Resolving Workplace Conflicts: Strategies For Mediation And Negotiation

The Importance of a Healthy Work Environment

Question:

What steps would you take to resolve this Conflict?  Please note that for this mid-term assignment you must take into Consideration that, Independently of your approach to this Conflict, you will get different reactions from the staff, thus you have to indicate the possible/probable scenarios/outcomes.

The workplace, in the contemporary global scenario, id of immense importance in the life of people in general as a significant share of their everyday life is spent in these places and these places not only contribute to the professional aspect of an individual’s life but also to the overall well being of that individual. Therefore, it is of considerable importance for any individual to work in a healthy environment.

However, in any workplace, issues arise time and again between the different participants and interest groups which are the constituents of the workplace (De Wit, Greer and Jehn). These conflicts, most of the times, arise due to lack of communication and understanding between the different working groups, ego clashes between different levels in the workplace and the inappropriate distribution of power among different people working in the same place.

The assignment tries to take into account the different aspects of workplace conflicts with reference to a given workplace situation. The assignment also takes into account the different strategies, which can be taken to resolve these conflicts and which can help in maximizing the welfare of all the groups or individuals involved in these conflicts, effectively (Cahn and Abigail).

In the given scenario, the primary concern is the emergence of a toxic environment in the concerned workplace, as has been complained by the workers in the concerned company. These issues came under observation after an in-house review was conducted. Broadly, the issues reported were that of low morale, low productivity, high favoritism and differentiation among the workers, high level of turnover and also a lack of team spirit and faith among the different levels present in the company (Choi). The primary issues are classified and highlighted as follows:

This type of conflict arises in the workplace when there arises conflict between the different leaders present in the workplace. As the employees work under different leaders, managing different aspects of the operations, if there arise difference between the working styles and mentalities of the different leaders and then it creates huge level of confusion, group mentality and de-motivation among the workers (Avruch).

Types of Workplace Conflicts

In the current scenario, there are conflicts of this nature arising between the supervisor under whom the employees are directly working and the person to whom the supervisor reports. According to the workers, the difference in opinions, working styles and expectations of these two people often led to open clashes, which made the working environment bitter. The problems were not solved even after a new person joined as the boss. The conflict being open and known to all has also led to group division among the employees, which hampers the overall team mentality in the workplace (Roche, Teague and Colvin).

In any workplace, the individual contribution as well as the group effort of the employees as a whole matters for the welfare of the company as there are many works which cannot be done individually and for which the employees depend on each others’ efficiency and commitment.

In the concerned company there are also issues regarding the commitment of the supervisor. The workers complained about the frequent late coming of the person and the lack of diligence and dedication of the same, in providing required guidance and support to the workers as and when needed. This in turn has created unfavorable environment in the office as the emergency issue, which arises in the office. The absence of the supervisor has also led to greater turnover among the employees, as they did not get adequate training and mentoring from the supervisor, which left them felling less motivated and less willing to work in the concerned company (Moore).

In any workplace, proper allocation of work among the employees is required as skewness in distribution of workload leads to dissatisfaction and conflicts among the employees. Due to high turnover and de-motivated environment, many experienced and trained workers have been quitting and due to lack of adequate training of the new recruits, most of the work burdens are falling on the few experienced workers. This in turn is affecting their work life as well as increasing their stress level and as the employees have to work over time (Barsky).

Favoritism in work place is one of the primary reasons behind most of the conflicts in the work place. It leads to demoralization of the less favored employees and often leads to low motivation among the more capable workers, which in turn leads to decrease in the overall efficiency and productivity of the firms.

In the given scenario, in the concerned company, there are accusations regarding the presence of favoritism in the behavior of the supervisor. As the review suggests, the supervisor tends to favor new recruit over other according to a change in his personal priorities, which in turn is contributing to the conflict and toxic environment of the company.

