5 Stages Of Conflict And Workplace Conflict Resolution

Let’s be honest, if you’ve ever worked in an office, on a building site, or even in a remote team scattered across different time zones, you’ve experienced workplace conflict.

Maybe it was the colleague who kept ‘borrowing’ your coffee mug, or perhaps it was something more serious, like disagreements over project direction or workload distribution.

Whatever the case, conflict is as much a part of working life as Monday morning meetings and dodgy office coffee.

Here’s the thing that might surprise you: conflict isn’t inherently bad.

In fact, when appropriately managed, it can spark innovation, expose hidden problems, and strengthen team dynamics.

The real issue isn’t the conflict itself; it’s how we handle it.

The Queensland Government’s business guidance notes that most managers spend a significant part of their time dealing with grievances, and that unresolved conflict shows up as lower productivity, higher turnover and absenteeism, and potential legal costs.

That is time taken away from leading the team and doing the work itself.

If that doesn’t make you sit up and pay attention, I don’t know what will.

In this guide, we’ll explore the five stages of conflict and, more importantly, share practical strategies for resolving workplace disputes before they spiral out of control.

Whether you’re a team leader, HR professional, or simply someone who wants to navigate workplace relationships more effectively, understanding these stages can be your roadmap to a healthier work environment.

Understanding Louis Pondy’s Five-Stage Conflict Model

In 1967, Louis Pondy from the University of Pittsburgh developed the Five-Stage Model of Conflict, which remains one of the most widely used frameworks for understanding how workplace disagreements develop and evolve.

Think of it like a weather system; conflicts don’t just appear out of nowhere. They build, intensify, and eventually either dissipate or turn into full-blown storms.

What’s particularly useful about Pondy’s model is that it recognises conflict as a dynamic process, not just a single event.

Each stage presents an opportunity to intervene, redirect, and resolve issues before they cause lasting damage to working relationships and productivity.

The five stages are: latent conflict, perceived conflict, felt conflict, manifest conflict, and conflict aftermath.

The 5 Stages of Conflict at a Glance

Use this summary of the stages of conflict to place a dispute on the map before you decide how to respond.

Let’s break down each stage and explore what they mean for your workplace.

Stage 1: Latent Conflict (The Quiet Before the Storm)

Latent conflict is the hidden stage where conditions exist for conflict to emerge, but it is not yet apparent.

It’s like having a gas leak in your house, dangerous, but you can’t see or smell it yet.

Pondy identified four common conditions that create latent potential for conflicts in companies: competition for scarce resources, drives for autonomy, subunit objective variation, and interdependence between parties.

What Latent Conflict Looks Like in Practice

• Competition for scarce resources: Your marketing team and product development team both need access to the same limited budget. Neither knows the other has submitted a proposal for the same funds. Conflict is brewing, but it has not yet surfaced.
• Drives for autonomy: A senior manager wants control over a project that another department believes falls under their jurisdiction. Both are going about their business, unaware they’re on a collision course.
• Subunit objective variation: Sales targets clash with customer service quality metrics. The sales team is incentivised to close deals quickly, while customer service is measured on satisfaction scores. Their goals are fundamentally misaligned.
• Interdependence: When two teams rely on each other to complete their work, delays or miscommunication from one can create friction with the other, even if neither party initially recognises the problem.

The challenge with latent conflict is its invisibility. You can’t resolve what you don’t know exists.

This is why creating transparent communication channels and regularly reviewing organisational structures matters.

Sometimes the best conflict resolution happens before the conflict even begins.

Stage 2: Perceived Conflict (Houston, We Have a Problem)

Now we’re getting somewhere. In the perceived stage, at least one party becomes aware that a problem exists. Someone’s finally noticed the gas leak, so to speak.

This awareness may result from miscommunication, misunderstandings, or observing unfair practices.

People start recognising that something’s not quite right, even if they haven’t yet worked out precisely what’s causing the tension.

Here’s where things get interesting and potentially tricky. Not everyone perceives conflict in the same way or at the same time.

You might be aware that your colleague is frustrated about project responsibilities, whilst your colleague might not even realise there’s an issue yet.

Or worse, you might perceive a conflict that doesn’t exist due to miscommunication. This stage is quite valuable if handled correctly.

It’s your early warning system, the point at which you can still resolve issues through improved communication before emotions become involved.  The key is to check your perceptions.

Are you interpreting the situation correctly? Have you got all the facts? Sometimes, what appears to be intentional obstruction is a misunderstanding about priorities or deadlines.

