Introduction
Conflict refers to a situation characterized by a misunderstanding between two individuals representing divergent interests. Conflict resolution is a topic of discussion that has featured on very many occasions, including conferences and high profile corporate meetings. The topic has sparked heated debates and exchanges. According to Shaukat (2016), workplace conflicts occur between individuals working in the same levels, and sometimes between leaders and their juniors. In the past, workplace conflicts have happened as a result of policy disagreements, harassment, discrimination, and personal disagreements between two or more individuals. Conflicts can also occur between different groups, such as departments at workplaces, on the same issues that spark conflict between individuals. Of all the types of disputes that arise in workplaces, conflict of interest is the most common type of conflict in workplaces, and it is inspired by the tendency of individuals and groups of people seeking to satisfy their welfares. All organizations ought to have conflict resolution bodies that promote good relationships between their workers. Moreover, such bodies should also be concerned with creating a good working relationship between the organizations and their stakeholders. Resolving conflicts is vital for organizations because it is the surest way through which an organization can achieve a pleasant environment and increase the level of output.
The conflict problem in workplaces
Workplace conflicts majorly occur between employees and sometimes between groups of employees. Human Resource Managers and other organizational managers ought to express concern for employee conflict; they should employ effort to stop the organizational conflict. In some cases at workplaces, petty misunderstandings transition into a long serious conflict that eventually affects employee performance at the workplace. In other cases, workplace conflict occurs as a result of personal differences borrowed from personal feuds outside of work and affects workplace performance. Therefore, organizational leaders ought to be informed of the signals to conflict and solve them before they turn ugly. They should continuously ensure the unity and togetherness of workers, something that is vital in ensuring good results at any organization.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Poor communication is a common cause of disagreement between employees. In a workplace, failing to communicate an important message could potentially result in conflict between two employees or between an employee and their boss (Kausalya & Abirami, 2016). For example, if an employee in charge of sales runs out of stock, and fails to communicate to the warehouse officers in time, the employee may end up blaming the warehouse workers for failing to supply them with stock. Failing to communicate in time would bring about a blame game that would eventually become a serious conflict. Lack of an effective communication system within an organization is a potential cause of conflict. When workers in one department, for whatever reason, fail to communicate with other departments and end up blaming them for failing to execute specific duties. Apart from that, modern communication tools such as e-mails and phones may be subject to a failure caused by technical problems, such problems are rare but can be a cause of conflict whenever they hinder communication. Communication may also be a cause of conflict if an individual misinterprets a message delivered by another individual at a workplace. Failing to communicate at all is yet another common cause of conflict. This causes employees to make inaccurate conclusions, which eventually makes them disagree with colleagues.
Personality diversity also causes workplace conflicts between employees. Personality diversity is the fact that people working in one station all have divergent personalities and character. This implies that people hold different opinions for certain decisions, have different beliefs, and express themselves differently in specific situations. The diverse background is believed to have always been a source of positive results by bringing together different people with different ideas. Nevertheless, diversity can be a blessing in disguise to an organization because different personalities can be a cause of serious conflict between employees. For example, when one employee has the character of straightforwardness, and as such, has the habit of speaking their mind whenever an issue arises. Another employee may feel offended by such open-mindedness and straightforwardness and pick an offense from one statement or comment on an issue. Certain employees are natural-born leaders and would always take the responsibility of leading colleagues in completing tasks. In as much as this ought to be positive because it increases productivity levels, other employees in similar ranks may take offense. On the same note, people with diverse personalities tend to have different working styles, another recipe for workplace conflict. The generational gap in an organization is a major cause of having different techniques and strategies for work, hence workplace conflict.
Unhealthy workplace competition also causes conflicts between employees. Employees need to work together to help inspire their organizations towards achieving long and short term goals. Nevertheless, most human resource reward employees for good work at an individual level, prompting them to seek personal success rather than work as teams to promote overall organizational output. This tendency has brought about individual competition, which is rather unhealthy to the organization because it encourages individualism and negatively impacts on the overall production of the organization. In other organizations, employees are paid according to their level of output, thus causing unnecessary competition. Individual competition between employees may lead to employees sabotaging the work of other employees to lead the output tally. This may also make employees hurl insults at each other, bringing about workplace conflicts that are very much unhealthy to the organization.
