Employee Conflict Resolution Takes Wisdom And Patience

The number one job of any manager, regardless of what business they are in, is to keep a business running smoothly. This applies to sales, deliveries, repairs, administration, but most importantly it applies to managing employees. The better employees function in the setting of the business, the better overall that the business will perform. Employees undertake vital duties for their businesses and when problems arise that affect how they perform their jobs, the business as a whole begins to suffer. These problems can come from the employees personal life as well as problems based on less than excellent interpersonal relationships with the employee’s co-workers. When tensions rise between employees, it is the manager’s primary responsibility to solve the problem and return the employees involved back to a state where they can work together, accomplishing the goals of their department or the overall business itself.

Many managers, because of their own non confrontational style will ignore poor interpersonal relationships among their employees or teams. Ignoring or avoiding these conflicts is a faulty managerial style as not only will the problems not go away, they will only fester and spread to other employees and team members. A workplace conflict that is not mended, but is left to grow has no choice to eventually involve other employees as people eventually feel they are required to take sides. Likewise, not solving the issue but merely calming it down will not end the problems that come from it. The conflict will most assuredly raise it’s head again and the next time it may even be worse than before. Solving the problem completely is the only viable answer any good manager should seek.

There are also managers that believe that employees who have problems with other employees should work them out themselves. They usually justify this with two reasons; the first being that those involved are adults and should be mature enough to handle personal problems and the second being that they think only the work of the two parties involved in a disagreement will suffer. Both of these opinions are wrong however, as many well experienced managers can testify to. While it may be true that two adults should be mature enough to handle a disagreement and shouldn’t have to have someone else step in, the damage that can be caused by an unresolved conflict far outweighs the philosophy that these two employees should settle it themselves.  If a manager can see that a problem is negatively affecting the overall business, the immediate solution is to solve it and not let it get worked out by the two people involved.

The other thing that good managers know is that a personal problem between two employees can affect the job performance of many other employees. The tension alone in the workplace makes it a more difficult place for anyone to function in. Other personal problems can also arise once co-workers start picking sides as to who is right and who is wrong in the disagreement. One of the biggest ways that an unresolved conflict can negatively affect a business though is when the job performance of the two employees involved starts to deteriorate, others have to pick up the slack and end up many times not having enough time to perform their own jobs to the best of their abilities.

When resolving conflicts between employees or team members, it is best if the manager starts out meeting with both employees together in a location where they will not be interrupted. When a manager tries to find details of the disagreement themselves, often times their investigation turns up information that is neither true or pertaining to the actual problem. By sitting the two people involved down in a secluded area like the manager’s office and having each tell their side of the story, a manager is giving themselves the best chance of hearing the true story.  Many times people who are forced to confront the other party they have a problem with face-to-face will tend not to exaggerate the circumstances of the disagreement because there is the very real possibility that they will immediately be questioned by the other person.

Once both sides of the story are out, it is the manager’s job to decide where fault lies and if there is a way that these two people can continue to work with each other. A manager should not verbalize it, but should assign blame to the party who is more responsible, and approach solving the issue from that standpoint. The manager should then state their solution to the issue, state what is expected of the employees, and finally state what will happen if either employee can not live up to the company’s expectations.

When a manager combines wisdom and patience with objectivity and firmness, they garner respect from both the employees involved in a workplace conflict and the employees that were not involved as well. Leaving an issue to solve itself is not an acceptable way to resolve a conflict among employees, in fact in general it is not an acceptable managerial style at all. An effective manager is proactive, constantly looking for ways in which the department or business can be run more efficiently. This is true for recognizing and solving conflicts between employees and team members too.

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