According to Benjamin Franklin, "in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes". And possibly workplace conflict. Research by CPP, who publish the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator, indicates that 85% of employees, at all levels, have experienced workplace conflict and employees spend an average of 2.8 hours per week dealing with it.

But is all workplace conflict the same? Is it always a bad thing? In the first of a series of seven articles on Workplace Conflict, Joanne Kane, HR Director at Headstogether Consulting, looks at the causes of conflict, how to recognise them, and how acceptance and management of conflict can be just as important as dealing with it when it turns