Unmanaged employee conflict is perhaps the largest reducible cost in organisations today – and one of the least recognised. Our experience shows that the majority of performance related problems within organisations result from strained relationships which are then manifested in low employee morale and motivation. International research shows that up to 30% of a typical manager’s time is spent dealing with conflict. In addition to lost work time, conflict costs through the loss of skilled employees, increased stress and absenteeism, sabotage and reduced decision quality. Organisations can’t easily afford these losses!
Try this quick questionnaire to estimate what conflict really costs your organisation:
How much time is lost every week dealing with internal interpersonal conflicts?
Discussions about conflicts result in downtime and have a time cost. Hours spent debating the issues and the individuals are unproductive hours.
How many times have decisions been influenced by an existing conflict?
Decisions made in anger, resentment and with a desire for payback are poor quality decisions. When decisions are made around personal feelings rather than organisational effectiveness the impact is generally negative.
How often have you not had the information you needed to make good decisions?
People in conflict with each other tend to distort or withhold information which might benefit the other party. This can affect manager’s ability to make good decisions or reduce a team’s ability to perform effectively.
Do you ever have to keep certain people away from each other?
Having to use staff selectively to avoid conflicts increases the cost of these employees as well as decreasing organisational efficiency.
Have you noticed a decrease in performance amongst staff in conflict situations?
Unresolved or poorly managed conflicts in the workplace have a severe impact on staff morale, decreasing motivation and impacting on the bottom line.
What impact does absenteeism have on your organisation?
Conflict is stressful and in an increasingly pressured environment it can often be measured through absenteeism, which in turn reduces productivity.
How teams handle conflicts can be a key contributor to their overall success or failure – can you afford not to develop your conflict resolving skills and create effective dispute resolving processes within your organisation.
For more information on consulting and workshops, please contact Nicky Hardwick on [email protected]