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When a conflict has occurred within an office environment, it’s normal for people to feel a little confused, unsure, and perhaps even anxious.
Conflict is unsettling, and even if the problem didn’t have anything to do with them in particular, all employees are going to be a little on edge, especially if the issue was quite a large one and had to involve management as part of the conflict resolution process.
The one thing you don’t want is side-taking. This is quite a high possibility when you have two people sitting at separate office desks who have had a disagreement of some kind. Certain members of the office are going to side with one person and the others will side with the other person. As a result, you end up with a huge division down the middle of the contemporary office environment.
Office conflicts are hugely detrimental to productivity and morale. Managers need to know how to deal with conflicts in a quick, fair, and effective way, to avoid things spiralling out of control and employees becoming low in morale, which can easily spread throughout the entire office.
To give you a few ideas, check out this infographic which talks about how to manage workplace conflict.
Source - http://www.etimes2.com/2018/12/5-tips-manage-workplace-conflict/
There are certain things you need to try and avoid at all costs during and after a conflict in the workplace. These are:
- Employees taking sides and dividing the office
- Morale falling to unacceptable levels
- Mistakes occurring due to a lack of focus
- Increased stress levels which could lead to employee sickness
- Employees leaving the office and looking for employment elsewhere
Learning how to manage conflict is one side of the coin, but learning how to calm things down afterwards is also important.
It’s no good shrouding the entire thing in mystery. Unless there is a truly confidential element to the conflict, it’s a good idea to be honest with your employees and talk about what has happened, asking for suggestions on how it can be avoided in the future. By being honest and open, you’re showing your employees that you’re not holding things back or hiding things and that you also value their suggestions too. This helps them to feel valued and that could go a long way towards healing the divisions that can occur very easily when a conflict has taken place in the office.
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Of course, there are certain details you might not be able to disclose and you don’t have to give a ‘he said/she said’ account of what has happened either. By doing that, you’re almost airing in the side of office gossip. Instead, summarise the root cause of the conflict and look at ways you can ensure the situation doesn’t repeat itself and search for lessons you can all learn together as a result.
Whilst conflict is a negative thing, we should look at every conflict as a learning curve; we should ask ourselves ‘what can we learn from this problem?’. As a manager, you should also reflect on the problem and ask yourself whether you could do something differently or better next time.
We’re always learning, whether management or not.
Morale is such a vital part of the productivity puzzle. Without a happy and uplifting environment, employees are quickly going to find the time they spend in their office chairs quite distracting and negative. In that case, they might look for employment elsewhere, learning you to backfill their positions. Word also gets around quite quickly, and you might struggle to find new talent to fill their vacant office desks. Of course, recruitment is also costly and time-consuming.
The best course of action is to look at conflict as a lesson. Overcome it and then calm things down. Avoid hiding things, ask for suggestions and reassure everyone that the problem is now dealt with and that the team ethos remains the same - you work together.