A quick conversation can often clear the air at this stage: “Hey, I’ve noticed some tension around the project timeline. Can we have a chat about how we’re approaching this?”

Simple, direct, and potentially problem-solving before we move to the next stage.

Stage 3: Felt Conflict (When It Gets Personal)

Welcome to the emotional stage. In the felt stage, feelings of tension, stress, and anxiety come into play for affected parties.

This is where disagreements cease to be merely intellectual and begin to affect people on a personal level.

Frustration mounts. Resentment builds. That colleague who has been missing deadlines isn’t just causing project delays; they’re also disrespecting your time and effort.

Or at least, that’s how it feels. Whether these feelings are justified or not becomes almost irrelevant because they’re real to the people experiencing them.

CIPD’s Good Work Index 2024 found that UK employees who had experienced conflict were far more likely to feel exhausted all or most of the time (42%, compared with 18%) and under pressure (37%, compared with 15%) than those who had not.

These aren’t just fleeting emotions; they’re persistent feelings that can impact job satisfaction, mental health, and overall well-being.

What makes the felt stage particularly challenging is that emotions can distort our perception of the situation.

A minor disagreement might feel like a significant personal attack. A genuine mistake might seem like deliberate sabotage.

This emotional escalation can make resolution more difficult because logic and reason take a backseat to feelings.

This is where emotional intelligence makes the difference.

Leaders and team members who can recognise their own emotional responses and manage them effectively have a much better chance of preventing escalation.

Creating a safe space where people can acknowledge their feelings without judgment helps.

It’s perfectly acceptable to say: “I’m feeling frustrated about this situation, and I need to take some time to process it before we discuss solutions”.

That’s not weakness, that’s self-awareness, and it’s far more productive than letting emotions drive the conversation.

Stage 4: Manifest Conflict (The Storm Hits)

Manifest conflict is where disagreements become visible through actions and behaviour.

This is the stage everyone thinks of when they hear the word “conflict”: the arguments, the cold shoulders, the passive-aggressive emails, the outright confrontations.

People might argue openly, refuse to cooperate, avoid communication altogether, or engage in behaviours designed to obstruct the other party’s goals.

Teamwork suffers. Productivity drops. The conflict that was once hidden or merely felt is now out in the open for everyone to see and, unfortunately, to take sides on.

A 2008 CPP study of employees in nine countries found people spent about 2.1 hours a week dealing with conflict, rising to 2.8 hours in the United States, resulting in significant productivity losses.

But it’s not just about lost time, it’s about the collateral damage.

When conflicts reach the manifest stage, they rarely stay contained between the original parties.

Other team members get drawn in, projects get delayed, and the overall work environment becomes toxic.

Here’s the reality check: by the time conflict reaches this stage, it requires intervention.

Hoping it will resolve itself is wishful thinking at best and negligent at worst. This is where conflict resolution strategies, mediation, and potentially HR involvement become necessary.

The good news? Even at this visible, disruptive stage, conflicts can still be resolved constructively.

It requires commitment from all parties, skilled facilitation, and a structured approach to finding solutions. But it’s possible to turn things around.

Stage 5: Conflict Aftermath (What Happens Next)

The aftermath stage represents the outcome of how the conflict was managed, and this is where the long-term consequences play out.

If handled constructively, relationships can improve, trust can grow, and teams can work together more effectively.

However, if the conflict was poorly managed, resentment, mistrust, and unresolved issues may remain, leading to future problems.

Think of the aftermath as setting the stage for future interactions.

A well-resolved conflict can strengthen relationships because parties have demonstrated they can work through difficulties together.

They’ve built resilience, improved communication skills, and perhaps even developed a deeper understanding of each other’s perspectives.

On the other hand, a poorly handled conflict can create a toxic legacy. Resentment simmers beneath the surface.

Trust is damaged, sometimes irreparably. And here’s the kicker: unresolved conflict from the aftermath stage often becomes the latent conflict for the next episode. It’s a vicious cycle.

CIPD research in 2024 found that only 36% of UK employees who experienced conflict felt it had been fully resolved. Leaving conflict to settle on its own may seem like the easy option, but it often leads to worse outcomes in the long run.

Ignoring problems doesn’t make them disappear; it postpones them.

The aftermath stage is also when organisations should reflect on what they can learn from the conflict.

What systemic issues contributed to the problem? How can processes be improved? What early warning signs were missed?

This reflective practice turns negative experiences into opportunities for organisational growth.

