Effective Tips for Tackling Workplace Conflicts

Conflict can often be unavoidable where people work together. The reason for this is the differences in work goals as well as personal styles. It is fact that either side involved in a conflict hardly wins one at work. Winning a conflict at work is simply getting the outcome wanted by a person or side regardless of what the opposing person or side wants. Such a result can be gratifying for the victorious side but the issue is that the underlying problem remains unsolved to reappear later over a different topic perhaps. This is where people of ideal workplaces tend to view that winning a conflict over some issue is something that could be always replaced by resolving the issue.

Farsighted managements consider price of inaction against critical conflicts as too expensive. Such conflicts, if left unresolved can have a long run sowing seeds of antagonism (enmity), disintegration in communications, teams that are inefficient, stress and last but not least, low productivity. To be precise, conflicts at workplaces that are left unresolved can make people from both workers and managements’ side terribly unhappy. There are countless instances where otherwise savvy workers self-destruct in the fear of getting engaged in a conflict. No workplace can put an end to conflicts by sinking its head in the sand hoping that they would pass on their own.

Conflicts are Good for the Workplace

There are conflicts at every workplace where people are committed, fired up and engaged. Such conditions invite disagreements that later lead to conflicts. Shrewder managements deem conflicts as the beginning of a productive learning process. When workplaces change, fresh ideas get dreamt and implemented. The conflicts that result means the participants are caring enough to disagree strongly. A conflict does rarely resolve by itself. As a matter of fact, normally a conflict should escalate if not dealt with properly and proactively.  Never it has been all common to find what might have ended as a non-even manifesting itself into a big issue if not resolved in time.

Considering these issues, here are five essential tips for the sensible, to resolve conflicts at workplaces in a constructive manner. These tips can be employed to resolve any kind of conflict rising between co-workers.

        1. Acceptable behavior at a workplace should be defined

When the workplaces have a vividly defined description of jobs, the workers know exactly what is expected of them. Such a set of descriptions underlining what constitutes a workplace’s acceptable behavior can be a positive measure toward avoiding conflict. This can be a decisional framework stressing a published delegation of statements from the authority. It would stand for encouraging healthy business practices in the field of collaboration, team spirit, leadership development and management of talents. Such descriptions sating what would and wouldn’t be tolerated must be vividly and publicly announced to avoid conflicts.

       2.Try to prevent conflicts rather than resolving those

Conflicts at workplaces cannot be always prevented. However, it is also fact that such conflicts can be foreseen by an astute management that also realizes resolution of conflicts is best prevention where possible. According to the prevention theory, the areas of potential conflict must be sought out through proactive intervention firstly. This way even if a conflict sparks off, the management finds itself in a position to deal with it in time or minimizing its severity. The word of caution here is that any time spent understanding or diagnosing the conflicts would only help in letting them aggravate.

      3. Understanding others motivations

In the case of professionals, it is quite essential for one to understand the motivations of others prior to weighing them. This is one way of avoiding conflicts as anyone at a workplace would pleasantly welcome the tendency of others to help him in achieving his own objectives as regards to the workplace’s wellness. Then apologizing for an untoward action is viewed by a sensible person as not accepting the entire blame but taking responsibility of his contribution to the conflict. That also says the ideal approach to a conflict is one from the perspective of taking actions.

     4. Is this conflict so necessary?

A conflict engaged just for the sake of conflict must be strictly avoided. That says everyone at a workplace must be judicious enough to pick his battle rightly. Nevertheless, if one finds the issue for a conflict as significant enough then there should also be an urge in him to resolve it ideally. This calls for a serious introspection among the workers that have a potential issue for a conflict. A person who is qualified enough for a thorough introspection even during times of conflict, will also be capable of knowing the necessity of opening lines of communication and closing professional as well as emotional gaps.

     5. Has the conflict done well for the workplace?

The realization of the fact that an ongoing conflict is actually harming the scope of a workplace project is the one of the best things the workplace can have from its workforce. Sessions for outlining the conflict’s consequences on the workplace must be encouraged as they themselves might result in resolving conflicts. Such sessions help the participants to extend their sight beyond themselves and evaluate the conflict from a third person’s view.