At first glance, Engineering and dispute resolution may appear to be vastly different fields, with one focused on technical solutions and the other on managing interpersonal relationships. However, each industry has much to offer the other. Last week’s article explored how approaching conflict with an engineering mindset provides an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the issues at play. This week, we will delve into how the Science, Tech, Engineering, and Math (STEM) industries can benefit from the application of conflict management techniques.
As much as STEM projects centre around innovation and creative problem solving, eventually they rely on one thing to be successful: collaboration. Large scale, multi-disciplinary, and multi-stakeholder projects are a mainstay of the STEM industry. And while collaboration on these types of projects can produce remarkable results, it also presents one of their biggest challenges. The potential for collaboration to break down and produce disputes can be found at every stage of a project: contractual disagreements over roles and responsibilities, lack of information sharing between highly specific disciplines and teams, conflicting timelines and budgets, delays, or simply navigating stakeholder and client relationships.
Take the Ottawa Light Rail Transit (LRT) Project, a $2.1 billion dollar light rail addition to Ottawa’s transit network. Since its inception, the LRT has faced constant public and internal disputes. A prolific sinkhole on Rideau Street disrupted work and damaged relationships; contractors promised deadlines that couldn’t be met; and a myriad of issues during testing, including two derailments, all contributed to an eventual 2021 inquiry commissioned by the Ontario government. Ultimately the inquiry found that “there was a lack of coordination among the contractors and a lack of integration among the systems and subsystems.” Among the inquiry’s recommendations, they highlighted the need to foster successful working relationships, and cited collaboration as an essential component to successful delivery.
Given the importance of collaboration and communication, developing strategies to navigate inevitable obstacles is a vital piece of STEM projects. This is where conflict management has a lot to offer. Prioritizing the integration of informal dispute resolution skills into professional development programs, and reinforcing the importance of early resolutions can prevent potential disputes from escalating to a point of no return. And while formal dispute resolution mechanisms exist and and also have their place (i.e. ODACC for the Ontario Construction Industry), arriving at adjudication or a government inquiry usually means a dispute has escalated to the point where working relationships have been damaged, and significant cost, time, and energy have already been expended.
Placing an increased focus on proactive and informal conflict management prepares the individuals who face day-to-day conflict with the skills they need to resolve disputes quickly and efficiently. The emphasis on technical proficiency in STEM often means that although individuals are highly trained in their line of work (and often promoted as a result of this technical ability), their training may not have included the finer workings of conflict management. This is understandable given the time commitment it takes to become specialized in any discipline. However, as someone who has worked on both sides of the aisle, as an engineer and in dispute resolution, I’ve experienced how small changes in how we communicate, both in-person and electronically, have the potential to de-escalate disputes before they happen, and keep projects on track.
Although it may not seem significant, devoting a small amount of time and resources to developing simple conflict management strategies can pay off in a number of ways; it prevents conflicts from escalating, improves workplace dynamics, promotes collaboration and creative problem-solving, and enable teams to be more agile when faced with obstacles. These skills can be easily learned and are particularly useful in industries like STEM, where projects center around collaboration and innovative solutions.
If you’d like to find out more, please get in touch at andrew@alresolutions.ca.
Comments