SUGGESTIONS ON DEALING WITH EMPLOYEE CONFLICT --------------------------------------------- One of the most disheartening morale destroyers to plague a company is conflict between two key employees. Especially if they are vocal and highly visible. There are certain types of conflict that are seen repeatedly in small businesses. Four of them are listed below with some ideas on how to deal with them. * The first is a personal conflict that has little to do with work. This is emotionally based and highly charged. Talking it out will expose a lack of rationale and general pettiness. Neither side is usually willing to talk out a personal conflict. They prefer overt and covert war. When it serious hinders communication in your business, take a side. It really doesn't matter which side, since this is emotionally based, personal conflict. Avoid involving other people in the details. If the boss takes a side and involves as few people as possible, chances are in your favor that others won't join in the fight. The fewer people in the know the less likely you are to lose one of your good employees. Try to arrange matters to save face for both employees. If possible keep both people in the company's hire. * The next kind of conflict is when a manager/owner is accused of treating an employee unfairly. Protection for both parties is better assured if a third neutral party is asked to settle the dispute. This relieves some of the pressure by a delay in settling the quarrel and giving the parties involved some "time out". Calling in a third party also shows the other employees that the company really is interested in fairness. Fairness and expressions of concern and justice build morale. * The third kind of conflict is common to stable well-established organizations. This is a break-down of the cooperative spirit between departments. The usual arguments relate to overstepping territorial bounds or overlapping job tasks. The most effective way to settle this is to organize departments with distinctive, unmistakeable purposes and tasks. * The last area of conflict is the rarest and often the most destructive. It's an argument over points of principle. This can create factions that divide the entire organization and begin a vicious internal war. About the only successful solution to this is to require the feuders to come together and work out a compromise solution that both sides can live with. Then put all your organizational power and resources behind making it work. In any organization a leader should be careful to deliver what he promises. In an organization in conflict he should promise little and deliver more than he promises. If he offers a reward for achieving a certain result, it's critical to make giving it highly visible and a glorious moment for the victor. Here the reward is more than a memento of achievement. It's a status symbol for a certain side. It's an affirmation that the winner and his team are superior in this and other endeavors. It's a declaration of saavy. The team members share vicariously in the victory. It's an individual and a team win. The winner is the hero of the moment, and that's a good reflection on his team. In any company a crucial morale builder is an obvious, conscientious effort by the leadership to be fair. Fairness is what your people believe to be fair, whether it is or not. What they believe to be fair is usually a result of teaching and tradition within the company that's been accumulated and perpetuated over the years. What employees in one company accept and endorse as fair could be scandalous in another firm. If the employee in a business believe their boss is fair, whether he is or not, their morale will be higher. They prefer to think their boss is acting in their best interest for the long term even if it means a short term disadvantage. But the boss has to first create the perception and image of fairness. Fairness, justice and expressions of concerns for employees are noticed with vigilent attentiveness in an organization in conflict, especially if those expressions are absent. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Resource Box - The following books can be found at your local library: MARY KAY ON PEOPLE MANAGEMENT by Mary Kay Ash; HOW TO MANAGE ANY ORGANIZATION by Theodore Caplow; HOW TO MANAGE A TURN-AROUND by Stanley Goodman. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c) 1994 Strictly Business!BBS - An Information Exchange Service for Entrepreneurs, Managers & Business Professionals. BBS: 614-538-9250 UNICOM Information Services