On February 18, 2026, CBC News reported that an arbitrator had finalized rates at the airline, which brought an end to the Air Canada labour dispute that led to significant flight cancellations and major trip disruptions in August, 2025. At the end of the day, Air Canada’s leadership team chose the easy path. It was a strategic move to handle a (private) workplace conflict (turned into a public affair) when the effort of a harder path may outweigh the rewards. Handling workplace conflicts professionally, after all, can still be unequivocally a difficult and uncomfortable process for all parties involved. So, what could this “harder path” be?

why workplace conflicts happen and continue to happen

1. the absence of continuing education in human skills development for all relevant internal stakeholders

Relevant internal stakeholders in a workplace, such as managers, executives, directors, shareholders and entry-level, intermediate or senior employees, are decision-makers with varied levels of authority who are directly involved in the operational success or failure of an organization.

Indeed (2025) suggested 14 types of workplace training programs that may help an individual become a stronger employee. Regarding managerial or leadership training, out of the 8 leadership skills listed by Indeed, 6 of them are directly related to human skills development. That is to say, the absence of continuing education in human skills development can cause workplace conflicts, especially between employees and management.

Interestingly, upon further analysis, very few recent studies put an emphasis on learning the correlation between “business sizes” and “workplace conflicts”. Did you know the smaller the company size is, the more supportive the work environment may be? Statistics Canada (2016) reported that 75.6% of employees working at a work environment with less than 5 workers had a supervisor who often or always helped and supported them. To wit, 24.4% of surveyed employees working at a location with fewer than 5 people did or did not have a supervisor who often or always helped and supported them.

In conclusion, as long as there are people (more than one person) working at a workplace, handling workplace conflicts professionally is key to business health and stability.

2. a lack of properly trained employee relations professionals

What educational background qualifies an individual to handle workplace conflicts professionally? A lack of properly trained employee relations (ER) professionals is one of the chief reasons why workplace conflicts happen.

To properly analyze why workplace conflicts might continue to happen in general, the secret lies in the recruitment process. Based on the March 2026 search results (which can vary from region to region), private companies in the Greater Vancouver Area (GVA) preferred people with post-secondary education in the following fields:

• Human Resources
• Business Administration
• Communications
• Public Administration
• Political Science
• Non-specific post-secondary education

Nevertheless, not-for-profit organizations and/or registered charities providing social or community services are more likely to seek people with a Social Sciences background.

These results bespeak that the employee relations (ER) professionals holding relevant training and educational background in (applied) social sciences are not a primary concern for many for-profit companies in the GVA. In other words, the Human Resources (HR) department, if applicable, is often a branch of public relations and brand image rather than the center of preserving human capital.

On the other hand, to what extent do you agree that employee relations (ER) professionals hired by not-for-profit organizations or registered charities can handle workplace conflicts much more professionally?

A 2023 study, conducted by Environics Institute, uncovered that nonprofit sector workers reported higher incidents of discrimination and unfair treatment at work in spite of being deemed as diverse work environments (Blumberg, 2023). Furthermore, concerning job satisfaction, 26% of nonprofit sector employees (out of 639 nonprofit workers), while 19% and 17% of workers (11,646 workers combined) in the private sector and in the public sector, respectively, reported dissatisfaction with their jobs.

In light of this, having “the right credentials” alone may not guarantee a successful outcome in terms of workplace conflicts. So, what can?

the application of the 5I model developed by Berelevant Network

Forbes (2019), based on a McKinsey study, indicated that despite being a $366 billion industry, the reasons for most leadership development programs don’t work are: a lack of relevant context, leadership initiatives, understanding the company’s deep-rooted beliefs and adaptability.

Supplemented by an anonymously reported real-life workplace conflict, in this section, you will learn how to handle workplace conflicts professionally with the use of the Berelevant Network 5I – Identify, Interview, Inspect, Invite, Inspire – Model developed by Vivian Davis (read bio). Due to confidentiality and privacy reasons, identifiable pieces of personal information will be under pseudonyms.

The story began with a long-term employee with a good track of performance, Riley, who received a work call from a colleague, “Hey, we need you here now!”. About 30 minutes later, Riley showed up at work as requested.

While waiting for further instructions, a mid-level manager, Kai, came into the picture. Kai asked Riley to leave because “you’re not needed here!”

Without hesitation, Riley left the workplace as instructed.

Shortly after this incident, Harper, from the senior management team, signed off a letter drafted by the HR team (or the People and Culture, People Operations, Employee/People Experience or Talent Management team), demanding Riley’s full responsibility for the result of a disrupted service delivery caused by an executive decision made by the mid-level manager, Kai.

Despite receiving such stunning news, Riley wanted to have this amicably resolved. Riley consulted with several professionals promptly before pursuing justice. “It’s your words (frontline staff) against his (the mid-level management)”, said Harper during a scheduled phone call, “You should know better!” Harper argued.

