Analyzing Conflict Resolution in the Workplace: A Leadership Approach

This essay explores the critical role of leadership in conflict resolution within the workplace. It highlights the negative impacts of unresolved conflict, such as decreased productivity and employee turnover, and emphasizes the importance of addressing conflict constructively. Effective strategies for conflict resolution are discussed, including focusing on the problem rather than the individual and promoting open communication. The essay also suggests measures organizations can take to foster a harmonious work environment, such as improving communication, ensuring transparency, and cultivating a culture of respect. The implementation of clear conflict resolution policies, coupled with consistent enforcement and disciplinary measures, is recommended to minimize conflicts and maintain a productive work environment. The essay concludes that effective conflict management, rooted in strong communication and proactive measures, is essential for organizational success.

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Conflict Resolution in the Workplace
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CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN THE WORKPLACE
Conflict Resolution in the Workplace
In any organization, leadership and conflict resolution go hand-in-hand. For leaders to be
effective in their roles, they have to be in a position to address conflict healthily and
productively. Therefore, leaders should not try to avoid conflict. They should embrace it as it is
part of their job to solve the disputes. The ability to understand the nature of the conflict,
recognize it and ability to bring just and quick resolutions serves the leaders well while lack of
these qualities leads to their downfall.
The conflict has negative consequences on the workplace. Some of these impacts include
a decrease in the employees' productivity when an organization spends most of their time dealing
with employee’s disputes or conflict. Conflict makes the workers shift their focus from the
productive activities of the business to other activities such as gossiping and venting about their
frustrations (Leon-Perez et al., 2015). Another impact of conflict in workplaces is the employee’s
turnover issues. This turnover can result in loss of considerable talents and skills which is a total
loss to an organization. Conflict can also lead to violence if it is left to escalate without
mediation or conflict resolution. It is so unfortunate that organization conflicts can cause
violence among the members who may, in turn, cause legal problems for the members and the
entire organization. When communication is done properly having a strong verbal and non verbal
communication makes the individuals feel comfortable and less attacked.
Conflicts are unavoidable at the, and therefore the organizations need to design
appropriate models and strategies to resolve them. Conflict can ignite from a very small word
and can spark behaviours and responses that bring forth destruction (Johnson & Keddy, 2010).
But when handled carefully stronger relationships can help to address ongoing challenges and
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alarms.Navigating an argument effectively helps to keep the focus on a single issue and further
avoids personal attacks.
Some of these strategies that help to solve the conflicts well include focusing on the
problem and not the individual (Singer, 2018). The organizations should aim at pointing out the
question that needs to be solved rather than labeling a particular individual and [problematic.
Communication is also an essential strategy for conflict resolution. The conflicting parties should
be allowed to express their points of view while the mediators are expected to share his or her
perspective about the issue.
For any organization to have a harmonious work environment, there are several measures
that it can take. These include improving communication where every member of an
organization can give his or her opinions about a particular subject concerning the organization.
Transparency and openness is another way that an organization can use to foster good
relationships between the employees (Wrench, 2013). The employees feel secure when they can
transparently express their opinions without having to fear any threat from the administration.
Besides, the organization is supposed to cultivate a culture that aims at respecting each member’s
contribution. When the employees are recognized, they experience a sense of belonging and this
also helps the work environment to be harmonious.
Conflict is healthy for an organization because it brings creativity when the leaders try to
come up with solutions to solve the conflict. Conflict also helps the members to demonstrate
their leadership skills and their ability to resolve disputes in an amicable manner (Horton, Bayerl
& Jacobs, 2014). However, many conflicts in the workplace may lower the productivity of the
workers if most of the time is used in solving workers disputes. Therefore conflicts in an
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organization should be minimized to ensure that workers devote most of their time in productive
activities.
If the conflicts between the employees seem to affect the organization negatively, the
organization should design and implement policies that govern conflict resolutions process in the
workplace (Saeed et al., 2014). Policies help to maintain the organization's culture by dictating
how the employees should act in case of a dispute. These rules should aim at controlling the
employee’s speech, behavior and even the dress code. The management should enforce such
policies to prevent conflicts from reoccurring. One of the ways that the leaders should use to
ensure that these policies are followed is by instituting disciplinary measures for those who
breach the rules.
In conclusion, conflicts at work places are inevitable.The major process of managing
conflicts such as assessment,acknowledgement, attitude, action and should be followed
promptly.Coming up and executing a comprehensive quality management function and
improving one on one interactions with employees will minimize conflicts at the
workplace.Communication is the most important ingredient for avoiding conflicts.
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References
Horton, K. E., Bayerl, P. S., & Jacobs, G. (2014). Identity conflicts at work: An integrative
framework. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35(S1), S6-22.
Johnson, C., & Keddy, J. (2010). Managing conflict at work. London: Kogan Page.
Leon-Perez, J. M., Medina, F. J., Arenas, A., & Munduate, L. (2015). The relationship between
interpersonal conflict and workplace bullying. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 30(3),
250-263.
Saeed, T., Almas, S., Anis-ul-Haq, M., & Niazi, G. S. K. (2014). Leadership styles: relationship
with conflict management styles. International Journal of Conflict Management, 25(3),
214-225.
Singer, L. (2018). Settling disputes: Conflict resolution in business, families, and the legal
system. Routledge.
Wrench, J. (2013). Workplace communication for the 21st century. Santa Barbara, Calif.:
Praeger/ABC-CLIO.
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