Conflict in the Workplace Workforce Within Organizations,

Conflict in the Workplace

Workforce within organizations, whatever the level, constitutes one of the most important resources within such environments. Harmony among the human resource and shared vision among employees is one mandatory factor in ensuring that goals are appropriately met. Conflict if however, one inevitable occurrence in the workplace and organizational leaders has to deal with it appropriately (Flagan & Craig 8). Conflict in organizations neither occurs nor happens in a vacuum. Usually, there are some underlying issues which instigate the conflicts either between workmates or teams. Fortunately, the capacity of conflict management can help in such situations and even turn the organization into a better place. This can be achieved either through preventing the conflicts or resolving them. Personally, I have been in a conflict situation within the office; a state which was handled appropriately by the management but would however been avoided had appropriate prevention structures been constituted.

Causes of Conflict

Conflicts in the workplace are exhibited in different form and occur between different kinds of people or groups. Just as natures of these conflicts differ so are the causes which give rise to them. Some of the common ways in which conflicts originate within organizations include;

Scarcity of resources; when there exists shortage of resources within different departments or the entire organization, competition becomes widespread and the occurrence of conflicts almost inevitable. This scarcity can come in the form of finances, office facilities and equipment just to mention but a few. When it becomes impossible for individual to share the few resources provided for them within a work environment, quarrels erupt and disagreements emerge.

Personality differences; this is probably the most common factor that causes disagreements, more so between individuals in an organization. The clash between personalities and language among workers in workplaces is widespread and sometimes leads to unpleasant occurrences like rumours and gossip. Differences in race, family background and ethnic identities are among the instigators of personality differences in organization and occur in varied degrees from one organization to the other.

Ambiguity in roles and responsibilities; proper accomplishment of tasks and achievement of goals calls for clarity in the way roles and responsibilities are defined among individuals and groups within organizations. When instructions, more so from the superiors, are not provided clearly, it becomes possible for workers to fail in their lines of duty. Inappropriateness in the accomplishment of tasks encompasses one of the most irritating instances for bosses. This could cause conflicts between workers and their superiors within the departments or in the entire organization.

Poor communication; lack of proper forms of communication can plunge individuals and teams into conflicts. Communication is the single most important aspect when it comes to things being done within any environment. The workplace is clearly not an exception in this case. When communication is poor within an organization, things either do not get done or are done in an appropriate means. Poor communication can lead to other causes of conflict in organizations. For instance, it can interfere with team work which is an essential element in the success of organizations.

Conflict Management

In spite of the fact that conflict within organizations is inevitable, management of such disagreements is mandatory. This is because, conflicts, when left to thrive within organization can cause serious consequences which may constitute, increase in complaints against the organization, high employee turnover, sabotage, inefficiency and low productivity among others (Alberta Employment and Immigration 5). Conflict management comes in two forms and include the prevention of conflict and the resolution of disagreements once they have occurred. Various strategies can be applied within organizations to check the occurrence of conflicts and to ensure that they do not cause irreversible and grave consequences for the organization.

As regarding prevention of conflicts organization ought to facilitate mental preparation for members prior to business engagement is important. The fact that personality issues and external pressure determines the conduct of an individual should not be ignored. In addition, organizations ought not to assume that all individuals, regardless of their age and professional achievement, would act maturely under different circumstances. Mental preparation in such instances would provide value not only in the short-term but also in the long-term as an employee trains himself to always act in accordance with the requirements of the business. Establishment of clear communications channels across organizations, ensuring clarity in roles assignment and providing adequate resources to avoid unhealthy competition include some measures which can work with respect to conflict prevention.

In group scenarios, conflict prevention can occur in the form of the establish structures that ensure that balance between the alpha and beta person are maintained in the creation of teams. This will help deal with the possibility of conflicts occurring across personality lines within a group setting. In addition, the four stages of group development should be followed with the view of minimizing the possibility of relationship conflicts. This include, group formation, storming, norming and performance. Creating team mission, value and team agreements would also goal long way in preventing conflict.

Conflict resolution would involve, preparing for a meeting between the participants, informing both the participants and encouraging trust and confidentiality among them. At the arranged time and place of the meeting, the participants ought to explore the issues of contempt, discuss and understand the interests of one another and develop options for solving the problems. They would then choose a solution, implement it and evaluate its performance (Alberta Employment and Immigration 6-13).

Personal Experience

Personally, I have experienced some conflict between me and a member of my group over the instructions required for the development of software. Considering that he is good with a specific programming language, he was advised to work on the Graphical User Interface for the program. He was however displeased with the demand as it seemed to constitute much of the task for creating the software. He declined that responsibility but never failed to communicate his dissatisfaction with neither member nor the other two members of the group. He however chose to direct his grievances to other members of the department. It was only after the deadline that he raised his concerns voicing the idea of getting another member to team up with in the development of the interface. It was however disappointing for me considering he failed to raise his concerns at the appropriate time. Owing to the fact that he had also discussed the issue with parties inappropriate to me, a conflict arose between the two of us.