Managing conflicts for improved collaboration

This article is part of the series “Science Behind the Way we Work” aimed at providing public servants with practical, evidence-based advice to help improve the way we work. By combining insights gleaned from cognitive, behavioural and organisational science, we offer readers actionable tips that they can immediately implement in their jobs.

Publication | 2022

Organisational Transformation

This article tackles the crucial issue of workplace conflicts. To work at our best, we need to work with other people. But that can become challenging, particularly in cross-boundary teams where diverse perspectives can often lead to conflicts. Based on research across psychology and organisational science, this article proposes evidence-based tips for overcoming conflicts and improving collaboration. These include avoiding making conflicts personal, stressing commonalities over divergences, acknowledging the complexity of issues, and creating a sense of shared purpose. The article provides practical guidance for implementing these strategies in our daily work and highlights the implications of these findings for understanding human decision-making and behaviour within organisations.

You can download the article (pdf) in the Resources section below.
Access all the articles from the series The Science Behind the Way We Work.

Resources

Managing conflicts for improved collaboration (Science Behind series)

Authors	Marco INCHINGOLO
Originally published	26 Nov 2025
Related organisation(s)	JRC - Joint Research Centre EC - European Commission
Knowledge service \| Metadata	Organisational Transformation
Digital Europa Thesaurus (DET)	Organisation of work conflict prevention

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Managing conflicts for improved collaboration

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