Conflict is inevitable. There doesn’t seem to be any aspect of life that is completely immune from conflict—we can experience conflict in our personal life and relationships, in an academic setting, and especially in a work setting. In fact the workplace often tends to be a hotbed of inevitable, unavoidable and undeniable conflict. Conflict can occur amongst employees, between employees and management, among various layers of management—it’s easy to see how common conflict can be even in a professional setting. So how should we deal with this inevitable conflict? In an article on Forbes.com, Mike Myatt discusses a few key ways to deal with conflict—and here are a few of my favorite takeaways from the article.
“While conflict is a normal part of any social and organizational setting, the challenge of conflict lies in how one chooses to deal with it”—I think this really speaks well to the fact that conflict can come from just about anywhere—opposing positions, competitive tensions, power struggles, ego, pride, jealousy, performance discrepancies, compensation issues, just someone having a bad day, etc.—and often times it is out of our control. But what’s important (and controllable) is how we choose to handle it.
Communication can be both a cause of conflict and a solution to conflict. Oftentimes conflict can arise from a lack of communication, miscommunication, or simply poor communication. However, good, effective communication can also solve many of these same conflicts.
Conflict can be avoided with a few simple steps. Myatt discusses five solutions to resolving workplace conflict:
1) Define Acceptable Behavior—rather than guessing what your employer considers to be acceptable behavior, ask the questions to define it for yourself. This helps you to avoid conflict caused by “inappropriate” actions.
2) Hit Conflict Head-On—avoiding conflict doesn’t help anybody. In fact, conflicts can often grow deeper and more serious if people try to pretend they don’t exist. Embracing conflict and working to change it is often the best course of action
3) Understand the WIIFM Factor—understand the “What’s In It For Me” position of other employees and employers. Most people will have motivations that impact their behavior, and understanding that not everybody’s motivations will be the same can help to approach conflict more effectively, avoiding incongruence and anger.
4) The Importance Factor—essentially… pick your battles. Not everything is worth an argument. If you cause a big stir about every little thing, it might negatively influence your chances of being taken seriously when a truly important conflict arises.
5) View Conflict as an Opportunity—while conflict can be ugly, difficult and uncomfortable, each time conflict arises can be a great opportunity for learning and growth. Try to find the silver lining in every conflict and, once the conflict is resolved, consider how it can be beneficial to everybody involved.
By following these principles, I think we can have a much better understanding of conflict and how to handle it. And of course, Career Services is always here to help with questions!
Written by Sarah, senior Finance major