Why Conflicts in the Workplace Escalate
By: Sorin Dumitrascu
Tags: Conflict Resolution, Leadership, Management, Conflict Management, Workplace

Why Conflicts in the Workplace Escalate

Photo by AndreyPopov on depositphotos

Recognising Friction in the Workplace

Friction occurs when objects rub together and results in a slowing down of their movement.

Friction in the workplace results from destructive conflict. It leads to the slowing down of the interactions between people and causes processes and relationships to stop working well. It is therefore highlighted by some clear signs that you need to be able to recognize. These are

ineffective communication,

hostility between individuals,

hostility between groups.

Ineffective communication

Poor communication leads to poor coordination between parts of the workforce, and duplication of effort. Information may be held by one party and deliberately not given to others, or not sought, so that a lack of information can be used as an excuse for ignoring rules and regulations.

Group hostility

Groups may blame other groups, without justification, for their own problems. They may form temporary alliances to work against each other, or become so concerned with preserving their territories that they would rather fail than cooperate.

Group hostility is described as institutional hostility if everyone occupying one function in a company is in disagreement with everyone from another function — for example, if all the accountants refuse to cooperate with anyone on the sales team.

Personal hostility

Personal hostility makes all arguments personal, so that the focus is no longer on the real issues involved. Disagreements may escalate to include physical and verbal intimidation, often based on stereotyping and labeling.

Personal conflict can be very damaging to a company. If one or several employees are more interested in undermining or embarrassing one of their colleagues — possibly through deliberately communicating badly (withholding information, providing false information, etc.) — there is little chance of them working productively on anything together.

If productivity is suffering, look for the symptoms of communication issues, and group and personal hostility. They are the signs that you must watch for, because they signal conflict working destructively in your company.

Rule Overload Creates and Consolidates Conflict

One way to recognize destructive conflict in the workplace is to look at the extent of the rules and regulations that exist in an organization.

Rules and regulations are a necessary part of any organization, but in organizations which are suffering a lot of conflict, rules and regulations — open or hidden — will proliferate.

Disadvantages of rule overload

Having excessive rules in the workplace is not just a sign of conflict; it is also a factor that fuels conflict. The disadvantages of having too many rules are

Paralysis — An organization can easily get clogged up with rules. The daily life of work becomes a process of weaving between rules and regulations that generally impede performance rather than assist it.

— An organization can easily get clogged up with rules. The daily life of work becomes a process of weaving between rules and regulations that generally impede performance rather than assist it. Frustration — Employees get frustrated by the imposition of rules. They dislike being constantly thwarted, patronized, or confused by rules. As a result, they may decide to challenge the “rule minders”, and thereby create more conflict.

— Employees get frustrated by the imposition of rules. They dislike being constantly thwarted, patronized, or confused by rules. As a result, they may decide to challenge the “rule minders”, and thereby create more conflict. Indiscipline — Sometimes the rules being upheld are so restrictive that employees must break them just to get their job done.

Too many policies and regulations are a sign of a conflicted company. But there are also hidden rules and regulations. These are the norms, expectations, and even myths that exist in the workplace that control behavior.

Hidden Rules

Hidden norms are unofficial — they tend to have taken root over time and often have no reason for being other than the fact that they seem to always have been. Frequently, the person or people who benefit from these rules exert pressure to ensure they remain in effect.

For example, it may have become the norm in a company for the receptionist to leave one hour early on Friday afternoons, even though this is not part of his contract and means that one of the sales team has to answer phones for the last hour.

This hinders the work of the sales team, and they may be unhappy about this. But their complaints are met with anger by the receptionist, who insists he will continue this practice because it has always been part of the company’s culture. To the company’s detriment, he is upholding an unofficial rule.

Bad rules

You can recognize rules that could be scrapped because they tend to be:

Illogical — some rules exist in a company due to habit. They have little or no relevance to current practices, but are maintained out of a misplaced sense of caution. With no logical foundation, they impede performance.

