Conflicts in Workplace

As the intense global competition is increasing every day, businesses find teamwork important in operations. “Many heads are better than one.” At the same time, many heads might be in conflict with each other more seriously.

Conflict is a normal part of every workplace and every team. To understand the sources of a conflict can help to resolve it more efficiently. All round the world, scarce resources cause conflicts because of the competition for available resources. In a team, poor or ineffective communications can lead to misunderstandings among team members. Then the cumulative misunderstandings will finally drive conflict. Besides, different cultures and backgrounds contribute to different values. Conflict may occur when lack of acceptance and understanding of these differences in the team. Furthermore, conflict may occur when team members focus on their personal benefits and ignore the team’s overall goals and benefits.

Conflicts have both negative and positive effects. Conflicts increase innovation and improve the efficiency of decisions. When team members come together to resolve the conflicts, they not only improve the team performance, but also build a strong and harmonious relationship. However, without active solution, conflicts can destroy relationship and seriously reduce morale. Furthermore, conflicts will waste the team’s time and scarce resources. In a word, unresolved conflicts can destroy productivity and banefully influence team performance.

Therefore, management of conflict and help the team achieve its goals can be an important task for a team leader. As a team leader, when conflict occurs, the first thing I will do is to identify the problem and define the specific cause of it; then analyze the cause of conflict and focus on the solution. It’s important to gather team members together and make positive discussion. Team leader is responsible to communicate with members to reduce barriers and build a harmonious relationship in the team. At...