Workplace conflicts are a fact of life, and if handled appropriately, can be a source of innovation and positive change. However, if left unresolved, they can raise stress levels, interfere with business, and even lead to physical violence. To prevent this, human resource professionals have developed an effective conflict resolution process that employees can use to help find lasting solutions to disagreements on the job.
It’s important to understand that conflicts that arise in a workplace can raise employees’ stress levels, damage their morale, and even lead to physical violence. Therefore, it’s essential to recognize and deal with workplace conflicts promptly and effectively. But, to resolve disagreements, it helps to understand a few things about conflicts themselves. Because workplace conflict occurs where we make our living, it can seem like a threat to our livelihood. This can make it more challenging to see an issue from the other person’s point of view.
When conflicts are left unresolved, they can create a tense and even hostile work environment for everyone around them. To prevent this, it’s important to determine what caused the conflict in the first place. For example, employees sometimes disagree about what goals they should be working towards. It’s very unusual for goals to be mutually exclusive. Looking at the bigger picture can help us see how multiple objectives fit together in an overall plan.
Other conflicts can arise from simple misunderstandings, lack of communication, or poor data. In these situations, it’s important for coworkers to establish common ground by ensuring that everyone has the most reliable, accurate, and up-to-date information possible. But, we can still disagree about what facts mean. These types of differences of opinion can often be resolved through friendly discussion.
Competing, yielding, and avoiding are three common responses to conflict that not only fail to resolve a problem, but can actually make it worse. Effective conflict resolution is based on a set of problem-solving skills that can help you to defuse disputes and find a permanent solution. It’s critical to understand and use these skills since workplace conflict that isn’t dealt with won’t fade away, it just gets worse.
If a conflict causes you to become involved in a confrontation with a coworker, there are a number of things you can do to help defuse the situation. First, remain calm. Becoming excited or emotional will only make things worse. Do not raise your voice or shout. Even if the other person is getting loud, you should continue to speak quietly. Explain to them that you want to understand their point of view, and ask them to explain their concerns. Remember, if the conflict escalates, it can lead to physical violence, and in the end, no one wins.
Effective conflict resolution in the workplace is crucial in ensuring that conflicts are handled appropriately, leading to positive change and innovation for both employees and their companies. However, when conflicts go unresolved, they can cause stress, interfere with business, and even lead to physical violence. Our “Conflict Resolution in Industrial Facilities” course provide employees with an understanding of different types of conflict they may encounter on the job and how to find lasting solutions to disagreements. The topics covered in these products include understanding workplace conflict, responses that can make things worse, resolving conflicts effectively, and how to handle a confrontation. These products are available in English and Spanish, and their MicroLearning curriculum includes 3-5 minute courses to help employees understand these issues better.
Our online interactive courses offered are designed to keep employees engaged and involved in the learning process. Full-motion HD video filmed in real-life workplace settings and interactive quiz questions ensure that employees are fully engaged in the learning process and retain more of the information they have learned. One of the best features of their online courses is that they incorporate remediation training. If a trainee misses a question on a quiz, they are presented with the course content that explains the topic over again. This means that training time is reduced, and the courses are much more efficient and effective. The training activity is tracked and recorded along with test scores, making it easy for managers to monitor their employees’ progress. We offer a range of different types of online safety courses, including adaptive learning courses, micro-learning courses, full-length interactive courses, and video streaming (VOD) courses, covering over 170 courses on important topics such as regulatory compliance, human resource topics, and general safety topics.
