There are many potential causes of conflict in the workplace, but one which is certainly going to lead to negative situations is when management quality is less than perfect. 

Poor management is at the heart of many issues, and conflict in the workplace is one of them. 

It’s very easy for employees to become frustrated, lacking in trust, and then start to turn on one another when they don’t feel that they’re supported in the work they do at their desks. As a result, small problems turn into huge disagreements, issues aren’t dealt with properly because management members aren’t equipped with the right conflict management skills, and before you know it, there is a huge division down the centre of the office. 

Yes, management can be challenging, but working closely with your employees is the single best way to get through it. Remember, your employees are your number one asset, and that means looking after them in the best way possible. When problems arise, sticking your head in the sand simply gives conflict a breeding ground on which to grow. 

The Effects of Poor Management

Poor management has a wide-reaching number of negative effects which could easily turn a happy office into a very unhappy one in record time. The main effects of poor management are:

• Staff choose to leave, rather than stay, therefore meaning that you lose highly trained and experienced personnel 
• Recruitment of new talent is more difficult because word gets around
• Productivity drops, because employees aren’t as engaged in their work as they were before
• Less and less new ideas appear around the modern boardroom tables because employees don’t feel supported enough to voice their suggestions 
• Customers begin to complain because more mistakes become evident
• Morale seriously diminishes, because employees don’t feel supported or valued
• Conflicts occur between management and employees and also been employees themselves because everyone is frustrated with the lack of support and action.

Poor management can be caused by many different things, but a lack of training is certainly one of them. In addition, managers need to understand how to treat their employees, e.g. as people and not statistics or numbers. By doing this, you’re more likely to encourage your employees to work with you, rather than against you. 

Being a high quality manager takes skills, experience and training, but it’s also about tapping into the human element. Conflict resolution in the workplace is something that needs to be taught but also needs to be experienced in order to be successful. As managers learn how to diffuse possible conflicts successfully and quickly, employees are happier, the team is more together, and everything improves rapidly. 

When employees don’t feel like they’re valued and they feel like they’re being treated as a number and not a person, they’re going to feel down pretty quickly. This can lead to misunderstandings between employees, arguments, remarks that are taken the wrong way, and these can be taken out of context very quickly. Poor support and a lack of communication can ruin absolutely everything within an office setting and without guidance from the manager to overcome problems, everything worsens, rather than improving. 

Of course, not everyone is cut out to be a manager. If you are someone who is more focused on tasks rather than people then you’re going to struggle with the social side of management and you’ll find more conflicts occurring than you would like. However, if you’re someone who is a true people person, someone who finds it easy to interact and mediate between problems, then you may be the ideal person for the job!

Is Conflict Resolution All on The Manager?

There has to be a certain amount of responsibility at the hands of the employees too. We’re all adults, and dealing with small disagreements can be done at source, meaning that the whole issue doesn’t have to below up to be a massive problem which required mediation and input from management. 

Much of the time, simply taking five minutes away from the situation and calming down, perhaps using deep breathing exercises, can be a good way to think a little more clearly. Then, when you’re feeling ready, approach your colleague, perhaps in one of the booths or somewhere a little quieter, and discuss the problem professionally. By doing that, you can come to a happy and fair outcome for the two of you, with no need for serious resolution input.