ORG Blog

Dave Nicoll, PhD.

David Nicoll has spent over three decades coaching and consulting with of senior leaders, middle managers, and front-line employees to offer clients individually tailored development opportunities. Currently, Dave is the President of Transformational Learning Opportunities

Recent Posts by Dave Nicoll, PhD.:

Intractable Conflict At Hostess Brands

There is no question. If we look carefully enough at the labor/management conflict currently underway at Hostess Brands between the company and the Bakers’ Union we will see that this fight is clearly a full-blown intractable conflict.

For those of us who study these types of disputes, there are several signs that signal the presence of an intractable conflict -- i.e., humiliating dignity violations from both sides, hostile stereotyping by each side, and a merciless effort by each party to blame the other for everything that’s wrong.

All of these dynamics are now clearly at play in the conflict at Hostess Brands. Given this, there’s no doubt this dispute, at one point or another, is going to become a textbook example of an Intractable Conflict.

Topics: Collaboration Conflict Resolution Labor Management Leadership