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Conflicts in the workplaces are common; however, not all such conflicts are unproductive. They can sometimes be necessary for changes to take place within an organization. When conflicts are unresolved, however, they may result in workers feeling quite dissatisfied, unhappy, depressed, and de-motivated; thus they may also impact negatively on employee performance. Workers may begin to feel emotionally and physically withdrawn from the work environment. As a result, a worker whose issues have not been resolved may choose to resign from work and become aggressive or even violent (Lucas & Mathieson, 2006).Undoubtedly, a workplace by nature is quite a stressful environment. A major cause of this stress is personal conflicts that occur between co-workers. If these conflicts continue to aggravate, they may cause chaos further impairing the environment (Desivilya et el., 2010). A lot of consultants in human resource management state that it is important for the management of an organization to understand issues that cause conflicts in order to find solutions to the problems.Conflict has been defined as disagreements that are sharp and difficult to resolve. They normally arise as a result of opposing ideas or interests. This is because different employees strive for different things. When there are conflicts in the office, workers’ morale is bound to be low, and workers are likely to produce less than they would in a healthy working environment. In a hostile working environment with numerous conflicts, workers tend to find excuses for being absent from work. If conflicts are not fixed timely, they may increase and eventually turn into confrontations that are large-scale in nature and they may even become violent (Roberts, 2006). It has been noted that most managers spend more than a quarter of their time in the office resolving conflicts that occur in the workplace. This is regarded as a large amount of time that could be spent on doing more productive activities. It is not only the productivity of managers that is affected; employees also do not manage to focus on their roles due to the tense environment in the office. This will definitely affect the overall performance of an organization (Roberts, 2006).The challenge of conflict resolution is one that both employers and workers have to deal with. In this essay, I will analyse types of conflicts that occur in the workplace on a day-to-day basis. I will also explore ways through which these conflicts can be resolved. Conflict is not always a bad thing, even though it has several disadvantages. Conflicts can sometimes lead to an organization becoming better in the event solutions are found. The first thing that a manager should do when a conflict arises is to identify causes of the conflict.According to Weitzman & Weitzman (2006), the main causes of conflicts at work are personal values that differ and policies that are not predictable. Some other factors that cause conflicts in the workplace are conflicting needs. There are times when resources in the workplace are scarce, and employees have to compete for them. Also, employees can be competing for attention; they may want to be recognized or to be more powerful. Some other resources that workers may compete for include space in the office, supplies in the office, the organization’s budget fund, and even the boss’s time (Weitzman & Weitzman, 2006).There are usually employees who are considered to be in the front line and are favoured by the authorities. Thus, employees at the bottom of the pecking order always plot against the ‘haves’. Due to the nature of the work environment, employees in the workplace tend to interdependent. This dynamics at work and the interdependency have been known to result in conflicts. Conflicts may be between employees, employees and clients, and employees and service providers. The management should be able to recognize factors that cause conflicts and ways of addressing and resolving them.As a matter of fact, conflicts that occur in the workplace can be avoided and prevented; moreover, they are sometimes necessary. Many employees do not like conflicts and will try as much as they can to avoid them. Conflict is not new to humankind. What is more, psychologists argue that it is normal and even natural. Conflicts occur among professionals and at a personal level. When a conflict occurs in the right setting and it is handled in the proper manner, it can be very beneficial to an organization. When conflicts take place, they may trigger some necessary changes in an organization that would not have occurred if the conflicts had not arisen (McCarthy, 2006). It is critical that the manager should find ways of managing goals that are conflicting, especially in an environment in which resources are limited. If the manager chooses to ignore issues and leaves conflicts unresolved, the issues are likely to escalate to a point when operations at the organization are brought to a halt. There are managers who choose not to deal with issues when they arise. They prefer to act as though those issues do not exist and therefore do nothing to resolve them. When issues are ignored and unresolved, they only aggravate the situation. It may explode and become even worse than it was at the very beginning. There are also managers who may consider the use of valuable resources in resolving conflicts as a luxury. This is because resolving a conflict takes time and energy that could have been put into better use. It is very effective to resolve issues and maintain good relationships in the office. The organization should invest in training staff members in ways of communication and resolution of conflicts. This is seen as a gift that will keep bearing fruit to the company.A workplace that does not experience conflict is one in which workers do not care about the organization. It is normal for conflicts to take place whenever people work together and share ideas like in many organizations. Workers should not, however, be allowed to enjoy conflicts just because it is an integral part of working in the office. The opportunity to resolve a conflict should be taken as the opportunity to learn. Workplaces that experience conflicts and are able to handle them constructively are more efficient than those that do not experience conflicts at all.In particular, when a workplace is changing and new ideas are being suggested and implemented, a conflict is inevitable. There can be no business change without a conflict. The trick is to make sure that a conflict should lead to a change, because that is a truly dangerous thing when conflicts go on for years with all parties refusing to budge. The second cause of conflicts in the workplace lies in conflicting styles of operation (Mullins, 2010)