Strategies for Resolving Workplace Conflicts

In any workplace, conflicts may frequently arise between the different working units and hierarchies due to the presence of difference in interests and incentives among these groups. In this context, the current company is also experiencing the same type of situation as there are clashes between the employees and the supervisor and also between the supervisor and the higher management. The supervisor has also complained about the issues of lack of support from the higher problems, especially in the cases of cropping up of issues, where the management to deal with the issues all by himself left the supervisor alone.

Given the situation of conflicts in the current workplace scenario, it can be asserted that much of these conflicts are arising due to lack of understanding and coordination among the different employees in the company. Avoiding the issues will not solve the problem and may lead to increase in the intensity of the problem. However, much of which is expected to get solved if proper mediation is done, specifically by any external mediator, to solve these conflicts among the employees of the company (Li, Zhu and Gerard).

There may be several steps, which can be taken by the external negotiator, to solve the conflicts arising in the workplace. The important ones are as follows:

Meeting with the conflicting parties together

The nature of the workplace conflicting, arising in the concerned company being highly due to misunderstanding and lack of communication, it is important for a direct interactive forum for the conflicting parties. This is because much of the tensions can be released if these conflicting personnel openly discuss their issues with each other, stating where the opponent is right and wrong, in the presence of the negotiator. However, it is of importance for the negotiator to be always present and actively monitoring the process of open interaction. The negotiator needs to intervene in case of any employee attacks any other employee on grounds other than those of the relevant workplace conflict, such that no unfavorable situation arises during the process of open interaction among the conflicting parties (Fisher).

Individually interacting with each employee participating in the interaction

Much of the workplace conflict arises in the companies due to the feeling of the presence of favoritism and partiality for different individuals. Therefore, when the negotiator to facilitate easy and free conversations and exchange of opinions among the employees establishes the discussion forum, it is to be kept in mind by the negotiator that each of the employees should feel equally important for the process (Cahn). A conflict can be easily solved if the opinions of all the members are given equal importance. Therefore, it may be an effective conflict resolution strategy to talk to each of the individuals participating in the forum individually, in the forum itself and to observe what side they take.

Effective Conflict Resolution Through Mediation and Negotiation

Establishing of a common goal

For resolving any kind of conflict in the workplace, it is important to fix a common goal for the conflicting parties and to make them realize that reaching the common goal will be beneficial for them. This may help in creating an understanding and tolerant environment among the conflicting parties and may thus help in making the resolution of conflicting issues among them smoother. It is also important for the employees to commit to the objective of resolution of the conflict and reaching to a mutually agrees set of solutions (Žiki?, Marinovi? and Trandafilovi?).

For this purpose, several common goals can be sited in front of the employees, by the negotiator, before starting the discussion. These goals may include safeguarding the reputation and goodwill of the company itself, which in turn benefits the firms in terms of revenue and profitability and also the employees of the company.

Discussion of points of disagreement and arriving at a solution

The most crucial part of any conflict resolution and negotiation process is the discussion of the different issues in which disagreements arise in the workplace. In the given scenario, there are three conflicting parties in the concerned conflict, which includes the workers, the supervisor and the higher management. The negotiator thus needs to zero down on the issues of conflict between the employees and the supervisor and between the supervisor and the higher management (Dyer and Dyer).

There may arise situations of tensions during this process as every individual is expected to have his or her share of opinions and interest in the workplace and the interest of one of the individuals may be conflicting to interest of the other parties. In this situation, it is important for the negotiator to constantly assert on the fact that the employees need to reach to a common mutually agreed solution for their own benefit (Kanske).

Removal of barriers to common goals

The discussion regarding the problems and conflicts may result in identifying the actual barriers, which are causing the differences and miscommunications in the concerned case. Here, as the main problem of the workers is the way in which their supervisor operates, this can be treated as one of the primary barriers. Another barrier can be the lack of proper communication channels between the supervisor and the management. These barriers can be removed by proper negotiations between the concerned parties where each of them make some compromises and adjustments such that the interests of all the parties are accommodated as far as possible, which can in turn lead to improvement of the concerned workplace (Nishizaki and Sakawa).

