The Tribune

By IAN FERGUSON

Much thought is given in the corporate world to how employees interact with customers, but often we neglect to focus on the working relationships between team members. Most employers want their companies and working environments to be harmonious, where employees mutually respect each other, and the relationships formed in office are healthy.

The sad but common reality is that many offices, both in the private and public sector, are plagued with communication, teambuilding and inter-personal challenges that have existed, and in some cases, been exacerbated by failure to tackle such issues. While these conflicts may not always accelerate to physical confrontations, there exists silent and subtle animosity between employees that becomes quite destructive to the very fabric of business productivity.

The first question we ask, then, is how important is it to have harmony on the job? Should team members like each other? Should an employer be looking beyond skills and more towards ensuring that there exists a sense of employee compatibility?

It is common to hear cantankerous employees making the claim that they don’t necessarily have to like the people they work with in order to get the job accomplished. In fact, many of them outright declare: ‘I’m not here to make friends’.

A great deal of research has gone into determining the economic cost of employee conflicts. While figures vary and may not be necessary for this exercise, it is clearly evident that there is a tremendous adverse impact on a company’s bottom- line when staff do not get along. In fact, Fortune 500 company executives will all agree that interpersonal skills over technical astuteness is the formula in smart sourcing and recruitment practices.

The next question, then, is why are we so challenged in our workplaces with employee skirmishes? Why is employee conflict so common among us? After studying corporate behaviour in a number of local and regional companies, I have come to these three simple conclusions regarding the persistence of this problem:

1. Leadership often leaves employee issues to fester, failing to address the root causes, and sometimes siding with the guilty party. This naturally breeds contempt and further fuels the tension in the office.

2. Every work environment attracts sometimes emotionally immature and fragile employees. These super-sensitive individuals sometimes develop these shortcomings in the process of being slighted or abused, both at work and socially.

This immaturity renders them ‘ticking time bombs’ at work, and the slightest issue triggers an outburst and negative reaction. Some others mask well and lead silent revolts that are just as destructive.

1. In highly competitive working environments, where quotas are to be met or persons are jockeying for promotion, star employees with unbridled egos find themselves in conflict with other workers. Employee insecurities then play a huge role in the breakdown in friendly communication at work.

Next week, we delve into the appropriate response to such issues.

• NB: Ian R. Ferguson is a talent management and organisational development consultant, having completed graduate studies with regional and international universities. He has served organsations, both locally and globally, providing relevant solutions to their business growth and development issues. He may be contacted at tcconsultants@coralwave.com.