HOW IS HUMAN RESOURCES DEALING WITH THE NEW MODELS OF CONFLICT NOW THAT EVERYONE IS WORKING FROM HOME

Abstract

Conflict resolution has evolved and brought alternatives in order to reduce the court activity when addressing conflicts of not great complexity over the recent years. The presumption of Human Resources being the responsible area of addressing conflicts in the workplace and the growing use of mediation as an alternative dispute resolution in the workplace was one of the motivations that made this study an interesting topic to be explored. This study evaluates how the new model of conflict have been addressed to HR in the workplace, even while everyone is working from home and how it has been dealt with in the companies. Also, this dissertation explores the COVID19 pandemic effect in the way people relates to their workspace. To show how people see themselves when involved in a conflict in their workplace and how they report it to HR or not, this study have elaborate a questionnaire where the participants were able to express their opinions and point of view in the topic. The results show that people are still not likely to see HR as a mediator when it comes to alternative dispute resolutions in the workplace, but it also shows that mediation would be something that people consider as a relevant technique when solving professional conflicts. On this basis, the concept of workplace mediation and the figure of the HR professional as a mediator should be taken into consideration by the companies when addressing conflicts in the workplace.