Webster's Dictionary defines conflict as sharp disagreement or opposition of interests or ideas.
American Leadership Support (Office of Quality Improvement & Office of Human Resource Development) defines conflict as a disagreement through which the parties involved perceive a threat to their needs, interests or concerns.
In the workplace, conflict has both a negative & positive connotation. Here we are talking about negative connotation.
It occurs because of lack of communication, bad management practices, turf war, flippant responses to other peoples Ideas or projects, self – serving behaviour or even as a response to a perceived threat.
Rarely does a work place conflict confine itself to individuals. If left unresolved it can gather momentum and snowball into effecting the whole work force of an organisation.
Work place conflicts can be broken down into three categories.
1. Horizontal Conflict (Among peers)
2. Vertical Conflict (An employee and his manager or Supervisor)
3. Technical Conflict (Where employees don’t agree on the technical merits of a solution or an idea)
(Source: Chuck Hedges, executive director of the Federal Aviation Administration's Center for Early Dispute Resolution., Federal Times dated April 21, 2006)
The obvious cost of work place conflicts are loss of morale, increased levels of stress, and loss of productivity. But beyond this the hidden cost of work place conflicts are huge.
A recent research has concluded that 25 % of a manager’s time is spent on resolving conflicts.
Other hidden costs of work place conflicts are caused by absenteeism, employee turnover and by grievance filing (not a major issue in
India, right now.)
So it’s imperative that organisations resolve work place conflicts by early intervention because it can adversely impact a company’s bottom line.
One of the best ways to resolve conflict is to open communication.
Create channels for the conflicting parties to communicate. They can resolve the issue by talking it out between themselves, with a supervisor or a manager acting as mediators.
Here the mediators should ensure that disagreements are discussed without resorting to abusive language or name calling or even involving personalities.
This will ensure that the cause of the conflict is discussed. Discussion should focus on the real issues and concerns and should not get bogged down by trivia.
The mediators have a vital role in resolving this conflict. The mediators need to have a variety of conflict resolutions skills and should be capable of using it judiciously.
Mediators involved should ensure an effective dialogue takes place and ensure that the aggrieved parties should exhibit good faith and reach a settlement.
They should ensure that the emotional nature of the conflict should also be addressed and resolved. If the emotional component is not addressed the settlement is sure to fail.
Once the conflict has been resolved by consensus and a settlement has been reached, the management should ensure that no transgression takes place from the accepted framework of the settlement.
The management should also visibly demonstrate its impartiality through word and deed to both the parties.
Resolving conflicts at the earliest ensures a positive environment in the work place. But it’s not over by effecting a settlement. The hard work comes later.
Mediators should ensure that the settlement is enforced in letter and spirit and they cannot let in a sniff of deviation.
Because once the exception is made they will be constantly spending their energy in reconciliation.
