Conflict Resolution as an Element of Knowledge Management in an Organization Based on Collective Disputes in Poland

Knowledge management in enterprises may be considered on many levels. The most common ones are knowledge creation (innovation), knowledge sharing, knowledge distribution and knowledge protection. However, there is one area of management where the importance of knowledge management is underestimated, namely, that of organizational conflict. The aim of this paper is to show how knowledge management can affect the efficiency of reaching an agreement, while resolving an organizational conflict and to what extent inappropriate knowledge distribution in an organization can play a conflict-generating role. The research conducted is of a qualitative nature. Case studies of mediations conducted within the framework of Collective Disputes Resolution in Poland will be presented in the paper. The subject of the analysis will be production and service companies, as well as organizations from the public sector. The author will prove the proposition that democratic access to information in an organization has a positive impact on the effectiveness of resolving organizational conflicts. Even if conflict resolution is not possible at a given moment, the democratic distribution of knowledge enables the effective management of the process of an organizational conflict.