In this video, we'll talk about conflict, how it can both help and harm organizations and some strategies for dealing with it. Conflict is a clash of interest between two or more parties that causes disruption. It typically results from disagreements about goals, values, relevant facts and defining or solving problems. It can also be between individual members and their respective roles. For instance, sports teams who have two or more superstars often battle over who's going to get the most glory. Conflict can be good or bad. It's inevitable because it's natural for people disagree with each other. So it's important to be able to recognize and deal with conflict effectively. Before we go further, we need to compare conflict and competition. They differ in one key element, whether they are disruptive. Conflict is always disruptive, it pits people against each other and forces them to fight, to achieve their goals. In contrast, competition is healthy struggle between people who are all striving to meet mutually beneficial goals. But be warned, competition taken too far can wind up creating conflict. Conflict has many consequences, some positive and some negative. Conflict that is handled well can produce heightened interest and excitement. Innovative solutions to problems, to resolution of diverse opinions and mutual benefits for everyone involved. But poorly handled conflict can cause serious long lasting problems. Hard angry feelings may result if discussions turn ugly. Members may perceive winners and losers as a result of a conflict resolution. This can lead to divisions within the group, between the apparent winners and losers. Very serious conflict may distract members from focusing on important tasks, bringing work to a halt. Finally, individuals may become less satisfied with their jobs and less committed to the organization. Because conflict can be so disruptive, supervisors must constantly watch for it. Here are some common warning signs and some suggestions for handling them. Allocation of resources appears to be unfair. A supervisor can never give everyone everything they want. Your best bet is to be open about your decisions, when employees can see why decisions are being made, there less likely to fight about. Disagreements between employees about what is most important. Counter disagreements over facts with accurate information. Decide differences of opinion about the priority of one thing versus another based on departmental goals. Changes in conditions that imply a change in status, if one of Johns duties is given to someone else, John may feel demoted. Make sure to thoroughly explain your reasons whenever duties are reassigned. Look, when things go poorly, employees may begin to mistrust the organization, their supervisor and each other. They may try to blame problems on each other. Counter mistrust by taking responsibility for problems and working with employees to address them. And lack of departmental instability is a big, big problem. Change brings uncertainty and most people don't like that. When changes are made, communicating openly with employees will go along way to sue their fears. Look, if you ever wondered why some people always seem to enjoy causing conflict and refused cooperate? Usually the reason is they see no benefit to themselves for cooperating. Conflict is often caused when an individual feels cheated in situations involving salary and bonuses. Possibly because they overestimate their personal contributions to team success. They may also let their ego dominate their behavior, refuse to even admit errors or resist taking responsibility for their own actions. Individuals who must win at all costs will cause conflict as they strive to succeed, and even more when they fail. Finally, people who direct destructive personal behaviors toward others, like sarcasm, negativity, blaming and poor listening skills threatened to disrupt an otherwise healthy work environment. A good way to handle conflict is first to be alert for conflict or potential conflict and then seek the causes. Once you know what you're dealing with, meet it head on. Decide what you want to accomplish or nothing will get resolved. Include only those people who can best settle the issue. Don't include anyone else, unless you need an expert opinion or a referee. Be ready to negotiate, often there are multiple ways to achieve an objective and allow your opponent to achieve there's two. Keep personalities out of it, focus on the issues. Two people who don't like each other can still come to an agreeable solution. Concentrate on mutually beneficial win win outcomes. Find common ground, ideally a goal that everyone wants to achieve. Show them how working together will meet that goal. Ultimately, it's best to avoid negative conflict and get people to cooperate and here are just a few tips for doing just that. Respect other people's points of view, especially when you disagree. People almost never agree about everything, they can usually find common ground. Behave appropriately and professionally. Model the behavior you want to see from employees. They will see what you do and vary their efforts accordingly. And finally, ask employees to critique your performance and make positive changes when you can. This can be tricky one on one, so you might want to give an anonymous survey or something of that sort. If you are diligent and apply these lessons for managing conflict, you'll be well on your way to making it a force for innovation, not destruction.
