Part A: Report Outline
Title: Informal Business Report on Conflict Resolution
Thesis statement : Conflict is expected in the workplace; however, some steps can help prevent, manage and resolve conflict.
Introduction/Background.
Benefits of conflict resolution.
Understanding conflict
Thesis statement.
Facts/Findings
The nature of conflict.
Effects of workplace conflict.
The goal of conflict resolution.
Recommendations
Principles of conflict resolutions.
The skill-set of conflict resolution.
Strategies of Conflict Resolution.
Conclusion/Summary
The need for conflict resolution.
Summary.
Part B: The Report
Introduction
Conflict is disagreement, argument, hatred, antagonism, or opposition between two or more persons or groups of people (Hann et al., 2019). You have to understand that conflicts are often on values, interests, attitudes, preferences, ideas, personalities, opinions, and objectives. Workplace conflict is dysfunctional and destructive to the success of an organization (Walch, 2018). Suppose we resolve conflict in the workplace effectively. In that case, everyone can get on with their jobs, saving time, money, and workplace relationships. On the contrary, a company that fails to engage in effective conflict resolution could burden the staff and the organization through reduced motivation, productivity, and collaboration. According to Walch (2018), we achieve enhanced productivity, motivation, performance, higher employee retention, reduced absenteeism, better communication, effective collaboration, team functioning, and effectiveness by resolving conflicts on time. None of us wants to work in an environment full of strife, arguments, and disagreement. We all want a positive environment where we can agree to disagree respectfully. In this informal report, I will address information on conflict with a primary focus on workplace conflict. Therefore, I will address different conflict themes such as the nature of the conflict, conflict resolution stages, and conflict resolution strategies, among others. Furthermore, I think the best thesis statement for this report will be: Conflict is expected in the workplace; however, some steps can help prevent, manage and resolve them.
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Facts/Findings
When I think about workplace conflict, it's the feeling of poor communication, incivility tendencies, and a lack of communication. These are all ingredients of conflicts at work for most of us. Sometimes conflict in our workplaces is triggered by misunderstandings, passive-aggressive behaviors, or mere closed-mindedness.
The Nature of Conflict
I understand that workplace conflict could come in many forms, but we will stick with six types for the purposes of this informal report. These six types include interdependence or task-based conflict, leadership conflict, creative idea conflict, personality-based conflict, work style conflict, and discrimination. Creative idea conflict begins from differences in ideas or opinions when we are brainstorming at the workplace. Although the activity is initially intended to get the best ideas and utmost cooperation from all employees, conflict comes in when we fail to recognize others' ideas positively. Furthermore, our colleagues who tend to voice their thoughts, portraying them as the only best without necessarily looking for a collective positive/effective solution, fuel this conflict.
Discrimination conflict refers to harassment or discrimination in the workplace based on gender, age, ethnicity, and race. The one who discriminates is void of open-mindedness, understanding, and acceptance (McKibben, 2017). Personality-based conflict results from failing to acknowledge our personal differences in personality and the differences in our perceptions compared to reality. Task-based conflict arises from failed coordination of tasks in an interdependent project network that requires each employee to play their part for success. Leadership conflict arises from the varying leadership styles and reactions as we tend to react differently to these leadership styles. Similarly, work-style conflict results from varying work styles, such as some us prefer to work in groups while others prefer to work alone always.
Effects of Workplace Conflict
Workplace conflict adversely affects employee morale and hinders performance, affecting the firm's reputation in the long run. Business owners and leaders must acknowledge the adverse effects of conflict and implement the necessary preventive and corrective steps to ensure survival and success. Some of the specific impacts of conflict include diminished work performance, lost revenue, low employee morale, poor communication, and misunderstandings. Staff members who are in conflict won't communicate and collaborate as they will constantly be arguing. As a result, misunderstandings and communication issues could lead to distrust, low employee engagement, and missed performance goals (Hann, Nash, & Heery, 2019). Loss of revenue in a workplace with conflict results from the toxicity that comes with unresolved conflict. Conflict decreases employee satisfaction and increases turnover rates, both of which are costly to firms and the business operations' longevity. When we constantly disagree with no effort of positive win/win compromise, most of us would want to try and get a job elsewhere in an environment where conflicts are minimal if not non-existent. Conflict increases tension and stress in the workplace, which in the long run leads to poor planning, errors, and disagreements that lead to diminished performance. Conflict lowers employee morale through decreased team morale and motivation.
The Goal of Conflict Resolution
The primary aim of resolving workplace conflict is getting a compromise position that is a win-win scenario for the parties involved so that their needs are met at some level. In resolving disputes, we can't seek to determine who is on the wrong and who is right but rather to achieve a solution acceptable to everyone or most people involved by focusing first on the needs rather than creating a win-win for both parties.
Recommendations
Principles of Conflict Resolution
The principles of conflict resolution include:
Listening actively: in conflict resolution, it's necessary that we hear and understand what both parties in a conflict have to say through their words, intonation, and body language.
