How Can Conflicts in the Office be Resolved?

One thing that may be a universal human problem is that, sometimes, certain people have a clash of personalities and just simply don’t get along, for whatever reason. This also means that one of the most difficult things about working in an office with other people is the fact that you might face the same problem, and there is the chance of having conflicts in the workplace due to the variety of personalities working together.

One of the biggest reasons for this, in my opinion, is that every person sees the world in their own unique way and has their own perspective on life and relationships, as they have had different life experiences from everyone else. Everyone’s mind works differently. Something that may not bother one person may be completely unacceptable to the next person. I believe that people are so used to their own way of thinking that it can be easy to forget that other people have very different perspectives, and it may at times be difficult to understand these perspectives.

Taking individual differences into account, it is important to try and understand other people and do what you can to try and put yourself in their shoes. Instead of immediately reacting to a difficult situation with anger, it would be more beneficial to think about what the other person may have been thinking and why the person may have done what they did. Of course, there are times where people’s behavior is based on malice, and they are being unkind or unreasonable on purpose. They could be trying to upset someone else, but one could argue that the majority of the times, conflict is caused not by bad intentions but by different ways of thinking and also misunderstandings. Thus, if we want to avoid conflict, we should be understanding and considerate. This should not be the responsibility of only one person, but the responsibility of everyone, to ensure that everyone can reach an understanding and work well together.

Another thing that is very important in my opinion is communication. In order to grow and maintain good relationships, we have to communicate well with each other and express our opinions in a respectful way. If there are any signs of conflict between two people working in the same office, the best way to resolve the tension may be for those people to calmly discuss the issue with an open mind. It’s important to try to understand each other’s point of view and reach an understanding without anger or resentment.

One could argue that absolutely nobody likes a tense work environment where there is conflict. It is uncomfortable and to work in this kind of environment and it may lead to employees feeling unmotivated and negative about work. On the other hand, a positive workplace where everyone tries to be considerate, work well together and support each other will lead to motivated, positive employees who are happy to go to work and spend time with their coworkers.

Ilze

Vocabulary

perspective (noun) – a way of thinking; an opinion
put oneself in someone’s shoes (idiom) – to imagine oneself in the same situation as another person, and to try understand how they feel
malice (noun) – bad intentions; cruel or negative feelings
considerate (adj.) – kind towards others; thinking about others’ feelings
maintain (verb) – to keep; to look after something