How to Resolve Manager and Employee Conflicts

Workplace productivity, performance and, ultimately, the company's bottom line suffer when conflict exists between employees and managers. Resolving one-on-one employee-manager conflict using alternative dispute resolution is effective; however, large-scale employee-manager conflicts are effectively addressed by obtaining input from groups of employees and managers.

Instructions

1. Read your employee handbook for information on how employees are to report workplace issues. Your organization's employee handbook is a guide for employees, managers and human resources staff. It should contain a step-by-step process for employees to follow when they experience workplace issues that affect their performance or working relationships with coworkers and supervisors. If your employee handbook does not contain a policy or any sort of guidance for employees, draft recommendations for inclusion in the next handbook revision.

2. Make notes of your observations of how individual employees interact with each other and how employees interact with their supervisors and managers. Note areas where you see room for improvement and organize your notes according to departments, specific occupations within the workplace or lines of authority. For example, your observations may reveal that employees in certain roles have difficulty interacting with executive leadership. Identify this area as one for improvement and include it on your list of goals to improve interpersonal relationships between frontline employees and executives.

3. Conduct focus groups to determine conflicts that exist between employees and managers. To avoid possible confrontation, schedule focus groups for employees and separate focus groups for managers. Begin your focus groups with an explanation of the purpose, types of questions and assurance that you will maintain confidentiality to the extent possible. You cannot guarantee anonymity during focus groups because it's obvious which participants contribute the information you capture during discussions. However, you can require that focus group participants refrain from sharing the information exchanged outside the focus group discussions. One of the best ways to enforce this is to have focus group participants sign an acknowledgment form, indicating their agreement to maintain the confidentiality of focus group discussions.

4. Assemble your notes from employee focus groups and manager focus groups. Synthesize the data and information much like you would for employee opinion surveys where you determine the leading causes of workplace issues. Create separate lists of workplace issues and concerns expressed by employees and managers. Prioritize both lists and determine which areas deserve immediate attention. If there are urgent matters that pose a threat to the safety and well-being of employees or managers, handle those matters before you move forward with the list.

5. Access work records, performance appraisal documents and workplace policies as part of your research to determine the root causes of employee-manager conflicts. For example, if managers believe employees aren't demonstrating enough effort in learning new processes, examine the types of training materials, methods and techniques supervisors and managers are using to provide employees with the tools necessary to perform their job duties. Review each supervisor's processes or steps in job-skills training. Follow up by looking at how supervisors and managers evaluate employees who completed training but did not demonstrate proficiency in certain areas. Use this information to develop group leadership training or to provide one-on-one guidance for supervisors in improving their ability to introduce employees to new equipment and procedures.

6. Reconvene focus groups to discuss progress after your steps to resolve large-scale employee-manager conflict. Measure the effectiveness of your actions through the comments employees and managers share during subsequent focus group meetings. Invite employees and managers to meet with you individually if their concerns persist, or if there are other workplace issues they would like to address one-on-one. Individual employee-manager conflicts -- and all other employee matters of a sensitive and confidential nature -- should always be addressed in private. Point employees and managers to their employee handbooks and ensure they are all aware of how individual matters and concerns should be addressed by human resources staff.

References

• Boston.com: Eight Tips for Handling Workplace Conflict
• Healthcare Financial Management Association; Influencing Positive Relations in a Nonunion Environment; Carolyn Roe, MSM, BSN
• "Entrepreneur" magazine; Conflict in the Workplace; Dr. David G. Javitch; October 2007
• CNN Living; Six Tips to Managing Workplace Conflict; Rachel Zupek; January 2008
• Tech Republic; Manager-Employee Conflict: What Do You Do?; Bob Artner; August 2002

Resources

• HR.com
• Society for Human Resource Management
• National Human Resources Association
• The American Society for Training and Development
• Workforce Management