We tie a lot to our work. Not only our financial security, but also our sense of purpose and accomplishment. If we start to be negatively affected by conflict at work, other aspects of our life can spiral in the same direction.

While common, conflict at work is also tough to resolve.

You can’t just cut ties with a difficult co-worker or manager as you can a toxic friend or family member, since you need to collaborate productively every day.

You also need to be careful about how you address conflict at work, since the way you do so could affect your employment opportunities in the future.

This article is designed to help you understand the source of workplace problems, and to resolve conflict at work without burning bridges along the way.

Sources of conflict

Whether your conflict at work lies with a co-worker or your boss, it is likely to have resulted from one of the following sources:

Different viewpoints: You and your boss or co-workers are situated differently in the organisational structure, and as such may have very different ideas about measuring performance, as well as what is important for your continuing success. This can produce conflict relating to financial decisions, the allocation of resources or even the treatment of certain staff members.

Opposing values: You and your boss or co-workers may have different values, integrity and ethical standards in the workplace which are difficult to see past.

Lack of confidence in you: Your boss or co-workers may disregard your abilities and view yours skills as inferior to those of your fellow employees. This may create conflict if you are passed up for a promotion or project that you feel you deserve.

Lack of confidence in your co-workers or boss: You may lack confidence in your boss or co-worker’s abilities to do their job as a result of prior shortcomings in the workplace. This can create frustration and conflict at work when you are required to take directions from a person who you do not hold faith in.

Unclear roles: When the roles of each person in an organisation are unclear, overlaps and gaps in responsibilities may occur. This can create a lack of accountability for certain tasks and cause conflict relating to who should be doing what.

Poor communication: When the lines of communication between management and employees is poor, the productivity levels in the workplace are likely to decrease. In turn, this creates conflict when work is not completed on time or to standard.

Reactions to conflict at work

There are constructive and unconstructive ways to react to conflict at work.

Unconstructive

• Avoidance: Burying your head in the sand and waiting for your problems to wash over. While this technique may exempt you from an initial confrontation, it will only temporarily placate a problem that is sure to resurface in the future.
• Competing: Taking conflict personally and making work a competition. This shifts the focus away from the quality of your work in an organisational sense and makes an issue personal.
• Accommodation: Giving up your own needs and opinions in favour of someone else’s. This reduces your autonomy in the workplace and creates an unequal power distribution which is likely to cause further issues down the track.

Constructive

• Collaboration: Working in conjunction with your co-worker or boss to determine a resolution that is mutually beneficial.
• Compromise: Achieving a middle ground with your boss or co-worker.

Steps for handling conflict at work

1. Look at the situation objectively.

Understand the role that you and your co-worker or your boss are playing in creating the conflict, and how it is affecting your workplace productivity. Take emotion out of the equation and focus on what practical steps you can take to better the situation.

2. Act sooner rather than later. 

When left unaddressed, conflict at work has a way of growing. As such, it is important to nip any problems in the bud by having a respectful, objective conversation about an issue when it arises. Don’t approach this conversation with the intention of making the other party admit that they were in the wrong – instead, aim to reach a compromise and move on.

3. Maintain your professionalism.

Once tension exists between you and your boss or co-worker, it can be easy to jump on the defensive in every interaction and resort to name calling or bringing up past events. However, doing so will only exacerbate the level of conflict between the two of you and make a smaller problem snowball into a giant issue.

Remember to keep a level head in your dealings with a difficult person in the workplace and approach every situation calmly. Use professional language, and keep all examples of behaviour relevant to the workplace – making things personal will do nothing to aid the resolution of conflict or your reputation in the eyes of your employer.

By maintaining a professional manner, you will also avoid you expending your emotional energy on something that isn’t worth the worry.

4. Get mediation. 

If you and your co-worker are  unable to resolve a conflict at work alone, don’t give up and accept that tension will always be present – seek mediation. This means involving a neutral third party who is trained and practised in mediation. Rather than pushing you towards one solution or another, a good mediator should help those in conflict to derive their own solution. Mediators are usually available through the Human Resources department of your workplace.

If you feel that conflict at work has impacated you fiscally or personally, contact Fair Work Australia (FWA). FWA is Australia’s peak workplace relations tribunal, and can assist you in dispute resolution.

Resolving conflict at work takes patience, respect and compromise, but is ultimately necessary to ensuring that you remain happy – in the workplace and in life.