CONFLICT IN THE WORKPLACE

Causes of Conflicts

Employee conflict in a workplace is a common occurrence that can jeopardize the working environment if they are not resolved. Solving the conflicts is an important aspect of maintaining a conducive working environment. It is wrong to believe that the conflicts will merely disappear as this assumption will simply make this small and simple conflicts grow and turn out to be a major problem (Johnson & Keddy, 2010). Conflicts arise due to different factors which are harmful to the organization and it is, therefore, important for the managers to understand and acknowledge themselves with the common causes of the conflicts in order to find a solution before the problem becomes unmanageable.

Poor communication is a major cause of the conflict amongst the employees. The difference in the communication style and failure to communicate causes the conflicts. For instance, a manager may reassign an employee’s task to a co-worker but then he will fail to communicate reassignment to the employee who was assigned the task first (Johnson & Keddy, 2010). Due to this an employee may feel slighted creating animosity between the manager and the employees. This will result in workplace gossiping lowering employee productivity and morale. The difference in personalities may also cause conflicts as a result of different background and experiences as it plays a role of in determining their personality. A conflict may arise when employees who have a straight forward personality may be seen to offend a co-worker who may not possess such as a trait and lacks authority (Cloke & Goldsmith, 2011).

Differences in value rise especially in a generational gap. An organization has many employees who have different years in terms of age. Young workers may be seen to possess different values compared to the older workers which may result to fail if the workers do not accept their differences. Workers may insult each other experiences and character creating a hostile working environment. Unhealthy competition in a workplace can cause conflicts (Johnson & Keddy, 2010). Salaries linked to employee’s production can cause a strong competition which may make employees sabotage and insult each other. This creates a hostile working environment further discouraging teamwork hence promoting individualism.

Ways to Resolve Conflicts

Communication is significant in any organization. The conflict of communication can be solved when all channels of communication are effective in order to avoid misinterpretation of information. Managers should also ensure that they communicate details pertaining work assignment and reassignment to the employees involved in order to minimize the conflict (Cloke & Goldsmith, 2011). The difference in personality can be resolved through when employees are given a chance to interact with each other and so that they may know how to deal with each other. Training programs will also help the not straightforward employees to raise their issues without being intimidated by others as they will be able to express themselves without fear despite the different background (Cloke & Goldsmith, 2011).

Personal values can contribute positively to the organization if the conflicts have been handled well. The youths in the organization can teach the older works especially on matters of technology and in return, the older workers may teach the younger employees how business is conducted and how to come up with a solution when problem emerge. Healthy competition is important in the organization as it helps employee put their best effort which will increase the company productivity (Cloke & Goldsmith, 2011). This can be maintained when managers try to harmonize the salaries and having proper remuneration to motivate the employees.

In conclusion, it is, therefore, important to resolve the conflicts between the employees so that the organization maybe able to achieve its objective hence more profitability. It is important for the employees to be educated so that they may try to avoid these conflicts so that they maintain a healthy working environment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reference

Cloke, K., & Goldsmith, J. (2011). Resolving conflicts at work: Ten strategies for everyone on the job. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Johnson, C., & Keddy, J. (2010). Managing conflict at work: Understanding and resolving conflict for productive working relationships. London: Kogan Page.