Workplace Conflict Negatives

Positives and negatives of workplace conflict Conflict is natural. How it is viewed and addressed will make the difference between it being positive or negative experience. The negative aspects of poorly managed workplace conflict include lost productivity, the destruction of morale, escalation of resentment, increased stress, sick days and disability claims and the loss of valuable employees, as well as, the cost to hire and retrain new employees. Whereas, the benefits of properly managed workplace conflict can include innovation through work collaboration, the fostering of healthy competition, the raising awareness of the needs of others, motivating communication and it can bring issues into the open to be resolved. According to a study by Kelly Services, “as employees put forth and debate the merits of various ideas, they negotiate through conflicts to come to the best solutions”. This type of negotiation process indicates that the business environment fosters diverse perspectives and properly managed conflict can lead to …show more content…
non-union environments. The non-union conflict management environment often lacks equality in the following areas: access, application, independence from manipulation, equal protection when the system is used and inadequate enforcement. Whereas, the challenges for a union conflict management environment include: lack of flexibility, a lacking in system buy-in and participant engagement and it’s lack of any interest, power and rights based options available to participants. As pointed out by Hollenbeck, Gerhart, Wright, & Noe (2014) another of a union’s “major benefits to society is the institutionalization of industrial conflict, which is therefore resolved in the least costly way. In summary, there are challenges to each environment, but it is a union environment which can “allow a collective effort to ensure consistent, flexible and fair conflict