Why You are the Cause of Conflict in the Workplace
Whether you work in a small organization, or you work in a big organization, conflicts are bound to happen. It’s part of life. Conflicts arise because there’s a disagreement in a plan or an idea or a miscommunication. The common factor in all conflicts is people. You can’t have conflict without the participation of other humans. Therefore knowing the human causes of conflict in the workplace is valuable and necessary to managing conflicts at work. Here are a few examples of the human factors that lead to conflicts.
1. Personality clashes.
Differences in personalities can be a major cause of work conflicts. If you don’t recognize that the person you work with has a different personality, then you are likely to get into more conflict situations with that person. It’s just that you work better in one way, and the other person works better in another way. It’s not your coworker trying to be difficult, it’s just that you both operate differently.
For example, if Mr. A with a high conscientious trait works with a Mr. B with a low conscientious trait, Mr. A may think that Mr. B is not focused and is flighty. Mr. B may think Mr. A is a difficult coworker.
A lack of understanding of personalities traits, and how they best operate can lead to conflicts at work and even at home.
2. Poor communication.
Poor communication can also be another cause of conflicts at work and in life in general. If you fail to effectively communicate, it can lead to misunderstandings and conflicts over time. You say something and the other person hears another thing. You are accused by a coworker or boss of not delivering a task by a deadline which you never heard. Without a doubt, a lack of effective communication can be a source of conflict.
For example, you are a team leader and you want your coworker to mentor a new employee by next week Wednesday. But here is what you say, “The new employee can benefit from some mentoring. Get back to me by Wednesday”.
What exactly are you saying?
Are you asking your team member to tell you when he can mentor the new employee by next week, or are you asking to receive feedback after the new employee has gone through some mentoring by the next week?
If you’ve been clashing with someone you work with, is it possible it is caused by poor communication? Do you converse without being specific?
3. The ambiguity of roles.
This has more to do with process conflicts, how things should be done, and who should do them. Have you ever wanted to do a task one way but your coworker preferred another way? Who has the final say? The ambiguity of roles left unmanaged can deteriorate into personal conflicts.
If a manager fails to give clear cut roles to team members, including who is in charge of specific tasks, employees may begin to clash over who does what, and who has the final say on decisions. The personality of the team members may exacerbate this kind of conflict, where one member feels the other person is trying to dominate.
4. Not letting go of past disagreements.
If you hold on to previous frictions, you are making room for conflicts. It is so easy to get offended by little things if you hold on to past misdeeds and misunderstandings from your coworkers because you would always question their motives and intents.
If you do not let go of past incidents, it’s going to affect your relationship with that person in the future and you become sensitive to everything. You begin to read meanings where nothing is happening. You give that coworker an attitude because something happened between two of you. It becomes so easy to get into conflict because you are holding on to what happened in the past.
5.Emotional reactions.
Emotions are a crucial part of human interactions, and a good part of it only if balanced with logical reasoning. When you react to a situation purely based on emotions, the situation can deteriorate quickly. It is not unheard of that people get into a brawl at work, something that they wouldn’t have done otherwise.
So if you often react purely based on emotions, then you have to weigh the consequences of your reactions on your work environment. Are your reactions causing conflicts at work? Every emotional reaction must be balanced with logical reasoning because you want to make sure that people understand exactly why you are vexed. Whatever you do should be aimed at resolving problems and not creating them.
It’s a good thing to do a self-reflection and see what you can change about yourself so that you can get better at managing conflicts at work.
Originally published at https://boldandageless.com.
