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  • As you may expect, conflict in the workplace can be a serious issue for a small business. Unresolved conflicts among workers can create a difficult working environment both for those involved and others witnessing the dispute. These issues also have a direct impact on the financial well-being of your business.

    According to a report published by the University of New Mexico, the collective cost of unresolved conflicts can be as high as $300 billion annually for businesses across the country. Other analyses peg the figure at approximately $359 billion in lost revenue.

    Without a way to resolve contentious relationships, you’re inadvertently increasing the risk of developing a dysfunctional workforce that hurts your business in the long run. It’s time to break down to root causes of employee conflicts and how your business can resolve these problems.

    What Causes Workplace Conflicts?

    Honestly, conflict in the workplace can originate from any number of sources. It could be something as simple as a department manager being rude to a new hire or something like an employee who feels like they’re not treated fairly by their colleagues. At worst, the root of the conflict can be something like blatant harassment or inappropriate, lewd behavior.

    Hot-button topics are also notorious for creating unnecessary conflicts at work. The crux of the problem could be anything from political opinions to which sports franchise has more clout. The trick is to have a strategic conflict resolution plan to solve the problem.

    Five Steps To Resolving Workplace Conflicts

    It’s important to have a plan that helps you handle conflict and help everyone work towards a common goal – growing the company and furthering its success. Use the following steps to address conflicts before it’s too late.

    1. Meet with the conflicting parties

    Defining the root cause of the conflict is the first, and arguably most difficult, step. It’s critical to discover how the issue got to this point in the first place. Meeting with the conflicting parties can help you get both sides of the story and identify if the problem is easy to address or will require a more detailed response.

    These meetings should happen in a private, neutral setting. Both parties need to have their voices heard so that each of them acknowledges the other’s perspective. You’ll also want to play the role of an active listener. Make sure both parties know you’re paying attention and obtain as much information as possible to help them come to a reasonable solution.

    2. Investigate the conflict following the meeting

    Following the meeting, it’s always wise to investigate the integrity and the validity of each party’s explanation of how the conflict started in the first place. Often, you’ll discover that the root of the problem is nothing more than a usual misunderstanding among two dedicated, passionate, and career-minded professionals.

    3. Determine ways to truly resolve the conflict and meet a common goal for all parties

    The next step involves a fair amount of creativity on your part. You have to think outside of the box and brainstorm ways to manage and ultimately resolve the issue once and for all.

    This process may require additional communication, investigation, and planning. Don’t be afraid to sit down with both individuals again to openly discuss ways that manage and resolve the conflict. Use this brainstorming session to come up with ideas to deescalate the situation and come to a conclusion that benefits everyone.

    4. Develop a conclusion

    Once you gather all the information, you can finally make a determination on the extent of the issue, how the conflict began, how it escalated, and what everyone can do today to finally put the negativity to rest.

    The idea is to lay out a clear plan of action to find common ground and focus on the task at hand: working towards the same goal and furthering the company’s success as an efficient team of skilled professionals. Once this plan is in place, communicate it with the individuals so that they can put an end to the ordeal.

    5. Decide on preventative strategies for the future

    The last step is to ensure that this particular conflict doesn’t happen again. Evaluate the situation to see if this conflict can rear its ugly head again. If so, create an action plan to not only avoid conflicts, but also quickly address them in the future if they do occur.

    Six Ways Small Businesses Can Minimize Conflict

    While some conflict is inevitable, there are ways to minimize the likelihood of workplace disputes. There are a variety of strategies small business can utilize to protect themselves and their employees from these issues.

    Establish written rules and clearly defined company policies

    A good policy will make the conflict resolution process smoother when issues arise. Use your employee handbook to lay out clear guidelines about employee conduct and expectations for people within your company. These ground rules will help set the tone for what is and isn’t acceptable and clearly describe the consequences and next steps for misbehavior.

    Hire the right people

    The right employees will be less likely to create conflict. It’s important to not only hire people with the right skills, but also a good temperament for your business. You can also conduct background checks to try and identify any red flags that may cause problems in the future. Spend some time to properly vet each prospective employee to minimize the chances of conflict in the future.

    Provide management training

    Another way to minimize the impacts of conflict is better management training. You can’t be everywhere at once throughout the day, so you entrust your management team to be your eyes and ears. Training managers and other appropriate personnel on established policies and identifying brewing conflicts can help your business quell minor issues before they grow into severe problems.

    Create a fair grievance process

    Poor communication is a problem. A fair grievance process is an effective problem-solving tool that allows employees to feel heard and managers to identify the source of conflict before it becomes a bigger issue.

    No matter what policies you put in place, the process needs to be transparent and equitable. The same standards should apply to management and workers. This process will keep everyone accountable to each other and quickly soothe exasperated employees.

    Feedback

    Feedback is what brings the resolution process back to the beginning. You may spend a tremendous amount of time making written procedures and policies – and for good reason – but there’s still plenty to overlook.

    Give employees a way to provide feedback so that they share ideas on how to make the workplace a better place, whether that’s an anonymous tip line or a company email address. This feedback loop can help you fine-tune your policies to your workforce and, hopefully, put petty fights and arguments to rest.

    Protect Your Business From Conflict

    Workplace tension is a recipe for lost productivity and heated arguments. However, it’s not always easy to put conflict resolution strategies into place by yourself. GMS has the human resource experts to provide you with the tools and support you need to manage employee relationships.

