Stress and conflict in the workplace undermine performance and can make people mentally and physically ill. Research indicates that ever-increasing numbers of people are experiencing excessive pressure of this kind in our rapidly changing world of work.

This applies to libraries and information organizations as much as anywhere; indeed they can be particular targets for verbal and non-verbal violent behaviour through their accessibility to the public. In addition, as in all organizations, a certain proportion of library staff is suffering aggression, abuse, bullying or harassment from a work colleague.

This book is written in response to this situation from the viewpoint of health and safety at work practice. Although people's ideas of standards of acceptable behaviour are likely to differ, it is vital that consensus is reached in each workplace.

Tackling – and preventing – conflict and stress effectively is a responsibility for management under health and safety legislation in the UK and many other countries. This can result in significant benefits for the organization in terms of recruitment and retention, employee commitment, performance and productivity, customer satisfaction, organizational image and reputation, and avoidance of potential litigation.

The book defines clearly what should and should not be tolerated in a healthy and safe working environment, and introduces the reporting procedures and communication skills essential in conflict resolution, enabling both employees and managers to consider situations consistently based on risk assessment previously carried out.

Chapter 1 looks at current health and safety concerns worldwide in the context of the fast moving world of work. It argues that employers must take a lead by producing guidelines and policies to bring about a conflictfree workplace. Chapter 2 looks at stress and conflict in the context of library and information organizations. It advocates that steps should be taken to ensure that everyone involved should clearly understand what is meant by the terms ‘aggression’, ‘bullying’, ‘conflict’, ‘harassment’, ‘stress’ and ‘violence’. Importantly, this chapter helps you to decide if there is a problem and to understand how such behaviour can affect people physically and mentally.

The business case is presented in Chapter 3. As well as endorsing the benefits of stress and conflict management, it also includes advice on the management of change: keeping staff involved and informed; dealing with internal conflict, managerial pressure and external pressures (e.g. outsourcing, downsizing); and ensuring employee commitment to work and management commitment to staff.