Conflict Resolution In The Corporate Setting

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Conflict Resolution

Personnel problems and conflicts between staff members is a significant source of contention in the workplace and could result in a decline in productivity and profit. Management training should consist of conflict resolution for business owners and executive leadership, but what happens when they are involved in the conflict? At Benchmark Associates, we can help you and your leadership company overcome conflict and train on how to resolve conflicts within the staff members. Contact us to learn more today.

Managers spend anywhere from 40 to 90% of their time dealing with conflicts in one form or another. This may be conflicts between people, departments, or external forces. Unresolved conflicts are the cited cause of nearly half of all employee resignations, and the parting of ways for business partners. Senior HR executives spend nearly 20% of their time in litigation activities, most of which directly relate to conflict in the workplace. As you can imagine, this causes a severe decrease in productivity and morale and costs businesses their bottom line. In some cases, conflicts jeopardize the entire organization and can lead to catastrophic business failure. Addressing conflict right away and effectively managing it can mean the difference between closing your doors or thriving to become a Fortune 500 company.

Consequences of Workplace Conflict on Employees:

High levels of stress
Loss of self-confidence
Depression, sleeping difficulties and weight problems
Deterioration of personal relationships
Irritable and difficult to work with
Withdrawal from team

Team- and Organizational-Level Consequences of Conflict:

Low morale
Increased absenteeism
Increased staff turnover
Decreased productivity
Mistrust in upper management
Inability to grow

At Benchmark Consulting Group, our team of former business executives has decades worth of experience preventing, identifying, managing, and overcoming conflicts in the business world. If your company is experiencing any of the symptoms listed above, contact us to see what we can do to help.

Conflict in the workplace can have a variety of sources, all of which create an environment that is not conducive to productivity or growth. Causes of conflict can range from personality differences in staff to systemic leadership or process problems. Some common causes of workplace conflict include:

Unclear Expectations or Direction

Without a clear purpose and direction, working toward an identified goal or objective, personnel can interpret their own mission and this causes conflict. This form of conflict is common in new startup companies that are surpassing the entrepreneurial phase without a clear growth plan or effective strategy. Implementing process controls can help considerably.

Ineffective Communication

Communication is the cornerstone of any good relationship and the business world is far from exempt. Employees who feel that they are in the dark about company policy or who have a direct lack of guidance from superiors often feel misguided and cause conflict. Ineffective or lack of communication within the executive team can cause a variety of directions and goals to be explored simultaneously, not all of which support each other. Enhancing workplace communication is critical to overcoming conflict and preventing failure.

Lack of Boundaries

A lack of boundaries within a company can lead to severe conflict and tension. This is very common in partnership companies or new companies where all employees are viewed as peers. As the business grows and expectations and boundaries shift, scalable growth plans may blur boundaries or violate previous boundaries completely. It is important to always establish clear boundaries, roles, and expectations to avoid building or ongoing conflicts.

Interpersonal Conflict

Interpersonal conflicts are disruptive to workflow and can halt productivity. Interpersonal conflicts should be identified and directly dealt with as quickly as possible to avoid escalation or damage to the overall hierarchy or functioning of the company. If conflicts cannot be resolved, it may significantly impact the overall success of the company.

Organization/ Structure Changes

Anytime there are major company changes, it can cause conflict. This is especially true in the case of mergers and acquisitions or corporate takeovers. To help reduce or prevent conflict, it should be anticipated and preemptively mitigated. Failure to do so may have devastating consequences. When there is executive leadership turnover, especially when hired from the outside, tensions may arise. In these instances, the assistance of a fractional CxO is nearly immeasurable.

At Benchmark Associates, we have been helping companies prevent and overcome conflict for decades. Let us put our experience to work for you!

When it comes to workplace conflict management, it functions similarly to interpersonal relationship conflict resolution, but in a much different way. In the business world, interpersonal disagreements or personality and attitude misalignments can occur and be set aside for the sake of the working mission. Some things to keep in mind when addressing workplace conflict:

Set egos and emotions behind
Mediators are invaluable assets
Address conflict early is a simple way to avoid escalation
Avoid making it personal
Focus on behavior and events, not on personalities
Develop a resolution plan

Some methods for conflict resolution include:

Collaboration

Collaboration is the goal of every conflict. Collaboration involves sharing ideas and goals to create a win-win situation for both parties. In this scenario, each party offers a problem and a solution to find the differences between them and discover how they can work together.

Compromising

Compromising is both parties sacrificing a portion of their wants or goals to find common ground and mutual resolution for the problem.

Some other, not as successful, resolution styles include competing, accommodating, and avoiding. For preemptive conflict resolution training, mediation, and finding solutions, contact us at Benchmark Associates.

Conflict Resolution For Corporate Executives

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