CONFLICT IN THE WORKPLACE

          Conflict exists when one person has a need that is not being met. In today’s modern world, there is a strong need among people to achieve their best results. However, conflict in the workplace makes it impossible for people to work properly. As a result, they do not work as a team; there is no communication among colleagues etc. Studies revealed that in the U S employees spend 2.8 hours every week managing conflict in the workplace and it costs $ 359 billion annually for the U S economy. In order to maintain a healthy work environment, it is essential to address the causes of conflict in the workplace.

           First of all, poor communication is one of the main causes of conflict among  employees in the workplace. This can result from different communication styles or failure in communication. For instance, when a manager reassigns  an employee’s task to his co-worker but fails to communicate the reassignment to the employee, there is trouble. Consequently, the employee feels slighted and it leads to animosity between employees and the manager. In order to deal with this problem, we must ensure that our team is made up of better communicators, we should improve their communication skills through  training and workshops.

          Secondly, unhealthy workplace competition is another major cause of conflict among employees. When salary is linked with employee production, the workplace may experience a strong competition among employees. This is because people are inflexible and believe that their goal must be achieved. Due to this  fact, they work against each other, they blame others for their failure, and they do not communicate with each other. In this unhealthy competition, relationships are not considered as important as the outcome. As a result, productivity goes down and indeed business will suffer from their unhealthy competition.

          Finally, there is also constructive conflict, which means disagreement or not complete agreement  on an issue. In constructive conflict, individual opinions and choices are respected. The purpose of constructive conflict is to have everyone  put all their cards on the table. In addition to this, they have a common sense of vision, they are good listeners and they are more creative. As a result, this kind of conflict leads to a healthy competition among employees and the outcome of their work will be beneficial.

  Taking  everything into account, conflict among  employees as result of poor communication and unhealthy competition is a massive problem in the workplace. Hence, it is essential to deal with this problem by training employees and teaching them the importance of communication and positive competition in the workplace.

Bismellah Hamidy