The Impact of Respect in the Workplace

Question:

Discuss about the Conflicts arise in the Workplace.

Respect is one of the most important features of a healthy productive work environment. In a proper functioning work environment every person has a specific job to perform and subsequently every person feels important and a contributor in the success of an organization. In such situations the employees feel valued by their employers and everyone is treated with a sense of fairness and dignity which helps in diffusing potential chances of conflict and stress. In case such a positive work environment is maintained, in difficult times like termination or disciplinary issues the employees can accept situational change positively and might avoid litigation or disruption of workflow.

However the lack of respect in the workplace can have a toll on the employees. Work environments which are toxic have chances of leading to decreased productivity, increased absenteeism, high staff turnover, severance packages and even law suits. The challenges in this regard are that there is no clearly articulated legal duty on an employer to treat any particular employee with respect. There are laws for protection but no specific rules to denote what should be the exact behavior at the workplace.

Increased instances of toxic work environments and problems in the workplace are a cause for concern and lead to issues which need to be prevented at all times.

According to the case study provided, there were complaints regarding the morale issues in the workplace. A toxic work environment was discussed based on the employees and their concerns about existent favoritism were also mentioned. The issues of problems between the supervisor in the office and his boss were mentioned. Repeated change of staff and replacement of inexperienced staff for experienced ones were also mentioned resulting in the increased amount of workload and lesser productivity. The issue of favoritism was also mentioned which had a bad impact on the employees and resulted in an increased disinterest towards their work. All these issues contributed to the toxicity of the work environment and damaged the repute. Thus the mentioned issues need to be resolved to maintain positivity and in order to retain the employees.

One of the most important issues which have been mentioned is that of a power struggle between the supervisor and his boss. The issues also persisted after the boss left and a new person came. Power struggle is a type of interpersonal conflict which might harm the company. The interpersonal conflict is not uncommon and is because of high competition and variable personalities of the persons that the power struggles arise (Forsyth).

Challenges in Maintaining Respect in the Workplace

In cases when such power struggles are experienced by the other subordinate employees it is better that they step in the struggle and never take sides but try to bridge the gap. The interruption by a third party in certain cases might lead to a thoughtful and understanding approach by both the parties and the conflict might be resolved. No matter whatever the position of the employee who wishes to intervene, it is imperative that he or she steps in for management of the conflict. An appeal should be made to both the supervisor and the boss to reconsider their differences. A combined appeal should also be made to them on behalf of all the employees in order to resolve the conflict of the supervisor and his boss (Saundry, Richard and Wibberley).

There needs to be a proper training program or sessions need to be conducted in order to train the supervisors to control and deal with different types of employees (Hillman).

Improper distribution of the workload is another issue in the workplace. It is the responsibility of the managers and the supervisors to be clear and concise about their work expectations and focus more on the optimal work performance and best individual achievement rather than divide work unequally which might lead to complacence of the employees. The managers should be trained in order to develop strategies for delegating tasks. The managers should also be trained to improve the performance of the weak employees rather than giving important work to the others and making the weak ones under confident about their work. A work culture of proper team work and collaboration needs to be encouraged (Forsyth).

Unbalanced workload needs to be avoided by reviewing the total workload for a project as well as the amount of time required to complete it. It needs to be checked which members handle specific tasks and then the knowledge also needs to be accessed. There needs to be a rough workload redistribution plan based and additional input plan. There should also be a revaluation of the given workload at any instance of time for any sort of imbalance (Hillman).

Favoritism in the workplace is extremely common and harmful for the work culture. The family members might be favored, or specific employees might be favored. This is harmful for the culture of the workplace. Favoritism highly influences the sentiments of the people and makes them questions their abilities. This should not be encouraged at any costs. The employees need to be trained and ordered to handle such favoritism and remain undeterred in their work.

