Work spaces, as a nucleus for the coexistence of personal and professional interests, are an ideal place for conflicts to arise between people. Few companies resort to means of prevention and action on conflicts in the workplace. Knowing its causes is essential to reduce conflict.
Main causes of labor conflict
When we think about conflicts in the workplace, we usually understand that these are limited to those derived from breaches generated by both the employer and the employee of the obligations contracted by both in the employment contract, or those of a conventional or legal.
The violation of rights, or the aforementioned non-compliance, if they are of a certain severity or repeated over time, lead to unresolvable conflicts, which end up being judicialized after a dismissal or contractual termination of another nature. These conflicts, also called vertical, are usually difficult to mediate, if we talk about the individual level.
However, the workplace can be, within its usual activity, a place of conflicts caused by coexistence in some cases, or by the interests and expectations of the members of the work team.
The different roles assumed by staff members, their professional categories and their self-perceptions do not usually coincide.
We find in the workplace workers who understand that they have greater value than colleagues who are placed on a higher level of responsibility, which makes it difficult for them both to integrate and to work as a team. This circumstance is a latent source of conflict, which will increase if we do not have personal resources such as empathy and humility.
Another source of conflict is not having a leader who works from the vantage point of authoritarianism. It is obvious that establishing limits is part of leadership, but it is a constant source of conflict when said limits are imposed without the more than necessary establishment of prior rules.
Conflict prevention systems
There is no better way to avoid conflicts in the workplace than to establish conflict prevention systems. It is evident, and we are not going to delve into this circumstance, that rigorous compliance with the law and employment contracts provide legal security to both parties, which should make conflicts what we call irreversible, or difficult to mediate.
However, all non-legal conflicts could be prevented if the company establishes the bases through adequate prevention systems.
- The main prevention system is the development of protocols that provide legal security to staff workers when making decisions. These protocols, very common and effective in family businesses, provide the company's staff, managers and partners with tools to know in advance circumstances that are likely to become conflictive.
Knowing the rules of the game, through internal protocols, facilitates internal communication and avoids conflicts that are latent and can surface in coexistence or legitimate labor claims.
- The second preventive way is training. It is necessary, at the same time that training systems are established in matters related to new technologies or permanent training in adaptation to regulatory changes or other areas, to establish a training system to provide the entire workforce with resources to avoid conflicts in the center of job.
- The third way to avoid conflicts or to anticipate them once they arise latently is what many authors describe as “managerial mediation.” It is about taking advantage of the negotiating, empathetic and mediating capacity of certain company executives that can be effective in avoiding the deterioration of relationships between certain members, which can distort coexistence.
These conflicts that arise in companies can lead to a significant deterioration in labor peace, which causes demotivation and a drop in worker performance, which has an impact on the company's performance. On the contrary, good management of conflict prevention systems in the workplace, as well as action on them, will not only cause a good work environment, but also greater business productivity.
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