Ways of Managing Conflict in Organizations
Conflict can be viewed negatively or positively.
Conflict
is inevitable in small businesses. Conflict can arise from a variety of
sources, and between supervisors and subordinates, between co-workers, and
between employees and customers. Managers and organizations can choose to see
conflict as inherently negative, acting to suppress it at every opportunity, or
as inherently positive, leveraging conflict to affect positive change.
Positive Perspective
Accept
conflict as a natural growth process and influence your company culture to view
constructive conflict positively. Conflict can be an asset to your small
business if it is handled properly. It can help your organization to learn from
its mistakes and identify areas of needed improvement. Innovation can be
inspired from creative solutions to internal or external conflicts, and new
ways of thinking can emerge.
Grievance Procedure
Create
a formal grievance procedure for all employees. Let employees at all levels of
your organization know that their voices will always be heard, and respond
promptly and reasonably to employees issues. This can prevent bad feelings from
festering and growing into resentment and bitterness. Conflict is best handled
quickly and openly. If your company culture is sufficiently friendly toward
constructive conflict, your staff should see the value of letting their
complaints, ideas and issues be heard.
Get to the Cause
Focus
on deep-rooted causes rather than superficial effects when assessing conflicts.
Parties to a conflict often claim to have issues with the behavior of co-workers
or the outcome of company policies and work procedures, but these issues are
likely being caused by something deeper. Attempting to resolve the conflict by
addressing surface issues will rarely create meaningful change or lasting
solutions. Look deeper to address the reasons that incidents occur.
As
an example, if a supervisor finds himself constantly in conflict with a loyal
employee due to falling productivity levels, the supervisor may naturally want
to address the employee behavior head-on. Upon closer analysis, however, the
supervisor may realize that the employee has been increasingly dissatisfied
with his job ever since last year’s disappointing performance review.
Revisiting the review with the employee may be much more effective than
creating incremental performance goals for him.
Equal Voices
Give
all parties to a conflict an equal voice, regardless of their position, length
of service or political influence. Conflict participants can become defensive
if they feel they are being marginalized or are going through a process leading
to a predetermined outcome. It can be tempting to take the word of managers
over front-line employees, or to take the word of a loyal employee over a new
employee, but remember that your most trusted associates are not necessarily
infallible. Go beyond simply giving everyone an equal chance to speak; give
their arguments an equal weight in your mind when mediating a conflict.
Resolution Participation
Involve
all parties, if possible, when drafting conflict resolutions. The theory of
Management By Objectives (MBO) states that employees are generally more
committed to goals that they have helped to create. The same holds true for
conflict resolutions. There is more than one side to every conflict, and all sides
should benefit from conflict resolution. Seek resolutions that will prevent the
conflict from occurring again, rather than simply delaying a repeat occurrence.
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