In your company, human relations managers play a central role as mediators to resolve the conflict and to appease potentially conflictual situations while ensuring a good relational climate. We will have to prevent and manage conflicts to resolve difficult situations. So it will be essential that they adopt the right behavior in order to defuse aggression and manage conflict situations. Through this article, we will present the actions to adopt for the Human Resources Department to deal with tensions and know how to manage conflicts between people.
Investigate and capture the source of conflict
Professional conflicts should not be de-dramatized
Conflicts can occur at any time in the company, the causes can be numerous, a source of stress, fatigue, etc. There are different types of conflicts, personal conflicts, interpersonal conflicts, conflicts between colleagues, conflicts with a superior, relationship conflicts, everyday conflicts. Therefore, resolving conflict in a company requires managers to take a step back, empathy and a teamwork organization with an upstream action plan to manage and resolve tensions.
Firstly, you should not minimize conflicts, it is essential to know the conflict and not avoid a conflict at the risk of accentuating them. Teamwork in a good mood and with cohesion will encourage your employees to be more productive and therefore to remain competitive. Your image and reputation could be tarnished if your customers notice conflicts, you could lose customers. As a result, it will be necessary to take into account that conflict management is essential in business, then to resolve conflicts effectively, and finally to get out of conflicts.
Open the dialogue individually
Intervening in a conflict without having several points of view will lead to a more aggressive conflict and accelerate the source of stress. When a conflict arises, the HR department will have to examine whether the conflict is serious and try to find a common solution to overcome the conflict. First, ask yourself some questions in order to understand this conflict: what is the motive? Who are the parties involved? What are the demands of each party? How can the conflict be appeased? How do you deal with disagreements?
And to get your answers, you will have to open the dialogue, but at first individually. If the reason for the conflict is usually simple to characterize, the same is not true for the reasons for the conflict, because often each party has its own version and disagrees.
To remain objective, it is essential to discuss individually with each actor in the conflict. During the exchange, the line manager will collect all the important information. The person in charge of HR must listen and ask as many questions as possible to define and manage a conflict correctly.
By the time you finish your interview with the first party, HR will be able to communicate the defined reason to the other party. Indeed, if the dialogue is completely broken off between the two parties, it will make it possible to clarify the situation and to have everyone’s feelings. It is important that each side is aware of the other version, this could open the dialogue in a cordial way between the parties. By opening the dialogue, the HR serves as a mediator and will then be able to reflect on the common solutions that he will propose to the parties.
A management tool, the HRIS, at the service of the HR department
The HR department is the best placed to manage the various conflict situations or reduce conflicts because they manage human relations and have knowledge of the professional environment. Indeed, HR departments in companies are most often equipped with a human resources information system, the HRIS.
This tool provides a complete source of information on each employee. This tool provides information on know-how, the various interviews, the wishes for development, the level of absence, stoppages, etc. By cross-referencing this data, you can identify any conflicts that may arise. He will therefore know where the conflict may come from, in a specific department, because of a manager or other of the employee and therefore he will be able to settle the conflicts.
Dealing with conflicts and opening up dialogue
Organize a meeting and set commitments
After the individual interviews and after defining the reason(s), HR will be able to set up a group interview. The objective of this verbal discussion will be to define a common solution to resolve the conflicts.
However, when you are faced with a difficult situation, we recommend that you involve another mediator.
To resolve conflict situations, effective communication tools are essential. If verbal exchanges are a source of aggressiveness, the HR can set up written exchanges in order to limit tensions and establish non-violent communication. Also, if HR observes that exchanges are becoming impossible, it is better to stop the confrontation and manage tensions differently.
During the meeting with the other HR mediator, he or she will have to negotiate in order to ease tensions and limit conflicts. In the face of aggression, he must be calm and understanding.
During the meeting, if the dialogue succeeds in being calmed down, the HR mediator will define the obligations. Obviously, the obligations will have to be accepted by each party and written in a very precise way to keep in mind.
When dealing with conflicts, here are the behaviors to exclude
At first, taking a position for one party is a behavior to be avoided. The behavior of the HR must be impartial, he is simply an intermediary in communication, he acts as a judge of law if not accentuating aggressiveness, he must defuse situations.
Secondly, we must not add fuel to the fire by spreading rumours or unfounded facts, at the risk of stirring up tensions and conflicts. The HR mediator communicates neutrally, respectfully, and must avoid possible additional conflicts.
How can a conflict be foreseen?
Warn situations to be managed using anticipatory behavior
Within the company, it is important that the HR and the staff representative maintain cohesion and human relations, to ensure the pleasure of going to work. To anticipate conflicts, HR can repeatedly approach the staff representative to find out about potential tense situations, dissatisfaction, etc.
HR must be vigilant to the conflicts encountered, it is a diligent job. He must know the state of mind of his employees and establish a good relationship between employees so that they are involved in teamwork. They will be able to open up more easily and freely clarify the problems they encounter.
A profitable tool, QWL
In order to be agile in your company, you can recurrently examine the quality of life at work, the QWL. It is interesting that your human relations information system, the HRIS, can benefit from another tool, the QWL. It can take the form of a recurring survey to find out about the well-being of your employees at work. There can also be a free and secure space where your employees will be able to indicate their state of mind, their conflicts, etc. As a result, HR will be alerted to the problems that some employees encounter, this establishes trust between HR and the employee to improve the quality of life at work.
To conclude
HR managers must have interpersonal and human qualities to dissolve conflicts and situations of tension within the group, they must be in proactive communication and take a step back to avoid conflicts in order to ensure cohesion, well-being, etc. When a person has to deal with conflicts, it is necessary to act quickly and find a solution to the conflicts to overcome the conflicts. Therefore, building positive relationships is paramount to quality of life at work.
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