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HR basics is a series of short lessons designed to highlight what you need to know about a particular human resource management topic.
In today's HR basics, we explore workplace conflict,
understanding more about conflict in the workplace, and how to solve it.
Workplace conflict is a perceived divergence of interests, a belief that parties current aims are incompatible.
Anytime people work together, conflict is a normal part of doing business.
Conflict is normal and natural in any workplace,
but when it occurs there's a tendency for morale to be lowered, for absenteeism to increase, and for productivity to decrease.
One research study estimated that managers spend at least 25% of their time responding to workplace conflicts.
Handling and resolving conflicts that arise in the workplace is one of the biggest challenges managers and employees face.
There are many causes and reasons for conflict in a work setting.
They include: poor communication where different communication styles lead to misunderstandings between employees, or employees and their manager.
A lack of communication drives conflict underground.
Different values.
Any workplace is made up of individuals who see the world quite differently.
Conflict occurs when there is a lack of acceptance and understanding of these differences.
Differing interests.
Conflict occurs when individual workers fight for personal goals, ignoring organizational goals and wellbeing.
Scarce resources.
Too often, employees feel that they have to compete for available resources in order to do their job.
In a resource-scarce environment, this causes conflict despite awareness of how scarce resources may be.
Personality clashes.
All work environments are made up of differing personalities.
Unless colleagues understand and accept each other's approach to work and problem solving, conflict will occur.
And finally, poor performance
When one or more individuals within a work unit are not performing, not working to their full potential, and it's not addressed, conflict is inevitable.
In resolving conflict, it's important to make sure you do the following:
Clearly articulate the causes of conflict and acknowledge there will be different perspectives.
Make a clear statement of why you want the conflict resolved, and the reasons to work on the conflict.
Communicate how you want the conflict to be resolved.
Address issues face to face.
And stick to the issues.
And take time out if necessary.
After all, conflict resolution can be messy, so take a step back if you need to restart the process.
Because no two individuals have exactly the same expectations and desires, conflict is a natural part of our workplaces.
The Thomas Killman model was designed to illustrate the options we have when handling conflict.
The TKI defines 5 or more approaches to resolving conflict. We'll get to those in a minute.
There are also two dimensions of the model, assertiveness and cooperativeness.
The TKI is designed to measure a person's behavior in conflict situations.
Conflict situations are those in which the concerns of two people appear to be incompatible.
In such situations, we can describe the individual's behavior along two dimensions, the continuums you see here.
First, assertiveness, the extent to which the person attempts to satisfy his or her own concerns.
And second, cooperativeness, the extent to which the person attempts to satisfy the other person's concerns.
As I mentioned just a minute ago, there are five approaches that can be be utilized to address workplace conflict.
Competing, where the goal is to win.
Collaborating, where we work together to find a mutually beneficial solution.
Compromising, where we find middle ground.
Avoiding, where we hide from the conflict.
And accommodating, where we surrender our needs to please the other.
Each of these five approaches are along both the assertiveness and cooperativeness continuums.
The competing mode is at the top left of the model, which means an individual takes a wholly assertive and uncooperative approach to resolving the conflict.
It means standing up for your rights, defending the position in which you believe is correct, or simply trying to beat the other side.
An individual who pursues his or her own concerns at the other person's expanse.
This is a power oriented mode in which you use whatever power seems appropriate to win your own position.
The collaborating mode is at the top right of the model, which means an individual takes an assertive yet cooperative approach.
It means being willing to believe that at an impasse, it's possible for both sides to come out with what they want.
Collaborating requires mutual respect, a willingness to listen to others, and creativity in finding solutions.
Collaborating may take the form of exploring a disagreement to learn from each other's insights or trying to create a solution to an interpersonal problem.
The compromising mode is at the center of the model because it is both assertive and cooperative, but only to some extent.
Both sides get something, but not everything.
The objective is to find an expedient, mutually acceptable solution, that partially satisfies both parties.
In some situations, compromising might mean splitting the difference between two positions, exchanging concessions, or seeking a quick middle-ground solution.
The avoiding mode is at the bottom left of the model, which means the individual takes an unassertive and uncooperative approach to the conflict and they just don't deal with it.
Avoiding might take the form of diplomatically sidestepping the issue, postponing the issue until a better time, or simply withdrawing from a threatening situation.
Thus he or she does not deal with the conflict.
And finally, the accommodating mode is at the bottom right of the model, which means the individual takes a wholly unassertive and cooperative approach. This may take the form of selfless generosity.
Giving in to another person's orders when you would prefer not to or yielding to another person's point of view.
When accommodating, an individual neglects his or her own concerns to satisfy the concerns of the other person. There is an element of self sacrifice.
Each of us is capable of using all five of these approaches or modes.
None of us can be characterized by having a singular style when dealing with conflict,
but certain people use some approaches or modes better than others, and therefore they tend to rely on those modes more heavily.
Your conflict behavior in the workplace is a result of both your personal pre despositions and the requirements of the situation you find yourself in.
The TKI is designed to measure this mix of conflict handling modes and help you, your team, and your organization better resolve workplace conflict.
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