Lecture 4.

Business Alliances: Dealing with conflict in business

Background

Conflict can occur in any organization when employees with different backgrounds and priorities
work together. Conflict can be expressed in numerous ways such as insults, noncooperation,
bullying and anger. Its causes can range from personality clashes and misunderstood
communication to organizational mismanagement. The negative effects of workplace conflict
can include work disruptions, decreased productivity, project failure, absenteeism, turnover and
termination. Emotional stress can be both a cause and an effect of workplace conflict.

Experts offer several causes of workplace conflict, including:

 Personality differences.
 Workplace behaviors regarded by some co-workers as irritating.
 Unmet needs in the workplace.
 Perceived inequities of resources.
 Unclarified roles in the workplace.
 Competing job duties or poor implementation of a job description—for example, placing
a nonsupervisory employee in an unofficial position of "supervising" another employee.
 A systemic circumstance such as a workforce slowdown, a merger or acquisition, or a
reduction in force.
 Mismanagement of organizational change and transition.
 Poor communication, including misunderstood remarks and comments taken out of
context.
 Differences over work methods or goals or differences in perspectives attributable to age,
sex or upbringing.

Employers can manage workplace conflict by creating an organizational culture designed to

preclude conflict as much as possible and by dealing promptly and equitably with conflict that
employees cannot resolve among themselves. To manage conflict, employers should consider the
following:

 Make certain that policies and communication are clear and consistent, and make the
rationale for decisions transparent.
 Ensure that all employees—not just managers—are accountable for resolving conflict.
 Do not ignore conflict, and do not avoid taking steps to prevent it.
 Seek to understand the underlying emotions of the employees in conflict.
 Keep in mind that approaches to resolving conflict may depend on the circumstances of
the conflict.

Many experts maintain that although conflict is generally regarded as having a negative effect in
the workplace, a degree of properly managed conflict can be beneficial for an organization.
Conflict Management Training

To the effects of conflict, some managers and HR specialists are turning to conflict management
training. This kind of training takes many forms and covers many topics. It can be provided
through one-day workshops, small-group facilitations and one-on-one sessions. HR professionals
should select an approach based on the type of workplace conflict that needs to be addressed.

Developing Strong Employee Relations

When it occurs, conflict must be resolved quickly. It is also important to try to prevent it—that
is, to create an environment in which corrosive conflict is less likely to occur in the first place.
The foundation of such a culture is employee relations, the process of building strong
relationships between managers and employees based on fairness, trust and mutual respect. It
takes time, effort and money to create such a work environment, but a good employee relations
climate supports motivation, loyalty and high performance among employees, and it encourages
them to try to achieve the best results possible for their organization.

HR and other organizational leaders can use the following ingredients to create a strong
employee relations strategy:

 Interactive communication. Communication that is clear and two-way can help build
trust between employees and their managers.
 Trust. The absence of trust among employees and managers can compromise
communication in either or both directions.
 Ethics. If employees do not perceive their manager as having good business ethics, they
will indirectly question the manager's motives, which may cause stress and reduce
performance.
 Fairness. All employees should be treated in a consistent manner under the same
circumstances. Superior performance, however, should still be recognized and rewarded.
 Empathy. Managers need to be alert and sensitive to their employees' feelings, and
showing empathy and awareness is central to establishing a trusting relationship with
employees.
 Perceptions and beliefs. Perceptions can be essential in employee relations. Employees
respond positively when they believe the organization's policies and practices are fair and
its communication is truthful. Frequent, honest communication helps ensure that
employees' beliefs and perceptions are consistent with reality in the workplace.
 Clear expectations. Employees need to know what to expect from their managers. No
one likes to be surprised with new or conflicting requirements, which can cause stress
and distract employees from the job at hand.
 Conflict resolution. Although conflicts arise in every organization, the methods to
handle them vary. Employers must deal with issues head-on and resolve disputes fairly
and quickly.

WRITTEN RULES, POLICIES AND AGREEMENTS

Employees should understand how workplace conflicts will be resolved. An organization
communicates its expectations typically via an employee handbook, HR policies, and written
contracts and agreements with certain high-level individuals.

Written HR policies are essential to provide guidance to managers and employees on how
conflicts and other issues should be handled. Such policies include any formal mechanisms in
place to help employees resolve differences and provisions to prohibit retaliation against
employees who raise concerns.

EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT

Conflicts have a better chance of being managed quickly and successfully when an organization
has a strong leadership team in place. Leaders that allow poor behavior from employees or
ignore workplace bullies will certainly experience damaged employee relations. An effective
management team is imperative in preventing slippage in employee morale and increases in
turnover.

CAREFUL HIRING

A key strategy to avoid employee relations problems is to make sure the organization's hiring
process embodies good interviewing skills and selection procedures and pre-employment
screening, including a background investigation.

A company's culture can have a significant impact on whether a candidate is likely to succeed
within the organization.

