The article “5 Keys of Dealing with Workplace Conflict” by Mike Myatt discusses how strong leadership and effective conflict resolution is what separates bad leaders from good ones. Mike sets the stage for this article by asking the question “How many times over the years have you witnessed otherwise savvy professionals self-destruct because they wouldn’t engage out of a fear of conflict?” (Myatt, 2012) He discusses how attempting to hide from conflict, while hopping it passes you by is a very ineffective way of conflict resolution, because conflict very rarely resolves itself and escalates if not dealt with proactively. Mike goes on to describe how “every workplace is plagued with manipulative people who use emotion to create conflict in …show more content…
While Mike believes that conflict is a normal part of any organization, and the real challenge is how one deals with it. He then provides you with his “5 Keys of Dealing with Workplace Conflict,” (Myatt, 2012) which are: “Define Acceptable Behavior, Hit Conflict Head-on, Understanding the WIIFM Factor, The Importance Factor, and View Conflict as Opportunity.” (Myatt, 2012) What I have learned for this article is, that in order to be a good leader, you need to know how to deal with conflict, employ effective conflict resolution, while also avoided unnecessary …show more content…
In his first step of “Define Acceptable Behavior,” (Myatt, 2012) his advice of “creating a framework for decisioning, using a published delegation of authority statement, encouraging sound business practices in collaboration, team building, leadership development, and talent management will all help avoid conflicts,“ (Myatt, 2012) is very sound advice. I think it would really be a big help to everyone to have predefined rules and operating procedures to foster a good work environment. In step two, “Hit Conflict Head-on,” (Myatt, 2012) he advises to seek out conflict and “proactively intervening in a just and decisive fashion.” (Myatt, 2012) I believe that its fantastic advice, the quicker you can deal with conflict, the less time it will have to fester. I also completely agree with his statement “time spent identifying and understanding natural tensions will help to avoid unnecessary conflict.” (Myatt, 2012) By taking some time in the beginning to do this, you can save yourself time in the end. Step 3 “Understanding the WIIFM Factor,” (Myatt, 2012) for which WIIFM stands for “what’s in it for me.” (Myatt, 2012) I agree that it would be vital to understand other people’s motivations before weighing in and how helping people achieve their goals would help to avoid conflict. However, I could see a potential con to this advice and that being some people may feel slighted if they
Understanding how situations can become conflicts are important matters to investigate in hopes of preventing it from happening again. Every employee (in their minds) have different perspectives as to why conflicts happen. Such things include a lack of communication, feeling as if others are not doing their jobs, crazy rules, special treatment of friends as well as expectations that they feel are not reasonable. Conflicts that management may be involved in could be poor communication, lack of appropriate response to any given situation, not taking responsibility for their own errors, letting work & personal life interfere with the other, as well as not having good prioritizing
Stating the problem and asking for suggestions about how the problem can be solved. When there is a problem, we should follow the proper protocol to get the problem resolved. The breakdown in communication between the police officers and city management caused an unnecessary conflict because city management acted out of fear and the mayor possibly losing an election due to the overtime pay the police officers were receiving, which was mandatory because of the promise made by the mayor to lower crime by increasing police patrols in high-crime
Huan, L. & Yazdanifard, R. (2012). The Differences of Conflict Management Styles and Conflict Resolution in Workplaces. Business & Entrepreneurship Journal. 1(1), 141-155.
It has been estimated in a study by the American Management Association that managers spend between 20% to as much as 50% of their times dealing with conflict among their employees (American Sentinel, 2012). When workplace conflicts are left unresolved they can lead to dissatisfaction, depression and other problems such as aggression and violence (Whitworth 2008). The negative, sometimes hostile, environment created by unresolved conflict has been recognized to be a hazard not only to staff, but also to patient care (The Joint Commission 2008).
Interpersonal conflict is very common with many relationships. It occurs when two people can not meet in the middle or agree on a discussion. Cooperation is key to maintaining a healthy debate. More frequently; when dealing with members of your own family, issues arise that include conflict and resolution. During this process our true conflict management style appears “out of thin air”. (Steve A. Beebe, 2008, p. 191).
People work in groups or teams everyday whether in their career, education, political organization, church, or any other social setting. Conflict while working in teams or groups is inevitable. When taking people of different backgrounds, personalities, moral, and ethical beliefs and putting them together in a group, conflict will arise. The key to achieving your team goals is to construct and conquer your goals with keeping the greater good of the team in mind. Conflict as it arises should be combated and abated through swift and thorough resolution techniques. When dealt with properly conflict resolution can give rise to a cohesive and productive team.
