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Avoiding confrontations at the workplace

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Nasrullah Mohammed Portfolio Manager| Advanced Electronics Company Riyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Workplace politics at times may be more confusing and confrontational than nationwide politics. Sure, there may not be as much at stake, but a terrible relationship between two employees can hurt the productivity and morale of an entire company.

How do you make sure that you’re not in the midst of one of these feuds and what can you do to ensure that your coworkers aren’t tied up in any negative relationships?
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Nasrullah Mohammed Portfolio Manager| Advanced Electronics Company Riyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Apr 17, 2017 7:08 AM
Replying to Drew Craig
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Additional information that seems relevant.

https://www.projectmanagement.com/blog-pos...ject-Management
Thanks for the link Andrew.
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Nasrullah Mohammed Portfolio Manager| Advanced Electronics Company Riyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Apr 17, 2017 7:37 PM
Replying to Deepesh Rammoorthy
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You are in a damage control mode as soon as you are working with people . You cannot avoid confrontation or politics but you can minimize their effects through communication, being apologetic and empathetic and tolerant towards your fellow workers
Take assistance from emotional Intelligence and seek support from your project sponsor and manager. Be clear, open and honest. try to learn about other person's culture and traditions and be respectful.
Agree you on the emotional intelligence point Deepesh. People with a high emotional intelligence are empathetic and sensitive to the feelings of other and emotions play a very important role in the search for confrontation resolutions.

Dealing with co-workers as human beings with real lives is often ignored in the busy workplace. However, people who can do this while maintaining appropriate boundaries, have developed skills to effectively combine professionalism with genuine emotions like sensitivity and empathy as they strive for more effective conflict resolution and useful outcomes.
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Grace Windsor Content Marketing Specialist| BrightWork Galway, Ireland
Hi Nasrullah, great question, and responses so far! I recently read a survey that found U.S. employees spend 2.1 hours per week involved with conflict, which amounts to approximately $359 billion in paid hours (based on average hourly earnings of $17.95), or the equivalent of 385 million working days. That is quite scary! I have written two articles you may find helpful: dealing with conflict in project teams (http://bit.ly/2oMI262) and how to manage difficult conversations with team members (http://bit.ly/2oMKY2w).
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1 reply by Nasrullah Mohammed
Apr 20, 2017 7:44 AM
Nasrullah Mohammed
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Excellent articles. Thanks for sharing
Agree with what you mentioned in one of them that we need to define appropriate behaviors and address negative situations as they arise.
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Emmanuel Umoh PhD., PMP, PMO Director | XEQ Consulting Solutions, LLC Plano, Tx, United States
Certainly you cannot avoid confrontation at workplace. The role of a PM is to manage the team in a manner that minimizes the effects of confrontation. Confrontation usually comes from lack of or unwillingness to understanding another's viewpoint. One way to manage is to encourage the team to engage in dialogues instead of heated discussions. Dialogue promotes the act of listening to others view points. Listening increases understanding and minimizes confrontation. So, with dialogue, instead of confrontation, two team members can be collaborative.
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Nasrullah Mohammed Portfolio Manager| Advanced Electronics Company Riyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Apr 19, 2017 3:43 AM
Replying to Grace Windsor
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Hi Nasrullah, great question, and responses so far! I recently read a survey that found U.S. employees spend 2.1 hours per week involved with conflict, which amounts to approximately $359 billion in paid hours (based on average hourly earnings of $17.95), or the equivalent of 385 million working days. That is quite scary! I have written two articles you may find helpful: dealing with conflict in project teams (http://bit.ly/2oMI262) and how to manage difficult conversations with team members (http://bit.ly/2oMKY2w).
Excellent articles. Thanks for sharing
Agree with what you mentioned in one of them that we need to define appropriate behaviors and address negative situations as they arise.
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