Workplace Conflict has serious knock-on effects that are often not taken into account when considering the cost of conflict. I was interviewed by training company SkillBoosters. They wanted to know about the factors which employers and managers should consider when tackling disputes in the workplace.

Unresolved workplace conflict affects far more than the people involved in the dispute. The effects ripples out and impact on other staff and even customers and service users. After all, nobody likes a bad atmosphere so even people not directly involved in the dispute will feel its effects

When a dispute between employees becomes visible it usually falls to a manager to intervene and do something about it. But managing conflict at work can be a challenge.

Unfortunately, managers are not generally confident in doing this and so they’ll often ignore the conflict in the hope that it’ll go away, downplay the seriousness of the disagreement, or approach it ineffectively.

Recognising the true cost of workplace conflict at work means that you can do something about it.