Prevention of conflict for employees - Kunnskapsbasen
Prevention of...
Prevention of conflict for employees
Page in progress: This page informs you, as an employee, about what you can do to prevent interpersonal conflicts in the workplace and what to do if such issues arise nonetheless.
Main page conflict prevention | Conflict prevention for leaders
Norsk: Konfliktforebygging for ansatte
As an employee, you have a duty to contribute to creating a good work environment. It is also important that you speak up early on about issues that negatively affect the work environment for individuals or a whole group.
What can you do to prevent conflict?
Discuss the work environment together: Actively participate in section meetings or similar gatherings where you discuss how you want the work environment to be. Provide feedback to your manager: Express how you perceive the work environment in general and your own work situation. Do you have a manageable workload and deadlines? Are you experiencing a lot of stress, facing collaboration challenges, struggling with tasks, or in need of adjustments? You can use both formal employee interviews and informal meetings for such feedback. Respond to the work environment survey and any other assessments of the work environment. These provide important information to your manager about the state of the work environment and whether there are factors that need further attention or maintenance. How to give feedback to colleagues on unwanted behavior:
- Provide feedback promptly
- Acknowledge that the intention was good
- Focus on what can be changed
- Be specific
- Focus on the impact of the behavior on you
- Give the other person a choice Avoid monologues
- Respond to the feedback with reflection
- Do not become defensive
- Ask clarifying questions if you do not understand
- Repeat what you heard in your own words
- Say thank you
- Remember that you can also ask for feedback.
Are you experiencing conflict at your work place?
It is not illegal to be in conflict with someone in the workplace. However, as an employee, you should not be subjected to adverse mental stressors that conflicts can lead to. This may include actions, omissions, or expressions such as:
- Unjustifiable exclusion or withholding of necessary information
- Unfounded accusations of poor job performance, belittling of professional competence, and unjustifiable deprivation of tasks and responsibilities
- Ostracism and exclusion Improper address, hurtful teasing
- Verbal abuse
If you experience stressors related to conditions in your work environment, you must speak up. See information on how to speak up further down on the page.
Do you need help assessing the situation?
Sometimes it can be difficult to assess whether your situation is something you must accept or if it constitutes an unsafe work environment. You can speak confidentially with the following entities without triggering a case:
Occupational Health Service (OHS) should act as a neutral party in handling these types of issues. You can also approach the OHS as an independent third party if you are unsure whether your experiences warrant reporting.
The union's elected representatives are responsible for safeguarding the interests of their members. Representatives are not subject to the employer's authority when assisting their own members.
The Labor Inspection Authority can provide general information on conflict cases. You can also contact the Labor Inspection Authority's helpline. Also, see the Labor Inspection Authority's website on psychosocial work environment.
Lawyers, doctors, psychologists, etc., with legally mandated confidentiality, can be sought for assistance by individuals. NTNU typically does not cover expenses for such assistance unless the employer initiates it.
How to speak up
It's important for employees to report conflicts and work environment issues. Only then does the leader have the opportunity to take action. First, report to your immediate supervisor or to the next level of management if it concerns your supervisor. You can always report to the safety delegate. If you experience challenges in the work environment, you can also submit your case to the Work Environment Committee (AMU) or report through the page: Speak up
What happens when you report?
If you report to the employer (immediate supervisor, another manager, HR, and HSE manager) or to the safety delegate, they have a duty to take action. Be aware that your manager does not automatically take your side. Managers are responsible for all employees and should not take sides in a case. See how managers should handle cases.
The safety delegate is obligated to inform the employer according to statutory participation requirements if they become aware of such cases. The safety delegate has confidentiality regarding the name of the person reporting an incident or situation.
Retaliation and reprisals
Employees who report issues should not be subjected to retaliation and reprisals. This is stipulated by labor law and applies to both the employer and the employee. If you choose to report issues in the workplace and experience retaliation, you must report it to your manager or through our reporting channel.
Remember this, if you choose not to speak up:
If you refrain from reporting, you must also refrain from spreading information about such experiences and events to colleagues and others in the workplace. Informally sharing events and experiences involving others can in itself be offensive. The person being discussed will then become an aggrieved party and covered by the provisions of labor law regarding a fully safe work environment. This applies regardless of whether the informal information is accurate or not. If stories about unfortunate incidents circulate as rumors and gossip, the other party has no opportunity to present their side of the story.
Communication during disagreements
To prevent disagreements from escalating into conflicts, it may be wise to take some precautions.
- Feel free to address the issue directly with the person involved.
- Consider having the conversation verbally rather than writing to them.
- Talk to the person involved – not about them.
- Try to see things from the other person's perspective before speaking with them (needs, expectations).
- Sort out facts and focus on what is actual (avoid assumptions and interpretations).
- Expectations: Clarify your own and others'.
- Think about the choices you have and the consequences of your actions.
- Count to 10?
- Avoid using "always" and "never." Use "I" statements instead of "you" statements.
- Speak for yourself.
- Avoid phrases like "everyone thinks that..." or "we are several who...".