Minnesota Department of Human ServicesDisability Services DivisionOne DHS People, Access and Culture
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Curriculum IV · Employee life cycle

Conflict at Work — Resolution vs. a Formal Door

A disagreement about the work is not a civil-rights complaint — use the chair, EAP, mediation, HR, or Equal Opportunity and Access.

35–45 minutes · 4 lessons · Voluntary learning

Two men stand by a desk in a professional disagreement.

Course outline

  1. Which kind of conflict is this?

    A process disagreement, harm, a contract issue, and a safety threat are not the same conversation.

    7 minutes

  2. The informal path — still on the process

    Use the same chair line as Teams in Minimization. Then date what will change.

    6 minutes

  3. Hard stops

    Do not invent a restorative process for a complaint.

    6 minutes

  4. Name the conflict in front of you

    Process, EAP, mediation, HR, or EOAD. Then use the equal opportunity course if you need that lens.

    5 minutes
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What you’ll be able to do

Explore and practice

  • Identify how conflict at work — resolution vs. a formal door affects a DHS decision, service, or workplace process.
  • Use the course concepts and evidence to examine one live policy, form, meeting, service, hire, budget, or engagement plan.
  • Choose and document one defensible change, the person who owns it, and the date the team will review it.

What you can take into your work

  • Make and reconsider scenario decisions without being assigned a score.
  • Complete the practical activities and record a one-minute transfer commitment.
  • Apply the learning to a live work object in the Equity Analysis Toolkit.

Bring one live work object into the application workspace. Name who it was built for, who may carry the burden, and one change or formal escalation.

Listen to the introduction

Read the introduction

Conflict at work is either a disagreement about a process or a matter that belongs at a formal door. This course is the map: your chair, Employee Assistance, mediation, Human Resources, Equal Opportunity and Access. Do not invent a restorative process for a complaint. Do not rank who understands equity. The object is the work. Voluntary. For every Minnesota DHS employee.

Conflict Job Aid

Process disagreement or a formal door. Do not invent a process for a complaint.
The object is the process, not a person. We are not scoring anyone.

Use this aid while applying Conflict at Work — Resolution vs. a Formal Door to a live DHS work object.

  • The object is the process, not a person. We are not scoring anyone.
  • Use the relevant formal door when a right, complaint, labor process, safety duty, or Tribal consultation is involved.

Bring one live work object into the application workspace. Name who it was built for, who may carry the burden, and one change or formal escalation.

Informal

  • Packet, delay, or how the unit does the work.
  • Chair line: process as the object.
  • Date a change.

Doors

  • EAP — support.
  • Mediation — both people agree; not a complaint.
  • HR / labor — discipline, contract.
  • EOAD — harassment, discrimination, retaliation.
  • Safety — stop the meeting.

Participation and course completion in this program do not count toward DHS-required training credits unless management, a director, or DHS leadership expressly approves an exception.

Sources and further reading

All research and sources across the program