How to Handle Diversity Conflicts in the Workplace
Diversity is a relatively new concept for the workplace. Over the last 30 years, there has been much change regarding gender and ideology conflicts in the workplace. But now the term "diversity" covers a wide-ranging list of hot-button issues like race, religion, belief systems, gender, philosophy and politics. Everyone must be accommodated, but how do you handle conflicts when you can't chose a side or seemingly take a stand on one side of an issue? The main thing is to remain open minded and listen for the bottom line.
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Instructions
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Relate the conflict to its simplest conclusion. If the problem is that someone wears a "pro choice" T-shirt on casual Friday and another person feels offended by the slogan, acknowledge the right of both sides to their opinion, but remind the T-shirt wearer that company guidelines state that slogans are not allowed in the workplace.
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Hear what the conflict really is. If someone says they can't handle how lazy a colleague is and that colleague is black and takes offense, you need to deflate the drama and resolve the conflict at its base. If one worker feels someone is doing less than they are, check the statistics of both employees and give an answer that has facts. If fact proves both employees do the same amount of work in general, point it out and resolve the conflict. If the conflict doesn't resolve with facts, the worker with the problem needs to get help from whatever sensitivity training is offered by the company.
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Deflate hostilities early. If someone has a great deal of PETA info and posters in their cubicle and someone else has a lot of pro-hunting imagery in theirs, diffuse this early. Let both employees know that their decor needs to be neutral (if that is policy) or that they both have a right to their own opinion and to display it. But no argument between them will be tolerated unless it is strictly professional.
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Recognize misunderstandings. Many conflicts get out of hand because the person in authority does not see that it was a simple miscommunication. Someone says that they are having a softball game on Sunday, but they know Susan won't want to come. Susan feels that it was said because she is overweight. The other employee says that they knew she couldn't go because she has church functions and they go to the same church. Let Susan know she is misunderstanding and that she needs to let it drop.
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Never allow jokes or conversations that head in troubling territory. Hear someone begin to tell a joke that uses slang words? Stop them from finishing. Hear someone proselytizing or recruiting someone to their ideology? Stop the conversation. You might feel like all you do is stop communication, but you need to keep situations like this from becoming a bigger deal than they need to be. Remind everyone that personal thoughts about race, religion, ideology and gender need to be expressed on neutral territory on their own personal time. No exceptions.
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Tips & Warnings
Never allow the use of slang terms, even once. It will open the floodgates for future problems and possible litigation.
