Getting Your Knickers in a Twist - How to Avoid the Complex Issue of Conflict in the Workplace
12 April 2007
Bruce Christie, a partner with Facilitators International LLP, discusses managing conflict and bullying in the workplace, a widespread industry issue which has recently been dramatised by Janice Battersby on Coronation Street. Janice has caused much conflict in her workplace, the underwear factory 'Underworld', by bullying her Polish immigrant co-workers.
Soap operas often reflect real life issues in their characters and storylines. One of the current plots unfolding in Coronation Street concerns racism and bullying - not dissimilar to the recent Big Brother scandal - where Janice Battersby has subjected her Polish colleagues to a campaign of bullying.
Although soap characters are a larger-than-life version of reality, bullying and conflict in the workplace is a real problem. According to research in the UK for the BBC, a staggering 53% of the sample reported having been bullied at work and 77 % of respondents reported having been witnesses to such bullying. Managing this issue is therefore important subject matter for both staff and employees.
A study (Neil Katz and Kevin McNulty, 1994) suggested that there are five basic strategies to resolving conflict, either through collaborating, compromising or accommodating each other, or one party essentially controlling the outcome, or avoiding the issue completely.
But what does this mean for employees and their employer? At a basic level, an organisation may point to their grievance policy as a means of resolving internal conflict, and this is valid. Certainly, statutory changes introduced in 2004 have led to a belief amongst many employers that the number of formal grievance cases has risen sharply. We should recognise, however, that conflict is not always raised with "The Company" as many employees are reticent to raise formal grievances.
Certainly this makes sense, but what are the consequences of failure to act quickly?
- Conflict can escalate to the point where formal action (disciplinary or grievance) is necessary. There is clearly a high likelihood that this may result in the consequences of the original conflict being prolonged.
- Failure to resolve conflict may result in formal action by an employee body such as a trade union.
- Either or both parties may decide to avoid the situation, as predicted by Katz and McNulty, which would see them finding a new job elsewhere, resulting in recruitment and retraining costs for the employer. Similarly, bystanding employees may look for work elsewhere rather than work in an organisation which they feel tacitly accepts such behaviour.
Surely, though, a company must be able to understand when conflict is occurring in the workplace and should be able to take early steps to intervene before formal action is necessary?
If we can accept that bullying behaviours are unacceptable, then a company must look to its own practices to ensure that it does not provide an environment in which such behaviours are allowed to continue. It must provide employees, management and staff alike, with the skills to intervene to prevent such conflicts arising.
Coronation Street's premier factory, Underworld, may have its work cut out with Janice Battersby, but in the real world, conflict isn't just something which can be quickly fixed by training programmes on respect and professionalism. Although these programmes obviously help workplace conflict, it takes genuine leadership at all levels of an organisation to ensure that such behaviours are considered unacceptable and that all staff are equipped to deal with them.
Further Information
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