Other Conflict Stage Models You May Come Across

Pondy’s five stages of conflict are the model most management and HR courses teach, but you may see others. They answer slightly different questions.

Practical Ways to Resolve Conflict at Any Stage

Understanding the stages is useful, but let’s move on to practical applications. How do you resolve workplace conflicts when they arise?

For a fuller playbook, including procedural fairness and formal escalation, see our guide to conflict resolution strategies for Australian workplaces.

Here are evidence-based strategies that work:

Open and Honest Communication

It’s remarkable how often communication breakdowns fuel conflicts.

Encouraging individuals to express their perspectives and concerns whilst actively listening to others fosters understanding and helps identify common ground.

Active listening means genuinely trying to understand the other person’s viewpoint, not just waiting for your turn to speak.

It means asking clarifying questions, reflecting on what you’ve heard, and suspending judgment long enough to grasp their perspective fully.

Mediation by a Neutral Third Party

Sometimes, parties are too emotionally invested to resolve conflicts on their own.

A neutral third party can facilitate discussions and guide parties towards resolution, providing an objective perspective and helping both sides move beyond entrenched positions.

Professional mediators are trained to identify underlying interests, reframe discussions constructively, and help parties find mutually acceptable solutions.

Even informal mediation by a respected colleague or manager can be effective if they can remain genuinely neutral.

Collaboration and Joint Problem-Solving

Collaboration promotes a sense of ownership and commitment to the resolution process.

Rather than approaching conflict as a win-lose situation, collaboration frames it as a shared problem requiring a shared solution.

This might involve brainstorming sessions where all parties contribute ideas, identifying shared goals that transcend individual interests, or developing new processes that address everyone’s concerns.

The key is focusing on interests rather than positions.

Empathy and Perspective-Taking

Understanding the emotions and viewpoints of others is vital. Empathy creates a supportive environment where individuals feel heard and valued.

Empathy doesn’t mean agreeing with someone. It means understanding their perspective and acknowledging their feelings as legitimate, even if you see things differently.

This emotional validation can de-escalate tensions and open pathways to resolution.

Negotiation and Compromise

Not every conflict has a perfect solution where everyone gets exactly what they want.

Finding a middle ground through negotiation allows parties to reach compromises that satisfy their needs and interests.

Effective negotiation requires identifying what’s negotiable and what’s non-negotiable, understanding the relative importance of different issues, and being willing to give ground on lower-priority items to secure wins on higher-priority ones.

The Cost of Unresolved Conflict

Still not convinced that addressing workplace conflict matters? Let’s talk numbers.

The same CPP study found that 85% of employees deal with conflict to some degree.

That’s not occasional disagreements; that’s endemic conflict affecting most workplaces. The financial impact is staggering.

Beyond the direct costs of lost productivity, there are indirect costs like increased turnover, recruitment expenses, reduced innovation, and damaged customer relationships.

Conflict also takes a toll on wellbeing. In CIPD’s 2024 survey, only 28% of employees who had experienced conflict said their work had a positive impact on their mental health, compared with 43% of those who had not.

Think about that for a moment. Unresolved conflict is not only a productivity problem, it affects people’s mental health.

This isn’t just about business efficiency; it’s about people’s well-being.

Workplace Conflict and Your Duties in Australia

In Australia, unresolved conflict is more than a people problem. Safe Work Australia’s model Code of Practice on managing psychosocial hazards, and Comcare’s guidance, name conflict or poor workplace relationships and interactions as a psychosocial hazard. Comcare notes that conflict becomes a stressor when it stays unresolved, becomes intense, or turns into bullying or harassment, and that employers should act to prevent or minimise it as early as possible.

Three practical points follow for employers:

• Manage it as a hazard: under work health and safety laws, a person conducting a business or undertaking must eliminate or minimise psychosocial risks so far as is reasonably practicable. Our guide to psychosocial risk management explains the process.
• Know when conflict becomes bullying: under the Fair Work Act, repeated unreasonable behaviour that creates a risk to health and safety is workplace bullying. Our article on the difference between workplace bullying and conflict explains where the line sits.
• Have a dispute process: modern awards and enterprise agreements contain dispute resolution procedures, and the Fair Work Ombudsman’s effective dispute resolution guide sets out best practice, including how to recognise the early signs of conflict.

Creating a Conflict-Resilient Culture

The best approach to workplace conflict isn’t just resolving it when it occurs; it’s creating a culture that handles conflict constructively from the start.

