Conflict is good for business!

Conflict can indeed be transformed to help you meet business objectives.

Studies reveal that conflict has major impacts on organisations, employees and managers. (CPP Global Human Capital Report) Here are some examples, which also explain why individuals and organisations generally view conflict as a bad thing, something that should be avoided:

Costs to Organizations:
• Employees spend an average of 2-3 hours per week dealing with conflict
• Conflict leads to High Turnover and Lower Recruitment,
• Project Failure,
• Cross-Departmental Problems and
• Tarnished Public Image

Costs to Individuals:
• Stress,
• De-motivation,
• Anger and Frustration,
• Nervousness,
• Sleeplessness,
• Sickness,
• Damaged Reputation,
• Leading to Absence,
• Termination and
• Resignation.

Sadly, most organisations avoid conflict in the hope that it will go away on its own, or employees will deal with it themselves. This is likely to worsen the situation and lead to conflict escalation. Furthermore, it denies the possibility that conflict can be used to improve organizational output.

Conflict, if managed effectively, can actually improve a business or organization. Here are some results: (See CPP Global Human Capital Report)

1. Better understanding of others (41%)
2. Improved working relationships (33%)
3. Better solutions to problems and challenges (29%)
4. Higher performance in the team (21%)
5. Increased Motivation (18%)
6. Major Innovation (9%)

As we can see, managing conflict can actually improve your working context and company overall. It might even give you an edge over the competition. Considering that teams can better understand one another, they will be more likely to communicate effectively during meetings, and therefore more capable to exchange information. Relationships are improved, so individuals will more freely share their innovative ideas and express themselves, all of which is data that is vital to effectively meeting organisational goals.