THERE ARE STRATEGIES TO RESOLVE CONFLICT AT WORK, DISCUSS HOW YOU

CAN TACKLE CONFLICT.

Conflict resolution happens often in the workplace that can either drive or disturb employees,
supervisors, a team, and an entire organization. Organizations comprise people from different
cultural, professional, racial, age, and other demographic backgrounds. And we have different
experiences, backgrounds and perspectives which mean that we often see the world in different
ways. This means we can all react differently to situations at work, which can also affect the
relationships we have. This diversity of experience and thought is a good thing, but on occasion
it can also lead to misunderstanding and conflict between individuals which need effective
resolution strategies.
When the managers allow conflict resolution to fester without taking immediate action, it can lead
the organization into an unhealthy environment. In this paper, the topic for discussion will analyze
various strategies that can be utilized to control and manage conflict resolution in the workplace,
and the role of the manager during conflict resolution situations. Although there are many ways of
dealing with conflicts at workplaces such as collaboration, compromise, competing, avoidance,
and accommodation, any strategy that emphasizes leaving conflicts unaddressed is inappropriate.
Conflicts often produce a negative implication on the performance of an organisation (Bagshaw,
2004).  Where people are segregated along these diversity differences, cultural conflicts arise.
This suggests managers and leaders within organisations encounter immense challenges in a bid
to seek effective strategies of recruitment, training, developing, and retaining the most talented
personnel in an organisation that is characterised by immense workforce diversities. People have
different opinions and views towards various issues that are encountered in the daily activities of
an organisation. Such different opinions and views create points of parity and disparity. The
disparities lead to conflicts. (Bacal, 1998) defines workplace conflict as issues that generate
frequent expressions of emotions, frustration, and anger”.

This suggests that whenever two or more people work together, they disagree on strategies for
accomplishing some desired outcomes. Such disagreements can be either constructive or
destructive in an organization. In fact, Bacal (1998) refers destructive conflicts as ugly clashes
while constructive disagreements are good organisational conflicts. While it is impossible to
eliminate workplace conflicts, destructive conflicts are highly undesirable. They should be kept
at minimal levels.  By engaging in opposing discussions, especially on mechanisms of
accomplishing certain outcomes, opportunities are created for “thinking and doing things that
can be useful to everyone” (Bacal, 1998). In some situations, escalated conflicts have the
implication of compelling people to quit (Bagshaw, 2004). Organisations that experience
destructive conflicts also encounter challenges of lower morale, lower productivity, higher
turnover, and more employee burnout (Bacal, 1998). This suggests that organizational leaders
and managers should focus on eliminating destructive conflicts while encouraging constructive
conflicts in the effort to build higher performing organizations. Workplace conflicts are broadly
subdivided into caustic and productive conflicts. Destructive conflicts often involve personality
clashes. This occurs when people fail to get along with one another. This type of conflict in the
workplace is often fuelled by emotion and perceptions about somebody else’s motives and
character. For example, a team leader jumps on someone for being late because he or she views
the team member as being lazy and disrespectful. As a cause of workplace conflicts as hinted
above, personality clashes initiate with disputes regarding certain business practices, which then
skyrocket into mutual loathing (Collinsin & Rourke, 2005). In some cases, two people may not
like each other right from the beginning due to diversity differences and other personality
differences.
Communication

Communication has the ability to deliver tangible products as opposed to being a soft component
of the leadership roles. Improving satisfaction of consumers, enhancing the quality for service
delivery and products quality, and enhancing retention together with satisfaction of employees,
are all dependent on effective communication (Lee, 2008). These aspects also constitute the
ingredients of workplace conflicts. Poor communication often results in resistance to change,
especially where the persons working in an organisation consider the changes being implemented
as threats to their jobs and personal excellence In an organisation that employs people from
diverse backgrounds, communication is the tool deployed to harness individual differences of
employees in an effort to align them to a common organisational culture that is guided by aims,
missions, goals, and objectives of the organisation (Johnson & Keddy 2010). This suggests that
communication is also important in effective resolution of employee conflicts. Conflicts
influence employee productivity. Hence, performance of an organisation is also affected
negatively.

Resolving conflict

In practice, employees are not able to handle misunderstandings with their peers in an effective
way before such misunderstandings have translated to personality clashes. Realisation of this
argument calls for the management to step in to look for mechanisms of handling conflicts
(Myatt, 2012; Cloke & Goldsmith, 2005).

Indeed, interpersonal communication comprises an essential skill in conflict management within

an organisation in the effort to diffuse various stressful environments together with hostile
situations, which may create fertile grounds for the development of conflicts (Myatt, 2012)
In the context of the Gramberg (2005), arbitration, reconciliation, and mediation can suffice as
solutions to workplace conflicts. The appropriateness of each of these solutions depends on the
cause of conflicts encountered by an organization and the desired outcomes.
This involves enabling disputing parties to understand their differences andsimilarities. The man
ner in which a conflict ends productively or otherwise( is closely associated with the techniques
employed in the resolution of the conflict. an effective conflict resolution reveals the ability to
reflectively listen to ensure understanding maintain rapport at all times differentiate positions
from interests work towards resolution based on motivating interests
ou so