Managing office conflict
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03/08/2010 6:29:00 PM
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Although teamwork and collaboration are essential in today’s business climate, the consequence of increased interaction between employees and their managers is conflict. With an estimated 65 per cent of performance problem resulting from strained relationships, what can you do to ensure that your business remains healthy and does not fall into a destructive spiral of inter-staff conflict?
Conflict management techniques
Michael w. Blum, a professor at Truman State University in the U.S., studied the techniques used by mangers and the conflicts handled by businesses. According to his research, most conflicts involved operational issues, discipline, interpersonal relationships, workflow issues, sexual harassment and compensation. Yet not only did the heads of brokerages proactively handle conflicts, they reported successfully handling 71 per cent of the disputes that arose.
Although there is not one correct way to handle a dispute, those managers surveyed found themselves frequently using two techniques for conflict resolution.
The first technique used involved meeting separately with the disputants before consulting with a third party. After the consultation, the manager would suggest concessions and specific resolutions for the conflict.
The second method was to meet with both parties, along with a mediator. Managers would determine the causes of the conflict and then have a followup, this time quoting policy and providing objective information to help facilitate a resolution.
Although managers actively assist with conflict management, they admit lacking objectivity when it comes to conflicts between employees and the business. In the case of employee/company conflict, broker principals found it useful to use third parties to facilitate conflict resolution.
In their search for an objective and third party, principals look for someone assertive who can resolve the situation before it escalates. The best candidate is someone who can gather enough information to be informed, and who is flexible enough to modify their approach to fit the situation.
Training for conflict management
According to the UK’s Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR), only 37 per cent of the managers polled felt qualified to cope with business conflicts.
CEDR chief executive Karl Mackie says, “Conflict is part of working life, but it’s how we deal with it that’s important. Effective management of conflict can reduce the amount of time and money spent on trying to sort out a problem, reduce the damage it could cause to those involved and enable decision-makers to make smarter choices earlier on.”
Giving employees the tools they need to deal with office conflict means that principals must determine what issues need to be addressed and then provide employees with the appropriate educational training. One of the advantages of technology is that this training can occur in the privacy of an employee’s home instead of through in-group workshops.
One U.S. company, Conflict Coaching Consulting, offers an online program that allows employees to receive assessments and training in different conflict styles, emotional competence, communication skills and negotiation skills. According to president Carlos Todd, “we know that many people struggle with conflicts. Our training imparts skills necessary to live life with less conflict.”
Cost of conflict
Eighty per cent of conflicts affect the smooth operation of a company and can lead to the damaging of company reputations, damage business relationships, lose customers, increase staff turnover, and make businesses fail to meet their targets and miss business opportunities.
Not only is conflict expensive to the bottom line, it also wastes time. Hwee Koon, artistic director for Asia Art Centre, says, “I work in Beijing and find myself spending quite a bit of time trying to make my employees get along with each other. It takes up my time during the day and I find myself still having to do my regular work.”
According to CEDR, managers spend up to 3.2 working years dealing with conflict, which is a substantial distraction from their main job.
Being responsive instead of reactive
The majority of principals dislike having to deal with conflicts, but avoiding conflict has been shown to make the situation worse.
One reason that conflict may be distasteful is the way we respond to it. When a dispute arises, the people involved may respond to the situation by taking responsibility for their role in it and, by understanding their actions, thoughts and feelings, an understanding of the bigger picture can be achieved. Other employees may just react to the conflict. They are assuming the role of victim and get carried away by feelings of anger, fear or grief. Everyone has an unconscious system of responding to conflict that looks for revenge, justice or acknowledgement.
According to mediator John Ford, it is not easy to shift our attitude from being reactive to responsive. ‘Knowing this at an intellectual level is one thing. Being able to shift our physical and emotional behavior from reaction to responsive choice when we’re actually triggered is another.”
It is difficult to make the shift because our reactions are habits developed through our lifetime and once triggered, puts us in survival mode.
Workplace justice
One of the ways that managers can actively assists a business is to ensure that there are policies in place to deal with conflict. Although employees need to be trained on how to respond to conflict, managers need to be able to identify conflict before it has escalated.
According to China employment consultant Victor Guo, “most of the conflicts are caused by either information imbalance, or difference in organizational interest. It’s helpful if principals create an environment of communication and make people think from others’ viewpoint.”
Heads of brokerages can facilitate the process by promoting open communication with staff, and ensuring transparency in the conflict resolution process. Providing employees with a platform to voice issues and advising those in charge on the correct way to handle conflict will also help.
Businesses can also utilize their conflict management strategies to promote their branding. According to the CEDR survey, “how business manages conflict can be a building block for reputations development. All too often, management separates it from their strategic thinking, thus it becomes a legal issue.”
To reduce the possibility of conflict, principals need to implement policies that fair and transparent. Managers need to be clear as to each employee’s role and the expectations for each position. These needs to be a way for employees to communicate freely within the business about any issues they are facing, whether it is sexual discrimination or dissatisfaction with their salary.
Managers need to ensure counseling is provided for employees who are having issues with conflict management, and they are providing proactive conflict management.
In addition to training, heads of brokerages need to encourage interaction, both professionally and personally, between all staff.
Although conflict is never able to be removed when individuals work together, having the proper procedures in place, plus adequate training provided to all staff and third-party mediators, will go a long way to help promote and add to the workplace culture, and ensure that conflict resolution remains and achievable business goal.
Six ways to avoid conflict
1. Speak your mind. Managers need to be clear in what their expectations are and employees need to have a safe avenue to express their concerns.
2. Active listening. Managers and employees need to learn to actively listen. Rephrase what you hear to avoid miscommunication.
3. Strong feelings appropriately. Strong emotions are a reflex response. Both employees and managers should work towards having a responsive instead of reactive response to conflict.
4. Remain rational. Managers and employees try and remain analytical when to comes to conflict. Rely on facts not emotions
5. Be flexible. The conflict may be resolved by compromise. Make sure you’re thinking of the business’ best interest and not your own.
6. Avoid destructive statement. Think twice before making statements about employees or managers. Once a statement is made, it will remain with you and in the memory of the business of a long time.