Define clear roles to avoid conflicts at workplace

NEW DELHI: Rachit spends most of his time in office resolving inter-personal conflicts rather than focusing on his work. It���s been a month-and-a-half, and his team has hardly made any progress on a project to be completed in five months. His colleagues are constantly at loggerheads with each other on diverse issues related to the project. Rachit is losing his cool now. He wants to get it over with although he is not sure how to get harmony back. Workplace discord is a common sight today and it also shows in the team���s performance. However, a few tips could help:

GET THE RIGHT TEAM
A team is made up of individuals and it can only be called so if it works like a unit. Get the right people at the right place who are accommodating. You may not like to group people from the same background that increases the risk of unfair competition. Build a group that���s balanced and is relevant to the needs of the project or assignment. That���s the first task in building an effective team.

ROLE CLARITY HELPS
At the outset, clarify each member���s role. Avoid any confusion on the amount and the nature of work one is entrusted with. This will help avert blame games and will ensure accountability of the task. Try to balance the workload. Be fair while deciding the amount of work each one does. Ensure compliance.

MAINTAIN BALANCE
���Don���t bunch together people who are on different intellectual curve,��� says, KPMG India human capital practice partner & head Ganesh Shermon. This could have negative fallout. It will not only cause frustration, when someone is not able to cope up at the level others operate at, it will also have the ill-effects of superiority and inferiority complex.

Reflect on this and you might have some solution there.

TALK IT OUT
Communication is the key to get things right. Talk to people and tell them that any kind of impropriety in their attitudes will not be tolerated. Let the message be loud and clear that at the workplace, all the company is concerned about is performance. If that suffers, it will affect individuals��� appraisal. Co-operation will help reduce problems. For those who don���t comply, the organisation can take a call.