• Establish clear communication channels: Make it easy for people to raise concerns before they escalate. Regular check-ins, open-door policies, and anonymous feedback mechanisms can all help surface issues early.
• Train everyone in conflict resolution: Don’t just train managers, equip all employees with basic conflict resolution skills. Understanding the five stages, practising active listening, and developing emotional intelligence should be part of everyone’s professional development. Sentrient also offers a conflict resolution course for managers.
• Address systemic issues: If conflicts persist in the same areas, identify the underlying causes. Are competing incentive structures creating tension? Are unclear role boundaries causing friction? Fix the system, not just the symptoms.
• Model healthy conflict resolution: Leadership sets the tone. When senior managers handle their own disagreements constructively, it signals to everyone else that healthy conflict resolution is valued and expected.
• Act quickly: The earlier you intervene in the conflict cycle, the easier the resolution becomes. Don’t wait until conflicts reach the manifest stage to pay attention.

Moving Forward: Using the Stages of Conflict to Act Early

Workplace conflict is inevitable, but destructive conflict isn’t.

By understanding the five stages of conflict from latent tensions through to aftermath, you can identify issues earlier, intervene more effectively, and create outcomes that strengthen rather than damage working relationships.

The goal isn’t to eliminate conflict, that would be impossible in any organisation with diverse people, competing priorities, and limited resources.

The goal is to handle conflict skilfully, turning potential disasters into opportunities for learning, innovation, and fostering stronger relationships.

Whether you’re dealing with a minor misunderstanding in its early stages or a full-blown, manifest conflict disrupting your entire team, the principles remain the same: communicate openly, listen actively, focus on interests rather than positions, and seek solutions that respect everyone’s legitimate needs.

Workplace conflict doesn’t have to be the workplace nightmare that costs billions and drives talented people away.

With the proper knowledge, skills, and commitment to constructive resolution, it can become a catalyst for positive change.

So, the next time you notice tension building with a colleague or spot the early signs of latent conflict in your team, remember that you’re at a choice point.

You can let it escalate through the stages, or you can intervene early with empathy, communication, and collaborative problem-solving.

The difference between these choices could mean the difference between a toxic workplace and a thriving one.

And really, when you think about it, that choice is what leadership at any level is all about.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Stages of Conflict

1. What are the 5 stages of conflict?

The five stages, from Louis Pondy’s 1967 model, are latent conflict, perceived conflict, felt conflict, manifest conflict and conflict aftermath. A conflict moves from hidden conditions, to awareness, to emotion, to visible behaviour, and finally to an outcome that shapes what happens next.

2. What is latent conflict?

Latent conflict is the first stage, where the conditions for conflict exist but nobody has noticed yet. Common causes are competition for scarce resources, clashing goals between teams, drives for autonomy and teams that depend on each other. It is the easiest stage to fix because no relationship has been damaged.

3. What is the difference between perceived and felt conflict?

Perceived conflict is awareness: someone notices that a problem exists. Felt conflict is emotional: the problem now causes stress, frustration or anxiety. Many disputes can be settled with a short, direct conversation at the perceived stage, before feelings harden.

4. At what stage should a manager step in?

As early as possible, ideally at the latent or perceived stage. By the manifest stage, when the conflict shows in behaviour, stepping in is no longer optional. Comcare’s guidance is that employers should act to prevent or minimise conflict as early as possible.

5. What are the 5 basic ways to handle conflict?

The Thomas-Kilmann model describes five styles: competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding and accommodating. No single style is always right. Collaborating suits important issues where the relationship matters, while avoiding can suit a trivial issue or a short cooling-off period.

6. Is workplace conflict a work health and safety issue in Australia?

It can be. Conflict or poor workplace relationships and interactions is a named psychosocial hazard, so employers must manage the risk so far as is reasonably practicable. Repeated unreasonable behaviour that creates a risk to health and safety may also be workplace bullying under the Fair Work Act.

Sources

Pondy, L. R. (1967), Organizational Conflict: Concepts and Models, Administrative Science Quarterly

Comcare, Conflict or poor workplace relationships or interactions

Fair Work Ombudsman, Effective dispute resolution best practice guide

Queensland Government, Managing conflict in the workplace

CIPD, Good Work Index 2024: workplace conflict puts strain on job quality

CIPD, Only around a third of employees feel the conflict they experienced at work has been fully resolved (2024)

EHS Today, New study details effects of workplace conflict on businesses (CPP study, 2008)

Last reviewed: October 2026

This article is general information, not legal advice. Work health and safety duties vary between states and territories, so seek advice for your situation.

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