Conflict in the Workplace

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Conflict In the Workplace Angelique Torres English 123 SB Intermediate Composition Professor J. Park June 2, 2013 Conflict In the Workplace Without a doubt, conflict in the workplace is more relevant than ever. It is a fact that conflict occurs within the workplace and in everyone’s lives. Conflict is an inevitable part of life; it can stem from various sources, such as, cultural, generational and even socio economic differences, which in turn affects communication leading to confusion, productivity, non-cooperation, increase in stress, lack of collaboration, customer satisfaction decrease, distrust, clique formation and gossip. Be that as it may, implementing creative activities and providing trainings that focus on communication skills and active listening skills, as well as bringing awareness about different types of conflicts can create a better working environment, hence, ultimately decreasing or even ending workplace conflict. American society has come a long way when it comes to prejudice and racism. However, cultural diversity and racism continues to be the dominant cause of conflict in the workplace; it is an underlying issue that unless dealt with destroys workplace morale, communication and relationships. According to the Psychological American Society, “racial diversity tends to create more difficulties for team process as well as performance” (Mannix & Neale, 2005, p. 35). It is apparent in office settings that racism and prejudice are prevalent between people of diverse cultures. Prejudice shows up in different areas, from hiring preferences to promotions, to coworker rivalry. And though some portion of the white community may think that prejudice and racism does not exist anymore, it does. Perhaps, they are not aware, haven’t been exposed to it or don’t know how to identify it. Unfortunately, it is very

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