items, notation of responsible parties, deadlines and follow-up actions.

Project updates: Much like establishing guidelines for documenting meeting outcomes, develop a system for department heads to provide regularly scheduled project updates. It doesn’t have to be a time-consuming process; bullet point updates distributed departmentwide can ensure everyone is on the same page with expectations. Email makes this strategy easy to implement.

Chain of command: Establish a clear chain of command and corporate policies for how disputes and communication breakdowns are to be handled. Using this approach, if there’s a difference of opinion on who is responsible for a given task, the approach or timeline, a decision maker is on board to iron out the issue.

Handling Interpersonal Communication Issues

Sometimes, communication issues are not about misunderstandings – they’re about different personalities. When this is the case, human resources should step in. This is especially important if interpersonal employee conflict is disrupting the work environment and affecting productivity. Some examples of this include:

Respect for personal or shared workspace
Cleanliness, noise levels
Covering workloads during leave or sick time
Gossip, exclusionary practices

Issues relating to employee relations can be trickier to handle than business miscommunication because there’s often not a clear-cut resolution. To combat the potential for conflict, implement employee dispute mediation and resolution policies to be carried out by HR.

5 Keys of Dealing with Workplace Conflict

Here’s the thing - leadership and conflict go hand-in-hand. Leadership is a full-contact sport, and if you cannot or will not address conflict in a healthy, productive fashion, you should not be in a leadership role. From my perspective, the issues surrounding conflict resolution can be best summed-up by adhering to the following ethos; ”Don't fear conflict; embrace it - it's your job.” While you can try and avoid conflict (bad idea), you cannot escape conflict. The fact of the matter is conflict in the workplace is unavoidable. It will find you whether you look for it (good idea – more later) or not. The ability to recognize conflict, understand the nature of conflict, and to be able to bring swift and just resolution to conflict will serve you well as a leader – the inability to do so may well be your downfall.

How many times over the years have you witnessed otherwise savvy professionals self-destruct because they wouldn’t engage out of a fear of conflict? Putting one’s head in the sand and hoping that conflict will pass you by is not the most effective methodology for problem solving. Conflict rarely resolves itself - in fact, conflict normally escalates if not dealt with proactively and properly. It is not at all uncommon to see what might have been a non-event manifest itself into a monumental problem if not resolved early on.

One of my favorite examples of what I described in the paragraph above is the weak leader who cannot deal with subordinates who use emotional deceit as a weapon of destruction. Every workplace is plagued with manipulative people who use emotion to create conflict in order to cover-up for their lack of substance. These are the drama queens/kings that when confronted about wrongdoing and/or lack of performance are quick to point the finger in another direction. They are adept at using emotional tirades which often include crocodile tears, blameshifting, little lies, half truths and other trite manipulations to get away with total lack of substance. The only thing worse than what I’ve just described is leadership that doesn’t recognize it and/or does nothing about it. Real leaders don’t play favorites, don’t get involved in drama, and they certainly don’t tolerate manipulative, self-serving behavior.

Developing effective conflict resolution skill sets are an essential component of a building a sustainable business model. Unresolved conflict often results in loss of productivity, the stifling of creativity, and the creation of barriers to cooperation and collaboration. Perhaps most importantly for leaders, good conflict resolution ability equals good employee retention. Leaders who don’t deal with conflict will eventually watch their good talent walk out the door in search of a healthier and safer work environment.

While conflict is a normal part of any social and organizational setting, the challenge of conflict lies in how one chooses to deal with it. Concealed, avoided or otherwise ignored, conflict will likely fester only to grow into resentment, create withdrawal or cause factional infighting within an organization.

So, what creates conflict in the workplace? Opposing positions, competitive tensions, power struggles, ego, pride, jealousy, performance discrepancies, compensation issues, just someone having a bad day, etc. While the answer to the previous question would appear to lead to the conclusion that just about anything and everything creates conflict, the reality is that the root of most conflict is either born out of poor communication or the inability to control one’s emotions. Let’s examine these 2 major causes of conflict:

Communication: If you reflect back upon conflicts you have encountered over the years, you’ll quickly recognize many of them resulted from a lack of information, poor information, no information, or misinformation. Let’s assume for a moment that you were lucky enough to have received good information, but didn’t know what to do with it…That is still a communication problem, which in turn can lead to conflict. Clear, concise, accurate, and timely communication of information will help to ease both the number and severity of conflicts.

