What is this project about?
- Our team at the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) is completing this scoping research on behalf of Acas. We are speaking with organisations to understand their experience, specific practices and examples of what has worked well or proved difficult in managing workplace conflict.
- This project will help Acas understand how organisations prevent, manage and resolve workplace conflict in practice. It will explore how people at different levels of organisations contribute to conflict management and resolution, and examine the formal and informal approaches organisations use to address workplace conflict. The research will also consider the skills, behaviours, training and support that help organisations to identify and address issues effectively.
- We are interested in both individual conflict between colleagues and, in unionised organisations, collective employee relations such as consultation, negotiation and bargaining.
- The research will identify what works well when managing conflict, what organisations find difficult and what practical support may help. The findings will be reported to Acas in late 2026, and used by Acas to design and develop a framework of practical guidance on effective conflict management for organisations.
What are my rights if I take part?
- Participation in the research is voluntary. However, organisations that choose to participate must agree to be named as contributors to the research. Participating organisations may be listed as contributors in outputs and communications arising from the research. Individuals will not be identified, and no specific contribution will be attributed to any organisations.
- During the interview, you can answer whichever questions you like or skip any that you don’t want to answer.
- You have the right to privacy. Only authorised members of the IES research team will have access to your personal details and raw research data. Acas will receive only anonymised and aggregated findings in report format, along with a list of contributors.
- You can withdraw from the research and ask us to remove your personal data up to two weeks after your interview. After this point, your data is anonymised and combined with other participants’, meaning it is no longer considered personal data. We will therefore be unable to remove your interview data, and your organisation will be named as a contributor. Contact [email protected] or your interviewer to withdraw your data.
What happens if I decide to take part?
- We will arrange a private conversation by video call between you and a member of our research team. The conversation will last around 45–60 minutes. We hope to conduct interviews during November 2026.
- What we discuss will depend on your role and experience. Broadly, we hope to cover:
- Your role, responsibilities and involvement with workplace conflict.
- Your organisation’s employee relations context and any workplace conflict it experiences.
- How individual workplace conflict is prevented, addressed and resolved, including the roles of leaders, HR and line managers.
- Your organisation’s approach to conflict management, including policies, informal and formal approaches, training, support and external resources – what has worked well or less well.
- Where relevant, how collective employee relations and disagreements with recognised Trade Unions are handled.
What happens to the information I share, or ‘my data’?
- Acas intends to name the organisations that participate in this research. Participating organisations may be listed as contributors in any communications arising from the research. No specific comments, findings, quotations or contributions will be attributed to any individual organisation. Individual participants will not be identified in any research outputs. Agreement for your organisation to be named in this way is a condition of participation in the research; before the interview begins, we will confirm consent is given for your organisation to be named.
- With your explicit permission, we’ll record the interview and use Microsoft Teams automated transcription. Only authorised IES researchers can access the securely stored recordings and transcripts.
- Your transcript and notes will be anonymised and combined with other participants’ information. Findings will be reported in aggregate, and any quotations will be anonymised. IES will provide Acas with a final research report in late 2026, which will not identify the specific contribution of individual participants or organisations.
- Acas does not intend to publish the research report. However, the findings will be used to inform the development of practical guidance for organisations, and Acas may publish information about the research more generally. This may include aggregated findings and non-attributable and non-identifiable quotes. Participating organisations will be named as contributors in external communications about the research.
- Contact details, recordings, transcripts and identifiable interview notes will be securely deleted no later than three months after the project ends. The expected deletion date is March 2027, subject to confirmation of the final project end date. Anonymised analyses and findings may be retained.
- Further information about how your data will be used, the legal basis for processing it and your rights under UK GDPR is available in the project privacy notice.
Who can I contact about the research, my data or to make a complaint?
If you have questions about the study, would like to remove the information you have provided or make a complaint, please contact:
- Acas Project Manager, Emily Starling: [email protected]
- IES Project Manager, Megan Edwards: [email protected]
- Complaints may be made to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s independent information-rights authority. ICO telephone: 0303 123 1113 Email: [email protected]