    Ready to make your business simpler, safer, and stronger? Contact GMS today about how we can support your business through dedicated service and support.

  • Let’s face it; you’re not going to get along with every person you meet—and that includes the people you work with.

    Conflict in the workplace happens at every organization and ignoring it can be costly. A study by professional training and coaching company CPP, Inc. found that 85 percent of employees experience conflict in the workplace. When it’s fight or flight, it’s easy to want to avoid conflict at all costs; however, your organization will surely pay the price by avoiding conflict management altogether. CPP’s research found that workplace conflict wastes nearly three hours per week, costing $359 billion in paid hours.

    Because every employee possesses a unique set of attitudes, visions, and values that may differ from that of their co-workers, these differences can sometimes lead to conflicts in the office. We put together some conflict management tips to help you understand what can spark a conflict in the workplace and how you can put out the flames for even the hottest office tempers.

    Two employees with clashing personalities, egos and opinions get into a conflict at work.

    What Causes Conflict in the Workplace?

    Given the multitude of personality types in any given workplace, it’s no surprise that the vast majority of employees find themselves dealing with conflict in a professional capacity. CPP found that the main sources of conflict include:

    •  Personality clashes and warring egos
    • Stress
    • Heavy workloads and inadequate resources
    • Poor leadership
    • Lack of role clarity and accountability
    • Bad team pairing
    • Compensation issues

    When Should HR Get Involved?

    When there’s a conflict in the workplace, it’s best to work to resolve the issue right away. If conflict is left unresolved—or handled incorrectly—workplace conflict can have negative results. It’s especially important for HR to step in during the following scenarios.

    Employees threaten to quit over the problem

    Employee retention rates can drop if a problem isn’t properly handled. Research by PsychTests found that 42 percent of workers would quit their jobs due to a toxic work environment.

    Disagreements get personal

    When you don’t correct a problem, employees tend to believe they can do and say whatever they please, like hurling personal insults and attacks at colleagues. This can lead to a loss of respect between employees and create a huge bullying problem at your company. About one in five workers say they have directly experienced bullying on the job, according to a survey by the Workplace Bullying Institute.

    The morale and success of your organization is affected

    A unified company will boast high morale and great business performance. When conflict threatens the culture and success of your company, your organization can’t perform to its full potential. A toxic workplace culture can cause workers to feel stressed, depressed, and anxious, and they may even lose sleep over it. This can negatively impact your employees’ immune systems, making workers more susceptible to illness and sick days. Employees may even just take days off to avoid the office bully, as the CPP survey found that one in four workers have seen conflict lead to sickness or absence.

    Positive Results of Conflict Management

    Good conflict management can lead to lasting benefits for your organization. By taking the right measures to resolve conflict in the workplace, CPP found that 76 percent of workers saw positive outcomes, including:

    Improved working relationships and a better understanding of others

    Conflict resolution is all about open communication, so it’s important that employees calmly talk about workplace issues to help everyone better understand each other and see situations from different points of views. Maybe one employee doesn’t like when another listens to music at without headphones. Perhaps someone else doesn’t like that he or she was passed over for a promotion. These problems don’t always go away on their own, so talking about it can not only improve working relationships, it can also help prevent problems in the future.

    Better solutions to future problems and challenges

    Having the right infrastructure in place for dealing with conflicts can provide an excellent precedent for how conflicts can be dealt with in the future. That way, you know how to handle any conflict before it becomes a bigger issue.

    Greater performance and increased motivation

    When employees are happy, they will be more motivated to do a good job. A study from the University of Warwick found that employee happiness can result in a 12 percent increase in productivity.

    Try This Conflict Management Strategy

    Whether it’s a quarrel between two employees or a squabble across entire departments, it’s best not to waste any time getting to the bottom of it. Schedule a meeting to address the problem in a private, neutral setting, such as a conference room.

    You can also follow these nine steps adapted from the Society for Human Resource Management to quickly and effectively resolve the conflict:

    1. Set ground rules. All parties should agree to treat each other with respect and try to listen and understand each other’s views.
    2. Ask each participant to describe the conflict and their ideal outcome. Focus on specific behaviors and problems instead of on people and have them use “I” statements rather than pointing the finger with “you” statements.
    3. Ask participates to repeat back what others have said to ensure there is no miscommunication.
    4. Summarize the conflict based on what you have heard. Make sure participants are all in agreement.
    5. Brainstorm solutions. Discuss all possible options in a positive manner. Remember: No idea is a bad idea.
    6. Process of elimination: Rule out any solutions that participants agree won’t help resolve the issue.
    7. Summarize all possible options to determine the best possible solution. Make sure all parties agree on the solution.
    8. Execute the agreed-upon solution by assigning next steps to each participant. Make sure all parties agree on their next steps. Lay out a plan to follow up, if necessary.
    9. End the meeting on good terms. Ask the participants to shake hands, apologize and thank each other for working to resolve the conflict.

    While it’s easy to want to shy away from conflict at work, it’s far better for your organization to address these issues. Employee training and performance managementare key HR functions that can help create a workplace culture that fosters camaraderie—not conflict—among your employees. Contact Group Management Services today to talk with one of our experts about the different ways you can manage conflict at your organization.