Emotions: Another common mistake made in workplace communications which leads to conflict is letting emotions drive decisions. I have witnessed otherwise savvy executives place the need for emotional superiority ahead of achieving their mission (not that they always understood this at the time). Case in point - have you ever witnessed an employee throw a fit of rage and draw the regrettable line in the sand in the heat of the moment? If you have, what you really watched was a person indulging their emotions rather than protecting their future.

The very bane of human existence, which is in fact human nature itself, will always create gaps in thinking & philosophy, and no matter how much we all wish it wasn’t so…it is. So the question then becomes how to effectively deal with conflict when it arises. It is essential for organizational health and performance that conflict be accepted and addressed through effective conflict resolution processes. While having a conflict resolution structure is important, effective utilization of conflict resolution processes is ultimately dependant upon the ability of all parties to understand the benefits of conflict resolution, and perhaps more importantly, their desire to resolve the matter. The following tips will help to more effective handle conflicts in the workplace:

1. Define Acceptable Behavior: You know what they say about assuming…Just having a definition for what constitutes acceptable behavior is a positive step in avoiding conflict. Creating a framework for decisioning, using a published delegation of authority statement, encouraging sound business practices in collaboration, team building, leadership development, and talent management will all help avoid conflicts. Having clearly defined job descriptions so that people know what’s expected of them, and a well articulated chain of command to allow for effective communication will also help avoid conflicts. Clearly and publicly make it known what will and won't be tolerated.

2. Hit Conflict Head-on: While you can’t always prevent conflicts, it has been my experience that the secret to conflict resolution is in fact conflict prevention where possible. By actually seeking out areas of potential conflict and proactively intervening in a just and decisive fashion you will likely prevent certain conflicts from ever arising. If a conflict does flair up, you will likely minimize its severity by dealing with it quickly. Time spent identifying and understanding natural tensions will help to avoid unnecessary conflict.

3. Understanding the WIIFM Factor: Understanding the other professionals WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) position is critical. It is absolutely essential to understand other’s motivations prior to weighing in. The way to avoid conflict is to help those around you achieve their objectives. If you approach conflict from the perspective of taking the action that will help others best achieve their goals you will find few obstacles will stand in your way with regard to resolving conflict.

4. The Importance Factor: Pick your battles and avoid conflict for the sake of conflict. However if the issue is important enough to create a conflict then it is surely important enough to resolve. If the issue, circumstance, or situation is important enough, and there is enough at stake, people will do what is necessary to open lines of communication and close positional and/or philosophical gaps.

5. View Conflict as Opportunity: Hidden within virtually every conflict is the potential for a tremendous teaching/learning opportunity. Where there is disagreement there is an inherent potential for growth and development. If you’re a CEO who doesn’t leverage conflict for team building and leadership development purposes you’re missing a great opportunity. Divergent positions addressed properly can stimulate innovation and learning in ways like minds can't even imagine. Smart leaders look for the upside in all differing opinions.

Bottom line…I believe resolution can normally be found with conflicts where there is a sincere desire to do so. Turning the other cheek, compromise, forgiveness, compassion, empathy, finding common ground, being an active listener, service above self, and numerous other approaches will always allow one to be successful in building rapport if the underlying desire is strong enough. However, when all else fails and positional gaps cannot be closed, resolve the issue not by playing favorites, but by doing the right thing.

As always, I’m interested in your thoughts, experiences and comments…

Follow me on Twitter @mikemyatt

More on Forbes:

Gallery: The 12 Most Common Workplace Retaliation Tactics

13 images

View gallery

Conflict prevention through conference diplomacy

About the author

Abiodun Williams

Abiodun Williams is President of The Hague Institute for Global Justice (THIGJ), The Netherlands.

For those who have the duty to participate in the process of preventing armed conflicts, the "peace conference" remains one of the most effective diplomatic methods with rich potential. The convening of a "peace conference" allows you to bring together representatives of all parties involved in the conflict and focus on a specific situation - ideally, the meeting takes place on neutral territory with the mediation of an organizer who is trusted by all participants in the negotiations - in order to use the resources available at the time of the meeting to resolve the conflict, with on the one hand, and work out clear deadlines for specific actions, on the other. When it comes to "conference diplomacy" it is a relatively recent phenomenon that has gained ground around the same time as the multilateral model and the recognition of global interdependence. And yet, celebrating the bicentennial anniversary of the Congress of Vienna, it is necessary to remember that even before it, the “international community” made efforts, if not to achieve justice, then to establish stability and order. Moreover, the lack of a historical perspective can lead to a fallacy reminiscent of Friedrich von Gentz, right-hand man and adviser to Prince Klemens von Metternich, who declared that the Congress of 1815 "was an unprecedented event in the history of the world." ¹ In his assessment, Genz ignored the convening of numerous peace conferences that took place in the Italian city-states of the Renaissance and in subsequent periods. ²

