Workplace Conflict Resolution
Conflict in the workplace is difficult to completely eliminate. This is on the simple premise that the work environment is a collection of people of different personalities, temperaments, work tasks and personal career objectives. Dissimilar points of view are indeed expected. However, conflict can get out of hand and if not quickly identified, managed and resolved, can lead to a downward spiral that can suck out employee teamwork, morale and productivity. Managers must therefore learn the techniques for effective workplace conflict resolution so they can nip any potential problem in the bud.
There are a number of principles you must adhere to if you are to have a better chance of managing conflict in the workplace.
1. Do not avoid the conflict – One of the worst things one can do when faced with conflict in the workplace is avoiding it, trivializing it or skirting around the issue. If one were to do this, sooner or later matters would come to a head and the issue would boil over. By this time, the damage to the organization would be great and the rifts might be near impossible to heal without firing some members of staff.
2. Do not meet the antagonists separately – Never meet the persons involved in the conflict separately as this bound to create suspicion or a perception that you might be taking sides in the dispute. Meet with both. Of course there are times when you may have to meet one party out of circumstance – for instance, one of the persons involved may have already approached you privately in order to bring the matter to your attention. If one person meets you separately, you can briefly give them an ear but firmly insist on discussing the matter at an agreed time with the other party present.
3. Recognize other stakeholders affected by the conflict – The work place environment is often a place of complex work dependencies. The output from one department may be the input for three or four other departments in the organization. For this reason, do not assume that the disagreement is only important to the parties actively involved in the conflict – whatever decision is made on the conflict will probably have an impact on other stakeholders. To ensure you do not have to go back to the drawing board because you did not factor in a certain segment in the debate, brief, consult or bring on board all significant stakeholders to make sure their points of view are considered before any decision is finalized.
4. Declare impartiality – Once you have the contending parties and other stakeholders in a round table meeting, make it clear from the beginning that you are not there to take any sides but rather to arbitrate a solution that is ultimately, in the best interest of your organization. But your declaration must be backed up by your actions leading up to, during and after the meeting. In order to retain your authority as an impartial arbiter, every person must be convinced that you have the institution’s collective interest first.
5. Separate person from problem – Conflicts often spiral out of control when either one or both parties take the position of the other person as a vendetta attempt. You must show the lead by always keeping the person separate from the position they hold. Each party must be confident that there may be a problem with the view they hold but not with them as a person.
6. Gather information and understand the problem – Do not rush to conclusions. Regardless of what you may have heard before the meeting, allow each person to state their side of the story. Get to know what event may have precipitated the problem and why the parties could not come up with an amicable solution among themselves. Despite how strongly convinced each side may be about their position, make sure no one is interrupted when narrating their view.
7. Ask everyone to state their proposal and expectations of the other party – Once the problem is identified, let each party come up with what they consider the best approach to solving the problem once and for all.#
8. If you are the boss, find out if work circumstances are the source of the conflict – There are times when a conflict is simply a sign of a dysfunctional process within the workplace. As the manager, you must be ready to acknowledge such process failures as being partly to blame for the confusion. This means you too have to commit to formulating a mechanism for reviewing and changing the problem solving process to prevent a recurrence.
9. Brainstorm and make sure every person commits to the final agreement – With all ideas on the table, next comes what is probably the most difficult part of resolving workplace conflicts – finding a solution that is acceptable to all. This will call you to make the best use of negotiation techniques. Ideally, you should go for a win-win outcome where each party leaves feeling they have at least gotten something from it all. However, this might not be possible at all times. For instance, one party may have been sincerely wrong and as the boss, you must be assertive enough to categorically state that one party’s position is incorrect. But if you must eventually rule in favor of one party, make sure the ‘losing’ party understands why you went for that decision and the benefits all can expect to get as a result of that decision.
10. Affirm your confidence in them – As you conclude, affirm you confidence in each person’s ability to follow through on what has been agreed upon. Workplace conflict resolution will be most effective where the person’s involved feel respected, are given the benefit of the doubt and are considered responsible enough to do the right thing.
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Workplace Communication Video
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