Assurance of a fair process: conflict resolution should involve resolution methods that are fair to parties involved as unfairness could hamper the resolution process (Hann, Nash, & Heery, 2019).
Attacking the problem: we should focus on the issue and its solution rather than emotions which are often high.
Accepting responsibility: with conflicting parties taking sides, it's necessary to have both parties own up enough responsibility for the prevailing conflict to avoid creating more anger and resentment that only heightens the existing conflict (McKibben, 2017).
Use of direct communication: the communication style in the resolution process should be the I-messaging that is objective and non-threatening to the other parties, which clears any speculation of targeted blame or criticism.
Checking for interests: in resolving conflict, we need to understand the true interests of the people involved beyond what they say, and this is crucial to getting to the bottom-line of the issue.
Focusing on the future: we've got to understand the dynamics of the relationship and the parties' history involved to prepare for the future. Once we resolve a conflict well today, the disagreement parties can get back a great working relationship and relate better even professionally in the future.
Mutual gain: conflict resolution process needs to assure a better future instead of focusing on gain for one party only; it should be a gain for both of us involved.
Thinking before reacting: the resolution process should involve careful consideration of available options and weighing opportunities to determine the most appropriate reaction to the conflict rather than reacting immediately.
Skills for Conflict Resolution
Conflict resolution requires five primary skills: communication, problem-solving, teamwork, emotional agility, and stress management. Emotional agility will help handle the intense emotions triggered whenever the parties or employees feel their job or position being threatened. Emotional awareness will encourage us to show empathy and understanding of the parties' emotions involved in the conflict. Stress management skills help prevent and reduce the stress that results from the fires that come with workplace conflict and other related stressful situations. Stress management skills will be evident in how we inject measured humor in the process, taking well-timed breaks, and speaking to others to release their bottled-up emotions (McKibben, 2017). Problem-solving skills help in approaching the challenges objectively to reduce the chances of a propagated conflict. Teamwork fosters behaviors that support effective team functioning, which helps us reduce and avoid workplace conflict. Communication skills help us understand the real cause of conflict and get information across to others both verbally and non-verbally.
Strategies for Conflict Resolution
Conflict resolution methods differ from one person to another as we may not resolve conflict in the same ways. Here, for the strategies for conflict resolution, I describe the general successful methods for conflict resolution. These methods include avoidance, accommodation, compromise, competition, and collaboration. With avoidance, we could ignore the conflict or withdraw from it, even totally assume its existence. Often the strategy is best used in situations where there is the discomfort of confrontation, which supersedes the possible rewards of resolving the conflict. If you are the conflict resolution facilitator, you may face problems whenever the parties involved fail to communicate their grievances or suggest possible remedies to the conflict at hand. Whenever one of the parties or both refuse to converse or withholds worthwhile ideas, it leads to a stalemate of the resolution process. Accommodation involves one or more of the parties involved in the conflict undertaking steps that satisfy the others' concerns at the expense of their desires or needs (Walch, 2018). One of us in the conflict concedes to another's wishes by being cooperative rather than assertive, behaving graciously to preserve harmony and avoid disruption. Collaboration as a conflict resolution strategy works well when both parties involved are assertive and cooperative, which creates a conducive environment for co-creating shared solutions that both of us disagreeing can support. In the case of compromise, both parties are partially cooperative and assertive. Each of the parties expresses a little of their desires or wishes in the matters of the conflict. Comparing as a conflict resolution strategy works for people who are assertive but not collaborative. These people approach the conflict resolution process with a plan to win and consider the rest of the people as deserving to lose.
Conclusion
We can all agree that workplace conflict consumes lots of time, resources, and energy that could otherwise be used in productive activities. Suppose we can anticipate the likely conflict and prevent or resolve it. In that case, we can help save on these losses and keep the business successful. Conflict resolution in the workplace ensures the workplace is most conducive for the organization to achieve its overall and specific objectives and us. Conflict resolution leads to better clarification on pertinent details of the disagreement, which helps address the conflict's real cause. Furthermore, resolving disputes should involve establishing common ground for both of us involved, determining any barriers that could limit the achievement of our common goals at work. Conflict resolution encourages responsibility, unity of purpose, streamlined plans in place, and acknowledges each team member in the team's success. Conflict resolution leads to each party involved keeping a lively, friendly, and formal environment. It promotes peaceful co-existence among employees and prevents any further disagreements among colleagues.
References
Hann, D., Nash, D., & Heery, E. (2019). Workplace conflict resolution in Wales: The unexpected prevalence of alternative dispute resolution. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 40(3) , 776-802.https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0143831X16663013.
McKibben, L. (2017). Conflict management: importance and implications. British Journal of Nursing, 26(2) , 100-103.https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2017.26.2.100.
Walch, C. (2018). Disaster risk reduction amidst armed conflict: informal institutions, rebel groups, and wartime political orders. Disasters, 42 , 239-264.https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12309.
