Question

Human Resource Management,

Disputes cause conflicts. Conflicts are inevitable, it is how we manage conflicts which are of utmost importance.

How would you define conflict? As a manager, what would you do to reduce/contain conflict? Please explain. Examples may be helpful.

Answer 1

Conflict can be defined as an opinion or interest clash between parties. In organizations, conflicts arise among peers, supervisors, customers, employees and other stakeholders. As a manager, it is vital to resolve conflict at the earliest to avoid further damage to the organization. My manager is a patient old person with a lot of work experience. Once I had a conflict with my peer groups on work delegation. One employee has to come early in the morning to the organization and this is a practice that has been followed for years. Usually, employees are rotated month wise to come early to the organization. Normally employees hate coming early in the morning and I got delegated this work continuously for three months. I reported to my manager that none of my peers was interested in coming early and I am getting angry as I have to come regularly in the early morning. My manager took me and my peers to the canteen. He ordered juice and snacks to everybody. He then clarified that this is an organized practice and we have to comply with it. He resolved the conflict at once by taking responsibility that he will come early from the next day. Then all peers will have to come on a rotation basis monthly and do not put the entire burden on a single staff. Everyone agreed and the conflict was resolved at once.
I experienced conflict in one of the performance review. Our organization used to conduct a performance review of employees through 360-degree feedback method. I conducted the performance review and report the results to the director with interpretation and charts about each employee performance on various parameters. In the performance review, a junior employee scored high than a senior and experienced employee. The senior employee argued with me about his poor performance review results. I took him to the performance review room and he showed his anger about the performance review results. I patiently showed the feedback received from various stakeholders and the analysis done on his performance. I was transparent and communicated in a clear and concise manner to the angry senior employee. I told that the senior employee is an asset to the organization but his performance has declined recently. The senior employee agreed and became cool. Then he told me that he had personal affairs and this affected his work performance. The senior employee assured me that he will improve his work performance in the future. In this manner, I resolved the conflict and created a positive environment.
As a manager, I would first listen patiently to the problem and get the perspectives of the parties involved in a conflict. I would list the various causes of the conflict. I would prioritize the causes or areas of conflict depending on the seriousness and situation. Then I would address each conflict area and find solutions to them. My aim is to break the entire conflict situation into simple causes and solving them one by one to reduce the conflict as much as possible.