Conflict at work: Here’s how to take action!
The natural instinct for an aggrieved employee, who is involved in conflict at work and is often in a heightened state of emotion, is to point fingers and accuse others of certain actions or reactions. This isn’t the most effective way of going about solving the problem. Conflict at work can lead to misunderstandings that can stand in the way of promotion or simply a pleasant working environment. It is how we chose to resolve conflict at work that really matters. Here are some pointers that you can give your employees of how to act in conflict situations at work.
Choose your words carefully
The use of language is the single most important element towards solving a conflict situation.
An aggrieved employee’s natural instinct is often to point fingers and accuse others of certain actions or reactions. This isn’t the most effective way of going about solving the problem. Instead:
- Start sentences with “I feel…”, or “It seems to me…”. Take into account that you’re employed to do a certain amount of work over a certain number of hours every week.
It could be argued that there are no non-valid grievances
While something might sound unimportant to you and I, that very same issue might cause another person to feel very unhappy. The purpose of a grievance procedure is to allow someone to get the problem that’s bothering them ‘off their chest’ to become fully productive again.
Examples of valid grievances are:
- Promotion,
- Sexual harassment, and
- Victimisation.
Caution your employees that before they lodge a grievance, they must understand that doing so is a serious matter that should be informed by them being sincere in wanting to resolve the conflict and not just an attempt to engage in another battle with the goal of proving their point. Remember this piece of wisdom: “If you do something with the wrong intentions, it carries a germ of destruction – it will destroy itself.”
There are legal channels to resolve conflict at work
To address grievances at work, the Labour Relations Act (LRA) provides for a certain procedure that has to be followed. This is a well-structured, common sense process whereby an employee can communicate upwards in the hierarchy if they feel aggrieved.
There are normally two or more levels in a grievance procedure:
- Starting with the immediate superior – even if the conflict is with the immediate superior, and
- Ending with the most senior executive in the organisation.
A prescribed form has to be completed and this is provided for in any grievance procedure. If the grievance can’t be resolved at a specific level, a different form is required for each level of seniority. On this form, the following is stated:
- The nature of the grievance, and
- The solution that is required.
The grievance should be formulated in a polite and professional manner, starting with the words: “I feel aggrieved because…” If this is the point of departure in the formulation of the grievance, pointing fingers is avoided (as indicated above) and the complaint has a better chance of being viewed as valid and reasonable.
If the grievance remains unresolved, it will eventually be handled by the CEO of a company or a sufficiently senior person in the case of a large company.
If a manager chooses not to apply his/her mind to a grievance and/or different levels of management collude to try and wipe a grievance off the table, they might be doing so at their own peril since the employee can refer their case to the CCMA if the problem remains unresolved.
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Andre Venter is the spokesperson for trade union, UASA. |
