Maintaining a healthy office environment has rather become a challenge nowadays for the business person given that people have a different style of working.
As business people aim to take their businesses to higher positions, the in-office disputes tend to become a hurdle in their process.
More profitability, better quality and happy customers can only be ensured if your employees are working as a team, and are putting in their hundred percent efforts. However, overall work would get affected if your employees turn indifferent to each other.
If you own a company and you are also facing troubles in maintaining peace among your employees, or if you are an employee wanting to avoid in-office disputes, then this article will surely help you.
Why do in-office disputes happen?
Every company has employees, managers who do not gel up and they think that they never will. However, that is not true at all. Handling employees, involvement of the managers and, if required, the bosses would also help resolve the issues in the longer run.
Once conflict management specialist, Thomas Crum said, “In a conflict, being willing to change allows you to move from a point of view to a viewing point– a higher, more expansive place, from which you can see both sides.”
This is one of the major reasons for in-office disputes. People fail to understand the point of view of others.
Ensure the points mentioned below to maintain healthiness in your workplace.
Understand the personality clashes
Most of the conflicts taking place in corporate offices happen because of the differing personalities of the employees. Someone who has an aggressive nature may indulge in verbal disputes with another negatively outspoken one. Disagreements are another aspect where most employees would fall into conflicts.
However, one has to understand that a differing personality ends up giving birth to huge disputes among the employees. Understand that many employees may not get along as good because of their contrasting behaviours and if you force them to talk then they might damage the environment of your office and other employees’ work mood as well, which is something you would not want.
Therefore, leave them! Let them be on their own and try to keep both the employees separate as the outcomes of their disputes will affect the team’s environment and ultimately your office work as well.
Communicate respectfully
We can’t always be good at understanding what tone the other person has used while communicating. Maybe they said it in a certain way and you thought that they were sarcastically pulling your leg.
The employees, managers and bosses must ensure that they are choosing the right tone and are using a respectful manner while bestowing any information to others as it may leave a mark on their mind which will harm their productivity at work.
If communication is the right key to disseminate information then the way you communicate is the key deciding if your words are understood by others or it will be misinterpreted.
Your tone is vital as it might negatively affect your character in front of others. Even if the other person is wrong, one needs to be respectful and polite while talking. You would not want your team to feel dejected and hurt, after all.
Understand the root cause and provide reasonable arguments
Most of the conflicts begin with minor issues and end up on something else. The situation gets worse with time when the original issue is not addressed. Therefore, the best way to solve the disputes is to understand why they initially started. Along with this, when two people indulge in a verbal brawl they don’t talk sense at all which is another big issue.
Therefore, if you think that the argument is valid, talk politely. Talk with facts and reasonable arguments that would solve the issue rather than speaking invalid reason that may only contribute to the baseless argument.
Image: Unsplash
Author’s personal encounter with in-office disputes
One example I can quote over here is the argument I recently saw between two employees in my office over using a computer system. While one employee was talking aggressively, I saw the other one talking politely and giving valid reasons why she wanted to use that particular system (because all her data was in that computer).
When the floor manager witnessed the argument, he came and politely communicated with the aggressive employee in front of the office and made her realise her mistake as she was spoiling the office environment.
Also, everyone present at the moment appreciated the other lady for keeping her calm while the other one disrespected her. This one situation is evidence of why one must ensure the right way of communication, tone and reasonable arguments.
It is completely up to you that you want to solve the issue or just want to satisfy your ego by presenting your conflicting nature.
Respect each other’s forte
This is another reason for conflicts and rather a very common one. Most employees feel that they contribute more to the office work while others are in the department that does not have work at all. Even if they are, never make them feel so as this will only help you create conflict’s reasons, nothing else.
Whatever you are doing, is because you are getting paid for it. Therefore, respect each other’s forte because you never know what they are doing professionally.
Don’t get involved in back-bitching EVER!
This is one of my personal experiences. One cannot avoid office disputes completely but can ensure managing it tactfully if one happens in their corporate. We, as employees, managers or businessmen, are not aware of what the other person is like from the inside, people might be sweet from outside and might have negative thoughts deep inside.
Therefore, never talk bad about anyone behind their back or in front of another person, no matter how much you trust them. You never know when and from where it might reach them. Also, this would affect your respect in other employee’s eyes.
Always talk sensible about others and if you have any problem with them, try and talk to them directly because then only the dispute will come to an end.
Focus on problem-solving not attacking and winning the fight
As mentioned above, most fights happen to satisfy the ego and not to resolve the issue. Disputes start with a genuine problem and later on the focus shifts to something else.
Therefore, never lose your focus from solving the dispute to just winning the argument (because it is not a matter of your ego). This feeling would leave you nowhere but will only disturb your concentration from home to baseless things.
Fair treatment of all
Inequality mostly happens under the table or privately which creates a rift between the employees and affects their behaviour with each other and with the managers of course. Hence, this also contributes to conflicts in many ways.
Bosses and managers must ensure that all the employees are being treated equally whether it is professionally or among the employees personally.
And in case you are in favour of an employee, you must give proof of why they deserve to be treated differently than others. A valid explanation would illuminate the employees who think badly of you.
If the conflicts are visible, managers must step forward
This is one thing the managers must ensure that the environment in the office is dispute-free and healthy because that will help you build a good company reputation and effective results.
If you sense that two employees or managers are not talking to each other because they don’t get along together, then sit, talk, and work things out rather than just ignoring, this will otherwise affect your work culture.
In Summary
Conflicts will happen in offices because of the smallest of the reasons but it is up to the company workers only how they manage to work it out tactfully without hurting someone’s feelings.
Putting it all altogether, a good company is only made when the employees work collectively and in-office disputes or their differences do not affect the office environment.
Therefore, entrepreneurs must ensure that the workers of their organisation are professional enough to put aside their personal grudges and work together.
About the Author
Garima Aggarwal is an aspiring content writer working in the role of Creative Content Writing for TABSCAP. She is passionate to write about topics related to Lifestyle, Health, Search Engine Optimisation and Digital Marketing.
