Conflict Resolution at Work

Every office has its fair share of problems. Complaints and conflicts between employees will create a toxic working environment. When you allow your employees to take a small conflict and turn it into a big one, employee morale will decrease, productivity will decrease, and you will have a headache daily from dealing with the conflicts. Workplace conflict resolution in order to keep the office running the way it needs to. 

A good Human Resources department will provide you with the conflict resolution help you need. Their job is to jump in and manage personalities, especially those that may be a little difficult to get along with. They can provide the employees with tips on how they can find a way to disagree and find a way to work together. If you don't have a Human Resources department, the responsibility of conflict resolution will fall to the managers of the company.

How well does manager handle conflicts between employees?
Your managers play a critical role in managing the company. If they aren't jumping on the employee conflicts as soon as possible, they can quickly get out of hand and you will struggle to regain control of the company. This may leave you with the option of talking about transferring employees to different managers or departments. This should only be done in an extreme situation as you do not want to show your employees that there is an easy way out. They need to recognize that they have to find a way to work together and provide the company with the best possible service. If your managers are unable to work with employees, it's time to send your managers to a training class. A big part of being a manager is putting out small fires between employees and handling difficult employees.

Introduce respect
Make sure you are sending a clear message to your employees that everyone must be respected and treated equally. When a person comes to the office and they are taking abuse from their co-workers, this is unacceptable and this offense should be a fire-able offense. Watch out for some of these personality conflicts that may cause a hostile working environment:

• Insulting
• Teasing
• Threatening
• Sexual abuse

Abuse in the office doesn't need to be only physical, mental and verbal abuse can be common in the office so you need to watch for this. Everyone must understand what is expected of them and they need to know they are required to treat everyone with respect even if they don't really like this person. You don't need to make your employees become best friends but they do need to know how important it is for them to work together and better the company. 

Walk around
Quite often managers do not know small conflicts are happening. Some employees just don't come forward with their issues and it can take another employee weeks to report it. As a manager, you need to discretely walk around the office and watch over your staff. Try to get involved in their conversations and make your presence known. When the manager is involved, employees are less likely to complain and less likely to bicker with one another. 

Meetings
Hold regular meetings with your employees and explain what behavior is acceptable and what behavior is not acceptable. You need to discuss sexual harassment and many other things to send a clear message to your employees that certain behaviors have no room in the workplace. It is also important to hold individual meetings with your employees to discuss some of these behaviors and help them understand that some of their own actions may be inappropriate.