Now these days’ conflicts are increasingly becoming part of our life. You can’t escape it whether it’s your family, your friends or work place, but it doesn’t mean you sulk at it. Based on the situation and people, you need to devise your own mechanism to handle everyday conflicts. I am sharing a couple of techniques which I had exercised to handle workplace conflicts.

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help: If you are a manager, ethically you can’t take sides. Even if you prefer one employee over another you must remain impartial so that your employees won’t feel like you are attacking them. If you need help resolving an issue, you should get HR involved. The role of HR in conflict resolution is to act as a mediator between managers and their employees. The professional life is hard for everybody, so keep in touch with HR–they’ve been trained to deal with all sorts of issues.

Use Customer Services Tactics to Resolve Issues: Companies with quality customer services know how to listen, they are respectful, and they avoid harsh language. Use your customer service etiquette to respond to a conflict. If an employee is throwing a tantrum do not respond in kind. Your calm demeanor can rub off and help them calm down as well. Difference of opinion is a good thing in a company—it creates an innovative environment. But “differing opinions” are not the same as “competing opinions.” Some people are naturally argumentative and always want to be right. Again, it’s best to respond calmly or else they will just want to continue the argument.

Resolve Quickly and Efficiently: If small issues are brushed over without resolution, they will fester and grow into even bigger problems! The best way to prevent issues is to have an HR staff go over the company policies and rules when employees are first hired. From the get-go, new recruits will know what’s expected of them and who they can talk to if a conflict comes up.

You should also have an open door policy so your employees can air their complaints privately. Some employees fear that their complaints will affect their job, so a feedback box or an online survey is a good way for employees to share their concerns and maintain anonymity.

Decrease Conflicts with ‘Morale’:  I don’t think I need to tell you that workplace conflict has a huge impact on employee morale. There are numerous studies that show that poor morale will lead to poor productivity. Even if there is little conflict in your office, your employees may be stressed by the workload. Increase employee morale and productivity with fun events! Throw birthday parties each month for your employees. You could provide a bulletin board for wedding announcements/baby pictures, or your company could have theme/casual dress-days. Focus on improving improving morale of the employees.

Know Your Employees and What Will Motivate Them: It can be hard to get to know each and every employee if you work at a large company. But you should build a good workplace relation with your employees. This doesn’t mean you have to be best friends, but it means you can work well together and for the good of the company. There are no perfect employees, so you need to understand different personality types and how to motivate each one.

 For instance, if someone is overly-competitive, focus on a group project so that everyone can benefit and so that the employee wont’ brag about his or her individual accomplishment. Some employees have a hard time making a decision or getting work done. These employees need clear deadlines and ample time. If they can’t make a decision or finish a project by a deadline, you can hold them accountable.

Every organization has its workplace politics and drama, but If an employee continues to flout policies and rules, you have every right to discipline them or terminate their contract.

Don’t Broadcast On-going Conflicts: One of the worst things you could do is reprimand an employee in front of his or her peers. If you need to resolve a conflict, it’s always best to do it in private. Face-to-face chats are the best way to resolve serious issues, but email works well for smaller, daily conflicts.