Conflict Management In Your Own Workplace

Conflict on the job is a crippling reality. The aim is to acknowledge friction and stress and deal with it just before it escalates into a major problem. One factor is clear--conflict doesn't magically disappear if brushed aside.

Some types of conflict in the workplace, such as sexual harassment and discrimination, are extremely obvious and readily recognized. Other forms of conflict might not be so quickly determined. Small, irritating events which take place consistently after some time could cause one person to hit out at another. 

Administrators who display favoritism towards one or more employees set themselves up for problems with the "non-favored." Employees who find ways to appear busy despite the fact that they are doing nothing can easily create discontentment between the rest of the department. Conflict may develop when a staff, because he or she failed to grasp the job assignments, gets an unsatisfactory job assessment.

The more equipped you are to deal with and solve a conflict, the better you'll do. This includes making the effort to think by means of the difficult issue(s), character dynamics, related previous experience and preferred outcomes before engaging in an authentic conversation to resolve a conflict with a different party. It is no different than preparing for a speech or an examination. With preparation, you will become more confident, concentrated, and in charge of your feelings.

Always remember that the individuals who provoke you the most are often your best educators. Why? Because these people draw out your vulnerabilities, insecurities, and hot buttons that essentially wind up showing more about you than about them. That doesn't imply that your issue is less respectable, but just don't forget to include yourself when looking at the problem. 

 

You would be surprised what you might learn. If you find yourself judging another person's actions without knowing the intent driving those actions, ask that individual first whatever they intended or why they did whatever they did before attributing any reasons to them. What you will often discover is that there is a well-meaning or amusing intention that went astray. Wouldn't you want others to try and do the same with you?

Conflict Management can really help. Do not attempt to resolve conflict by intimidation. Shouting at someone or making use of manipulation techniques may stop the problem at that moment, but do not fool yourself into believing it is a long-term remedy. Odds are the problem will resurface. At that point not only will you possess the original problem to deal with but also the angry feelings that have festered below the surface in the long run. Act decisively.

 Once you have taken time to accumulate information, talked to all of the parties involved, and examined all the conditions, make your decision and act. Leaving the matter in limbo can damage your employees' belief of you as an effective manager. They may view you as either too inadequate, too uncaring, or both, to handle the problem. The employees may not all agree with your decision, but at the very least they will know where matters stand.

Starquest improves our well-being by building conflict resolution strategies, cooperating with them how to better their venture skills and then to strengthen their functionality in work, and at home. Furthermore they focus on conflict management techniques and helping people discover strengths they do not know they currently have or haven't yet applied.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rick_Stanford

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Workplace Bullying & Conflict Management

Conflicts arise from a variety of sources - some are avoidable, while others are not. One of the more insidious causes of conflict in the workplace is the subtle, but devastating, situation known as workplace bullying.

Workplace bullying includes all types of interpersonal harassment and discrimination. Some are blatantly illegal, as when there are sexual or racial overtones, but most are not. It crosses all levels of organizations, from the top down as well as from the bottom up.

Unchallenged, bullying poisons the workplace, undermining productivity and contributing to absenteeism, high turnover, litigation, and major expense.

Lack of respect at work hurts a company's bottom line. Employers and insurers pay an estimated $250 billion yearly for direct employee health care costs, turnover, and re-training, accidents related to stress-induced fatigue, litigation, settlements, and resistance to top-down change initiatives.

When conflict is ignored or mismanaged, devastating effects can occur: negative impacts to productivity, morale, teamwork and the bottom line.

When handled in a more constructive manner, however, conflict can lead to desirable results:

1. Conflict can produce positive change

2. Conflict can unify people

3. Conflict can promote collaboration

Most conflicts can be resolved relatively easily, thus freeing participants to focus their energies on their work. Relationships improve accordingly.

As Maureen O'Brien states, in Who's Got the Ball, "Conflict is disconcerting; it makes us uncomfortable. Yet if we look at conflict with a clinical eye, we will see it as one of life's natural and neutral experiences. It's only when we attach our view to the experience that it becomes positive or negative.


If we view conflict as something that shouldn't be happening on our team, something that will cause our relationships to deteriorate, then it becomes negative. And if we see it as negative, we tend to avoid it, smooth it over, sweep it under the rug, and hope it will be away.