Another common cause of workplace conflicts is organizational politics. Organizational politics refers to the tendency of corporate leaders to involve in lobbying among employees and stakeholders, seeking to acquire some power and influence in the workplace. Organizational politics bring about the culture where an individual campaign to prove their power and influence. In many cases, it happens whenever there is a leadership wrangle between two individuals in the organization (O'Sullivan, 2017). Such tendencies divide organizational members into different factions, people supporting one individual and those supporting the other. Organizational conflicts would bring about unnecessary arguments among employees on who is more powerful than the other. Eventually, such politics bring about permanent disputes between employees, and thus reduces their levels of production. Politics within organizations also threaten teamwork.
Solutions to the Problem
As stated above, no employee is immune to workplace conflict, and no amount of screening during interviews can help employers achieve the best who will avoid conflicts. However, worse, the conflict may be, there can always be a solution to it. Besides, companies have no option other than solving this common menace to increase production levels. Managers should embrace conflicts, as it is the first step in seeking a solution (Roche, 2016). This implies that they should not avoid conflicts; however, petty they maybe because they would potentially get worse. On this note, a leader needs to accept the existing disagreements between his subjects and attempt to preach peace between the parties involved. Dealing with the issue soon enough means calling the parties involved and helping them through ironing out their issues before it becomes too late for that.
Companies should set other interaction moments other than work time when employees come together, have fun, and talk together. Various activities can successfully help achieve this, and they include company dinners, company sports days, and adventure walks together, among other activities. Such activities strengthen the bond between employees and thus reduce any misunderstanding that may come up between them when they work. Additionally, employees use such opportunities to bring their families over and get to know each other better. Organizing such outdoor events offer the chance to strengthen individual communication skills, which would eventually help them when they get back to work. Employees may also use such opportunities out of work to iron out small issues that may develop serious conflicts between them. These events and activities are important in developing healthy relationships between employees and thus helping in reducing workplace conflicts between them (Currie, Gormley, Roche & Teague, 2017). Moreover, they can help create a good working relationship between employees and their managers.
Leaders need to offer good guidance and leadership, enlighten their subjects on the need to avoid conflicts and how to resolve small issues that may exist between them. Conflict resolution is a responsibility that ought to be majorly played by the employees. Therefore, the leaders should pass on the responsibility to them. On this note, organizational leaders should conduct training on conflict mitigation and resolution, where employees get to learn of the things to avoid workplace conflict. The conflict management training can be conducted in the form of workshops, one-on-one sessions with individual employees, or small facilitation groups where employees learn how to avoid workplace conflict. Additionally, the training can cover the methods that employees can use to resolve small conflicts that occur between them.
Similarly, organizational leaders should work towards setting a good communication culture within the organization to help promote peace and reduce misunderstandings within their organizations. In addition to that, they should work lead by example amongst themselves as leaders, ensure they coexist well between other leaders to help set up a culture of peace and eradicate workplace conflict. Above everything, leaders and supervisors should set guidelines to employees, which define how employees should act in case of conflict.
References
Currie, D., Gormley, T., Roche, B., & Teague, P. (2017). The management of workplace conflict: Contrasting pathways in the HRM literature. International Journal of Management Reviews , 19 (4), 492-509.
Kausalya, R., & Abirami, A. (2016). A Descriptive Study on the Causes and Effects of Work Place Conflict and Present-Day Strategies to Curb IT. International Journal of Engineering and Management Research (IJEMR) , 6 (1), 253-255.
O'Sullivan, M. (2017). The Structural Causes of Workplace Conflict: Understanding the Implications for the Mediation of Workplace Disputes. Bond L. Rev. , 29 , 87.
Roche, W. K. (2016). The development of conflict resolution practices in Irish workplaces. Administration , 64 (3-4), 61-89.
Shaukat, R. (2016). Workplaces that Work: Examining the Relationships between Conflict, Subjective Well-being, Employee Performance, and Turnover Intentions (Doctoral dissertation, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology Islamabad-Pakistan).