. Employees have different ways of approaching issues, and this may cause frictions if not handled well. It is important for colleagues to understand different styles that exist in the company in order to avoid conflicts. Once an individual has established a particular way of handling issues, other people will also begin to understand how to deal with them. Employers can use personality tests to determine personalities of various employees in the company. There are those workers who prefer a working environment that is well-structured, while there are those who would rather work in environments that are not well-structured. This is likely to cause conflicts if the two types of workers are required to work together.Two or more workers may have perceptions that are conflicting. This is because various people view things in different ways. Even when an organization hires a new person, other workers may view the new employee differently (Schuler and Jackson, 1999). One employee may see the new worker as an advantage, bringing more hands to get the work done. Another employee, however, may view the newcomer as an insult. They may have the opinion that the management does not believe in their ability to get the work done and is therefore hiring a more qualified person. Conflicting perceptions often come as a result of performance reviews, rumours in the company, comments in the hallway, and even feedback from clients. When certain departments in an organization are thought to be more valuable to an organization than others, conflict in perception is likely to occur (Schuler and Jackson, 1999).Conflicts also arise because of employees having opposite goals. Employees in an organization often hold different viewpoints. Normally, they are responsible for doing different duties in trying to achieve the same goal. Various departments in an organization are important, but they are often in conflict with each other.In an organization, it is one of the duties of the management to ensure that a healthy work environment is created for objectives to be met. An immediate intervention is needed when there are differences in ideas, viewpoints, and goals and when turf wars begin to escalate into conflicts that are interpersonal. For the sake of the organization, the management should intervene in order to create a positive atmosphere. The intervention and mediation skills of the manager will be critical in solving these issues (Rollinson, 2004).Also, it will be important for the manager to meet together with all opposing parties. Each person should be given an opportunity to explain their point of view briefly without being interrupted by any other party. After all the parties have expressed their feelings, a short discussion should be held. It is important that employees should not attack each other, and this should not be allowed during such meetings.The next step should be to invite every participant to suggest some particular actions that they would wish to see being taken as a way of resolving conflicts. The manager should seek to get no less than three suggestions; four would work just fine. The manager should also be willing to take some responsibility for the chaos that is caused by unresolved conflicts. They should try to find out from employees if there could be anything in the office that stops them from functioning properly. In this case, open discussions will be very important in resolving conflicts (Callanan & Perri, 2006). The participants should talk freely, without the fear of revenge. After discussions, the participants will be given commitments that will help them in making changes. They should give consent to these commitments so that it does not look as if the organization or the management persuade them into making any decisions that they do not agree to. They need to realize that disagreements over goals and opinions are normal and predictable in all work environments. The kinds of disagreements that should never be allowed to occur in the workplace are those that are personal in nature.The antagonists should also know that the manager is impartial and that they do not wish to take sides of any particular employee. In addition, the manager should entrust resolving issues to antagonists and treat them as adults who are responsible and capable of solving problems. In the event that they fail at this or are not willing to resolve these issues among themselves, the manager will have no choice but to intervene. The manager may even have to dismiss both parties that are involved in the conflict.While communication has been mentioned as one of the causes of conflicts at work, it is also the best way to resolve issues. For the environment in the workplace to be productive and peaceful, it is important for workers to learn how to communicate effectively with each other (Watson 2001). This will allow them to resolve disputes faster and more easily. The art of effective communication and resolution of conflicts must be learned. Proper mechanisms of communicating properly and resolving conflicts peacefully should be put in place to avoid future conflicts. Also, conducive approaches should be used when training employees who do not communicate effectively (Rizzo et al., 1997).
ConclusionIt is not always easy to resolve conflicts that arise in the workplace. It may be challenging to mediate in conflicts in the office, but the supervisor or the manager is responsible for making sure that the working environment in the office remains conducive to maximum productivity. The willingness of the supervisor or the manager to intervene in conflicting situations is important if they are eager to succeed. Making the work environment conducive is likely to encourage workers to produce more. They say that the success of a firm is the success of the manager. Just because there is a conflict in an organization, it does not mean that the supervisor is bad. This only shows that members of the staff care about what they do and want to improve their performance. The most important thing is to resolve conflicts effectively and timely.ReferencesCallanan, GA, Perri, DF, 2006, ‘Teaching conflict management using a scenario-based approach,’
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