Many of us experience difficult relationships, whether it is at home or in the workplace. It is how we react to these situations will have an impact on the rest of our lives.
In research by the CIPD (Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development), 38 per cent of workers have experienced some form of interpersonal conflict at work in the previous 12 months – which includes 29 per cent who have had isolated disputes or clashes and a further 28 per cent who report ongoing difficult relationships (‘1 in 4 of us have an ongoing difficult relationship at work, finds CIPD report,’ CIPD Press Release, 2 April 2015).
The organisation is warning that managers have a key role in diffusing tensions in early on as workplace conflict can have a major impact of employee wellbeing and business outcomes, with as many as one in ten employees leaving their employment as a result.
The CIPD report, ‘Getting Under the Skin of Workplace Conflict,’ revealed that conflict manifests itself in a variety of ways, the most common one was the lack of respect according to 61 per cent of respondents to their survey.
One in 25 respondents had experienced conflict in the work environment within the previous 12 months, stating that they had experienced the threat or actual physical assault in the workplace.
The CIPD is urging employers to build a business culture that supports positive working relationships and channels which means that any workplace conflicts can be dealt with at an early stage before it escalates and becomes unmanageable.
When conflict does arise, it is most often viewed as being with line managers or other senior managers in an organisation (36 per cent) rather than with direct reports (10 per cent), highlighting the importance of the power structure. The junior member of staff is more likely to identify the issue as a problem, whereas the senior person will not see it as problem or think that it has been resolved.
The most common cause of conflict is clash of personality or working style (44 per cent) rather than a conflict of interest as such. Individual performance competence and target setting are among the issues most likely to provoke conflict with promotions or contractual terms of employment are likely to be so.
The report outlined that there was a clear power differential at play with employees more likely to observe a lack of respect, bullying or harassment from their managers or other senior officials in an organisation, with as many as 1 in 4 stating that their line manager actively creates conflict.
In some instances, conflict has become unworkable, resulting in one in ten people leaving a role either by moving to another role in the organisation, resigning or being dismissed. Individuals feeling stressed is the most common outcome, whilst there is also a drop in commitment and motivation. It was observed that, in 14 per cent of cases, there was a drop in productivity and, in 6 per cent, stress levels escalated to the level where the individual went on sick leave.
The most common approach in dealing with the conflict tends to be informal, with individuals talking about the issues with their manager, HR or the other person involved. There were also discussions with friends and family – women are twice as likely as men to do this – but this does not seem to bear any relation to how well the conflict is resolved.
Jonny Gifford, Research Advisor at the CIPD, commented: ‘All too often, employers brush workplace conflict aside, putting it down to a difference of opinion, but it’s clear that it has a serious impact on our working relationships, wellbeing and productivity. Line managers have a crucial role to play here. For the most part they are seen as a positive influence in helping to create strong, healthy team relationships, but there’s still a clear case for developing managers and providing them with the skills they need. We need managers who can both build robust teams where challenges can be made in a non-threatening way, and nip conflict in the bud before it has the chance to escalate. These are not generally seen as part of a core skills set for line managers and that view needs to change.’
He continued: ‘Both ongoing difficult relationships and isolated incidents at work can have major ramifications for employees’ personal wellbeing and morale and serious implications for the organisations through demotivation, absence, employee churn, not to mention the time it can take management and HR to resolve disputes.
‘With one in ten people leaving their role as a result of it and one in seven saying it affects their productivity, interpersonal conflict is something that no business can ignore.’
The CIPD has the following advice on tackling conflict management in the workplace:
· More scope for mediation: in the CIPD survey, only 1.5 per cent of employees who had experienced mediation as a tool to resolve interpersonal conflict but 46 per cent of respondents thought that it was an effective approach to dealing with workplace conflict and 13 per cent felt that they personally had a relationship that would have benefitted from mediation. These results point to an unmet demand for alternative forms of dispute resolution (ADR).
· Line management matters: line managers have a key role to play in creating good working relationships at work and would benefit from particular training on managing and resolving conflict within the team as well as understanding how they need to protect their team in conflict situations resulting from external influences, e.g. suppliers, the general public if customer service roles etc.
· Develop a suite for conflict resolution: while the report supports the value of more informal approaches to resolving conflict, it also confirms the importance of having formal grievance and discipline procedures. However, in some cases, such as a conflict based in personality differences, they do not seem to assist. Employers should, therefore, provide a range of options to help resolve different types of conflict.
We are encouraged in Romans 12: 18 – ‘If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.’ Jesus gives the injunction ‘Love your enemies’ (Matthew 5: 44) so we should follow this oxymoron which translates well in the work environment.
Although conflicts at work are never pleasant, we should strive to resolve them by godly good sense and holding out a hand in friendship.
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