| It goes by many names -- conflict
prevention,
conflict resolution, conflict management, the names go on. These terms
were all created to combat a similar problem. For the most part, people who
deal with these issues all agree with the same principle: Conflict
resolution at an early stage is less costly and more manageable than trying
to deal with its repercussions later.
First, let's discuss the types of conflicts we have observed in our years
of experience working with organizations.
We have observed 3 major types of workplace conflict:
Task Conflict
Task conflict arises among members of work teams and specifically affects
the goals and tasks they are striving to achieve. Differences in vision,
intentions and quality expectations often lead to task conflict. Employee
relationships may initially appear to survive task conflict but an important
project may not. It is essential to channel task conflict so that these
differences become collaborative and improve the way the team thinks about
accomplishing current and future tasks.
Process Conflict
This form of conflict centers around the steps or methods used by a team to
reach a goal. One person might like to plan 100 steps ahead while another
might like to dive in head first. These differences in process can lead to
communication breakdown and ultimately conflict. But, like task conflict,
process conflict can be useful, if managed correctly. Healthy differences in
process often will lead to an IMPROVED way of achieving goals.
Relationship Conflict
Often misunderstood, relationship conflict undermines and tears at the
fabric of a team's ability to achieve goals effectively, efficiently and
profitably. Relationship conflict penetrates all aspects of an organization.
When people in a workplace fail to communicate effectively, entire work
teams or even an entire organization will suffer. This type of conflict will
quickly consume all the attention and energy of an organization, leaving
little time to accomplish profitable tasks.
What can you do to bring conflict to a reasonable resolution? And how can
it be beneficial to everyone involved? The goal is to increase the benefits
achieved from encouraging task and process conflict while at the same time
reducing, managing and understanding the negative effects of relationship
conflict.
The benefits of effective conflict resolution are great:
*Improve organizational decision making
*Inspire employees to articulate and clarify their ideas and positions
*Stimulate innovation, creativity and forward thinking
*Improve individual and group performance
If no resolution is sought for conflict the affects are often
devastating:
*Job stress and burnout rises which typically increases absenteeism and
turnover
*Distrust and suspicion develops often creating an "us versus them" culture
*Job satisfaction and performance falters
*Employee loyalty and commitment declines
About the Author
Kelly Graves is the founder and CEO of Internal Solutions Consulting.
With over 85 years of combined experience in organizational
conflict resolution, Internal Solutions is able to quickly address
conflicts within an organization to facilitate a more successful, productive
and profitable communication environment.
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