It is said that most workplace conflicts are not caused by “lofty” ideals like structural conflict and interest/resource based conflict but personality clashes that touches on human emotions like pride, age difference and dislike. Some would say that most of the issues are petty and eccentrically personal. These are issues that are as old as humanity and they occur wherever humans congregate.
This makes workplace conflict something most people would naturally want to avoid. However, the manager owes it to his job, which could be on the line if he or she does not take on these issues head on because they could end up causing real damage if they are not addressed.
Workers can get so incensed and carried away by conflicts in the office space that they do not mind bringing the whole house down to get either justice or payback. The challenge for the manager is to make sure people see the big picture rather than the picture that frames only their emotions and how they feel. Every manager of people is expected to have strong inter-personal skills. This is not always the case as they can be grumpy, always on edge, shy and just about exhibit every other trait that shows that they are not prepared to handle workplace conflict or mediate on the matter. This is why some either live in a state of denial or they ignore such conflicts even when it has been recognized.
The manager that really wants to deal with workplace conflict has to learn how to use some of the traits listed below.
[caption id="attachment_2765" align="alignnone" width="651"]
www.boyermanagement.com[/caption]Selfishness
They have to realize that their neck might eventually be on the line if things get out of hand so that are encouraged to show a bit of self preservation by making sure that no conflict affects the bottom-line. While they should present an open door policy to listen to serious complaints, they should make the staff understand that when they say serious they mean serious complaints.
They can go ahead to define what they mean by serious complaints by saying it is anything that affects the bottom-line. Exhibiting this streak of selfishness will help to whittle down the number of footsteps that will make a b-line to your office door. However, people who feel they have something serious to say will not shy away from stepping up and knocking at your office door.
The manager on his or her part should mean what was said when declaring what he or she defines as serious. They should take every issue first from the perspective of whether this will affect productivity. Another way they should seriously consider whether to ct would be if what they just heard could hurt the company on the public front. They should decide whether they should call the police or mediate between the parties.
Calculated Impatience
While it is important to resolve workplace related conflict, it is far more important you be a manager and not a relationship counselor. You must show pragmatism when dealing with work place related conflict so that you do not become a Dear Joan (newspaper relationship counselor?). Ask pointed questions that will show if the issue that wants to be raised is something that should concern you in your official position as a manager and take a decision clearly based on what you have just been told. The issue might be strictly too personal for you to get involved and you must be ready to point to the company policy so that the other party does not take it personally.
Carefully sift through issues and only pick those that meet with the initial criteria of affecting productivity or the company. You are not there to deal with every dislike, display of pride or other human issues that as adults they should be able to deal with. You and indeed all of them are in the workplace environment not as guests but as members of staff. There is a primary objective of being in such a place and it is not to socialize.
Addressing Real Conflict
Addressing workplace conflict that would affect the productivity of the group as a whole should be done with a measure of levity. Managers tend to feel at ease addressing conflicts that are not necessary personal in nature but structural with respect to the company. Yet there could be real conflict that is personal in nature, which could affect the business. Some of them include conflicts that borders on strong and colorful use of words, have a tone of harassment or something really wrong should be quickly addressed to see the kind of resolution that might apply. Dealing with the right issue as against dealing with all issues will make your group more productive.
Attend The EPIC BLOGGING Seminar (Jan 29th - 30th, 2016)
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Please, no email address or phone number in your comment. Tick "Notify me" to follow the conversation and get notified whenever there is new comment!