Change Management: Managing Conflict

In an organization, conflicts are deemed to happen. Be it be a profitable multinational giant or a small business startup, conflicts are always a possibility. Often such conflicts arise when a change is in the offing. Simple conversations can turn to arguments and take a drastic turn and end up as disputes in courts. Such occurrences can not only cause a financial but a moral loss to the firm. An argument between two members of an organization, when turns to a conflict, can cripple productivity of the company and as a result it can spoil the office environment by making its employees feeling irritated and betrayed.

Since childhood, we are told to complaint to higher authorities when in a conflict. This habit is carried on to us as adults and the higher authorities like police, managers, and team leaders are the ones who act as mediators. In organizations, it is very difficult for managers to address potential conflicts without a detailed reference of the company policies regarding that matter. Mostly, rules are made to unify the fairness given to the employees who are in conflict. However at times, rules do not necessarily give fairness to employees and cannot be related to the real world situations. It is naive to assume that application of a basic set of rules will solve the conflicts efficiently.

Here, you may ask – ‘If rules are not suitable for mediating conflicts, then what should be done?’ Conflicts can be resolved only if they are proactively dealt with. Many times conflicts result from different choices of individuals and such incidents routinely crop up when an change is being implemented in an organization. Managers should resolve such cases by creating an environment that is positive and compliment the right choices.

There are many strategies in the organization that can be used to resolve a conflict in an organization. The following are the items that must be addressed:

* Be Comfortable With Conflict: Expressing a conflict is an important part of an individual’s nature. People are usually afraid of a conflict and keep on building small discomforts until they disrupt in a sudden manner. It should be noted that although conflicts are not a matter of being afraid, they are certainly not the only resort. A careful and well thought conversation, done at the right time could very well make matters hail and healthy with the other person. Instead of suppressing a conflict and saying “calm down”, managers should discuss a possible solution with the people in conflict. In cases where a evolving change has lead to the conflict; one needs to communicate the essence of the change to the involved parties and encourage them to see their perspectives in a new light.

* Find The Source: A conflict is best solved if resolved within employees only. Instead of going to the management, when the employees included in a conflict resolve the conflict, it leads to actual solutions and not compromises.

* Lessons Learnt: Learning from the conflicts or disagreements is an important task. Such lessons lead towards experiences that are very useful in reaching towards a solution to a conflict.

* Do’s And Don’ts: There is a greater chance that the conflicts can be resolved if people are conscious about their behavior or conflicts. It is important for employees to realize when they are behaving rationally and when they are not. One of the most disastrous things that act as a catalyst to a conflict is involvement of more people. When in a conflict, attempt should be made to involve a minimum number of people to reduce gossip and office politics.

While conflicts are always there, there should not always be disastrous. A Conflict, if handled carefully and efficiently, can lead to a solution that may care of many other problems too.