Preventing and Managing Team Conflict

Elena Humeniuk

PPM Consultant

When people work in a group, sooner or later, there will be disagreement about how things should be done. However, team conflicts must not always lead to low morale, plunging productivity, or bitter feelings. A skilful manager with good team conflict resolution skills can resolve tense workplace situations, leaving all team members feeling heard, respected, and motivated to continue doing their best. In this article, we will detail how leaders can do this and explain how team managers can work to identify the sources of conflict, develop conflict resolution strategies, and prevent conflict. Even today, when many employees work remotely, methods exist to ensure every employee thrives and succeeds.

Why Do Workplace Conflicts Happen? 

Conflicts arise because of conflicting interests, desires, opinions, and beliefs. Often, they can be grouped into four broad categories.

• An employee thinks they might have been discriminated against or harassed by another.
• Employees (or even departments) don’t communicate well, causing inefficiency and errors.
• The personalities and working styles of employees who work together are wildly different.
• The objectives and values of employees in different divisions direct opposition to one another.

However, since conflicts do arise, they must be handled once they occur. If problems fester, they begin to damage team bonds, which, in some cases, are rendered irreparable.

Defining proper workplace conflict resolution strategies can help managers understand how to handle team disagreements and improve team management. This will enable them to resolve such problems quickly and directly. By managing conflicts, they create a positive work culture where all employees feel valued. Effective workplace conflict management can result in better productivity, more significant innovation, and the recruitment of new employees who have heard about an organization’s stellar work culture.

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How to Resolve Workplace Conflict As a Project Manager

Project managers who understand how to manage team conflict foster better communication and strengthen team dynamics.

Communication is an important skill of a project manager. Without that basic skill, almost nothing else matters. The most important thing for good communication is excellent listening skills. Leaders can understand the problem and how to resolve it by listening to employees.

In addition to good communication, project managers should be curious. This means that they need to have a high degree of emotional intelligence to empathize, putting themselves in the position of the team member and understanding their point of view.

This emotional IQ should include treating people with dignity, respect, and patience and not rushing to judgment. It should also include asking thoughtful questions and remaining calm under pressure. In addition, the best leaders are good problem solvers who don’t take sides but seek solutions that will work for everyone.

Project managers must address issues quickly and try to implement a culture of openness and respect, providing support in implementing effective conflict resolution in the workplace.

Strategies Managers Can Use for Conflict Management in the Workplace

You know that there will be disputes and disagreements whenever a group of humans come together to achieve a goal. A leader/manager needs to know how to manage team conflict and deal with it effectively when it occurs.

Experts outline the following key steps that managers can take to resolve team conflict:

• Keep communication open and clear: Invite colleagues to a face-to-face meeting where differences can be discussed. You can select the work cafeteria or an outside site for a neutral location where you won’t be distracted.
• Listen: Talk to all sides. You should be empathetic to what your colleagues might be feeling. Listen to see where there are areas of commonality in goals, interests, and strategies; also listen for misalignments that can be used to craft a resolution that meets the interests of everyone involved.
• Concentrate on the problem rather than the people: You need to realize there’s an issue and be willing to dedicate the time to understand what is happening.
• Determine where there is agreement and disagreement: Consider whether there are points of alignment and what a team member’s interests might be.
• Develop a plan: In planning to help solve an issue, draw up guidelines and establish a list of actions and goals to follow.
• Act decisively and follow through: After you recognize the potential resolution, do not procrastinate.

How Can Conflict Be Avoided?

While you can’t wholly avoid conflict in the workplace and may even come to disagree with a co-worker, there are ways to minimize the possibility of conflict.

• Focus on clear communication: Everyone involved must openly, clearly, and constructively speak to each other.
• Approach emails with caution: If used to deal with problems, electronic communications are dangerous because they lack the context of tone and body language. It’s best to meet in person when disagreements occur. After all, even if there is not a conflict, it is always beneficial to keep emails human and welcoming.
• Create a positive workplace culture: Develop a culture of civility in the office. Workers should be confident about sharing feedback regarding how work is being done without worrying about retaliation.

How Can You Manage Conflict in Remote/Hybrid Environments?

It is difficult enough to deal with conflict in a physical environment. In remote environments, where much communication is conducted via email with no face-to-face interactions, it’s important to know how this may change workplace dynamics. It needs to be highlighted that an overreliance on texts, chats, and emails can lead to perceived slights, assumptions, and misunderstandings because it’s difficult to determine the author’s intent.

Tips to Prevent Conflicts

Here are a few tips on how to keep conflicts from developing in a remote environment:

• Do not email to talk or resolve conflicts. You should meet in person (or via video conference) to understand each other’s tone of voice and intention.
• Offer tech support for remote employees. If remote and hybrid workers struggle with technology, it is highly likely to further escalate workplace conflicts. Help your company’s information technology division and supervisors support their ability to effectively manage remote and hybrid workers.
• Worker schedules should be transparent and aligned. Ask for input and discussion regarding scheduling decisions, as well as clear statements of one’s expectations for their time and proposals.
• Trust your employees. That nagging feeling from many managers that remote and hybrid workers are slacking off is no myth, yet treating workers as if they can’t be trusted will damage morale and demotivate some of your best workers. Trust workload-based results and workload-based conversations to assure you that employees are working.
• Coach remote workers. Offer the chance for remote workers to interact and create more visibility. Building relationships with other team members is very important. When remote workers help each other, trust and goodwill among the team members will be fostered. By following this protocol, they will not fall into the assumptions that can lead to conflict.
• Give people a cooling off period when the temperature rises. Conflicts do arise, however, so think twice before raising the issue while still angry. Give team members a period of reflection with written questions on which they can reflect. Colleagues can then be offered a chance to ask questions and receive answers at a later meeting.
• Don’t forget the final objective. One of the causes of workplace conflict is diverse ideas held by different team members about how they can attain a common goal. To address this problem, framing a conflict within an organization’s broader mission and values is essential. Those values should help make the path forward more straightforward and should guide interactions.

Conclusion

Finally, effective conflict management is the responsibility of the team leader or manager. In traditional offices and remote environments, timely intervention, clear communication, and emotional intelligence play a key role in conflict resolution. Managers who concentrate on listening, caring about others, and being decisive can foster an environment where each person’s distinct perspective is welcomed and appreciated. A culture of openness and proactive strategies minimizes future problems and facilitates collaboration and trust. Ultimately, workplace conflict resolution is not just about fixing problems; it’s about building stronger, more resilient teams equipped to thrive in any situation.