The Role Of Empathy In Conflict Management At Work

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Currently, managers are practically not insured against the emergence of conflict situations in their team. Emotional tension arising in the process of working interaction between people can develop into interpersonal conflicts, which can even lead to confrontation between groups or conflict between subordinates and management. What can help a leader to competently manage conflicts?

Previously, the leaders perceived conflicts only as a negative phenomenon that should be avoided, prevented and dealt with. The task of the leader was to achieve a certain conflict-free state, ideally, which would look like this: people communicate harmoniously, cooperate and help each other. However, now the attitude towards conflicts has changed, since conflicts can play a constructive role, therefore the task of leaders "to resolve conflicts" has undergone changes and now an effective leader must be able to "manage conflicts" - to stimulate productive behavior and correct destructive and even to some extent provoke conflicts. After all, any conflict is essentially a clash of points of view, and a revision of the existing order leads to progress.

The cause of conflicts, mutual discontent and confrontation can be both objective and subjective. The objective reason, as a rule, is associated with serious production problems, while the subjective one matures in the field of relations between specific employees. In order for a leader, using his scope of authority, to minimize possible damage and benefit from a constructive resolution of the conflict, it is necessary to correctly draw up an algorithm for relieving tension, and empathy helps very well in this.

F. Lutes's view of conflicts is interesting. In his opinion, the conflict can be perceived as an error of interaction. It is very important to be able to identify the sources of conflicts, to negotiate skillfully and to achieve effective solutions. In conflict prevention, a proactive approach to problem resolution relieves tensions. It is necessary to teach subordinates to transfer attention from interpersonal conflicts and intrigues to the essence of disagreements, highlighting their positive essence, to instill a sense of empathy and attention to each other. Managers must be receptive to new ideas and overcome the urge to establish tight control. Quickly restore relationships by discussing the sources of mutual misunderstandings, refusing to reproach.

According to Lukin Yu. F., in the most general form, subjective, associated with people, their consciousness and behavior, the causes of any organizational conflicts, as a rule, are caused by three factors:

• interdependence and incompatibility of the goals of the parties;
• awareness of this;
• the desire of each of the parties to realize their goals at the expense of the opponent.

A person's poorly developed ability for empathy, that is, understanding the emotional state of another person, empathy and sympathy for him, leads to the fact that a person behaves inappropriately to the situation of social interaction, does not act as expected by communication partners.

If the parties to the conflict adhere to the attitude of cooperation, then this increases the likelihood of a constructive resolution of the conflict. The attitude towards cooperation is manifested in the desire to show the partner that he is not ignored, he is reckoned with, his opinions, interests and needs are taken into account. The cooperative attitude is the best way to come to an agreement in a conflict, involving the opponent in solving a common problem, while not yielding to him on matters of principle.

Applying empathy to resolving interpersonal conflicts helps to maintain a cooperative attitude. Most often, interpersonal conflicts flare up precisely because of the inability or unwillingness of people to understand and take into account the feelings and experiences of others, and a person who is not understood in his feelings closes in on himself, moves away, becomes irritable, capable of creating a conflict situation.

A. Kronik and E. Kronik cited the following fact: “a socio-psychological study of more than two thousand people experiencing serious difficulties in life, including those due to family or industrial conflicts, showed that of all types of social assistance, people most need it is in psychological support”.

For a leader, the development of his ability to empathy is determined by the empathic potential of his personality. Empathic potential, notes Kashuba I. V., is an integrative personality characteristic, including the integrity of knowledge, skills, abilities, needs, allowing to adequately understand, emotionally respond and contribute to the partner's feelings, optimally change the communication strategy in accordance with new conditions

Sharing the point of view of the above authors, we can consider the empathic potential of the leader's personality as one of the key conditions for effective conflict resolution. As empathic potential develops, as that personal characteristic on the basis of which empathy develops, the latter can acquire an ever deeper and more analytical character, which will contribute to the manager's personal growth and help him in communicating with employees, and especially in managing conflicts.

There are many certified programs and trainings aimed at developing management skills in conflict management, but all of them primarily develop intellectual abilities, offering various algorithms and step-by-step instructions for behavior in conflict, but conflict is primarily a clash of emotions and desires, and for management emotions and desires, it is necessary to develop emotional intelligence, which requires much more time and money.

Yet the main problem in the development of emotional intelligence is different

Emotional intelligence is nearly impossible to develop with directive techniques used to develop mental abilities. In fact, classical, management trainings aimed at developing the skills of leaders try to compensate for insufficiently developed emotional intelligence, due to the overcompensating development of mental abilities.

Psychological research has shown that leaders with insufficient emotional intelligence often make the same mistake in this path

In order for one's own feelings not to interfere with following the instruction of behavior in a conflict and to show empathy for the feelings and experiences of a partner, unconscious mechanisms of psychological defense against intense unpleasant emotions enter into work, transforming negative affect into positive (reactive education).

On the one hand, the more actively leaders resort to the protective mechanism of reactive education as a defense to restrain and regulate their emotions in conflict situations, the more pronounced their desire for cooperation is manifested, which helps them to abstract from the external side of the conflict and understand its root cause. But on the other hand, their interest in the feelings and experiences of a partner becomes not sincere, which is unconsciously read by the psyche of another person. A person can easily be misled with words in the sincerity of their intentions, but the real truth, conveyed through feelings, cannot be hidden. She is always available to another person! Even if he does not have the skills to use it consciously, unconscious defense mechanisms are activated, which, on the contrary, reduce the partner's ability to empathy and lead to latent rivalry. This contributes to their professional growth, albeit at the expense of the loss of comfortable relationships with other people.

Thus, genuine cooperation in resolving the conflict is not observed, but only a certain compromise is reached, which ensures only partial satisfaction of the requirements of both parties, and rather leads only to a respite than to the end of the conflict.

How to develop emotional intelligence - the source of true empathy?

There is an opinion that it is possible to comprehend the sensual world and the world of desires of another, as much as a person was able to comprehend his inner world.

Psychoanalysis is an effective way to develop emotional intelligence, and hence the ability to empathize. Therefore, leaders are increasingly turning to psychoanalysis, not because they suffer from depression, phobias or similar disorders, but because they are attracted by a thirst for knowledge and new discoveries. They want to learn more about themselves, about their inner world, to understand how they can become more successful, confident and independent from external circumstances, in order to always remain “on the crest of the wave” in a rapidly changing world.

Of course, the temptation to relax is especially great when a person's life is flowing smoothly and does not pose any special problems for him. Naturally, in such a situation, each of us is not so thirsty for complete self-knowledge.

Then the question arises, if a person, and especially a leader or a businessman, did not take a course of personal analysis - is it good or bad?

This is neither bad nor good! This can only mean that a person is afraid to admit to himself that he may not really know something, and thereby shake his confidence. It also suggests that all his potential and the potential of the company in which he works or which he owns will never be fully explored and realized, which can lead to a loss of competitive advantage.