The reasons for conflicts at work might be of various nature. Some of these reasons are:
- Various noises – talking in a loud voice, coughing, pen-clicking, tapping with legs, etc.
- Moving around in the office space – rotating or shaking for a long time in the chair, constantly getting up and running around colleagues, opening windows, doors, etc.;
- The colleagues’ behavior – too communicative, conflicting, intriguing, gossipers;
- Various odors – strong perfumes, unpleasant scents, etc.;
- Monotonous work, uniformity, too short deadlines.
So many factors provoke certain people to react negatively. Office work is exhausting, especially in case of night shifts or overtime stay, which leads to increased sensitivity even about the smallest details at the workplace. The frequent conflicts between employees are hidden behind smiles, hypocrisy, and intrigues. On the surface the information is about a cohesive team working efficiently but is that true?
Conflicts are almost everlasting and no matter how hard one tries to avoid them, he gets imperceptibly involved therein.
The hidden causes of conflicts of work:
- Generally, this is the personal life of each one in the team. A happy man does not seek conflicts, even if he does not like something, he will take it from the good side or he will react with a joke.
- People who are unhappy or have problems with their family, friends, etc., are often provokers of conflict situations at the office. They might do it even unconsciously, but they feel happy making people they work with feel miserable. In such a case, there is now winner, and the employer is the greatest loser because the level of work slows down and the performance decreases.
- The ability of employees to share their problems is a good prerequisite for improving the psycho-climate.
- Conflict situations sometimes cover a longer period and if you think you are not feeling well, you need to share with someone without burdening your relatives with your professional problems, contact a psychologist.
- There are different patterns of behavior to cope with conflict situations, but to apply them successfully an individual approach is needed, as the conditions of problem occurrence and the people involved with the problematic history are different.
When people work in smaller teams and have friendly relationships built between them, they have common themes of conversation, positive motivation to work, and the most important – cool managers, the working day passes imperceptibly and smoothly for everyone when they help each other, laugh and work with high performance while having fun. Teamwork is an major factor in making conflicts more quickly to overcome. There are always some controversies between people, but it is great when they are constructive for all the parties involved.
When people go to work closed in themselves, have routine tasks, short deadlines and no close circle, conflict situations are more common. In some companies, there are psychologists appointed to help in reducing conflicts and intrigues by working directly or indirectly with people. For some employees, the feeling that the company is interested in you as a person, not just as a worker, is excited about your problems, your ideas, helps you be much more efficient and motivated to work. The vertical system in the corporate world where managers or the owner cannot reach thousands of employees working for the organization misses the fact that the managers can be much more profitable if they listen attentively to their employees. Some of them have ideas that are effective, but for one reason or another, they are worried to share them. If 1,000 people share their ideas, this means they feel significant and well highly appreciated as employees. If a half of the ideas are useful, it would result in performance improvement, cost-saving and increased profits.