Conflict Culture & Diversity at Work

Conflict can result from workplace pressures such as a long hours culture and excessive workloads. In this environment workers often experience a great deal of stress, which can lead to unreasonable behaviours that would not normally occur.

Also, in our diverse workplaces people come from different cultural backgrounds, have different values and ways of communicating. Some people view conflict as a positive thing, others as something to be avoided. For some, harmonious relationships are the first priority others place more emphasis on task completion.

Where there are poor communication skills and a lack of understanding of these differences, even simple misunderstandings can escalate into long term conflicts. Because people selectively filter what is being said to fit with their own expectations, perceptions, values and norms, a resolution can be found until there is real clarity about the issues. There is also a right time and place for working through an issue and this needs to be considered before approaching the person you are in conflict with. There may also need to be cultural sensitivity here, as in some cultures it is considered inappropriate to disclose the underlying causes of conflict

A lot of the coaching that I do is about resolving long term conflict between people in the workplace and in their personal lives. I usually find that people are waiting, sometimes years, for the other person to change and the likelihood of this is negligible. Its helpful for people to gain insight into the role they are playing in the conflict, understand the outcome they are wanting and then develop the strategies to achieve this result. Resolving ongoing conflict takes time and skill and often the necessary objectivity or even willingness to work through the issue is not present, especially if there is an agenda by one of the parties to keep the conflict ongoing says Kerry Fallon Horgan, FAW Managing Partner.