THREE TYPES OF CONFERENCE DIPLOMACY

There are three types of conferences that contribute to conflict prevention. The first is a peace conference, which is convened either immediately after the end of a large-scale conflict, or precisely in order to end the confrontation. An example of this kind of conference is the Paris Peace Conference 1919, the Osnabrück and Munster Congresses, at which the Peace of Westphalia was signed in 1648, as well as the Geneva-1 and Geneva-2 conferences, convened in our time to end the civil war in Syria. Such conferences can contribute to conflict prevention, as they provide a forum in which conditions for ending confrontation are negotiated and negotiations are carried out that contribute to the establishment of a lasting and stable peace.

The main purpose of the next type of conferences is to promote the establishment and maintenance of global peace on earth, or at least an attempt to reduce existing tensions, as well as control the number of emerging conflicts. The most typical examples of such conferences are the First Hague Conference 1899 and the Second Hague Conference in 1907. The organizers of these conferences looked for opportunities to contribute to conflict prevention by trying to clearly define the concept of jus ad bellum (as well as jus in bell o jus in bell o bell o bell bell bell bell o ) and develop a procedure for arbitrating parties to the conflict. In modern times, the Rome Conference is the equivalent of such forums, which heralded the establishment of the International Criminal Court, whose mandate is to investigate, prosecute and sentence those accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, no matter where light they are accomplished.

The latest model of conference diplomacy is seen in the so-called "world conferences" that began to take place in the 1960s and have been convened more and more often ever since, even though the effectiveness of such forums is sometimes questioned. ³ Holding this kind of conferences, although indirectly, still affects the prevention of conflicts. While these meetings serve their own specific purposes, they nonetheless contribute to both the primary and secondary goals of addressing the root causes of conflict, such as environmental issues, poverty, and misunderstandings between people of different cultures.

FORMATION AND WORK OF PEACE CONFERENCES

The practice of convening peace conferences dates back to the fifteenth century, when they hoped to put an end to the devastating wars raging on the Apennine Peninsula. In the centuries that followed, peace conferences were periodically organized in the hope of ending large-scale protracted conflicts, as happened in Westphalia. And yet, conference diplomacy was not fully considered as an innovative means for organizing international cooperation until the convening of the Congress of Vienna. Both the congress itself and the "Concert of Europe" that followed it are classic examples of conferences organized to discuss the conditions for ending the war and stipulate the criteria for the ensuing world peace. Despite the fact that the participants in the congress were guided by the political considerations inherent in their time, namely, an open adherence to the dominant position of the great powers and a defiant rejection of the principles of universality and equality of sovereign states, ⁴ The reason for its convening was the same arguments that are used to organize such conferences at the present time.

The holding of subsequent conferences in the 19th century was comparable to the work of the Congress of Vienna. This was especially true of the Berlin Congress of 1878, convened to prevent conflict between the European powers. As a result, the world was divided between them without taking into account the rights of the colonized territories to self-determination. The trend to involve as many participants as possible in the negotiation process emerged during the Hague Peace Conferences 1899 and 1907. The organizers were influenced by the conferences that were held on the American continent immediately after the meeting of the Panama Congress of 1826, organized by Simón Bolivar. Thus, innovative procedures were tested at the Hague conferences, in which a larger number of states took part. ⁵ It was at this time that it was announced that this process should be given legal status. At the meeting of the League of Nations that followed the Paris Peace Conference on 1919, a serious attempt was made to legitimize the new rules for holding international forums. ⁶ Member States decided that the Organization's priority should be the ongoing diplomatic consultations needed to resolve conflicts, and that the process should build on the success of previous decades. Thus, the experience of peace conferences was applied to the model of parliamentary diplomacy. ⁷