Conversely, if we view conflict as something that's bound to happen on any team and see it as an opportunity to strengthen our relationships, then it becomes positive. Seeing it in this light, we surface it, confront it, and take the steps necessary to resolve it. We get what we expect in each case. When we ignore conflict, the net effect is negative. When we resolve conflict, we become stronger as a team."

Let us all learn how to manage conflict well so that it can become a positive influence in our teams and at our workplaces - even the world!





Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sue_E_White

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What Is Workplace Conflict ?

The workplace is your second home. In fact, some of you probably spend more time at work than you do at home. You are indeed fortunate if you have the opportunity to work in a job which you find challenging and interesting. But, however satisfying your job is, there always seem to be some type of conflict.

Workplace conflict happens regularly between team members, departments, managers, suppliers, vendors and sometimes customers. If you are a manager, then the problem of workplace conflict becomes a major issue as you are confronted with it on a regular basis. As one manager complained, it seemed like they were spending more time mediating between people who behaved like spoiled children rather than creative and productive individuals.

What Is Workplace Conflict?

Conflict in the workplace can be defined as a strong difference of opinion that occurs in the workplace. It may start out as a simple complaint or just a difference of opinion. In many cases, such issues are either solved gradually or they die a natural death. However, statistics show that these differences are consuming a large portion of a manager's time and happening more frequently.

These situations may escalate to such a degree that the two concerned parties can no longer work together. They begin to object to the ideas and functions of one another purely on the basis of personal bias.The spirit of open minded camaraderie that is so essential for a productive environment is completely lost.

The concerned employees suffer; the manager has to spend time mediating between the two sides instead of focusing on more productive management responsibilities. The employees involved in the conflict may feel uncomfortable working together and the performance of the entire team suffers as a result.

The definition of conflict in the workplace has varied and each serves to bring out the different viewpoints regarding this ever present issue. In 1998, Professors Gilbert and Kreikebaum have the opinion that even if one party senses or anticipates a disagreement justifiably, conflict may said to exist.

On the other hand, Donahue and Kolt (1992) says that conflict is "... A situation in which independent people express (manifest or latent) differences in satisfying their individual needs and interests and they experience interference from each other in accomplishing these goals".

Can this universal definition of conflict be applied to workplace conflict as well?

The dynamics the workplace is somewhat unique which makes workplace conflict different. Before starting to tackle the issue of conflict in the workplace, you have to keep the following characteristics in mind:

While some people work because they love the job and truly care, many other need stronger motivation to put in their full effort in the job.

You do not get to choose your colleagues. Yet, you have to spend a lot of time with them, often in a high pressure situation. This is definitely a recipe for conflict.

The work environment is a hierarchical structure and employees are interdependent with one another. So, perceived inefficiency on the part of one employee is going to affect the job quality of others.

There are a number of dynamics operating in the workplace. Interdependence exists between colleagues, between the employee and the manager, the employee and the customer as well as the employee and outside suppliers. Whenever this delicate balance is upset, workplace conflict is the inevitable result.

Increases in the volume of interactions accompanied by a lack of open and definite communication are another vital ingredient in workplace conflict.

People with different personalities, cultures and styles must often work together in an interdependent way. Personality clashes as well as a clash of ideas consequently set the ground for workplace conflict.
The result of all the above factors can cause a disruption of work environments and the creation of the workplace conflict.

According to one study by Thomas and Schmidt in 1976, a typical manager spends almost 30% of their time resolving workplace conflict issues. This was followed by another similar study by Watson and Hoffman in 1996 which showed that this time workplace conflict has actually escalated to 42% of a mangers time in recent years.

The fact is that workplace conflict can arise from a series of reasons including differences in work-styles, background and gender, personalities, and skill level. When these types of conflicts go unresolved, they may turn into a much bigger problem down the road.The ability to address workplace conflict in the early stages is an important component to resolving the issue.

Unanswered or unmanaged conflict can escalate can disrupted an organization's growth as workers start spending more time entrenched in conflict than they do working on organizational goals.







Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Myron_Curry

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Conflict Resolution - Managing Workplace Conflict

It goes by many names -- conflict prevention, conflict resolution, conflict management, the names go on. These terms were all created to combat a similar problem. For the most part, people who deal with these issues all agree with the same principle:
Conflict resolution at an early stage is less costly and more manageable than trying to deal with its repercussions later.

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Favoritism Creates Conflict in the Workplace

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