Manager's Guide to Controlling Verbal Conflicts in the Workplace

As employers strive to maintain profitable businesses and safe environments in their workplaces, they must examine everyday conflicts and how they are managed. Verbal abuse in a workplace setting can cause stress, leading to violence and conflict.

Conflict is a natural part of our social lives and the management of conflict has a great impact on the health of our relationships. There are three strategies for engaging in conflict: the competitive (controlling) style, the cooperative (solution-oriented) style and the nonconfrontational (avoidance) style.

Various ethnic groups with their intercultural differences and the styles they use to handle conflict were examined in a 2008 study, Communication Studies Overview, printed in Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict. According to this study, Middle Eastern cultures often resolve conflicts by avoidance and individualistic countries as Australia tend to be confrontational in resolving conflicts. The role of gender in conflict in the workplace was also examined. Males are found to be more confrontational to female bosses than to male bosses. Females often find themselves in a role of "peacekeeper" in the workplace. This is attributed to the stereotypical view that females are better able to accommodate and understand the feelings of others.

The findings showed that verbal and/or physical aggression is used in controlling relationships and partners. Fifty-three percent of physical aggression victims said that verbal aggression came in the beginning of the relationship. Further findings showed that the aggressor and the victim have different views of the relationship and that expressing their emotions give way to venting powerful feelings, and that verbal aggression is typical of violent relationships. Verbal aggression is also linked to other negative outcomes such as suicidal thoughts, poor health and depression.

Today's business manager must be proactive in taking steps against verbal abuse in the workplace, which can lead to stress, violence and conflict. OSHA gives some useful guidelines for assessing, identifying and managing workplace violence, including verbal abuse. Some recommendations given for managers are to review all incidents on paper. Write down the "who, what, when, where and why" of verbally abusive incidents. Gather data from incident report forms, conduct a walkthrough of the incidents and ask the workers separately for their own explanations. Addressing potential verbal abuse issues before the become real problems can head off troubles ahead and save the company time in lost productivity by terminations of involved employees and the time and money that would be spent training their replacements.

Sources:

Communication Studies, Overview. (2008). In Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/estpeace/communication_studies_overview

OSHA: Preventing Workplace Violence for Health Care & Social Workers