Cooperation between people in order to achieve specific effects, e.g. at work, often contributes to their integration. However, it can also cause conflicts that are usually associated only negatively. They are perceived as something dangerous and harmful to the company.

In the most general terms, conflicts arise when there is a clash of different interests, attitudes or values of individual employees or entire teams. Their development is influenced by various causes, which can be divided into:

• rational – resulting from real motives,
• irrational – resulting from behaviors that are difficult to explain (e.g. inexplicable aversion to a person),
• resulting from the characteristics of the organization (e.g. wages),
• having their sources in the characteristics of individual people (e.g. different worldview or attitudes).
• It can also happen that conflict at work arises when employees try to hide or falsify the true causes of their behavior.

Conflicts in a company can have many origins, but also different characteristics, depending on whether they occur between individuals or groups, or between a person and a group.

• Interpersonal conflict – occurs between independent individuals, e.g. employees; In this case, they may be divided by different attitudes and interests.
• Intergroup conflict – it occurs between groups functioning in the company; An example would be conflicts between subordinates and management.
• Conflict between an individual and a group – it occurs between a specific employee and a team; An example of this type of conflict can be a dispute between the employee and the manager.

If you can sense that a conflict at work is approaching, you should not try to avoid it at all costs. In such a situation, it is better to express different views, while remembering that the other party to the dispute has the same right to do so. Therefore, one should not immediately oppose her beliefs or make unpleasant comments or remarks about her.

During a misunderstanding, one should also stick to the main cause of the conflict, and not add new issues to it, not necessarily related to the topic, or draw old mistakes. It is not worth dwelling on past events, because they will not change anything in the present fate of the company.

To resolve the conflict, it is worth thinking about cooperation in a team. Then both sides of the dispute should change their attitudes to positive and try to find a solution that satisfies them equally.

Another solution is to compromise. The conflicting subjects will then have to try to maintain harmony between their goals and those of the other side. To achieve this, it is necessary to make concessions alternately.

k was mentioned above, it is not worth running away from conflicts. Such action can contribute to their accumulation, as well as to the growth of frustration among employees. On the other hand, dealing with disputes can not only resolve them, but also bring a number of other benefits. First of all, it can contribute to the presentation of different points of view, which then have a chance to result in many interesting ideas.

In addition, disputes, revealing the weaker sides of the company, may result in the development of its organization and the mobilization of the management to take corrective actions. Conflict at work can also contribute to broadening horizons through an active exchange of arguments. If the disagreement is successfully resolved, it will mean that each of the parties had to approve its provisions and thus accept each other’s arguments. The latter action will contribute to broadening the horizons of thought, e.g. in the field of tolerance.

Another advantage of conflicts is the possibility of increased trust. Working out a solution to the conflict together may make the previously conflicted parties trust each other more. This is possible because people who go through one conflict together will not be afraid of the next one, knowing that there is always a solution to be found.

What’s more, conflict at work can have a stimulating effect on some employees. Although it may be hard to believe, disputes contribute to the increase of job satisfaction in such people.

In addition to the benefits outlined above, which relate mainly to the individual, disputes can also have positive effects on the team. Misunderstandings revive the spirit of the group, thus providing it with new energy for action. They also contribute to the development of creativity of team members, as they mobilize active discussion in search of a solution to the dispute. The last positive effect may even be an improvement in work results, when the conflict introduced the desired changes that mobilize employees to action.

In conclusion, you should not avoid conflicts in the company. Emotions that build up for months can have more destructive effects than short-term disputes. The latter can even bring positive changes – increase the efficiency of the team’s work or contribute to the overall development of the company.

Source: https://poradnikprzedsiebiorcy.pl/-czy-konflikt-w-pracy-moze-miec-tez-dobre-strony

Supported by Norway through Norway Grants 2014-2021, in the frame of the Programme “Social Dialogue – Decent Work”.