No matter how efficient entrepreneurs are, workplace conflicts cannot be prevented entirely. Period!
Every organization suffers from situations which affect their business processes and profits adversely. Conflicts within a team can be handled by the team leader easily with the help of effective team building exercises, but what about the ones that occur among different departments? Interdepartmental conflicts eat away the productivity and efficiency of the organization which leads to a high attrition rate, financial losses, loss of opportunities, and disrupt the internal environment completely.
Read on to know how you can reduce interdepartmental conflicts within your organization.
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Strict Guidelines
The primary approach is to create a set of guidelines for every team regarding disputes. The consequences of breaking those rules shall be strict to make sure no employees take them lightly. To create such instructions, you need to set every team down and ask them their views. Once those discussions are done, create a consolidated file which shall contain your expert analysis that can be used as the pillar stone of your guidelines’ file. It shall also contain the process of resolving all types of work-related conflicts, step-by-step, to prevent cold wars between teams and the adverse effects on the productivity of the organization.
Eliminate Gender Bias
Equality is essential to keep the internal environment of the organization positive. Gender bias is the most common reason which leads to internal conflicts, especially when the women employees are looked down upon. This affects creativity and efficiency severely because every employee has their role to play, and no designation shall be considered inferior to another. If you are treating the men or women employees any differently, then conflicts will be the only consequence that will come out of it. Your guidelines shall include this factor in capitals to make sure everyone understands the grave significance of the same.
Conduct Regular Feedback Meetings
If you are planning to conduct annual feedback meetings, then the chances of cold wars among departments are high because many issues require immediate attention. Your contribution to conflict resolution is possible only if you conduct regular feedback meetings where you can discuss the problems individually with different teams, and then devise an effective way to resolve them at the earliest. Don’t procrastinate or ignore the significance of feedback meetings with your employees.
Organize Interdepartmental Events
Team building events are vital for organizations because not only do they enable employees to get friendly with each other, but they also aid in resolving conflicts. Most fights happen either because of misunderstandings or because of competition among teams.
Plan corporate fun days quarterly, where you host a team-building activity like an amazing race company event in which teams can compete with one another in an exciting and engaging manner. This will keep your employees active, happy, and healthily competitive.
Consider The Views Of All Parties Involved
Don’t be partial when it comes to conflict resolution because corporate conflicts can have severe legal consequences as well. You need to make sure that you consider the views of all parties involved before making a decision. The decision can be as grave as asking the employee to resign or as trivial as giving a mere warning. Don’t be an unfair authority when conflicts are considered; always provide a fair judgment.
Set Up A Conflict Resolution Team
This is a solution if the number of employees in your organization is too high for you to handle their concerns alone or if you cannot replace your work with solving problems among teams. Sometimes, queries lead to conflicts, so apart from creating a set of strict guidelines, you can also set up a conflict resolution team. This team will be responsible for all types of problem-solving and conflict resolution situations. You can supervise the team to make sure that they do their work effectively, but don’t get too involved to defy the purpose of their creation.
The above methods have seen excellent results. These proven methods will enhance your profits, keep the internal environment full of positive vibes and will encourage productivity & fair competition in the organization.
Don’t be afraid of change, and don’t take these situations lightly. It is your organization; your home, and you need to keep its atmosphere happy and cheerful.
If you are interested in even more business-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels then we have a lot to choose from.
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