Thomas, K. W. (1992). Conflict and conflict management: Reflections and update. . Journal Of Organizational Behavior, 13(3), 265-274.
Although there is a plethora of possible sources of conflict in any workplace, the ones in this case are rather explicit. These include personal differences, Informal deficiencies’, role incompatibility, environment stress, perceptions, and expectations. Personal differences could be related to personal values, physiognomies, family bonds or ties, and material belongings.
Many people enjoy working or participating in a group or team, but when a group of people work together chances are that conflicts will occur. Hazleton describes conflict as the discrepancy between what is the perceived reality and what is seen as ideal (2007). “We enter into conflicts reluctantly, cautiously, angrily, nervously, confidently- and emerge from them battered, exhausted, sad, satisfied, triumphant. And still many of us underestimate or overlook the merits of conflict- the opportunity conflict offers every time it occurs” (Schilling, nd.). Conflict does not have to lead to a hostile environment or to broken relationships. Conflict if resolved effectively can lead to a positive experience for everyone involved. First, there must be an understanding of the reasons why conflicts occur. The conflict must be approached with an open mind. Using specific strategies can lead to a successful resolution for all parties involved. The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument states “there are five general approaches to dealing with conflict. The five approaches are avoidance, accommodation, competition, compromise, and collaboration. Conflict resolution is situational and no one approach provides the best or right approach for all circumstances” (Thomas, 2000).
workplace include greater total resources, greater knowledge band and a greater source of ideas. However, these advantages can also bring on conflict within teams and the entire workplace. Varney (1989) reported that conflict remained the number one problem within a large company. This was after several attempts were made to train management in conflict resolutions and procedures. However, the conflict remained. The conflict possibly remains because the managers and leaders did not pay attention to the seriousness of the issue. In order to maintain an effective team, leaders and team members must know and be proactive in the conflict resolution techniques and procedures.
Gross and Guerrero (2000) supported Rahim’s conflict management styles and identified that these styles are associated with organizational climate and culture, job satisfaction. Their research on 50 employees uncovered some facts include employees who were involved in unmanaged conflict end up in job dissatisfaction and subsequently their performance deters (p. 208). The competence-based model developed by Canary, Cupach and Serpe (2001) contrast with Rahim’s theory, where the effectiveness of conflict management styles is based on the situation and understanding of individuals (p. 81). They tried to find a resolution for the conflict instead of implementing the strategy to reduce tension by applying conflict management styles, resulting in inconsistent outcomes (p. 531).
Conflict exists in every organization as a result of incompatible needs, goals, and objectives of two people while aligning to the overall business requirements. Though disagreement is linked with negative impact, the approach has healthy considerations (Leung, 2008). For instance, some conflicts create an avenue for the exchange of ideas and creativity to meet the set organizational purposes. However, damaging disagreement in organizations results in employee dissatisfaction, turnover, and poor services and reduced productivity. The paper establishes different types of interpersonal conflict and key resolution strategies used to address the problem. Human resource managers need to have the capacity to identify different levels of conflicts and the best methods to negate them.
Conflict can occur anywhere and at any place, and recently there has been an ongoing conflict that has been manifesting at work, between a supervisor and an employee, and I am stuck in the middle of their conflict. For the past few months, a coworker has been moved from seat to seat, all over the call center. At first, the conflict was very difficult to see, however, between the supervisor and the employee, atmosphere of tension was felt when interaction was made. The employee, Ana Maria, began showing acts of defiance against her supervisor’s instructions, and additionally began spreading her discontent with fellow employees. As a result from her discontent being spread with to the other employees, work productivity began to fall, which caused
Swinton, Lyndsay (2006). Workplace Conflict Management: Strategy for Successful Resolution. Retrieved November 14, 2010 from http://www.mftrou.com/workplace-conflict-management-strategy.html
Conflict avoidance is a technique used to deal with conflict. Avoiding conflict is mainly used to disregard the direct issue at hand. Avoiding conflict can be used to temporarily get rid of an issue or it can be used to permanently remove the issue. Avoiding conflict within the workplace most often results in relationship division. Workplace conflict is inevitable, meaning wherever and whenever there is a group working to accomplish similar goals as a whole, conflict will be present. Workplace conflict exists due to various factors. (Graham 2014) The most common seen factors influencing workplace conflict include role understanding, meaning who is responsible for what task, how tasks are to be accomplished, personality difference and poor