Workplace Conflict Management, Essay Example

People at workplace come from diverse cultural, ethnic, and professional backgrounds and in addition, they all have distinct personalities. Thus, workplace conflicts are only natural and they will only become more frequent due to globalization that has only been increasing the diversity of workplaces. Thus, each organization should have detailed conflict management policies so that employees know how they are expected to tackle any conflicts that may arise. The management’s focus should not be on avoiding all kinds of workplace conflicts because some form of conflict is essential to increasing productivity and challenging employees to think creatively. In addition, education always go a long way and not only new employees should be trained in conflict management techniques but conflict management workshops should be organized from time to time because organizations evolve over time and its culture and even workplace composition may also go through dramatic transformation. One example may be promotion of younger employees to leadership positions on the basis of performance which may not sit well with baby boomers who are used to seniority-based promotion.

I worked at Target last summer and I noticed that one of the components of the orientation and training program was conflict management. The trainer described each stage employees are expected to go when they may be experiencing a conflict with co-worker or even having issues with a subordinate or the manager. That sent the message to me that the company understands workplace conflicts can seriously limit motivation and performance, thus, it encourages its employees to deal with it on a priority basis rather than let it turn into a bigger issue. The trainer also ensured that the company ensures privacy of the individual who complains as well as the one against whom the complaint is made, thus, one should not hesitate to deal with the conflict in a priority basis.

I will make sure I understand my employer’s conflict management policies because I understand that workplace conflict results in unproductive workplace politics if not tackled on a priority basis. In addition, I will also try to learn as much as possible about my co-workers including their work styles, personalities, and cultural backgrounds because in my opinion, lot of workplace conflicts are the outcome of misunderstandings.