While conflict is generally viewed as a negative term, there are some types of conflict that should be welcome within the workplace. Conflict is a natural reaction, especially in work groups where there are differing personalities, but conflict isn’t always bad.

In some cases, conflict can be friendly. For example, a conflict may occur when one employee feels he has a better idea or plan than another, or if he feels the other person’s idea is flawed. They must then challenge each other in order to come to a final resolution. Without this type of conflict, a business might suffer.

Believe it or not, I implore you to try encouraging conflict, at least on a low level. With that in mind, here are three things you should keep in mind as conflicts arise in your workplace.

Recognize those who are brave enough to take a stand. A while back we talked about something known as the spiral of silence, in which employees are afraid to take a stand and voice their opinions. This is a method of conflict avoidance, but in some cases this type of conflict should NOT be avoided. Make sure you thank people who make contributions to discussions, especially if they are supporting a specific cause or position and regardless of the outcome. Professional courage and dedication is an appropriate form of conflict.

Make it OK to disagree. As a manager, are you asking your employees for their opinions or are you asking them to validate your ideas. Sometimes managers tend to formulate plans, ask for opinions, and then ignore the responses they receive. Their actions and attitudes tell their team members that’s it’s really not OK to disagree and, therefore, no one does so. Make sure you are supporting your words with your actions and attitudes. Don’t look down on the criticism you receive, positive or negative.

Support differing opinions. It’s OK to have differing opinions within a workgroup, but the way to prevent those opinions from turning into a negative form of conflict is to ask your employees to back them up with cold hard facts. Being forced to collect data will encourage your employees to remain competitive with teach other without letting their personal opinions drive their arguments. If they have the facts to support their opinions you’ll be able to work through the conflict at hand.
A little conflict in the workplace never hurt anyone, but it’s most productive when it’s friendly and controlled, thus enabling you to find the best ways for dealing with complaints. Are you fostering positive conflict within your work environment?

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”

There’s something about conflict that makes even the best of managers want to run away and hide under a rock. Unfortunately, as a manager you have to take control of any situation within your workplace, whether positive or negative. You are in charge of identifying the situation, intervening, and facilitating mediation.

I have, however, learned from experience that becoming too involved in a situation does more harm than good. If you spend too much time trying to figure out who is right and who is wrong you eventually find yourself unfairly biased towards one side or the other and, suddenly, you are no longer able to make a fair decision. Here are a few things you should NOT do when attempting to mediate a conflict.

Do not pretend the conflict does not exist. Most conflicts do not really ever go away by themselves. As a matter of fact, if it appears a conflict has resolved itself you should keep a careful eye on the participants, become one will likely explode later as those tense feelings fester beneath the surface. Suck it up and deal with the situation.

Do not allow each participant to corner you individually. Each person would prefer to have you believe his side of the story is more important or more accurate. Allowing each person to meet with you separately only fosters this need. Unless there is fear of physical altercation, meet with all participants together and encourage them to share their views in a constructive manner.

Do not let those in conflict spread their negativity throughout the entire office. Everyone working within the general vicinity of those in conflict is going to be impacted by the stress, anxiety, and disruption caused by the conflict. Don’t let anyone involved discuss the conflict with anyone else. Try to keep the incident as isolated as possible in order to ensure it does not begin to impact the functionality of others within the workplace.

Conflict is almost guaranteed in today’s workplace, but if handled carefully and effectively you can nip it in the bud and turn it into a constructive experience. Not sure you or your fellow managers have what it takes? Consider additional training on dealing with conflict so that you can approach each day confident you are able to handle whatever life throws your way!

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”

One of the most valuable tools in resolving conflict is a strong understanding of what actually causes conflict to begin with. There are three main categories of conflict you need to keep in mind.

When two or more individuals are involved it is known as an interpersonal conflict. Individuals may have distinct personalities, attitudes, and goals that just don’t blend together well. Everyone forms individual perceptions about their values and workplace goals, and it is not uncommon for these differing ideas to cause tension.

On the other hand, you may find that the conflict within your organisation is between two distinct groups, causing an intergroup conflict. For example, in an automobile dealership there may be tension between the finance department and the sales department. The sales department may feel as though the finance team isn’t working hard enough to approve loans so that they can make sales. The finance team will, in turn, feel as though the sales department doesn’t understand how difficult financing is in today’s economy.

