Motivational Management: Inspiring Your People for Maximum Performance

Managing Conflicts Productively

Conflicts and disagreements are another common contaminant of positive work attitudes. If your employees are in conflicts that don't get resolved well, then you can expect their motivation to fall. Conflicts can raise stress levels and leave people feeling hurt and upset. Even silly conflicts that don't seem important to you can feel important to your employees. As a manager, you need to be aware of conflicts, and you need to take an interest in seeing them resolved well.

That said, you also need to stay on the sidelines in conflicts. You don't want to play referee. That's a variation on stop-light management, and it does not encourage employees to take responsibility for their own behavior. In addition, when managers ...