Forty-one percent of managers and employees think the person to whom they report does not deal well with workplace conflicts, according to a survey by Healthy Companies International.
The management consulting firm surveyed 2,700 employees to probe their perceptions of 20 specific behaviors exhibited by their immediate supervisor. "Among the ranked behaviors bosses were found to be least trusted to handle workplace conflicts."
“Conflict occurs in every organization” said Stephen Parker, President of Healthy Companies International. “Their most common sources have to do with management succession, growth strategy and execution, and balancing revenue versus modeling the company culture. A classic conflict is about inequity of roles and resources. The boss has to balance values and outcomes, not simply impose a solution.”
Almost always it falls to the boss to handle workplace discord, said Parker. “It comes with the job and, in fact, is a core element in assessing the performance of an executive with supervisory responsibility.”
According to Parker, bosses may even make a difficult situation worse in a number of ways. “They may fail to understand the exact nature of the issue or themselves become defensive or confrontational. Getting emotionally invested, ignoring the feelings of the people involved or denying one’s own part…each is a trap the boss can fall into.”
Inaction by the boss may also cause conflict, observed Parker. “A manager may choose to ignore inappropriate employee behavior, overlook broken promises or missed deadlines, or permit anger to ruin team meetings. Inability to manage conflict creates more conflict.”
While conflicts certainly tend to be about a clash of personalities or styles, Parker said, they may also have more to do with legitimate business issues. “The best solution may not be just to end a dispute, but to leverage the disagreement as a way of examining all the issues or alternatives.”
Developing conflict management skills is increasingly required in today’s complex work environment, Parker warned. “Bosses need to get comfortable with a repertoire of conflict management skills. A good beginning is not to become too emotionally invested in a particular outcome and to keep parties focused on the business, not personalities.”
But Parker said it would be a mistake to view conflict as a negative. “Conflict is oxygen and brings issues into the open. When the CEO just functions as a peacemaker the effect may be to dampen down creativity. The challenge is to manage the conflict productively.”
