Even in the best of workplace settings, employee disputes can and do occur. Often these can result from simple things that escalate quickly due to things like miscommunications, differences in perceptions and personality and values differences.
No matter how small or big, it is important to deal with an employee conflict in a timely fashion in order to maintain a positive, healthy work environment and to avoid ongoing escalation or collateral damage across work teams/areas.
However, for a range of reasons such as inexperience, a lack of confidence in their ability, insufficient training and limited HR assistance and advice, managers can often respond by doing nothing.
What they don’t realise is failing to proactively deal with workplace conflicts as they initially flare not only has an effect almost immediately on day-to-day business productivity but also tends to allow issues that can be ‘nipped in the bud’ via simple management action, to intensify and grow. This tends to broaden and deepen the issues involved and the time and effort required to address it at a point in time, and also can undermine staff’s confidence in the manager’s ability to manage.
Let’s take a look at some common behaviours of managers, which can negatively impact on effective and efficient management of workplace disputes.
Ignoring the situation until it is about to (or does!) ‘burst’
Some managers tend to overlook a problematic situation altogether until the situation is ready to explode. Then they need to take urgent action to try to deal with it – and this almost always occurs at a really inconvenient time – like just prior to Christmas. Putting your management head in the sand won’t make the problem go away – it will only make it worse. The best way to deal with workplace disputes is to deal with them early and thoroughly.
When handling a conflict that escalates quickly, your frustration (with yourself for not dealing with it earlier and the situation itself that’s become urgent) can work as added fuel to the situation, potentially affecting the decision-making process and the ability to contain and resolve the matter well. At these times, it is really important for the manager to ‘think and act – don’t react’. Take a little time to gather information from the parties and consider it before moving to a decision and an action. Reactions often simply compound and prolong the problem.
Allowing workplace politics to interfere
Nothing can intensify an employee conflict like office politics. When office politics get in the way, disputes take an ugly turn.
As the manager, your objective should be to resolve the situation without alienating a group or being biased toward one. Perceptions are as critical to resolving these matters as the tangible actions taken. Remember that an unfair move (perceived or otherwise) on the manager’s part can give rise to more conflicts and create irreversible barriers in the workplace.
Trying to win the situation
The objective of workplace dispute resolution in the first place is to come to an agreement or solution that is workable and reasonable for all parties. It might mean there is a need for compromise – including for the manager in terms of the way forward. Take a leaf out of the Steven Covey management bible ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ and initially ‘seek to understand, then be understood’. Sit with the employees, listen hard to what they are concerned about, gather all the input and only then try to create a clear picture of what is going on, why and what the options might be in terms of resolving or improving things for those caught up in the conflict.
The Bottom Line
Dispute and conflict in the workplace is not really preventable. Thinking about how to approach these types of circumstances before they arise helps to be ready when they do.
The highly experienced HR Consultants at HBA Consulting, located in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, can provide guidance, assistance and advice to managers in terms of both heading off workplace disputes and also managing them effectively when they do arise.
HBA Consulting Blog 