Work Style Conflicts

Ashlee and James both work in accounting. James was hired a

few months ago and Ashlee has been with the company for
eight years.

James, while being a proficient worker, tends to wait until the

last minute to get his work done. Ashlee works more steadily
and keeps on top of her work daily. Ashlee complains that she
feels she has to worry now about his work and her own. And,
because they rely on each other for certain tasks, she is
uncomfortable with waiting until an hour or so before a
deadline when they are forced to collaborate.

Because of the conflict, James is missing more work and you

suspect it’s because he wants to avoid Ashlee and her wrath.
CONFLICT RESOLUTION STRATEGIES FOR CO-WORKERS
Again, it’s important that, once these employees are forced to
resolve their differences in mediation, you try to understand
their feelings and make them feel heard.

If your accounting (or other) department is small and you can’t

rearrange personnel easily, you may consider changing the
structure of their work, making it so they don’t need to interact
as much.

Working in silos is not ideal in most cases, but it’s a small

compromise to keep your employees happy. Differences in
work styles is an extremely common conflict, but it can
generally be resolved with a little understanding and re-
organization.
She is threatening to not only quit, but to sue the company for
allowing a hostile work environment.

RESOLUTION TECHNIQUES FOR CULTURAL + POLITICAL

DIFFERENCES
Many times these kinds of conflicts can be resolved pre-
emptively by having clear rules and boundaries in your
employee manual.

Review of this manual once or twice a year will make people

more aware and less inclined to encroach on company policy.
Declarations of religious or political allegiance should be
extremely controlled at any organization.

In the case of Susan and Louise, they were probably breaking

some rules and not being held accountable for it early on. Now
that the problem has reached a fever pitch, you are dealing
with possible litigation, something that every company strives
to avoid.

Giving both women the chance to air their grievances is your

first step to resolution. This should be followed by a renewed
commitment to following company policy when it comes to
being respectful of others’ beliefs.