— some rules exist in a company due to habit. They have little or no relevance to current practices, but are maintained out of a misplaced sense of caution. With no logical foundation, they impede performance. Trivial — trivial rules are concerned with aspects of behavior that are irrelevant to performance (strict dress codes can be a prime example in some workplaces). Perversely, ignoring these unimportant rules tends to result in major repercussions. They can be very annoying and are easily used as weapons in workplace conflict.

— trivial rules are concerned with aspects of behavior that are irrelevant to performance (strict dress codes can be a prime example in some workplaces). Perversely, ignoring these unimportant rules tends to result in major repercussions. They can be very annoying and are easily used as weapons in workplace conflict. Unofficial — Unofficial rules may force the staff to behave in ways that they are unhappy about. Breaking these rules challenges the power of the group. Often they stem from patterns that some staff members liked, but that management has since discarded.

You will be able to decide whether your organization suffers from proliferating rules, which are indicative of conflict, by asking the following simple questions:

Are there practices which have no official status (such as allowing the receptionist to leave early on Fridays), but have become rules about the way you operate?

Do your rules focus on trivial matters, to the detriment of more significant concerns?

Do certain employees actively maintain their unsanctioned power through unofficial rules?

Proliferating rules are a significant indicator of negative conflict. Now that you have identified the signs of them in the workplace, you will be able to eliminate them in your own organization.

How Conflict Resists Resolution

In many organizations, disputes between employees are managed easily, usually between the staff members themselves. But in organizations plagued by destructive conflict, the resolution of differences is contentious, and seems to need the involvement of more and more people. This is described as escalating arbitration.

Arbitration is when individuals or groups at work seek out a third party to listen to their respective positions and make a decision on the situation. Escalation of arbitration is when conflict cannot be resolved and must go higher and higher up the chain of command for resolution.

Reasons for escalation

No company can settle all disputes easily and amicably. Sometimes, people disagree and cannot reach a resolution. Sometimes, not even their immediate managers can resolve the situation.

And so the arbitration escalates. But in organizations characterized by destructive conflict, the attitudes of people disagreeing with each other is different from that in organizations where conflict is a healthy force.

In organizations in which there is destructive conflict, arbitration escalates almost inevitably. This escalation is caused by

Ignoring the greater good — The protagonists are unwilling to change for the greater good. They are self- centered, and will not bend for the good of the work community. They want the results to be entirely in their favor, and if they cannot achieve this, they are willing to block or harm everybody’s work.

— The protagonists are unwilling to change for the greater good. They are self- centered, and will not bend for the good of the work community. They want the results to be entirely in their favor, and if they cannot achieve this, they are willing to block or harm everybody’s work. Game playing — Disagreements provide opportunities for game playing. The games played are things like arguing just for the sake of it, seeking unreasonable compromises from others, and willful contradictions made to annoy others. Arguments become opportunities to make mischief or to get revenge on someone an individual believes harmed them in the past.

— Disagreements provide opportunities for game playing. The games played are things like arguing just for the sake of it, seeking unreasonable compromises from others, and willful contradictions made to annoy others. Arguments become opportunities to make mischief or to get revenge on someone an individual believes harmed them in the past. Self-interest — Arbitration escalates when no one believes anyone else. All parties are assumed to be operating out of pure self-interest, and anything that arbitrators suggest is seen as being for their own benefit. Arbitrators are often disparaged, and their recommendations ignored.

Destructive conflict, especially that caused by personal rivalries, is sure to thrive for as long as a significant number of employees neglect the common good and exclusively pursue self-interest or mischief. And company spirit and efficiency is sure to suffer more and more the longer it goes on. A major change in attitude is required.

No organization is free of disputes which need resolving. But the escalating arbitration that occurs in organizations suffering from destructive conflict involves certain warning signs — and now you can recognize them.