Conflict Resolution In The Workplace

As business owner myself, I understand the need conflict resolution in the workplace. Successfully working through conflicts can result in stronger working relationships that promote creative and inspired solutions, while handling conflicts poorly has the possibility of resulting in damaged relationships that inhibit the expression of valuable differences in perspective.

As the phrase "conflict management" implies, there are various ways of handling conflicts. Quite often, conflicts need to be resolved; however, other times they should be encouraged. The word conflict itself is synonymous with problems and difficult situations. However, this is not always the case. Small or insignificant disagreements can encourage creative thinking and innovative solutions to issues that directly impact your group or decisions which groups are responsible for making. The reason conflicts in the office have received such bad reviews in the first place is because of the emotional aspects that seem to follow so closely behind them. When a conflict occurs between team members, it most likely means that there is a strong difference of opinion between two or more individuals. The conflict usually is in relation to interests or ideas that are personally significant to one or both of the people involved in the conflict. Disagreements among colleagues can be beneficial to a group environment, when the focus of the conflict is on finding the best solution to a specific problem. Conflicts among team members often tend to become damaging when their focus is on personal tensions, personalities, or self-gain. Conflicts often have multiple sources of disagreement. This makes it difficult to arrive as a meaningful solution; however, unless the root cause of the problem is dealt with, the conflict might never be resolved.

Conflicts arise between team members for a large number of reasons such as goals, priorities, or responsibilities. Conflicts can also occur due to differing information, ideas or interpretations. Even age can play a factor in conflict escalation. A significant gap in age between people can lead to disagreements due to the fact that people of one generation may not understand the values or traditions of another. Cooperation between older and younger people is sometimes difficult to achieve. Conflicts can particularly become difficult to manage no matter who is involved when team members fail to produce mutually satisfying solutions or when they become personal in nature. It is important to remember that conflicts are disagreements. If a person who disagrees with you is bringing up valid questions, it may benefit you or your group to discuss the issues they are presenting. By listening to what this person or group of people have to say, you may even gain important insight into things that may or may not be working within your organization.

Too often, parties that are involved in a conflict spend a majority of their time talking instead of listening to what the speaker has to say. When one person is speaking, the other individual is busy preparing a response or thinking of additional ways to support his or her stance on the issue, rather than listening to what is being said. All too often, as a listener, one will judge a statement or conversation from his or her own viewpoint without considering the other person's stance. In situations such as these, true communication does not occur; people tend to hear what they want to hear, rather than the point the speaker intended to get across. It is vital that all parties involved in a conflict do their very best to understand the other parties concerns and frustrations. It is not necessary to agree with them but it is important that you let them know that you understand their issues and will do your best to address them in a timely manner. This can be done by asking questions and listening until you have solid understanding of all the necessary information that is needed to make an educated decision. During a conflict the people involved need to stop and truly listen to what others have to say. If this is not done, there is a good chance that an agreement or resolution will be delayed or prevented altogether. It is also important to keep in mind that when emotions come into play, people many say or do things that they will layer come to regret.

Disagreements and conflicts are a part of normal business operations; one might even say that they are inevitable. The challenge lies in finding direct and constructive ways to manage disagreements when they do arise. For the most part, conflicts do not simply go away. People tend to avoid or ignore difficult situations in which they are involved. While this may temporarily alleviate the problem, it is not a permanent resolution. Recurring conflicts decrease productivity and can harm working relationships. Most of the time, recurring conflict occurs because the people involved in the conflict, have failed to address the root-cause of the issue that they are in disagreement about.

Successful conflict resolution requires that people seek out and identify viable solutions that are satisfactory to all who are involved. When team members that are involved in a conflict are open to winning some parts of an argument and compromising on others parts, a plausible solution is more likely to come to fruition. When the traditional office model of a winner and a looser is used to resolve conflict, many times the looser is left with feelings of ill will and resentment toward the team. In the long term, no one is better off. It is important to always keep in mind that both parties are looking for a win/win situation. Neither party involved wants to walk away feeling like they just gave away something for nothing. In fact, most conflicts begin because one of the parties feels like the other party is taking advantage of them. The best way to avoid these types of situations is to realize effective problem-solving and communication within the workplace can not only help employees work together better, but can also improve their overall working environment; however, if this is not possible, keep in mind that not everyone involved in the conflict has to agree on every issue. Sometimes the best solution is to agree to disagree. Attempting to agree with or please everyone involved can sometimes create more problems that good.