It is common to spend more waking hours in the workplace then at home with family and friends. Similar to conflict that arises in families, conflict arises between employees and employees and employers. Many times the conflict is brought about by different communication styles and a change in management or employee job structure. Conflict in workplace can impact our productivity and overall job satisfaction and happiness.
Some Types of Workplace Conflict:
- Two employees have a long history of poor communication and have stopped talking to one another. They are unable to work on projects together and the conflict is beginning to affect other employees.
- A long term employee and a new employee may have conflict over how to complete an ongoing project of the long term employee.
- Poor communication between a manager and an employee may lead to conflict over expectations and performance.
Mediation is a useful tool to help employers and employees in resolving issues brought on workplace conflict. Mediation helps co-workers to have an avenue to discuss and try and resolve conflict and develop a more positive working environment.