The further development of international norms concerning the work of conference diplomacy reflected the realization that the primary task of new generation conferences should be to save future generations "from the scourge of war." The countries came to this decision after the termination of the League of Nations and the end of the Second World War. With the formation of the United Nations, the world has once again become the largest institution of international governance, capable of using its resources to prevent conflicts. Nevertheless, the need for holding conferences outside the UN remained, especially to address problems that were beyond the scope of the organization itself. Examples of such forums were the conferences devoted to the problems of Southeast Asia (Laos and Vietnam), which took place over the course of 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, negotiations on the Middle East, including the Geneva Conference on the Middle East in 1973, as well as meetings devoted to the problems of Cyprus (London Conference on Cyprus 1959). ⁸ Yet the use of peace conferences as such was no longer so widespread. Since the 1960s and 1970s, the so-called world conferences have become much more important in the life of the international community than conference diplomacy in its former interpretation. They took place for the most part in the atmosphere of the Cold War, which did not at all contribute to a constructive approach to the problems discussed at them, but delegates from almost all parts of the globe did indeed take part in them. These conferences contributed only indirectly to the prevention of conflicts, thanks to the fact that their participants were able to resolve the technical obstacles that stood in the way of maintaining a sustainable and lasting peace.

During the Cold War and after it, with the increase in the number of intrastate conflicts, the world community again turned to peace conferences. In the 1980s, as a result of the work of the Contadora Group, as well as the Esquipulas Group, which continued its work, a number of Latin American countries managed to find a common language in the process of ending civil wars in the region through a peace conference and a series of negotiations. This, in turn, contributed to the establishment of a lasting peace and a kind of security in Central America. ⁹ As a result of the collapse of the former Yugoslavia, a number of conferences were convened to end the ongoing conflict. Ultimately, the participants in the Dayton Conference in 1995 succeeded in ending the bloodshed and laying the foundations for the peaceful development of Bosnia in the post-war period. The 1990s and 2000s also saw a number of important peace conferences dedicated to resolving the situation in the Middle East. The three most famous of these are the Madrid Peace Conference, the Oslo talks that followed it, and the Camp David Summit on the Middle East. It seemed that these initiatives could lead Israel and its neighbors to establish a lasting peace, but this did not happen due to new outbreaks of conflict, indicating the limited possibilities of conferences as a way of peaceful settlement in the context of the current international situation.

LESSONS LEARNED

What lessons can be learned from this brief overview of conference diplomacy? Of course, unlike the first conferences, where there was no concept of the equality of sovereign states at all, at present, international peace forums involve the participation of all interested states, and sometimes representatives of entities that do not have state status. Despite the fact that this practice developed in parallel with the establishment of the principle of multilateral relations, the specificity of peace conferences, which implies the participation of all interested parties, which was observed during the work of the Hague Conference, was determined even before the founding of the League of Nations. Given the difficulties that have arisen in connection with the approach developed in The Hague, based on the principle of common consent of 44 independent states united on behalf of "the entire civilized world", this trend cannot be called inevitable. ¹⁰ At the same time, thanks to the peace conferences in The Hague, diplomats were convinced that there was a certain advantage in these meetings, which took place independently of traditional diplomatic channels. Forums like these provided a fresh perspective on long-standing problems, a lesson that was passed on to future generations. In addition, when it comes to the formation of an international system reinforced by personal contacts as a priority model in relations between states in the modern world, it is necessary to recall the process of achieving mutual understanding, thanks to which the goals of the Hague Conferences were by and large achieved, despite all sorts of setbacks. This fact contributed to the formation of a group of diplomats who later collaborated in the creation of the League of Nations. ¹¹

On the other hand, when states aim to negotiate the terms of a newly concluded peace, or are trying to end an ongoing conflict, one should not automatically resort to conference diplomacy, unless negotiations are carefully planned. Otherwise, this method of conflict resolution can lead to exactly the opposite results. Historians will long discuss the failures of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, which are explained by the limited number of participants and the fact that the decision to hold the conference was made too suddenly after the end of one of the most devastating wars in world history.

