According
to figures released today, poorly managed conflicts
in the workplace are crippling British business.
The average UK employee spends over two hours
a week dealing with conflict, which means in total
more than 370 million working days were lost last
year at a cost to British employers of more than
£24 billion.[1].
The
statistics are from a new global report Fight,
Flight or Face It, jointly authored by business
psychology firm OPP
and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
(CIPD).
It surveyed thousands of employees in nine countries
across three continents, in businesses of all
sizes and in all sectors. A second survey[2] revealed
the opinions of 660 HR professionals in the UK,
allowing for a balanced employee/employer view
on conflict.
The
figures reveal that stress and heavy workloads
are cited as causes by 34% and 33% of employees
respectively, although half (49%) feel that personality
clashes and warring egos are the number one cause
(49%) - all factors requiring close management
in tough times.
Robert
McHenry, CEO of OPP, says: "Workplace
conflict is nothing new. But in
the context of the current economic downturn,
businesses could see steep rises in conflict as
workloads increase, budgets shrink and stress
levels rise. The fact that there are too few managers
in British business with the insight to handle
it effectively could cost us dearly."
"When
dealt with in the right way, conflict can actually
lead to positive outcomes such as more effective
teamwork and greater innovation. Training is vital
because it allows managers to understand and deal
with the underlying causes."
The
research also found that:
*
Over half of employees (54%) and many more HR
professionals (80%) want managers to address underlying
tensions before they escalate into conflict
*
Training adds value: over
half (58%) of employees who have had training
now look for win-win outcomes from a workplace
conflict
*
In countries where training is more prevalent,
positive outcomes from conflict are far more common.
As
to the consequences, a quarter (27%) of employees
have already seen disagreements involving personal
attacks or insults, while one in six (16%) have
actually seen conflicts lead to people being fired.
Meanwhile, the majority of HR professionals (63%)
have seen employees become ill or absent following
a disagreement within their organisation.
According
to HR professionals, most conflict is seen in
departments at the operational level, such as
customer
service, where it has a direct
impact on the performance and reputation of an
organisation. However, conflict also exists at
the senior levels, where others in the organisation
take their cue: 12% of employees say that disagreements
among their senior team are frequent or continual.
Over
the course of the average 44-year career[3], employees
will spend nearly six months dealing with workplace
conflict. It could actually be time well spent,
but only if they are able to do so effectively.
Linda
Holbeche, director of research and policy at the
CIPD, thinks that conflict management should be
an integral part of leadership and management
training:
"Conflict
is an inevitable part of the workplace
and can be very damaging and costly if not managed
properly. Managers must be able to identify the
early signs of conflict and intervene and diffuse
situations before they escalate if teams are to
work productively and harmoniously. Managers must
also manage under-performance firmly and fairly,
as well as pick-up on when banter starts to become
bullying or when workloads become excessive.
"Just
as importantly managers must learn to manage in
a way that does not create conflict by providing
clear objectives, communicating effectively and
planning and managing individual and team workloads
appropriately."
Notes
regarding this Press Release:
OPP
is an international business psychology
consultancy.
OPP's
experienced consultants work with clients in the
areas of assessment, development and teams. as
well as in conflict management skills. OPP offers
leading personality assessment tools, including
MBTI Step I, MBTI Step II, 16PF, FIRO-B, and TKI.
OPP
also supplies psychometric qualification training,
including BPS-accredited certification in Level
A and Level B, and a range of applications workshops
for HR professionals, psychologists and development
practitioners.
Fight,
Flight or Face It: celebrating the effective management
of conflict at work The Fight, Flight or Face
It report is a joint publication from OPP and
the CIPD. It's based on an extensive research
project amongst full-time workers in the UK, the
USA, France, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Brazil,
Belgium and the Netherlands as well as CIPD members.
_________________________________
*
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
(CIPD)
is the United Kingdom's leading professional body
for those involved in the management and development.
They have 130,000 individual members and their
objectives are to lead in the development and
promotion of good practice in the field of the
management and development of people, for application
both by professional members and by their organisational
colleagues.
Source:
CIPD
See
also:
Employers
prioritise management and leadership training
to survive recession - March 2009
CIPD
highlights importance of work-based training -
March 09
CIPD
Press release - CIPD jobs market update - July
2008
CIPD
guide helps HR navigate the coaching maze - November
08
Flexible
working - October 2008 Equality and Human Rights
Commission and Chartered Institute of Personnel
and Development
Worrying surge in redundancy enquiries strenghtens
case for interest rate cut - October 2008
Management
innovation not considered key business priority
in UK organisations despite obvious benefits,
says new research - CIPD October 2008
UK
jobs market being crunched 'woeful winter to follow
awful autumn' - October 2008
Slump
in productivity and rising unit wage costs spells
bad news for jobs - October 2008
Increasing
your effectiveness at work by using your Emotional
Intelligence - June 2008
CIPD
report uncovers future focus for learning, training
and development in UK organisations - November
08
