Extra reading lesson worksheet

Business Partner C1
Unit 7 Managing conflict

Lesson outcome Vocabulary

Learners can use vocabulary related to managing conflict.
6 Match the words in bold to their definition.
1 I bumped into my former manager today. He’s difficult but we
managed to have a civil conversation. He was surprisingly
quite amicable.
Lead-in 2 It’s as if you come up against a wall of organisational silence
whenever you try to discuss hot-button issues with management.
1 Work in pairs. Discuss the questions.
3 As a trade union representative, Marta was met with hostile
1 When having a discussion, do you tend to argue your point
silence when speaking up for employees during the meeting.
of view, or do you prefer to reach a quick compromise?
4 The two parties don’t see eye to eye so I’m certain this
2 Do you believe arguing or confronting people is a waste of
commercial dispute about transportation costs will last for
time? Why / Why not?
weeks.
3 Have you ever changed your mind about someone you
5 As head of HR, I am used to people coming into my office and
disliked initially? What happened?
having emotional melt-downs now and again, especially
when stressed.
Reading 6 The Prime Minister admitted they had been wrong; it was
2 Read the text quickly and say which of the ideas are a humiliating climb-down for the government regarding
mentioned. international trade.

1 If we never changed our minds, we wouldn’t be progressed a serious argument or disagreement in business
humans. b bad psychological state when someone gets angry or upset
2 Eileen Carroll says we should give eye contact, and not get and breaks down
too emotional in a disagreement. c situation when managers disapprove of something but refuse
3 Companies need to learn how to deal with conflict. to talk about the problem

4 It’s best to confront a difficult person in public. d dialogue in which people tolerate one another but are not
particularly friendly
3 Read the text and complete the gaps with sentences e occasion when you admit embarrassingly that you were wrong
A–F. There is one extra sentence you do not need. f situation when someone is quietly angry and deliberately
A And I have seen too many poor decisions that, with time and unfriendly towards someone
a genuine capacity to listen, might have become good ones.
B Over time, we built trust and respect. 7 Choose the correct option in these sentences.

C she suggested she would mediate between the investor and 1 If you demonise / dress down someone or a group of people,
the CEOs. you make them out to be an evil force.

D Discussions take place in small groups. 2 Stand-off / Mockery is when someone laughs at someone or
shows that they think you are stupid.
E It is easy and tempting to conclude that argument is just a
waste of time. 3 A stand-off / Mockery is a situation in which neither side in a
fight or conflict can gain an advantage.
F she cited tools that were dauntingly modest: listening,
questions, patience and time. 4 When you stand-off / dress down someone, you speak to them
angrily about something they have done wrong, usually in
4 Read the text again and answer the questions.
front of others.

1 What did the writer’s colleagues think about their investor? 8 Complete the questions using words and phrases from
2 What is the writer’s attitude regarding conflict? Exercises 6 and 7. Then discuss them in pairs or small
3 What often happens when two parties in a dispute start groups.
listening to each other? 1 Can you think of any bitter commercial that have
4 Which factors help relationships to develop? been in the news recently?
5 Why do boards and shareholders find it difficult to 2 When was the last time you had a with someone
understand how mediation works? who you don’t get on well with, or have fallen out with?
6 What ways did the writer find to work with her investor? 3 It’s very easy to the other side when we think
How did their relationship change? we are right. What could we do to understand the other party
better in a conflict? How can a third party help?
5 Discuss with a partner or in small groups. 4 What would you do if a colleague had a(n) while
1 What’s the attitude to conflict in your organisation or team? you were talking to them about an important issue at work?
2 What kind of topics do you or your colleagues have an 5 What can be done to break and improve
aversion to, or find difficult to discuss openly in your communication between two sides in a difficult meeting?
organisation? 6 Have you, or has any one you know ever had an unpleasant
3 ‘Listening, questions, patience and time help people to reach confrontation or with someone? What
a compromise.’ To what extent do you agree? happened? What should you or they have done differently?
How could a mediator have helped?