FAIR GRIEVANCE PROCESSES

Organizations should have written policies and definitions pertaining to dispute mechanisms
available in the organization that provide clear guidance for the employer and the employees.
The policy should state the scope and limitations of each mechanism and spell out each method's
terms, such as eligibility, frequency, decision process, and required sign-off and approvals for
settling a matter.

Employers that implement a system through which parties can resolve conflict within the
company create incentives for employees to avoid engaging in costly and time-consuming
external litigation. Organizations typically have multiple ways for employees to work out
interpersonal or organizational differences. The existence of a grievance system may also
improve employee morale because employees feel they have options for pursuing conflict
resolution.

Here are common steps to resolve workplace disputes:

Open-door policy. This is a first step. It encourages employees to meet with their immediate
supervisor to discuss and resolve work-related issues. Employees should know that there will be
no negative repercussions for voicing a complaint.

Management review. If the open-door approach does not resolve the conflict, the next step is to
have the issue reviewed by the next-higher level of management.

Peer review. The aggrieved employee presents his or her side of a dispute to a small panel of
employees and supervisors selected from a pool of employees trained in dispute resolution. This
method often succeeds because employees participate in decisions that affect them. Depending
on the organization, a peer review may be binding on both parties. If it is not binding and the
resolution is not satisfactory to the employee, the dispute may be submitted to mediation or
arbitration.

The following are types of conflict resolution techniques available to organizations:

Facilitation. A neutral employee in the organization—often an employee relations manager—

acts as a facilitator, not to judge the merits of the dispute or to render a final decision, but to help
both sides decide the best way to settle the dispute.

Mediation. A mediator is a neutral third party who helps the conflicting parties explore
innovative solutions to their dispute. Mediators can be internal employees trained in conflict
management and mediation, or they can be trained external professionals who have no perceived
conflict of interest with the employer. Resolving a dispute through mediation should be
voluntary.

Arbitration. This is typically the most formal, costly and time-consuming method of resolving
disputes. Witnesses may be presented and cross-examined, and an arbitrator issues a binding
decision.

Endnote

1 Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development. (2015). Getting under the skin of
workplace conflict: Tracing the experiences of employees. Retrieved from
http://www.cipd.co.uk/binaries/getting-under-skin-workplace-conflict_2015-tracing-experiences-
employees.pdfn
How To Handle Conflict At Your Business

When you get a group of people together, conflict is likely to occur at some point. This includes
your employees. People will disagree or find fault in one another. There might be passive jabs or
yelling fights.
As harmonious as you’d like your workplace to be, there will be rifts at some point. Perfect
responses to behavioral interview questions and pristine job-fit assessments don’t guarantee a
constantly peaceful workplace.

5 Steps To Handle Conflict

Hopefully, your employees can resolve their own conflicts. But sometimes, you might need to
step in to help. When a conflict erupts between your employees, use the following five steps to
walk them through the situation.

1. Welcome Conflict

Conflict at work can be a good thing. It can show you where issues lie within your business.
And, it can help your employees grow and improve as a team. Don’t shy away from conflict.
Tackle it as soon as possible before it escalates. Avoiding conflict can be a bad thing. Tension
might increase and the conflict can become worse.

When you discover a conflict between employees, encourage them to work it out. Offer yourself
as a mediator. Or, simply be in the room with the employees to defuse tension if needed.

2. Open Communication

The only way to resolve conflict is to communicate. Encourage your feuding employees to set up
a time to meet, whether alone or with your supervision. There should be ample time to talk
without distractions.

Make sure each person has the opportunity to say what they want. They shouldn’t be interrupted
by you or the other employee involved. Also, one employee should not control the conversation.
Both should be offered an equal amount of time to talk.

An employee shouldn’t attack or blame the other during this time. If needed, set some ground
rules. For example, you might ask the employees to focus on the problem at hand, not personal
characteristics.
3. Listen Actively

Having the employees meet to talk is only beneficial if everyone involved actively listens.
Everyone should give their full attention to the person who is talking. You and the other
employees involved should not be checking emails, playing on phones, or doodling on paper.

As mentioned in step two, don’t interrupt the person who is talking. Let them finish saying
everything they want to say.

Listening should be all about understanding the other person’s perspective. Ask follow up
questions to help clarify what an employee is saying. You can also ask them to repeat or reword
what they said.

You can rephrase and repeat what an employee said to make sure you understand them. For
example, you might say something like, “You feel … because of … Is that correct?” This gives
the employee an opportunity to clarify anything.

4. Build Agreement

The discussion will primarily be about the disagreement, but that shouldn’t be the only thing you
talk about. The employees should also search for points of agreement. The agreements generate
positivity, which might help dissolve the conflict. Agreement can give the employees common
ground to build their relationship on.

If people can’t find commonalities, one might need to help them. Look for common things even
if they are small. Show that they do have things in common to pull them together.

5. Give guidance

When you help work through a conflict, it’s important not to take sides. You are simply there to
help the employees work through their problem.
Guide the conversation and keep it focused. Give advice on what they should do next. You might
give them action items and further things to discuss.

You might also use what you learn to make changes in your business procedures to prevent
future conflicts.