The last type of conflict we’ll discuss today occurs when your organisation as a whole disagrees with the environment (aka, another organisation or entity). This can occur when one business feels as though the other stole a valued trademark or idea. On the other hand, the public may boycott an organisation or product due to what they feel were bad business decisions.

Understanding how conflict is caused will enable you to quickly identify what steps need to be taken when you are forming a plan for conflict resolution. Conflicts need to be resolved as soon as possible in order to keep your workplace running smoothly and efficiently.

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”

As a manager, or even as a management trainee, you’re going to spend a significant amount of time focusing on how to deal with conflict as it arises. No two situations are going to be alike, so you’ll find having a grasp upon a handful of different strategies to be more beneficial than not.

Before you can decide upon a conflict management strategy, you must ask yourself three main questions:

1. Who is involved in the conflict at hand? Are they individuals, teams, departments, or a combination of each?

2. Why are these individuals or groups in conflict with each other? Is it personal or professional?

3. How serious is the conflict? Is it brewing just under the surface, is it growing in intensity, or does it need immediate attention?

There are a myriad of ways to deal with conflict, but here are a few of my favourites:

Avoid the conflict. It seems as though this is not a strategy at all, but if you are consciously monitoring a conflict while avoiding it, you’ll be able to intervene if it becomes necessary. Avoidance tends to work very well if two employees are involved in a simple disagreement and are likely to come to their own conclusions without help.

Find a compromise. Meet with both parties, understand their points of view, and figure out what each one can give up in order to make the other happy. Each should find the resolution to be palatable in some way, shape, or form. They will each be forced to stand down on some issues while maintaining their positions on others, but no one person will be forced to completely give up on his or her ideas.

Stage a confrontation. Confrontations can be scary and stressful, but sometimes allowing all parties involved in a conflict to air their views is enough to make the conflict go away. Everyone involved will have to verbalize their positions and reasoning. This gives each participant enough information to come to and agree upon a logical conclusion. Confrontation should be used carefully, however, as some individuals will perceive the situation as a personal attack and walk away feeling hurt.

Being able to identify and resolve conflict will allow you to keep your organisation running as smoothly as possible. You’ll be able to control the situation and practice effective delegation while making sure your projects are completed despite the setbacks conflicts sometimes cause!

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

It is important to make sure your team is getting along as well as possible in order to ensure your projects are completed on time. Unfortunately, there will be times when certain members of your team seem to bang heads with each other, and it will be your job to identify the reasons and attempt to find a solution before your entire project goes up in flames!

As a manager, it will be your responsibility to recognize conflict and nip it in the bud. Being able to identify the various types of conflict will require continuous improvement on your part. There are a handful of reasons your employees or team members may be in conflict with each other.

Individuals have different objectives. A successful team has to have a clear objective so that everyone is working towards the same goal. Two different people working towards two different goals will have difficulty communicating with each other, as they’ll each believe themselves to be right.

There is an unhealthy level of competition. Competition can be a wonderful motivator, but not if the team members in competition are taking themselves too seriously, find themselves arguing over information, and suddenly become unproductive. Competition occurs on the corporate level as well, with different departments vying for resources as they become available.

Their roles are not clearly defined. When you first start a new project, it’s important to make sure each member of the team understands his or her tasks and how they will contribute to the overall outcome. If these roles are not clearly identified, individuals will start to feel as though other members of the team aren’t pulling their weight, or they might perceive their teammates as being overly critical of the tasks they do perform.

The workflow has been disrupted. Sometimes one part of a project can not be completed without another part being finished first. If the group completing the first tasks is late, or turns in shoddy work, the second group will be further delayed. This will almost always lead to resentment and a disgruntled, uncomfortable workplace.

There was a breakdown in communication. Sometimes pieces of information are relayed incorrectly in error. In some cases, an employee may withhold a piece of information to purposely sabotage another. Regardless, communication errors are a major cause of conflict in the workplace. It’s important to make sure all information is relayed as efficiently and effectively as possible so that no one person relies on another for critical data.

These are just a few of the reasons for conflict in the workplace, but they’re also some of the main causes. Over the coming days we’ll take a closer look at conflict it and how to both manage and resolve it. In the meantime, what are some of the major causes of conflict in your particular environment?

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”