Business Partner C1 © Pearson Education 2020

 Extra reading worksheet
Business Partner C1
Unit 5 Customer engagement

Speaking Student B:
You are convinced that it isn’t your problem. Blame the
9 Work in a group of three. Choose a situation from the other party for being a bully and too demanding about
box when you might need to manage a conflict or shared office space. You want to relax, talk to your team
mediate between two colleagues. and get on with your job. Tell them to work from home.
They are creating a bad atmosphere among staff.
an argument about the office air-conditioning or heating
Student C:
system
When the argument gets conflictive, you intervene to
an argument about noise and distractions in the office
mediate and help reach a compromise. Try to practise
an argument about keeping the shared office kitchen these key steps:
clean • Ask people to explain how they feel without blaming
each other.
Student A and B are colleagues with differing points of view. • Stress common objectives to build trust and respect.
Student C listens and mediates. Look at your information.
• Force the two parties to listen to each other.
Read your role cards.
• Listen actively and summarise points as the discussion
Student A: develops.
You are convinced that you are right. Blame the other party • Try to shift their perspectives: get them to change their
for being anti-social and selfish in the shared space. You have minds.
a deadline approaching and are stressed at work. You would
• Use positive body language and notice the body
love to work from home but you don’t have the space and
language of others.
the office chairs are better.
• Propose a way forward.

There is nothing wrong with changing your mind

by Margaret Heffernan

When I was running tech companies in the 1990s, I had an balance the two. When I asked her what absolutely did not
investor who was a bully. He would routinely dress down work, she was adamant: belligerence, mockery, shouting,
chief executive officers in public to demonstrate that they lack of eye contact and emotional melt-downs.
were wrong and stupid. The CEOs would retreat, muttering But there are better ways to work. Political scientist
5 that there was no point discussing anything with him — he 35 James Fishkin has been experimenting with deliberative
was never going to change his mind. polling since 1994, bringing together people in 28 different
Aversion to debate and organisational silence run deep countries to discuss hot-button issues. Participants are
in corporations, primarily due to the fear of conflict. Studies provided with briefing documents that experts on all sides
have shown that we are all biased, preferring people and agree are balanced and fair. 3 Prof Fishkin
10 media we agree with, and that our brains are lazy, preferring 40 measures opinions privately before and after the discussion.
consensus to conflict. 1 He repeatedly finds that people read the materials carefully
I beg to differ. After all, if we never changed our minds, and do change their minds. “The public,” he told me, “are not
we would still be living in caves. The question isn’t how stupid, and if you engage them in a thoughtful and balanced
to avoid conflict but how to do it well. For Eileen Carroll, way with good information and they think their voice matters,
15 shifting perspective is critical. A QC*, she founded the 45 they turn out to be very smart.”
Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution because she believed Boards, executive committees and shareholders should
the brutal win/lose environment of the courtroom was too understand and practise these processes. But most are too
often unproductive. afraid or unskilled. I have seen too many stand-offs where
The centre mediates everything from consumer complaints a change of mind was resisted because it was deemed a
20 to large commercial disputes. When asked how she was so 50 humiliating climb-down. I have sat in too many boardrooms
often able to get people to compromise, 2 In listening to hostile silence. 4 Conflict helps
exchange for telling their side of the story, people must listen organizations think and progress. We all need to do it much
to the other side. They often discover they had not known better.
all the facts and the two sides frequently start to develop a Eventually, I found a way to work with my investor. I
25 common language. 55 never confronted him in public. I sent materials I wanted to
Meeting face to face makes it harder to demonise the discuss ahead of time. Face to face, we had civil conversations
other side; both are rarely perfect and relationships start to and I rarely pressed him for an immediate response. He was
develop. Taking time to reconsider overnight often helps. Ms (and is) a brilliant man. 5 And I changed my
Carroll is admired for her patience but also her rigour; people mind about him.
30 need time, she says, but also momentum and it is her job to
*QC= Queen’s Counsel; a barrister of high rank in the British legal system

Business Partner C1 © Pearson Education 2020