Today, conference diplomacy is no longer as new as it was in Metternich's time. At the moment, the criticism against her is that when the goal of negotiations is to resolve an ongoing conflict - as is happening in Syria - convening a conference indicates pressure on the most influential states to take at least some action, instead of approaching problem in a measured and diplomatic way. ¹² As a rule, conferences inevitably attract media attention. Therefore, diplomats should be careful if they resort to conference diplomacy, especially if they do not have a clear strategy of action. Often recourse to traditional diplomacy, as in the case of the European Union's mediating role in negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo, may be more appropriate than convening a large conference aimed at putting strategic pressure on the parties involved (or parties that may be involved) in a conflict situation.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

If conference diplomacy is to remain an effective method of resolving disputes in the coming decades, it must take into account the specifics of today's conflicts. The number of conflicts between non-state parties has increased. If in 1989 there were approximately 15 such conflicts, then in 2011 there were already 38 of them. If in 2007 there were approximately 2,000 of them, then in 2011 the number of deaths was more than 6,000 people a year. When convening conferences, it is increasingly necessary to take into account the fact that various entities are involved in modern conflicts. These are often illegal military groups, some of which may be banned terrorist organizations. Consideration should also be given to those whose interests may be affected by the confrontation. It is also important to note the role of non-governmental organizations representing civil society, which are much more often given the opportunity to observe the course of international peace conferences than to participate in them.

If the goal of multilateral conference diplomacy continues to be an effective method for preventing conflicts, and if it is further mandated to promote the establishment and maintenance of sustainable peace, then it will be absolutely necessary to involve all parties involved in the confrontation in the convening of peace conferences, including those who initiate the conflict and those directly affected by it. In light of the many threats facing the world today, Bertrand Ramcharan believes that "the time has come to convene an international peace conference with the aim of modernizing the mechanisms for maintaining peace and security in the twenty-first century. " ¹⁴ This is a very timely observation and should be part of a broader discussion regarding reforms in international governance, including reform of the United Nations Security Council, to make it more effective in conflict prevention. As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Congress of Vienna and the 70th anniversary of the United Nations, we must continue to introduce new ideas and methods to support our common cause of preventing violent and devastating conflicts.

1 Mark Mazower, Governing the World: The History of an Idea (New York: Penguin, 2012), p. 3. (Mark Mazover, Managing the World: The Story of the Idea)

2 Bertrand G. Ramcharan, International Peace Conferences (Leiden, Netherlands, Martinus Nijhoff, 2015). (Bertrand Ramcharan, International Peaceful Conferences )

3 A.J.R. Groom, “Conference Diplomacy”, in The Oxford Handbook of Modern Diplomacy , Andrew F. Cooper, Jorge Heine, and Ramesh Thakur, eds., (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2013), pp. 266–267.

4 Martha Finnemore and Michelle Jurkovich, “Getting a Seat at the Table: The Origins of Universal Participation and Modern Multilateral Conferences”, Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations, vol. 20, no. 3 (July-September 2014), pp. 361-373(363).

5 Ibid., pp. 363–365.

6 Stephen C. Schlesinger, Act of Creation: The Founding of the United Nations. A Story of Superpowers, Secret Agents, Wartime Allies and Enemies, and Their Quest for a Peaceful World (Boulder, Colorado, Westview, 2003), p. 21. (Stephen Schlesinger, The Making Process: The Formation of the United Nations. A History of the Superpowers, Secret Agents, Military Adversaries and Allies, and Their Pursuit of Peace on Earth )

7 Groom, “Conference Diplomacy”, p. 265.

8 Ramcharan, International Peace Conferences .

9 Michael Stevens and others, “Latin American Perspectives on Peace and Reconciliation,” in International Handbook of Peace and Reconciliation , Kathleen Malley-Morrison, Andrea Mercurio and Gabriel Twose, eds., Peace Psychology Book Series 7 (Springer, New York, 2013), pp. 561–79.

10 Arthur Eyffinger, The 1907 Hague Peace Conference: “The Conscience of the Civilized World” (The Hague, Judicap, 2007), Preface.

11 Mazower, Governing the World: The History of an Idea.

12 New Statesman, “The Syria peace talks are doomed before they have even begun”, 22 January 2014. Available at http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/01/syria -peace-talks-are-doomed-they-have-even-begun.

13 Human Security Report Project, Human Security Report 2013, p. 97. The publication can be viewed at http://www.hsrgroup.org/human-security-reports/2013/overview.aspx.

14 Ramcharan, International Peace Conferences .

Fernando Arias

All stakeholders must play their part in ridding the world of chemical weapons

The destruction of OPCW-declared chemical arsenals will soon be completed. However, current global events clearly demonstrate that preventing the re-emergence of chemical weapons is an agenda item that will always remain open.

The world's population will soon grow to 8 billion - and then what?

Satisfying the needs and living standards of the world's large and growing population will require an increase in the level of production and will lead to an increase in consumption. In turn, rising levels of production and increased consumption will increase pressure on natural habitats unless accompanied by green reforms in energy, manufacturing and transport, and changes in human behaviour.

