The 15 Most Frequent Problems And Conflicts At Work
People spend a large part of the day at work and it is logical that, after so many hours, conflicts can arise.
Conflicts are normal, but detecting and resolving them is key so that the work environment does not become hell, because when we are bad at work our performance, our motivation or our feeling of belonging to the organization are affected.
But, What are the most common conflicts in the work environment? What are the most frequent causes of these work problems? Below we explain it to you.
1. Lack of teamwork
Teamwork is one of the skills most valued by recruiters, because when an employee works as a team, their creativity and learning improve, Your stress level is reduced and performance and productivity increase Now, in cases where workers decide to go on their own and teamwork is not evident in the company, conflicts may arise.
On the other hand, a very individualistic mentality can lead to others being viewed with distrust, and in these situations it is easy to misinterpret certain behaviors and attribute them to the desire to stand out above coworkers.
2. Lack of communication
Lack of communication is another cause that can cause serious conflicts at work , because when an employee or superior fails to communicate (or send the necessary messages) to other workers, problems can appear. Poor communication can present itself as misinformation or misinformation. In the first case, the information does not arrive; In the second case, the information arrives wrong.
Ultimately, the friction that can occur due to a lack of communication can give way to situations of ambiguity that produce failures and, on those occasions, the inability to know who has made a mistake causes conflicts to break out.
Sometimes, work conflicts can appear without any intention, however, other times, toxic people create a bad environment wherever they go, especially at work. Toxic colleagues are identified because wherever they go they end up badly with everyone and create conflicts where there are none. They like to go where they are not called, they want to be the center of attention and they tend to be the typical people known as false and judgmental.
4. Toxic bosses
It may happen that it is not the co-workers who poison the work environment, but rather the bosses, either due to their bad management or their personality, they make your life impossible In these cases, you may be at a disadvantage when it comes to resolving the conflict.
In summary, toxic bosses tend to be: arrogant and poor communicators, autocratic, inflexible, controlling and discriminating.
5. Competitiveness
It is common for many companies to pay their employees based on their achievements. And while some companies distribute commissions among team members, others reward employees individually: depending on the sales or the objectives set, it is one person who receives the commission. These types of incentives can cause friction between workers since the competitiveness that is created brings with it conflicts between workers.
6. Love relationships
Coworkers may experience some romance, which doesn’t have to be negative. Now, andIn some situations, romantic relationships at work can bring conflicts Romantic relationships can arise in the work environment as in any other place, but, to avoid conflicts, it is necessary that they do not interfere with work.
7. Colleagues who do not work well
And of course, When a colleague does not perform as he should, conflicts can appear When someone doesn’t do their job well, it will end up interfering with yours, and possibly make you have to do theirs and work harder. Companies and organizations are dynamic systems, and a delay in the deadline to deliver a project can cause the entire general functioning of this “living organism” to suffer. Nobody likes to work twice as hard.
Prejudices are a cause of conflict in different spheres of life, and also at work. Colleagues who do not tolerate people from other parts of the world or with other skin colors, bosses who treat their female employees in a sexist way, etc. These are cases that can appear in the workplace.
9. Personality clashes
Sometimes personalities just don’t fit and the spark jumps at the first opportunity In personal relationships, conflicts exist day in and day out. When a conflict of this type arises, it is best to resolve the problem as soon as possible.
However, it must be taken into account that clashes between different personalities are not usually the most frequent reasons why conflicts appear in the company. On the contrary, many problems that are actually organizational and collective are wrongly attributed to the individual characteristics of certain people, since this is “the easy option” when looking for an explanation for what happens (for some reason it is based in an essentialist vision of workers).
10. Mobbing
“Mobbing”, also known as workplace psychological harassment, occurs at work when an individual or several individuals systematically and repeatedly exert psychological violence on another individual or individuals. Mobbing can be between employees, from the employees towards the superior, from the superior towards the employees or from the organization towards one of its workers. Mobbing not only affects performance at work and causes serious conflicts, but it can cause serious psychological problems in the person who suffers from them This is a problem that must be tackled at its roots once it is detected.
11. Changes in the company
Changes in the company can generate conflicts of different types For example, staff cuts can lead employees to feel uncomfortable and unmotivated; or changes in management can lead to new policies that are not well received by employees, especially the most senior ones. Ultimately, these disruptions can cause the progress that has been made so far to be truncated until a new readjustment situation occurs.
Exploitation by employers can also generate conflicts with workers For example, if the worker does not feel that he is receiving fair remuneration or perceives that he is working excessively (more hours than he should), he can end up badly with the company and with other workers.
13. Resource conflicts
Working excessively can be out of obligation as in the previous case But it can also happen that the company’s lack of resources (fewer workers than it should have, poor personnel management, etc.) causes workers to come into conflict with the company or feel stressed and burned out.
14. Conflict over values
It may happen that we are very clear about the company’s values and that we really like our work, so we will perform at an optimal level. But It may be that one of our colleagues does not feel the same as us in this regard This can cause, in the case of the latter, their performance to be low and they are unmotivated. This can create a bad atmosphere among colleagues.
15. Unclear guidelines
It has already been mentioned in a previous point that communication is essential for the good performance of professional work. One type of communication that must be taken into account and treated carefully is unclear guidelines.
Lack of communication in business regulations or in the objectives expected of an employee can cause what is known as role conflictin other words, not having a correct idea of what should be done or what is expected of a worker Role conflict creates conflicts between workers and is also one of the most common causes of work stress or burnout.
Related article: “Burnout: how to detect it and take action”
