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|Conflict is a fact of life. Human beings are multifaceted characters and “not” everyone is going to get along all the time. In many | |instances, conflict in the workplace causes havoc. At the very least, it can lead to uncomfortable tension among staff. At worst, the | |results can be deadly. You need to deal with conflict in a way that makes sense for your situation; in general, however, the collaborative | |effort is the way to go because it involves people working together for the common good.
Workplace conflict is a conflict that can be caused| |by many factors including the long hours many people spend at their workplace, the hierarchical structure of the organization, and the | |difficulties like financial problems that may be involved in switching to a different workplace. Workplaces share a lot in common with | |schools, in which workers tend to be a lot less independent like kids are in high school and below. Let’s start by identifying where | |conflicts happen.
Think about the kinds of conflicts that happen around your workplace. Disagreements over turf (who should do what), | |disagreements over policy (how things should be done), conflicts of personality and style. There are a lot of ways that employees try to use| |to deal with conflict in the workplace like avoid the conflict, deny the conflict; wait until it goes away, change the subject, react | |emotionally; become aggressive, abusive, hysterical, or frightening, find someone to blame, make excuses, delegate the situation to someone | |else.
All of these are not productive; they are actually destructive, so learning how to manage conflict in the workplace is vitally | |important. | |Communication is both the cause of and the remedy for conflict. Understanding how to effectively communicate, and how to satisfactorily | |resolve disputes, can lead to a happier, more productive life. Communication and conflict resolution skills must be learned. Most often, | |poor communication and conflict resolution styles must be corrected and replaced with approaches that are more conducive to creating peace | |in the workplace and at home.
The workplace setting is fertile breeding ground for conflicts because of the dynamics and interdependency of | |the employee-to-employee, customer-to-employee, and employee-to-outside vendor relationships. Recognizing and addressing the factors that | |give rise to the potential for conflict can have a positive impact on workplace and the productivity in the workplace. Most people fear | |conflict and see it as something to avoid. In fact, conflict is a normal and natural part of our lives, both professionally and personally. |Conflict in the right setting, handled in the right way, can be beneficial. It is through conflict that an awareness of the need for some | |necessary changes can be made both at work and at home. | |The workplace is a system of relationships. Relationships have many different aspects; here are several examples: trust, teamwork, quality, | |morale, self-esteem, loyalty, and respect for boss. When conflicts are handled well, there’s a positive effect on work relationships. When | |they are not, these factors can deteriorate. Productivity and the free expression of ideas are also impacted.
The issue of personality | |clashes is probably the most controversial The two types of workplace conflicts are when people’s ideas, decisions or actions relating | |directly to the job are in opposition, or when two people just don’t get along. In a conflict situation, don’t ask ‘who’, ask ‘what’ and | |’why’. Managers should avoid blaming interpersonal conflicts on “personality clashes”. Such a tactic is an excuse to avoid addressing the | |real causes of conflict, and the department’s performance will suffer as a result.
Managers must be able to recognize the signs of conflict | |behaviors and deal with the conflict in a forthright fashion. Approaching conflicts as opportunities to improve departmental policies and | |operations rather as ailments to be eradicated or ignored will result in a more productive work force and greater departmental efficiency. | |Office romances can be a cause of workplace conflict. Most human resources professionals and executives will most likely agree that | |workplace romances are dangerous because they can lead to conflict within the organization.
Public displays of affection can also make | |co-workers uncomfortable and accusations of favoritism may occur, especially if it is a supervisor-subordinate relationship. If the | |relationship goes awry, one party may seek to exact revenge on the other. Unresolved conflict in the workplace has been linked to | |miscommunication resulting from confusion or refusal to cooperate, quality problems, missed deadlines or delays, increased stress among | |employees, reduced creative collaboration and team problem solving, disruption to work flow, decreased customer satisfaction, distrust, and | |gossip. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Works Cited http://www. workplaceissues. com/arconflict. htm http://www. agora-business-center. com/0709_workplace. html http://us. penguingroup. com/static/html/cig/quickguides/resolving-conflict-in-the-workplace. html http://edis. ifas. ufl. edu/hr024