**5.3. Value conflicts**

These conflicts arise when the parties in a conflict have opposing values that influence their preferences for action—the beliefs they have about how they think it is correct to act. Value conflicts pose a double challenge for managers. They need to uncover the values that are at stake for the conflict parties, but they also need to decide, normally in dialog with one or both parties, how some values should prevail.

The latter task in particular can be challenging as long as values are of fundamental importance to those who have them, but nonetheless different from (descriptive) beliefs about the world. In general, when we are concerned with values, we are (normatively) concerned with how something should be. Values are ideals we strive for, norms we think we are entitled to realize [23, 36].

It is precisely this aim of uncovering personal ideals that is the natural starting point in value conflicts. After such an uncovering, the values of the parties can often be challenged in a constructive way, so that they reconsider their own value preferences on the basis of reflection about beliefs the values are based on. At the same time, this strategy depends on the nature of the values the conflict involves. Personal values are not the same as cultural values that are accepted as sound within a social context, and contextual cultural values must, in turn, be understood in the light of more general value concepts like equality, freedom and solidarity [37–39].

Thus for managers, the first communicative aim in value conflicts is to clarify the opposing values and how they are perceived as central in the conflict. The next aim is to create room for reflection about the importance of the values, and how the values are consistent with the organizational framework that the parties must accept [21]. This requires communication skills that involve much more than uncovering facts. The reason is that values are not true or false—they cannot be corrected in the same way as incorrect beliefs [40]. Resolving value conflicts is in itself a value-laden activity that requires sensitivity and consciousness about values.
