How to Manage Workplace Conflict
Employee conflict in a factory setting is common and it has a confusing array of magnitudes and causes. Not only that, but discernment is needed on the part of the leader because not all conflict is necessarily bad.
You see, personalities and moods come into play along with a variety of emotional triggers and people have different emotional escalation rates. Some people get upset quickly over minor issues and other people can tolerate more stress and not react so much. Also, people may have some stress outside of work that can cause their reactions to change from day to day.
So, conflict is a really difficult problem for leaders to manage because everyone is different, and the dynamics are always changing. It takes some degree of wisdom to manage conflict effectively. Conflict can be your friend or it can give you a big headache.
Also, understand that conflict can range from a minor disagreement to complete rage and there is an array of conflict levels in between these two extremes. Here, we’ll just be talking about minor conflicts that don’t involve yelling, cursing or physical contact.
You may be asking how we can have any acceptable conflict in manufacturing? Isn’t all conflict distracting and bad for productivity? Well, the answer is no. There is an acceptable level and type of conflict and I’ll go a step further, in saying that there is a conflict level and type that is actually fantastic to have in manufacturing. This conflict is so fantastic that it should be encouraged and embraced.
So what does good conflict look like?
Minor conflict in the form of disagreements can lead to continuous improvement and well facilitated conflict often leads to uncovering the optimal solutions. Working through disagreements takes some serious facilitation skills on the part of the supervisor. But when this facilitation is done well, all those involved in the conflict get to have their say on the issue and the employees get to have their input on the solution too. So when well facilitated, minor conflict in the form of work-related disagreements can yield three positive results:
- Continuous improvement
- Optimal solutions
- Employee buy-in
What about unproductive conflict?
When you become aware of or observe various types of unproductive conflict, you need to take some action and below is the solution recipe:
- Invite the employee(s) into a private room for a one-on-one meeting(s). If there is more than one person at the root of the conflict, have separate meetings. You’re not the referee, you’re the person in authority who needs this conflict to end.
- Be specific about your observations. Let them know exactly what you have seen or heard.
- Let them know that their behavior is distracting others and is unproductive. If you have specific examples of the consequences of their behavior, share those as well (i.e., did the conflict cause machine downtime, or lost production time, or risk quality?)
- Listen to their explanation and don’t be surprised if the employee points a finger at another employee. They’re trying to justify the conflict.
- If another employee does have some fault in the conflict, let them know that you plan to talk to the other employee as well, but ultimately that’s not their concern.
- Let the employee know the consequences if their behavior continues (Formal Corrective Action)
- Take good notes after your meeting (with date and time). File your notes.
- If the behavior continues, plan on administering a Formal Documented Corrective Action. You can find this process in your policy or employee handbook. Otherwise check with your Human Resources office.
- Be as specific and factual as possible in the Corrective Action verbiage.
- If you address conflicts in a timely manner and if you understand that an employees behavior is the employees responsibility, then you can effectively manage conflict in a stress-free way.
To effectively manage minor conflict, you need to be comfortable with these three leadership skills:
- Discernment - to distinguish what is healthy conflict and what is unhealthy.
- Facilitation Skills - to convert conflict into continuous improvement
- Performance Management Skills - to address non-productive conflict.
If you are still developing your leadership skills, then check out the CML Foundational course.
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