Building Trust and constructive conflict management in organizations

The rapidly changing socioeconomic environment leads organizations to high speed adaptation. In these circumstances, management and workers face several challenges affecting both the trust between the parties and the promotion of constructive conflict management. Industrial relations conflicts and its resolution can take different forms. In this chapter we introduce examples which illustrate this diversity, the challenges in organizations, and give an overview of the chapters in this volume. Organizations, both in private and public sector, nowadays face major challenges and pressures for change. Changes with often high impact on employees and their working conditions. This puts the employment relations between management and workers to the test. The way how they manage the inevitable tensions and conflicts of interest related to change, is the central focus of this book, in particular the trust and repair of trust between management and employees, and their representatives. How conflicts in organizational industrial relations get shape and are resolved varies from highly destructive to constructive and innovative. In this chapter we start with several examples of this diversity, we explore some of the major challenges in organizations, and give an overview of the chapters in this volume.