An Acas comment paper argues that managers tend not to use informal methods to manage individual conflict because they do not feel totally certain they have the people skills to defuse situations. The Acas paper “The road less travelled? – Taking the informal route to conflict resolution” highlights that when it comes to managing individual conflict, managers can either go for the ‘informal chat’ route, that they often have little confidence in handling, or the procedural route which encourages them to do everything by the book, without much discretion. Acas argue that this may be because managers are not certain they have the people skills to calm situations informally and guidance is provided on giving managers more certainty in how they can defuse potential conflict. 

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