The modern business environment comprises individuals from different nationalities, racial and ethnic backgrounds because of increased globalization and rapid technological advancements. As a result, human resource management practices in today’s business atmosphere have incorporated diversity as a crucial component towards promoting the wellbeing and success of the workforce. Diversity is seen as an important factor in enhancing the contributions of the workforce toward achievement of organizational goals and objectives. However, organizations are faced with the need to handle conflicts effectively because of the diverse nature of the workplace and workforce (Oni-Ojo, Iyiola & Osibanjo, 2014). Therefore, workplace conflict management has emerged as an important factor toward promoting the suitable functioning of the workforce. Effective workplace conflict management requires understanding the causes and impacts of conflict and utilizing appropriate strategies to lessen unnecessary conflicts and/or deal with them.
Causes and Impacts of Workplace Conflict
According to Overton & Lowry (2013), workplace conflict is a common occurrence in the modern business environment. The increase in workplace conflicts in today’s organizations is largely attributable to the differentiated nature of the workforce due to various factors, particularly globalization (Longe, 2015). Workplace conflicts are also attributable to miscommunication while carrying out work activities. Miscommunication that contributes to workplace conflicts occur when inappropriate information is communicated, when appropriate information is transmitted in a poor manner or when the wrong medium is utilized to convey information (Huan & Yazdanifard, 2012). Riaz & Junaid (2013) state that workplace conflict is brought by interpersonal, intrapersonal, intergroup, and intragroup issues.
Even though workplace conflict is an inevitable phenomenon, it’s associated with negative impacts on the productivity of employees.
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Organizational conflict has been found to affect workforce productivity at individual, group, and organizational levels (Chaudhry & Asif, 2015). The decreased productivity is attributable to the fact that workplace conflict results in decreased/impaired team work, enhanced employee turnover, low self-esteem, and decreased job satisfaction. On the contrary, workplace conflict has also been found to have some positive impacts on the organization. Conflict acts as an indicator for the organization’s management regarding inadequate functioning of some employees or processes in the workplace (Chaudhry & Asif, 2015). Through this, the management identifies ways for addressing these people and processes and ultimately enhance productivity and organizational success.
Strategies for Workplace Conflict Management
One of the essential organizational leadership skills and quality is the ability to identify conflict, understand its nature, and identify and utilize suitable conflict resolution strategies (Myatt, 2012). The inevitability of organizational conflict implies that organizational leaders to to develop conflict management skills. Lawless & Trif (2016) contend that effective workplace conflict management requires a combination of psychological and managerial approaches. These approaches provide a suitable framework for understanding and handling interpersonal conflicts in the workplace. Psychological approaches for workplace conflict management incorporate measures that address communication and the individual characteristics of employees. This include strategies that help meet the unmet needs of employees, clarify roles in the workplace, address perceived inequalities, and promote suitable workplace behaviors among employees (Society for Human Resource Management, 2015).
Managerial approaches for dealing with workplace conflict include establishing policies that govern conflict resolution in the organization (Currie et al.,….....
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