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Workplace conflict is caused by either interpersonal employee differences or organizational problems. Or a mix of both.
The supervisor or manager needs to discern what type of conflict he/she is dealing with before coming up with a resolution strategy.
Employee Conflict
When employees having problems relating and working together, the best course of action is to talk with each employee to find out the cause of the problems.
While it takes two (or more) to create communication problems, it takes only one to start it. A supervisor dealing with employee communication problems needs to find out what's (1) triggering the problems and (2) what's keeping them alive, so he can deal with each one accordingly.
Team Conflict
A team experiencing communication problems is no longer effective working toward a common goal. Misalignment, mistrust, argumentative behavior, defensiveness are symptoms that the team is no longer functional. Addressing communication problems in a team is a bit more complex than addressing problems between two employees.
A team that is having communication problems may be the bellwether for the organization as a whole. Or it could be just a bad mix of personalities. The manager has first to determine why the team is having problems and then apply corrective measures as appropriate.
The supervisor or manager needs to discern what type of conflict he/she is dealing with before coming up with a resolution strategy.
Employee Conflict
When employees having problems relating and working together, the best course of action is to talk with each employee to find out the cause of the problems.
While it takes two (or more) to create communication problems, it takes only one to start it. A supervisor dealing with employee communication problems needs to find out what's (1) triggering the problems and (2) what's keeping them alive, so he can deal with each one accordingly.
Team Conflict
A team experiencing communication problems is no longer effective working toward a common goal. Misalignment, mistrust, argumentative behavior, defensiveness are symptoms that the team is no longer functional. Addressing communication problems in a team is a bit more complex than addressing problems between two employees.
A team that is having communication problems may be the bellwether for the organization as a whole. Or it could be just a bad mix of personalities. The manager has first to determine why the team is having problems and then apply corrective measures as appropriate.