Conflict Management
A friend returned to work after a week’s holiday on Monday, to find some of her staff staging a mini rebellion. They gave her a list of demands. I gave her some tips on conflict management.
“Give and take”, I said.
“But they’re the conflict. And I’m the management!”, she wailed.
If she hadn’t been joking, I wouldn’t have bet on peace breaking out in her office, any time soon. What these people wanted wasn’t hard to achieve. The interesting thing here was that the conflict had arisen as a result of one key personality difference. The different parties’ perception of what was ‘fair’.
For her – ‘fair’ meant dealing with people as individuals. For them ‘fair’ meant dealing with everyone in the same way.
* Thus, when she agreed different working hours for one individual who needed flexibility for personal reasons – the rest of the team saw this as unfair, whereas she saw it as a reasonable adjustment, given the person’s circumstances.
* When she took some of her team to a coffee shop for a meeting – she felt this would provide a more relaxed environment to get to know them better. They thought it unfair that other staff got to meet in the office, where you didn’t have to worry about who else might be listening.
* When she allowed staff members to use the internet or their mobile phone on occasion, during the working day, she thought she giving them a bit of freedom. As long as the work got done (which it did) what did it matter? They thought it unfair that she did not police this and wanted rules to ensure no-one abused the privilege, even though no-one ever had.
As a manager, when you’re grappling with the big stuff, it’s easy to view these sorts of issues as a distraction; petty and unimportant.
They’re not. And if they’re not resolved, they become big issues in themselves; Attrition, absenteeism, reduced productivity. None of which helps when you’re trying to run an efficient business.
There are many things you can do to prevent, head off or resolve conflicts at work.
Check out our Conflict Management Courses for more information. Or Contact Us for a chat and we’ll meet you for a coffee in Starbucks. Or your office. Whichever you prefer.
Add a comment