Conflict in the Workplace
By Renee Boyda
Workplace conflict refers to disputes that arise between coworkers.
Conflict is a natural human tendency, and negative interactions can be reduced and resolved with some effort from all parties. However, when conflict becomes disruptive to your business or starts affecting other employees, it can become a huge problem.
Workplace conflict affects morale, productivity and employee retention. It can also be a cause for increased employee absenteeism and a poisoned workplace culture. If not managed quickly and effectively, it can permanently damage relationships between employees and leadership and become a huge waste of time and resources. It can also be viewed as a failure of management, giving the impression that employees are not a priority. In a smaller business, where each team member relies heavily on each other, conflict in the workplace can take a massive toll.
Workplace conflict can come from a variety of sources. Most often, workplace conflict stems from perceived inequality, contrasting work styles, communication preferences, personality differences, cultural and diversity differences, unclear job roles or management expectations, limited or scarce resources, resistance to organizational change, leadership styles, discriminatory practices (intentional or unintentional), or poorly worded (or completely absent) company policies. Finding out the source of your workplace conflict is essential to resolving it.
To resolve conflict in your organization, follow these key steps:
- Act immediately. Do not wait for conflict to end, it will just fester. As soon as you are aware of conflict get involved.
- Recognize that conflict is normal. It happens and will continue to happen wherever people interact with one another. As a manager you need to be prepared to handle it. Develop your conflict resolution skills to allow you to properly address conflict when it happens.
- Encourage open communication. Listen to all sides of the conflict and ask questions for clarification. You need to understand the core of the conflict. Create a safe space where employees can feel comfortable sharing their concerns without fear of reprisal.
- the best way to handle the conflict, such as facilitated discussions, coaching, or mediation.
- Look for win-win solutions, and do not take sides. Focus on mutually agreeable solutions. Encourage collaborative problem-solving.
- Lead by example and model desired behaviours such as active listening and problem-solving.
- Promote a respectful culture and set clear expectations for workplace conduct by developing a robust respectful workplace policy and reporting procedures. Ensure that this policy is reviewed with each employee and manager and is a part of the orientation process for new hires.
- Provide training on respectful communication and handling workplace conflict effectively.
- Eliminate ambiguity in job roles and management expectations by ensuring that job descriptions are up to date and by having regular performance management meetings and reviews.
As mentioned, if not resolved quickly, conflict can quickly lead to more extreme behaviour like harassment or bullying. A manager needs to be able to tell the difference between the two. Workplace conflict harassment and bullying differ in several key aspects:
- Power imbalance – Conflict happens between people with equal power, but in harassment or bullying, one person attempts to exert control over another.
- Level of intent and repetition of behaviour – Conflict is often a single event without malicious intent, whereas bullying is intentional and repeated behaviour aimed at humiliating, offending, or intimidating someone.
- Willingness to resolve the situation – In conflict, there is a willingness to resolve the situation. With bullying behaviour, there is often no interest in seeking resolution.
Subtle signs of workplace bullying can be challenging for a manager to pick up on. Some behaviours to watch for are providing incorrect or withholding information, excessive or persistent criticism of someone else’s work, delaying or sabotaging someone else’s work, and isolating someone from social events or meetings. A manager needs to know the difference between conflict and harassment or bullying. Employers are required by law to handle harassment and bullying as set out in the legislation of their jurisdiction, including occupational health and safety legislation, federal or provincial legislation and human rights legislation.
If you need any assistance with conflict in your workplace, require a policy, mediation or workplace investigation, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at Legacy Bowes.
Renee Boyda is a human resources consultant with Legacy Bowes. Renee is a CPHR Candidate, received her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Manitoba, and received both Human Resource Management and Management Development Certificates with Honours from Red River College. Renee is focused on building HR structures and processes to create consistency and fairness in workplaces across Canada. Renee is a proud Metis, with over 12 years of human resource experience in both union and non-union environments. She can be reached at (204) 947-5525.
