Professionals to Learn to Reduce Workplace Conflict Caused by Generational, Cultural Misunderstandings

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Business professionals can learn how to minimize conflict in the workplace by gaining a better understanding of generational behavior and cultural differences through two professional development classes offered in July.

The Sam M. Walton College of Business and the Global Campus at the University of Arkansas are working together to allow professionals to “drop in” to a Walton College course to gain skills and knowledge and to earn recertification hours.

“This is an exciting program,” said Judith Tavano, Global Campus professional development coordinator. “It offers working people the opportunity to gain useful skills and tools they can take back to their organizations and to sample the dynamic instruction that the Walton College has to offer.”

Participants will attend portions of a special topics management course taught on campus by Arthur T. Matthews, a visiting professor at Walton College. The cost to professionals is $49 per class per person, and online registration is available at http://globalcampus.uark.edu/register.

Participants can earn 3.5 hours of general recertification for each class, pending approval from the Human Resource Certification Institute.

The first professional development class, “Managing Conflict Up, Down and Sideways in a Multigenerational Workplace,” is set for 5:30 to 9:15 p.m. Tuesday, July 17. Tavano, who has studied generational diversity for the past decade, will be a guest lecturer for Matthews’ course.

Tavano will explain that people in generation X, born from 1965 to 1980, have different perceptions and communication styles from those included in the other three generations now in the workplace: traditionalists, born before 1946; boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964; and generation Y, those born from 1981 to 2000. Tavano will offer tips and solutions for eliminating generationally based conflict in the workplace.

The second class, “Cultural Competence in Managing Conflict,” is set for 5:30 to 9:15 p.m. Tuesday, July 31. Arthur and Evelyne Matthews will explain how business leaders and human resource professionals can be better positioned to manage conflict when they understand the diverse cultures that make up organizations. They will explain how cultural competency can help employers avoid accusations of discrimination and help them execute best practices in the diversity and inclusion arena.

Arthur Matthews holds a Juris Doctor degree and has a 25-year body of work in leadership, employee and labor relations, human resources, diversity and inclusion. He serves as an assistant adjunct professor at New York University and as a consulting faculty member at Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Evelyne Matthews is the chief executive officer of Matthews & Matthews Consulting, a human resources and labor workforce company. She has more than 20 years of experience in the private and public sectors, including work in the insurance, law enforcement, telecommunications and information technology industries. She served in roles as  a mediator and an arbitrator for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. Postal Service Redress Program, and the New York Stock exchange.

The Global Campus collaborates with academic colleges and schools, businesses and organizations to provide development classes for business professionals. The Global Campus also supports the development of online academic-credit courses and degree programs provided by the university’s colleges and schools. Visit http://globalcampus.uark.edu/pd for information about professional development classes or http://online.uark.edu for online and distance learning offerings.