In a working environment, a lot of things can cause conflict. These conflicts can be reduced to a bearable minimum most times. The collective effort of both the management and the employee is needed towards achieving this. Conflicts makes the working environment inconducive, it discourages team work and when it is not properly resolved, it can brew hatred in the minds of some employees against each other. One of the evidence of the latent stage of conflict in a working environment is lack of cooperation, constant arguments and noticeable avoidance between some employees. In its final stage, conflicts can lead to physical and verbal abuse.
Conflicts in the workplace can be caused by; clash of interest, improper definition of roles, disrespect, gossiping, feeling marginalized and other reasons. The head(s) of an organization should attend conflict resolution trainings to be aware of how to handle conflicts when it arises in their organization. Understanding the various ways by which conflicts can arise in the workplace and taking the right measures to minimize it is recommended. Conflicts can result in lower productivity, inefficient team collaboration, harbouring of knowledge among others.
How to Avoid Conflicts in the Workplace
1. Promoting cordial relationship in the workplace
The best way by which conflict can be avoided in an organization is when there is a cordial relationship between both the management and the employees. The signs of the existence of cordial relationship in the workplace is when their is a good exchange of pleasantries, collaboration and cooperation with easy to resolve issues. Promoting team and group work will also help in fostering cordial relationship among the employees. Despite the existence of such cordial relationship, respect should equally be given to whom it is due.
2. Calling of Meetings to settle minor issues
When minor issues are left to linger for a longer period in an organization, it may escalate or reach to a stage where it may not be easily managed. Employees should be encouraged to report issues which proves difficult for them to resolve within themselves. Such issues should be resolved in an unbiased manner and as soon as possible. The channel for reporting such issues should be easy to access by all employees. In a situation whereby two employees are involved, such issues can be resolved with the defaulters being present unless the management wants to use such conflict resolution to warn others, hence, it can be solved in a general meeting.
3. Avoiding gossip in the workplace
Gossip is among the common cause of conflicts among employees. Some heads of organization and other management teams may also be caught in this web. Instead of discussing issues relating to another person which he or she may not like to hear in his or her absence, having a face to face talk with such a person is recommended. Those who gossips in an organization tends to cajole, kills the reputation of fellow colleagues or the leaders of an organization. At times, it may not be necessarily related to issues happening in the workplace, in any instance, gossip can lead to different levels of conflicts in the workplace and that is why it should be avoided.
4. Avoiding favouritism
No worker will feel comfortable when a preferential treatment is given to his or her fellow colleague in an unmerited manner. This is one of the things that the leaders of an organization or workplace should avoid doing. It creates a feeling of rejection in the minds of such unconsidered employees and they may choose to address their grievances in an undesirable manner. Favouritism can be observed when some workers are given less workload while others who are in the same category with them are overlabored.
5. Giving employees defined roles to avoid role overlapping
In order to avoid role conflict in the workplace, their should be a working organigram. This will help to ensure that each employee knows and understands his or her roles and also whom to report to. The absence of such will be creating conflicts on a daily basis in an organization irrespective of the number of workers in such setting.
6. Setting out rules and regulations guiding misconducts in the workplace
Their should be defined rules and regulations guiding each form of misconduct in the workplace. These rules should be made known to the employees during their training for full assumption of duty in the organisation. When they became aware of such fines and actions against the various misconducts, it will guide their actions. In addition, some organization may equally choose to paste such rules and regulations in the offices of their employees where it will be visible to all. Pamphlets containing such rules may equally be given to the employees if they rules may contain a lot of space when pasted.
7. Rewarding those that are well behaved
The easiest way to encourage good conduct in an organization is by promoting good conduct. One of the ways to achieve this is by rewarding those that are well behaved. Such rewards can be given to the deserving employees at the end of the year or any other suitable time in the presence of other employees. Be careful and select those who are qualified for the reward as picking the wrong people may discourage others that are behaving well.
Knowing how to avoid conflict in the workplace as leader or manager of an organization will save you a lot of stress. Its benefit is enormous to the growth of the organization and that is why it should be taken seriously. Preventing issues from escalating is a good conflict management strategy in the workplace.
Also Read; Importance of Communication in the Workplace