Tips to resolve conflicts at work

Tips to resolve conflicts at work

We all go through conflicts at the workplace sometime or the other. What is a conflict? What are the effects of a conflict? How do you resolve a conflict? Let’s look at few of the points which can be kept in mind to either resolve the conflict or avoid the conflict at workplace.

Conflict is an intensification of an incongruity or a squabble among two or more persons. If conflicts are not handled properly, it can result in ferocity or permanent animosity. Most of the times, conflict is a result of:

• Misinterpretations,
• Miscommunication,
• Ego clashes and
• Sentiments running high.

Effects of conflict at workplace
- Poor performance

- Frequently teams experience health issues like stress, depression

- Loose the motivation to go to workplace, thereby affecting their attendance

- Decrease in your productivity

- You start looking for another job

- It also hampers the reputation of the organisation.

- Often workplace conflicts are transferred to personal conflicts.

There is a very thin line between a positive and a negative conflict. A good manager will be capable of identifying the difference between a positive and negative conflict, he should in-fact encourage a positive conflict and if it is a negative conflict, he should be able to immediately eliminate a negative conflict.

If you are involved in a positive conflict or as we commonly say as arguments it leads to:

o Healthy competition amongst the employees
o Creates a positive aura and a healthy atmosphere within the workplace
o If you are a proactive employee then it will also help in increasing your creativity
o Increases productivity.

As it is popularly said by the Japanese, “Fix the problem. Don’t fix the blame.”

You can resolve the conflicts at either workplace or in personal by using the below given tips:

1. Before you start to resolve the conflict always try to delineate the origin of the conflict.

2. Don’t make wiles and divergences personal.

3. Genuinely work towards a solution which will give a win – win result for all the parties.

4. Take small exasperations and problems in your gait. Plan well for your exigencies.

5. Give people the space and freedom they need.

6. Be clear in your communication and in your understanding of the other person’s communication.

7. At the workplace, always try to clearly spell out the terms and conditions, while making it sure that the other person has also conceived the terms and conditions in the same way.

8. Always honour your side of the commitment pedantically.

9. Be reasonable and fair to the other person.

10. Always try to work on building relationships rather than breaking the relationship.

11. Never try to humiliate the other person or trying to show him down.

12. If you have won the argument, don’t rub it in. Give the other person an escape route.

13. Don’t bring out past conflicts of grudges into present disagreements. It will only spoil the situation all the more.

14. If you are the cause of the disagreement or conflict, learn to apologise sincerely and promise to indemnify the other person against all inconvenience and damage caused.

15. Always try to pay attention to the other side of the dialog as well

16. Be explicit about the grievance that you have from the other person. For example, you can say that my ideas are not being heard rather than you never listen to me.

17. If you are not responsible for the cause of conflict, try to refrain from getting involved in the conflict.

18. While resolving the conflict, it’s always better to have a one to one conversation with the person you have an issue. You should not give any opportunity for the rest of the people to create any gossip against the two of you.

19. If the conflict is with your senior, try to solve the problem on a personal basis rather than of between a boss and the subordinate. As that will not only worsen the situation but also will spoil the working relation between the two of you.

20. If you are unable to solve the problem on your own, you could use either an arbitrator or a mediator to resolve the conflict without any bias, which will mean to involve a third party view on your conflict.

21. You should always try to resolve the conflict as soon as possible, as if you delay to resolve the conflict you have a tendency to keep building resentments against the other person which only do harm rather than improving the situation.

22. Try not to directly pounce at the person with allegations. You should first try to talk nicely and calmly so that you could avoid a huge conflict.

23. Analysis of the entire situation is a major requisite to avoid the conflict. You should always try to scrutinize the situation by being neutral.

24. There is no harm in expressing regret if you are mistaken somewhere. It will only help to strengthen your relation and will also get you a positive image within the organization as well as your colleagues.