Managing Conflict
Workplace conflict occurs when an individual’s ideas, decisions or actions relating directly to their job are not aligned with the organisation’s viewpoint, or when two or more people just don’t get along.
Workplace conflict arises from two sources: organisational factors or individual factors. Often conflict is seen as an individual’s issue/ fault/ problem when it can be organisational factors (such as poor leadership, bullying, poor decision-making, lack of communication, impossible deadlines or not providing the proper tools to get the job done) that make it appear like an individual’s issue.
The first step in resolving the conflict is to discover what’s going on and why it’s happening.
Once you know this, the second step is to match it with an intervention strategy which addresses its origins and extent.
These strategies include:
- Offering counselling to the individual/s involved.
- Reducing stress triggers in the workplace.
- Developing new or improved communication practices or systems.
- Clarifying individual job roles and accountabilities.
- Establishing and creating ownership of a corporate vision or related over-arching goal which reconciles the interests of the parties.
- Where staff members are required to collaborate, ensuring that goal and reward structures are collaborative rather than competitive.
- Establishing or improving grievance procedures.
If you’ve implemented the above strategies and they haven’t resolved the conflict OR you feel the conflict has advanced too far, then mediation is an option that can be utilised before starting down the dismissal or legal pathways.
Mediation is a process which employs a range of methods—notably reason and persuasion—to bring the parties to a mutually satisfactory solution.
A mediator is a neutral third party acceptable to the contending parties.
Mediators seek to clarify the issues, identify what’s at stake for the parties, and employ problem-solving methods and techniques.
Call us today for further information on how we can resolve your workplace conflict.