If you were the HR team in this case, would you take Harper’s side and refuse to acknowledge Riley’s claim? Or, would you choose to handle this incident in a more professional way?

a real-life workplace conflict case study

Are you aware of what your workplace hierarchy is? Handling workplace conflicts is not as intuitive or straightforward as you may think or want it to be, after all.

First and foremost, the most common workplace hierarchy is a top-down structure that defines report lines, roles and authority. Depending on the size of an organization, this structure typically highlights frontline staff, often at the bottom of traditional organizational hierarchies, mid-level management, senior management, and executives and directors.

As a result, the essence of a business is often misconstrued as the management or leadership. In reality, it is the frontline team, though at the bottom of the hierarchy, that serves as the backbone of any organization.

Here’s a list of relevant stakeholders of a top-down workplace structure in this case study:

• executives and directors
• senior management: Harper
• mid-level management: the HR team and Kai
• Frontline Staff: Riley and a colleague

5I model phase 1: Identify

You, as an employee relations professional, usually receive an executive order from the top management team. Generally speaking, you are expected to identify who can help you find out what the real issue is, not finger-pointing.

5I model phase 2: Interview

To further understand the reason for a disrupted service delivery, you would interview Riley, Kai, Harper and a colleague separately to garner sufficient evidence.

5I model phase 3: Inspect

In this phase, you would inspect all the evidence to identify what the real issue is. For instance, instead of looking for the responsible party, you would try to find out what caused a communication breakdown and why it happened.

5I model phase 4: Invite

Then, you would invite all relevant stakeholders to attend a meeting with you. During the meeting, you would address your findings and offer participants an opportunity to make clarifications as needed.

5I model phase 5: Inspire

Finally, you would take this opportunity to learn what you, as an employee relations professional, can help prevent workplace conflicts as such from happening again.

choose the right human skills Development program to handle workplace conflicts Professionally

Does your current human skills development program work? Stangel (2016) reported that Greer, Stanford Graduate School of Business Organizational Behaviour Professor, pointed out that decision-makers in a top-down workplace structure do 80% of the talking in a group setting, while others contribute 20%. Oftentimes, that 20% of the conversation is considered a form of passive communication as opposed to open communication.

Conducted by Gallup, a 2024 meta-analysis (of more than 3.3 million surveyed employees across over 50 industries) showed a result of a substantial relationship between employee engagement and team performance. Besides that, Gallup also discovered that the manager accounts for 70% of the variance in team engagement. Namely, if you want a high-performing team, your leadership style and employment engagement are key determinants of your overall business growth.

With that in mind, as a decision maker, do you have what it takes to handle workplace conflicts professionally? Here’s a checklist:

• Do you recognize your work culture and its organizational structure in its entirety?
• Are you ready to grasp the nettle whenever necessary?
• Would you be willing to take absolute accountability for team failures?

Berelevant Network believes training matters to all successful businesses because losing talent simply costs more. A 2025 BambooHR survey indicated that 90% of the respondents reported that their boss influenced their decision to leave. Thus, handling workplace conflicts professionally can foster consistency and ultimately reduce unnecessary expenses.

In the view of this, the Berelevant Network Business Team helps you cope with workplace conflicts professionally. Fully customizable human skills training encompasses unlimited in-depth consultations, while off-the-shelf workshops feature fundamental skills training. Reach out to schedule your free discovery call 24/7, or request a specific date and time at your discretion.

references

The Canadian Press. (2026, February 18). Arbitrator settles flight attendant wages at Air Canada, as labour dispute comes to official end. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/air-canada-flight-attendants-rates-labour-dispute-9.7095917

Indeed Editorial Team. (2025, November 19). Types of Workplace Training Programs and Their Benefits. Indeed. https://ca.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/types-of-workplace-training

Statistics Canada. (2016). Relationship with supervisor, 2016. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/14-28-0001/2020001/article/00019-eng.htm

Blumberg, M. (2023, December 17). The Burden of Care: Addressing Challenges in Employment in the Nonprofit Sector – new report by Steven Ayer on Charity/NPO sector employment. Canadian Charity Law. https://www.canadiancharitylaw.ca/blog/the-burden-of-care-addressing-challenges-in-employment-in-the-nonprofit-sector-new-report-by-steven-ayer-on-charity-npo-sector-employment/

Westfall, C. (2019, June 20). Leadership Development Is A $366 Billion Industry: Here’s Why Most Programs Don’t Work. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/chriswestfall/2019/06/20/leadership-development-why-most-programs-dont-work/

Stangel, L. (2016, October 14). Three Problems with Top-Down Teams (and How to Fix Them). Stanford University. https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/three-problems-top-down-teams-how-fix-them

Gallup. (n.d.). The Science of High-Performing Teams. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/650156/science-of-high-performing-teams.aspx

BambooHR. (2025, October 16). The Boss Effect: 90% of Employees Don’t Quit Jobs—They Quit Bad Bosses. https://www.bamboohr.com/resources/data-at-work/data-stories/the-boss-effect