Broadcasting of praise impartially

One of the most effective factors, which encourage the employees to work or participate in any activity, is motivation. If the employees are made to feel that their capabilities are trusted on and they are valuable for the organization, then their performances increase to a considerable extent automatically. Therefore, it can be an effective strategy on part of the mediator, to praise the employees and make them feel that the mediator has trust on their conflict resolving capabilities. This should, however, be done impartially such that no unfavorable situation arises in the procedure of negotiation and the employees do not feel that the negotiator is inclined to any particular party (Halperin).

Committing to the advised solutions

Once the mutual interaction among the workers is done and the set of solutions is being decided upon, it is important for the negotiator to make the different conflicting parties to commit to work towards the implementation and appropriation of the set of solutions on which the parties have mutually agreed (Kerr).

Conclusion

Handling workplace conflicts can be tricky at times because the mediator needs to deal with the objectives, perceptions and problems of different conflicting groups working under the same roof, at the same time. However, as discussed above maintaining transparency can help in solving the problems easily, especially in the context of the current situation of the concerned workplace. In the given situation, it can be seen that much of the complains and conflicts are against the supervisor as his way of working clashes with those of the workers working under him. The supervisor also has clashes with the higher management, which according to him, is attributed to the lack of support he gets from the higher managements during the times of emergency. The mediator can handle all of these accusations by sitting with all the conflicting parties together, making them listen to the other parties’ point of view and talking clearly about their own, discussing the individual problems and expectations and then working on the strategies, which can be beneficial for all the conflicting parties.

References

Avruch, Kevin. Context and pretext in conflict resolution: Culture, identity, power, and practice. Routledge, 2015.

Barsky, Allan. Conflict Resolution for the Helping Professions: Negotiation, Mediation, Advocacy, Facilitation, and Restorative Justice. Oxford University Press, 2016.

Cahn, Dudley D., and Ruth Anna Abigail. Managing conflict through communication. Pearson, 2014.

Cahn, Dudley D., ed. Intimates in conflict: A communication perspective. Routledge, 2013.

Choi, Younyoung. “The influence of conflict management culture on job satisfaction.” Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal 41.4 (2013): 687-692.

De Wit, Frank RC, Lindred L. Greer, and Karen A. Jehn. “The paradox of intragroup conflict: a meta-analysis.” (2012): 360.

Dyer, William G., and Jeffrey H. Dyer. Team building: Proven strategies for improving team performance. John Wiley & Sons, 2013.

Fisher, Ronald J. “Third party consultation: A method for the study and resolution of conflict.” Ronald J. Fisher: A North American Pioneer in Interactive Conflict Resolution. Springer International Publishing, 2016. 37-71.

Halperin, Eran. “Emotion, emotion regulation, and conflict resolution.” Emotion Review 6.1 (2014): 68-76.

Kanske, Philipp. “On the influence of emotion on conflict processing.” Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience 6 (2012).

Kerr, Mary Margaret. “Conflict resolution.” (2012).

Li, Ya, Zhichang Zhu, and Catherine M. Gerard. “Learning from conflict resolution: An opportunity to systems thinking.” Systems Research and Behavioral Science 29.2 (2012): 209-220.

Moore, Christopher W. The mediation process: Practical strategies for resolving conflict. John Wiley & Sons, 2014.

Nishizaki, Ichiro, and Masatoshi Sakawa. Fuzzy and multiobjective games for conflict resolution. Vol. 64. Physica, 2013.

Roche, William K., Paul Teague, and Alexander JS Colvin, eds. The Oxford handbook of conflict management in organizations. Oxford University Press, 2014.

Žiki?, Sr?an, Aneta Marinovi?, and Igor Trandafilovi?. “PROMOTION OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN TERMS OF MODERN BUSINESS.” Megatrend Review 9.1 (2012).