WIN-WIN LOSE-LOSE

Imagine a scene where two trains are approaching near collision. They are at a crazy top speed honking at each other to leave the track. The person responsible to change the track was just standing at gear watching these trains approaching and then Bang! Both trains collided. Imagine the disaster, horror of the train wreck. Everything inside and surroundings were totally destroyed. The only person survived was the person standing at the gear which changes the track. Watching the unfortunate event and cursing himself for not taking appropriate decision on-time. Had he taken the decision, the disaster could have been avoided.

These two trains were the top executives honking at each other trying to defend their view point while the mediator was standing there watching them and not performing his or her role to avoid the collision that only destroyed the executive but also the surroundings. That’s a power of conflict.

You might have come across such conversations like:

Person 1: I think the suggestion you gave in the meeting was not quite right. It does not go with the state of the company.

Person 2: I don’t think so. Everyone was suggesting only disasters which will only make things dreadful.

Person 1: Not really. My suggestion to stretch creditor was more powerful.

Person 2: Yes! Powerful like a bomb to blow the whole company.

These kinds of conversation have a potential to end-up into fist fight. These conversations sometime resolve issues but can also sow grudges in hearts of colleagues if not handled properly.

The company where I work has recently migrated from SAP ECC6 i.e. old SAP System to latest SAP HANA system. IT team announced regarding the down-time as communicated by our consultant while we had our own problems since we need to halt all postings for those days. Finance team and IT team had heated conversation where both were stringent in their demands. IT was pressing for 7 days down-time while finance team was reluctant as this would mean to halt all postings for 7 days. This has led to conflict. But with the intervention of the head of operations and desire of both the departments to resolve the conflict both IT and Finance decided to have further meetings. There were numerous meetings to decide on this single issue. But after few deliberations, where many alternatives were discussed, it was decided that the down-time will be squeezed to a minimal which will be 4 days starting from Friday till Monday so that we can take advantage of weekend. Had the head of operations not intervened and IT and Finance remained stringent and abstained from talking, this would have been a disaster as it would have costed much to the company in shape of licenses, consultancy fee and so on. With this we had smooth down-time and post down-time events.

Conflict is a part of life. As Joseph Campbell, a famous writer said: “no two brains are the same”. So, they cannot think in a similar fashion. Conflict is both a blessing and a curse. Conflict is inevitable in every organization. It could be possible that a person is submissive and do not retaliate to a conflicting idea presented by the other person to him or her but that do not mean that conflict do not occur.

Conflict is important to stir creativity, innovation and development of ideas. Companies, societies and families where conflicts are suppressed often become stagnant and may lead to ultimate demise. However, leaders must be mindful regarding conflicts happening within a company, society or even families. If conflict is left unchecked, grudges, hatred, strained relations may permeate into company, society or family. Leaders must remain ready to intervene when situation is leaning out of control. The intervention should be in shape of brainstorming where pros and cons of all conflicting ideas are weighted to hammer out best possible outcome rather than to impose ideas that leader feels best. ?Conflict many times help organizations achieve unprecedented results however, conflict which goes uncontrolled often makes organization dysfunctional which may also lead to ultimate destruction of the company. Therefore, conflict management is an important part of organizational development.

Conflict is a matter of Win-Win or Lose-Lose.