A workplace that’s riven by conflict can be a difficult, stress-inducing place to be. While professional disagreement is inevitable, and even healthy, the wrong kind of friction can destroy morale, and cause good employees to seek work elsewhere.
Being able to deal with this problem is often a simple matter of having a process for spotting and resolving conflicts early on, and providing employees with the training and tools they need to get along with one another.
Let’s take a look at three common sources of workplace conflict, and how they might be dealt with.
Poor Communication and Misunderstandings
A lack of clarity can be a major driver of conflict. For example, an employee might receive one kind of feedback from their line manager, and a completely different, contradictory piece of advice from the HR department. Sometimes, it’s not the content of a message, but its perceived tone, that can lead to disputes.
For this reason, it’s worth setting out clear rules and guidance for your internal communications, and giving decision-makers training in how to speak clear, plain English.
Interpersonal Tensions and Personality Clashes
People have different dispositions and personalities. Sometimes, personal differences can be difficult to reconcile. Sometimes, it’s the way that certain procedures and tasks are approached that can lead to tension. If one person prefers a given workflow, then it might cause problems for another.
It’s important that parties to an interpersonal conflict are able to see the issue in question from the perspective of the other. This is something that mediation can help with. Where the individuals in question are acquainted with one another in a setting that doesn’t involve work directly, they might be more willing to take a moment to reflect on one another’s perspectives. This is where team-building away days can be valuable.
In some cases, bringing in dispute resolution lawyers might be necessary. These tend to involve employees who have made a decision to leave, or who are suing their employer.
Unfair Treatment or Perceived Inequality
Favouritism and discrimination in the workplace (on the grounds of protected characteristics) are illegal under UK law. For this reason, it’s worth keeping your HR processes transparent, and putting in place procedures to help eliminate bias. For example, you might take a name-blind approach to recruitment and promotion.
When it comes to dispute resolution, the perception of unfair treatment can be toxic, even where it does not exist. For this reason, it’s worth being explicit about exactly why things are being decided one way or another. The more opaque your processes, the greater the likelihood that someone will interpret them as discriminatory.
