Managing Conflict at Workplace
Yashwant Mahadik
CHRO with Multi-National Companies, Mentor, Coach, Wildlife Photographer, Horticulturist & Farmer. Expert at Creating Value via Business and HR Transformation.
Conflict or dissension at workplace is inevitable. Irrespective of the level, experience or maturity, I have observed that most employees get embroiled in a conflict at some point of time. The only difference being that some people tend to get embroiled in a conflict more as compared to other. Competing and differing objectives, goals, priorities, ambitions, aspirations, egos, and or personality styles often give rise to squabble at a workplace which is better known as conflict at a workplace. Not every disagreement and debate is a conflict, but some can potentially lead to one.
According to research by Ernst & Young, 70-80% of all conflicts in organisations manifest from strained relationships between employees. At an average, a manager spends circa 20% of his/her time dealing with conflicts between employees in their teams. Un-resolved conflict leads to employee dis-engagement, separation and at times litigation. Therefore its make perfect business sense to have leaders who are are adept at handling and resolving conflict. In my experience it helps if you practice or bear in mind, as follows:
1) Seek to understand, in-depth, the differences between people and their opinions, positions or demands. Don't focus on just the behaviour and postures, try and understand the thinking behind it.
2) Don't make it personal and demand that others do not make it personal too. Ask for a healthy and respectful debate, discussion - make people listen to each other attentetively.
3) Suppressing a conflict doesn't help, allow it to stay on the surface until it's resolved. Not every conflict is unhealthy and some of them result in better outcomes for individuals or the organisation.
4) End or conclude by listing the lessons learned from the conflict and what it means (in terms of impact) to the culture, vlaues and well being of your organization.
5) Try to role model to others on how to allow and facilitate a healthy debate as you work towards managing and resolving conflict. Listen more than speaking. Stay un-biased, neutral and objective.
In my observation and experience, teams and organisation which have shared values, goals, objectives, where leaders manage their teams and people based on clear and agreed guiding principles - there is less likely hood of conflict that has a negative impact that saps teams energy and productivity. Great leaders nurture common values and principles in their people and teams, which is a smart way of designing a team, culture or environment for less conflict and therefore a less negative impact.
When you find someone getting embroiled in conflicts with multiple people and quite frequently, may be you should assess and help that person with his/her interpersonal skills. In such severe cases coaching, counselling and facilitation doesn't always work. Probably whats required in such severe cases is behaviour modification, which is best attended to by a an expert, a trained psychologist.
“Peace does not mean an absence of conflicts; differences will always be there. Peace means solving these differences through peaceful means; through dialogue, education, knowledge; and through humane ways.” - Dalai Lama
Sr.GM-Quality &RA at Lactose India ltd, Vadodara
6yPlease give me your contact number.
Sr.GM-Quality &RA at Lactose India ltd, Vadodara
6yDear Madam, I am vivek Deshpande. I don't have your phone number to contact you after I SPEAK seminar.
Director, Supply Chain Excellence, India BU at Mondelēz International
7yTrue. Nicely written. Also listening calmly can be key. Anger control while resolving conflict is also key.
Regulatory CMC Facilitator & QA Expert @ Novartis | PMP BY PMI , CQI IRCA Lead Auditor ISO 9001:2015, Prince -2 Practitioner, RAC US,Lean Six Sigma
7yTrue , I also believe organisational objectives often conflict with individual goals.human beings have different motivational patterns.There is a need for better coordination between the organization and it's employees. There should be proper balance between the abilities of an employee and job requirements.if the abilities are less than what is required for performing the job effectively,the employee performance will be low.on the other hand , if the abilities of an employee are more than job requirements,the employee may feel dissatisfied,leading to an organisational inefficiency and create conflicts.team work is important for encouraging cooperation among employees. Behaviour of a human being is not always logical and rational.it is affected by social and phycological factories present in the surrounding.The subbordinates behavior is an outcome of combination of many factors such as aims and objectives ,delegation of duties , involvement of individual with organisation structure, technology etc. To manage the conflict we should know the human behaviour at work. Understanding employee objectives, encouraging coordination,imparting training for self development,channelising organisation objectives with employee needs to motiv