Why an office conflict is not necessarily bad
ELBONOMICS: Workplace disagreement is inevitable, but conflict is optional.
Many of our teams are often in disarray because of people who would not take things sitting down. More often, some people would like their views to be accepted by the majority. And when things don’t go their way, they would create more trouble to prove their ideas are better. How do we handle such conflict? — Can’t Take It.
Conflict is always present in every situation. Take it in stride and be positive along the way. Whatever it takes, be like an optimistic 85-year- old man who marries a 30-year-old woman and buys her a house next to a maternity clinic and a grade school.
It’s human for everyone to be in conflict with one another as we see things differently. This happens because of our different beliefs, orientations, and experiences. In particular, organizational conflict results from disagreements on how to achieve certain corporate or departmental targets, what values to follow, priority on what problems to solve, relevance of facts, and the methods for resolving them, among other things.
A conflict becomes complicated when other factors come into play. These may include individual career aspirations of those involved, their personal differences, a high- pressure working environment, customer demands, toxic bosses and even incompetent colleagues.
However, a conflict when properly managed can be advantageous to an organization. Believe it or not, a conflict can bring a company, big or small into greater heights. It can lead people to different challenges, many of which can stimulate a lot of competitive excitement and spirit among the players so that they can bring out the best in them.
It can also bring innovative ideas and mutual benefits for “warring” parties. Otherwise, if badly managed, any conflict can bring many negative consequences like hurt feelings that would be difficult to repair. Therefore, how would you handle organizational conflict? There are many ways to solve it in a positive manner. They include the following approaches:
First, agree on the team’s code of conduct. This means the creation of ground rules that should be acceptable to all members. This includes the regular schedule of meetings, the agenda, maximum time allocation, punctuality of members, and of course — the proper method on how to resolve a conflict. Depending on the timeline, a good approach is to do secret balloting which can only be done as a last resort. Otherwise, seek the consensus of everyone.
Second, ensure the objective allocation of company resources. Everyone must be aware that there are not enough resources for his/ her consumption. Therefore, management must often make hard decisions, usually based on the ground rules, if not the applicable management policy on who will have what, how much, and when the group should enjoy them. If not, teach people to discover unutilized or underperforming resources like excess staff, old equipment, or vacant office spaces as alternative solutions.
Third, share information with everyone. Most of the time, conflict can happen because of lack of information, if not misinformation. You will be surprised that even managers don’t know what their corporate vision, mission and values are — even if they’re clearly posted everywhere in the board room, annual reports, and the company’s Web site. The trouble is that many of them don’t know how to relate them with their tasks.
Fourth and last, create and maintain a proactive two-way communication process. Do this on a regular basis and not on a per need basis. This alone can prevent mistrust among team members. Much more, a regular consultation system prevents people for blaming others when something turns as a failure. To do this, everyone must initiate a face- to- face meeting that can happen if everyone is given the chance to say his ideas via a group chat as a timesaving device.
Therefore, your management must focus its attention on what can provide a mutually beneficial result. Above all, handle competition in such a way that it can best achieved through the cooperation of two or more employees. Of course, it’s difficult. But there’s no other way. As long as you can offer every mitigating circumstance for everyone, chances are, they will follow your advice, because they trust you more.