Duncan Copeland

Cooperation and capacity building to stop illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing my stay in Guinea-Bissau almost twenty years ago, this task seemed impossible.

Conflict of interests of a teacher: contradictions, its resolution, responsibility

On the work of educational organizations to prevent

the possible occurrence of a conflict of interest

The concept of "a conflict of interest of a teacher" is an opinion that is rarely used in educational practice and is new in the legal educational environment.

What will be qualified as a conflict of interest of a teacher and how it is resolved, we will consider from the point of view of the current legislation.

According to the law “a conflict of interest of a pedagogical worker is a situation in which a teaching worker, in the course of his professional activities, has a personal interest in obtaining material benefits or other advantages and which affects or may affect the proper performance of professional duties by a teaching worker due to a contradiction between his personal interest and interests of the student, parents (legal representatives) of underage students "(Clause 33, Article 2 of the Federal Law "On Education in the Russian Federation"), i.e. a conflict of interest means the interest of a teacher in obtaining material benefits in the performance of his work.

The conflict between personal interests and professional obligations is called a conflict of interest.

Qualifying situations that fall under this concept is not easy.

The specified definition of a conflict of interest in a general education organization includes many specific situations in which a teacher may find himself in the process of performing his official duties, so it is not possible to compile an exhaustive list of such situations. However, there are a number of key points where a conflict of interest is most likely to arise, for example:

the teacher conducts lessons and paid classes for the same students;
tutoring with the students he teaches;
receiving gifts and favors;
participation in the formation of the class list, especially first-graders;
fundraising for the needs of the class, school;
participation in the jury of competitive events, olympiads with the participation of their students;
not disadvantageous offers to the teacher from the parents of the students whom he teaches or for whom he is the class teacher;
participation in the distribution of bonuses for students;
non-selfish use of the abilities of the parents of students;
violation of prohibitions established in a general educational institution, etc.

Thus, the situation of a conflict of interest of a teacher also includes a ban on the implementation of individual pedagogical activities in relation to students of the organization where the teacher works, if this leads to a conflict of interest (part 2 of article 48 of the Federal Law No. 273-FZ "On Education in the Russian Federation").

How is a teacher's conflict of interest resolved?

The creation of a commission to resolve disputes between participants in educational relations is one of the first steps towards resolving a conflict of interest.

Part 2 of Article 45 of the Federal Law "On Education in the Russian Federation" provides for the need to create a commission in educational institutions to resolve disputes between participants in educational relations. This commission is created in order to resolve disagreements between participants in educational relations on the implementation of the right to education.

The commission is created in an organization carrying out educational activities, from an equal number of representatives of adult students, parents (legal representatives) of underage students, employees of an organization carrying out educational activities. The procedure for creating, organizing work, making decisions by the commission and their execution is established by the local regulatory act of the educational organization. The decision of the commission is binding on all participants in educational relations, is subject to execution within the time limits stipulated by the decision, and can be appealed in the manner prescribed by the legislation of the Russian Federation (part 6 of article 45 of the Federal Law No. 273-FZ "On Education in the Russian Federation").

To implement this requirement of the law on education, it is recommended to develop the following documents:

Regulations on the conflict of interest of a teacher of a general education organization;
Regulations on the Commission for the Settlement of Disputes between Participants of Educational Relations of a General Educational Organization;
Educator's Code on Prevention of Conflicts of Interest.

What consequences can a proven conflict of interest have for an educator?

Legal liability may be applied to him in accordance with the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. The Labor Code also contains norms that talk about resolving a conflict of interest for an employee. So, there is a special ground for terminating an employment contract at the initiative of the employer. The failure by the employee to take measures to prevent or resolve a conflict of interest to which he is a party will be grounds for terminating the contract if the employee's actions give rise to a loss of confidence on the part of the employer (clause 7.1 of article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

The dismissal of a teacher who has not taken measures to prevent or resolve a conflict of interest is possible, but not mandatory. In the event of a dispute over the legality of dismissal, the employer will bear the burden of proving the fact of a conflict of interest for a teaching worker and compliance with all procedures related to its establishment and settlement. In addition, it will be necessary to prove the fact that the employee did not take measures to prevent or resolve a conflict of interest, as well as the fact that these circumstances give rise to a loss of confidence in the employee.

Learn more