Remotely Different: Two Soft Skills to Effectively Navigate Conflict in Today’s Workplace

Abstract

Over one-third of employees encounter workplace conflict on a daily basis (Moody, 2022), but most are not equipped with the skills to navigate these challenges effectively, ultimately costing both them and their organization valuable time and resources. While there are many dual concern models that examine conflict management styles (e.g., Blake & Mouton, 1964; Rahim, 1983; Thomas, 1992), they do not offer strategies about how to navigate conflict well or when to approach potential difficulties. The current study explores two emergent behaviors – Engage the Mess and Suppress the Noise – by asking business professionals to tell real-life stories about these behaviors at work. Engage the Mess is an effective means to constructively engage conflict through respectfully working toward an outcome. Suppress the Noise actively avoids the aspects of conflict that disrupt resolution and confuse a situation to intentionally focus on solving the problem. The results of the current study suggest that rather than pitting employees against each other to determine whether self or other’s needs are more important, conflict resolution should focus on working together. We, therefore, propose a revision to Desivilya and Eizen’s (2005) framework in two distinct ways. First, we retain the two original destructive styles (Avoidance and Dominating), we but add a third style of Defensive. Second, we replace the two constructive styles with Engage the Mess and Suppress the Noise. To improve workplace conflict, employees should practice applying these constructive behaviors to achieve more effective outcomes.