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Three Ways to Deal with Conflict in Organizations By Terry Bragg Conflict will occur in any long-term relationship. Conflict happens in personal, professional, family, and social relationships. Expect it. Frequently, conflict damages and destroys relationships. Sometimes the damage is irreparable. Conflict does not have to be destructive. It can also be a stimulus for change, for improvement, and for creativity. Most organizations don’t handle internal conflict very well. Organizations use three basic approaches to deal with conflict in the workplace. Sadly, the two most common approaches do not work. Let’s examine the three approaches: 1. Avoiding conflict. This approach is based upon the belief that conflict is bad or that it is a sign of a dysfunctional group. Organizations that use this approach may try to create structures to prevent conflict. Avoidance is often a sign of denial that conflict exists. Nonaction is a prime strategy for conflict avoiders. In the worst case, the avoiders don’t even recognize the symptoms that conflict is occurring. Consequently, conflicts smolder and fester until they erupt or explode. Avoiding conflict doesn’t work. Few people problems go away on their own. You resolve most interpersonal problems only by consciously addressing them. The more serious the problem, the less likely it will go away without conscious intervention. 2. Suppressing conflict. This approach is based upon the belief that you can squelch or eliminate conflict. A common suppression strategy is to lay down the law, to set strict limits, to require people to work together, or to force them to cooperate. Another suppression strategy is to stall resolution by having meetings or creating administrative procedures to address the conflict. A third strategy is to try to resolve the conflict secretly—to work behind the scenes—so you resolve the conflict without anyone knowing it existed. A common mistake is believing that having a meeting or just getting the disputing parties together will resolve the conflict. It doesn’t. When handled poorly, getting the disputants together makes matters worse. Another mistake is believing that the conflict is merely a personality clash. Managers sometimes lament that if they just had good employees all the conflict in their organization would disappear. This is usually not true. Often organizational systems cause conflicts despite the people working within those systems. This is why replacing the people doesn’t solve the conflict. Yet, the manager continues to complain about how hard it is to find good workers who can cooperate with each other these days. Suppressing conflict doesn’t work. You cannot dictate peace or force cooperation. Suppression may drive the conflict underground, so on the surface everything looks merry. Subterranean feuding can destroy your organization. 3. Turning conflict into positive outcomes. The third approach for handling conflict in organizations is to see the positive side of conflict. One way to do this is to view conflict as feedback. Conflict is information about your relationship or about what is going on. It tells you that something isn’t working or that some people believe they are not getting their needs met. Conflict is a signal that you may want to do things differently or to think about things differently. Conflict provides you an opportunity to be creative and to change something affecting your relationships. Learning from conflict is the only approach that works. The key to learning from conflict is asking the right questions, and then searching together for the answers. Important questions for using conflict as feedback include:
If you want to reduce the conflict in your organization, you must transform the conflict into positive outcomes by learning from the conflict and addressing the real issues involved in the dispute. Avoiding or suppressing conflict do not work and may make matters worse. Terry Bragg and Peacemakers Training offers a variety of tools for promoting, maintaining, and recognizing excellence in your workplace. We also offer tools for helping you achieve and maintain personal excellence. To learn more about these tools, click here: Tools for Workplace and Personal Excellence To find out more about Terry's book, 31 Days to High Self-Esteem, click here: 31 Days to High Self-Esteem To learn more about onsite seminars and workshops for improving interpersonal relationships, resolving conflict, and promoting and maintaining excellence in your workplace, click here: Seminars & Workshops ©2001 All rights reserved Terry Bragg•Peacemakers Training Terry Bragg runs a company called Peacemakers Training in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is the author of the book 31 Days to High Self-Esteem. He works with organizations to create a workplace where people want to work, and with managers who want their people to work together better. If you want your organization or your people to have more energy, more trust, more respect, and more meaning, please contact him at: Peacemakers Training Subscribe to our Free
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