Apologies can be an important part of conflict resolution.

But to be effective, an apology has to do several things:

Identify the parties involved

Acknowledge the behaviors involved

Recognize the impact those behaviors had on the victim

Confirm the behaviors were a violation of some social or moral contract

Communicate true remorse with sincerity and honesty

Offer explanations

Make reparations

In his first public statement, United Airlines CEO Munoz blamed the incident the passenger who had "defied" security officers and that there were lessons the company could learn.

He stressed that he "emphatically" stood behind his employees.

Any surprise there has been such a negative response to his first "apology"?

I wanted to share some findings related to a mediation skills class I just started teaching.

The advanced undergraduates and MBA graduate students identified "interpersonal misunderstandings" as a major cause of conflict within the businesses and organizations they worked.

They also observed that the supervisors and managers avoided getting involved in the conflict hoping, we guessed, that the employees could work it out themselves.

There were two observations as a result:

1.) the employees wanted their supervisors and/or managers to help them resolve the issues

2.) in many cases the conflict escalated in ways that was detrimental to the business or organization due to managements lack of involvement.

This is why I believe managers and supervisors need to learn mediation skills in the workplace.

What do you think?