Face the Conflicts!

Conflict is simply a reality in any organization. Despite their efforts to keep things harmonious and avoid conflicts, avoidance of these conflicts can have significant consequences. Knowing the impact of no conflict and using the right strategies to handle it ensures a healthier and more productive workplace.

Impacts of No Conflicts

1. Ideation Stagnation: The perception of not getting into real conflicts and some shallow discussions prevents the team from bringing in their contrarian views or challenging the status quo. With this, it results in stagnation as most differences can potentially activate creativity through the stimulation of alternative solutions.
2. Poor Morale: If the employees’ minor concerns or issues are left unaddressed, they will most likely grow as a problem over time. Ignoring employee concerns may lead to low morale among the employees, as they would feel ignored, which is not a great aspect of any organization. In case a member of the team feels that his voice isn’t being heard, then their engagement and commitment to the organization tend to decrease.
3. Toxic Work Environment: Avoiding conflict can lead to a toxic atmosphere. In this way, the workers develop passive-aggressive behaviour and gossip, eventually killing trust and teamwork. Avoidance of conflict leads to division among the members, thereby causing pain to the cohesiveness and effectiveness.
4. Poor Decision Making: Sometimes, conflict stems from disagreements in view. When constructively approached, conflicts can bring in better decision-making. If not handled positively, poor organizational decision-making would result from a lack of proper information or due to a dearth of diverse viewpoints.
5. Increasing Rates of Turnover: An employee will be more likely to leave an organization that does not take its concerns seriously. An organization may spend a lot of money recruiting and training new people who leave out most of the old institutional knowledge.
6. Poor Performance: Lacking of conflict resolution may lead to a lack of understanding and failure to communicate effectively. This can impede the team’s performance in regard to undertaking teamwork as members may act against each other’s approach or work ineffectively.

Conflict Minimization

1. Open Communication: Open communication is the key to successful conflict resolution. For there to be open exchange and satisfaction of needs, there must be no fear of retribution on the part of the members. Periodic meetings/check-ins along with regular feedback can help identify problems before they turn into major conflicts.
2. Start Conflict Resolution Training: Train Employees and managers to use the skills of listening to each other, empathy, and negotiation to resolve any conflict. This will enable members to overcome the conflicts.
3. Provide a Collaborative Environment Give opportunities for all the team members to work together on projects. A collaborative environment fosters relationships and trust, and this can help facilitate conflict resolution when such arises.
4. Policies and Procedures: Well-defined rules of engagement by organizations help provide a lot more clarity on how to react in case of conflicts. They define acceptable behaviours at the workplace, the sequence of steps one must follow for resolution, and where help may be found if desired. Having a whole process that does not have to operate under mindless insecurities will alleviate the fear of conflicts.
5. Seek diverse points of view: Do something inside the organization to encourage different views and points of view. This can be an avenue for discovering richer dialogue and identifying emerging potential conflicts early. Employees are more likely to engage in constructive discussion when their unique contributions are valued.
6. Lead by Example: Leaders definitely play a very pivotal role in the culture of an organization. Leaders who have guided their organizations toward creating harmonious workplaces, who have worked out conflicts and have openly addressed issues, can act as examples to the rest of the group. If an organization’s employees see their leaders confronting the issues head-on, they will lead by doing the same.
7. Provide Safe Platforms for Conversation: Engage in providing safe platforms for the discussion of employee concerns and conflicts. This can be done through regular team meetings, anonymous feedback tools, or direct one-on-one interactions with managers. Out of this trusted environment, employees will be willing to identify such issues early on.
8. Focus on Problem-Solving: Encourage a problem-solving mindset when conflicts arise. Shift the focus from personal differences to finding solutions that benefit the team and organization. This approach can help depersonalize conflicts and foster a sense of shared responsibility.

Conclusion

Even though avoiding conflict might be the easiest solution, the long-term implications of such a solution can be very unhealthy for an organization. In understanding these implications and building strategies that would be successful in handling conflicts, organizations can create an environment that is more vibrant, dynamic, innovative, and productive. In fact, accepting conflict as a natural part of organizational life can foster stronger teams, which may lead to better outcomes.