Effective Conflict Resolution Techniques

The first thing the employees need to do is to behave normally even after finding that their boss is favoring somebody else. The worst possible scenarios that is possible due to reacting and getting in the bad books of the boss need to be avoided at any costs. The employees suspecting boss’s nature of favoritism needs to be trained to remain positive and act normal in order to prevent any chances of becoming least favorite of the boss (Brubaker).

The next best thing that the person needs to do is to clarify with the boss what he or she is expected to do and try to get the feedback regularly. The focus should always be maintained on good performance and proper work done. The management systems should be trusted and in severe cases informed so that these can be addressed as soon as possible (Huan).

The employee should also go the extra mile and influence oneself to show dedication towards work. The employee should remind oneself of the unique role they play for the company and request meetings, propose new items for the team, demonstrate respect and proper amount of appreciation for the boss as well. The employee should not get distracted by any feelings of neglect which cause more harm than benefit. The employee should take control of his or her work and make ambitions clear to the boss. Under no circumstances should any employee act emotionally. Emotions need to be kept aside and strategic evaluation of the favorites needs to be done in order to emerge as better employees. Often small favors can be asked for to garner a positive attitude from the boss. However proper research needs to be done before the matter is brought to the notice of the HR or higher authorities (Saundry).

Issues of mistrust and tension can also exist in the workplace. In case such situations arise there should always be clear and detailed instructions verbally. The spread of rumors need to be solved and clarified as soon as they start spreading in order to avoid problems of mistrust. There should be meetings which need to be arranged with those employees experiencing conflict in order to discuss the problems they are facing in the workplace. Without choosing a side they should guide a conversation to a discussion of positive conflict resolution ideas which can be discussed.

The employees need to be encouraged to seek out explanations of situations which might show that there needs to be proactive interest in resolving the issues of the workplace.        

Conclusion:

Workplace conflict exists between individuals and groups and might lead to a series of negative influence to the organization. In situations when people work together, the cultural differences, gender differences, style differences and others also occur. The resolution of the conflict and its avoidance in the workplace needs to be performed in order to increase the effectiveness for the work. The effectively managed work conflict has several positive effects for the organization and also for life.

It is the responsibility of the employees in the workplace to properly tackle any possible situation that might arise and which has the probability of damaging the productivity of the workplace. The conflict management should be conducted including the steps of assessment or the stage of investigation, the acknowledgement or understanding stage, the proper attitude maintenance, the proper plan of action, the analysis of the results and finally the solution implementation.

Thus it may be said that a conflict taking place does not always mean that something bad is going to happen. It also means that there might be innovation and a moiré harmonious workplace. In case of a conflict in the workplace, it should not be hidden or ignored, instead it should be faced and resolved. The improved communication skill, developed emotional intelligence, respect towards others and the effort to work for the betterment of the organization are all helpful towards the avoidance of any sort of conflict

References:

Brubaker, David, et al. “Conflict resolution in the workplace: What will the future bring?.” Conflict Resolution Quarterly 31.4 (2014): 357-386.

Forsyth, Anthony. “Workplace conflict resolution in Australia: The dominance of the public dispute resolution framework and the limited role of ADR.” The International Journal of Human Resource Management 23.3 (2012): 476-494.

Hillman, Donald R. “Understanding multigenerational work-value conflict resolution.” Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health 29.3 (2014): 240-257.

Huan, Lim Jin, and Rashad Yazdanifard. “The difference of conflict management styles and conflict resolution in workplace.” Business & Entrepreneurship Journal 1.1 (2012): 141-155.

Saundry, Richard Arthur, and Gemma Wibberley. “Workplace dispute resolution and the management of individual conflict—A thematic analysis of five case studies.” (2014).

Saundry, Richard Arthur, et al. “Reframing Resolution-Managing Conflict and Resolving Individual Employment Disputes in the Contemporary Workplace.” Acas Policy Discussion Papers(2014): 1-21.

Saundry, Richard, Louise McArdle, and Peter Thomas. “Reframing workplace relations? Conflict resolution and mediation in a primary care trust.” Work, employment and society 27.2 (2013): 213-231.